International Journal of Social Sciences and Management

87-92

Authors: Daksh Seth, B. Sai Giridhar, Sundara Krishnaswami

The study quantifies the impact of crude oil price changes on the production, sales turnover and raw material cost of select industries in India where crude oil is a major direct or indirect raw material. The results show that there exists a relationship between crude oil price changes and production of chemicals, coke, and refined petroleum products, a significant impact is observed on the sales turnover of plastic, oil refinery, and automobiles industries. The raw material cost of fertilizers, food processing, and paints industries show a high correlation with crude oil. Energy is the undercurrent that drives economic activity in the world. Fortunes of countries have changed because of crude oil. Its importance to the global economy is unmatched, proven by the fact that oil is responsible for 2.5% of the world GDP. If provided a conducive business environment, companies around the world would like to tap opportunities a billion plus people in India present. India is heavily dependent on crude oil imports thus volatility in crude oil prices is a cause for concern.

102-107

Authors: SM Khan

In this article 80 Loco Pilots of Indian Railways participated and screened for deployment on EMUs in Mumbai sub-urban as Motorman. Their mental chronometry and cognitive efficiency through discrimination reaction test (DRT) for acquired reflexes measured. Psycho motor performance of left, right hand and foot was studied while responding associated color signals. The mean reaction time was lowest in case of yellow color associated to left hand comparing to green and red color associated to right hand and foot respectively. The correlation coefficient of age and experience with DRT of participants was found positive but not statistically significant. The positive correlation coefficient in case of working experience and DRT is indeed a good sign of inert aptitude of train driving staff of the Indian Railways. Further, based on ‘t’ values, it can be concluded that the difference between DRT means for yellow, green and red color associated to hands and foot is significant at (p<0.01) level of significance. Results discussed at length and intervention to improve the DRT suggested.

115-118

Authors: K. Anuradha

Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and psychological human development that generally begins with the onset of physiologically normal puberty to the age of legal adulthood. This period of development corresponds roughly to the period between the ages of 10 and 19 years, which is consistent with the World Health Organization’s definition of ‘adolescence’. During this period adolescents need life skills to face the realities of life. Life skills help the young people to take positive actions to protect themselves and to promote health and meaningful social relationship. Social media like internet is playing a major role in maintaining social relations by becoming an integral part of many adolescents’ lives. The Internet can be known as a kind of global meeting place where people from all parts of the world can come together. The present study was conducted to assess the life skills of adolescents according to the usage of internet. The sample were adolescent students studying 7th, 8th and 9th standards in Chittoor district. Multi-stage stratified random sampling technique was used to collect the data. In the first stage, one private and one Govt. school were identified randomly from four towns of Chittoor district Viz., Chittoor, Madanapalle, Srikalahasti and Tirupati. In the next stage 7th, 8th and 9th standard students were selected from each school giving equal choice to girls and boys using systematic random sampling technique. Thus, 90 students from each school, 180 students from each town and 720 from four towns constituted the sample of data collection. The tools used were Internet Usage Questionnaire and Life Skills Self Rating Scale. Adolescents differed significantly in their life skills score based on their internet usage. Comparatively low internet users have more life skills score than heavy internet users. Results also revealed that there was significant negative correlation between amount of time spent in internet usage and life skills scores of adolescents.

125-128

Authors: Priyanka Girdhar

The present paper seeks to explore variations caused by individual variables categorized in two broad categories i.e. age and dispositional- locus of control. In the present study a sample of 180 employees were selected from different industries. Employees belonging to age group of below 25 years’ experience maximum organizational role stress. Second most age group is belonging to age category of 26-35. Employees in age group of above 45 years are reported to be least stressed among employees of all category. Stress level is defined to increase with higher rating on locus scale. Locus of control are somewhat related with internal belief and self-confidence of the individual employees. HR practitioners are advised to consider personality related differences to counter stressors. Psychologists have suggested various practices to build up higher levels of internal locus of control. Practices like ABC theory of emotions, Unconditional Self-Acceptance (USA), Unconditional Others Acceptance (UOA) etc. can prove beneficial in this regards.

135-140

Authors: Neelam Kalla

For a marketing professional both promotion and communications are essential. In fact, without effective marketing communications the consumer stay uninformed of products and services they need, which can be satisfying their needs and necessities competently. Past researches show that the key factor behind the failure to implement the schemes effectively is lack of awareness among the potential beneficiaries. In the present study research has undertaken an endeavor to analyze the prevailing means and channels of communication and investigate their effectiveness. The paper discusses the effectiveness of various communication channels, and agents operating in rural areas of western Rajasthan for government healthcare and welfare schemes. The paper also discusses the strategic interventions and the necessary changes based on results of study which need to be incorporated to enhance the effectiveness of communication mix of Government programs.