UII’s Young Lecturer Becomes Fastest Doctoral Graduate in Austria

Austria—A young Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) lecturer, Jaya Addin Linando, has completed his doctorate degree at Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (Vienna University of Economics and Business) in Austria on 24 February 2023.

The management studies lecturer defended his dissertation titled Religion in the Workplace: A Multilevel Perspective before a Doctorate Committee panel that consisted of Prof. Wolfgang Mayrhofer, Prof. Edwina Pio and Prof. Michael Meyer.

Addin said he had a strong motivation to raise the topic of religion in the workplace for his dissertation.

“Data from the 2019 Higher Education Database [PDDIKTI] showed that there were 1,140 universities in Indonesia offering management majors. If we make a rough assumption, say that each management department has two to three lecturers who concentrate to the field of human resource management [HRM] and organizational behavior [OB], then we will find 2,280 to 3,420 Indonesian academics in the field of HRM & OB “said the man who was born in Surabaya in 1992.

Considering these figures, he mentioned his concern that almost no one from the thousands of Indonesian HRM and OB academics raised the issue of religion in the workplace in their scientific works published in reputable international journals.

In fact, he said, various global surveys had indicated that Indonesia was in the top ranks of the world’s most religious countries. Addin sees that these Indonesian academics (in the field of HRM and OB) should have been contributing to the development of human resource management science at the global level, especially those related to the role and management of religion in the workplace.

Addin raised the issue of religion in the workplace in his dissertation as a manifestation of his aspirations to promote inter-religious harmony.

“One of the main causes underlying conflicts between religious communities is the reluctance to look at common grounds. I see human resource management as a fairly neutral and relatively safe science for promoting common ground between religious communities,” Addin said.

“Neutral and safe in the sense that management is a social science where we do not focus on discussing which religions are right and wrong. The emphasis is more on how different religious teachings produce the same or different human behavior in organizations,” said Addin, who loves playing futsal and chess.

Obtaining Various Achievements

Apart from succeeding in becoming one of the fastest doctoral graduates in Austria, Addin also managed to obtain several achievements. Among others, he published two self-written articles in Q1 Scopus journals, three Q2 articles as first author, one article in an unindexed international journal, one textbook and three popular scientific articles.

His desire to become a lecturer played a major role in motivating him to achieve these achievements. In Addin’s view, there are only two logical consequences of his decision in becoming a lecturer, namely obtaining a doctorate degree and working hard to becoming a professor.

It is no less important for him to continue to organize himself so that he can continue to work productively amid the demands of teaching and serving the university organization. “I have set the target,” he said.

“My task now is to continue ikhtiar [making efforts] and tawakal [trust in Allah],” said the son of the late Philipus Linando and Tazkirowati.

Wishing to Contribute to UII

Soon, Addin said he would return to Indonesia to carry out his role as a lecturer. He has expressed his determination to contribute to building UII specifically and Indonesia in general.

“I wish to contribute to optimizing the function of the department that handles human resources. One of the biggest aspects with still rooms for improvement is to increase the happiness and satisfaction of lecturers and employees,” he said.

Addin believes that if each HR function is directed towards capturing lecturers and employees’ aspirations, then to break them down into concrete problem points, and then—most importantly—to develop action plans to improve the lecturers’ and employees’ welfare, then they will be more satisfied and happier at work. (VIP Magazine Vol 10)