IRANIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
Year:2006 | Volume:1 | Issue:3|Papers Count:8

The sweeping acceptance of rising paradigm of governance in recent decades has tempted the attention of public policy scholars and practitioners to an emerging concept of policy networks. There are many situational and contextual factors that facilitate or inhibit the formation of policy networks at macro and micro levels. The purpose of this study is to design a model to test the feasibility of formation of policy networks in Iranian public organizations. To this end we reviewed literature to specify the key factors affecting the formation of policy networks. A three round Delphi technique was performed to prioritize the key factors and indicators required for establishing policy networks. Then a sample survey was conducted to test the model in Iran's agricultural research institutions and departments. The respondents were chosen from university professors, public administrators and specialists of NGO'S associated with the subject field. The finding of the study reveal that the formation of policy networks in agricultural research institutes and by extension in public sector require majors structural and behavioral reforms in Iran's public administration and governance.

Organizations have entered to an era of knowledge- based economy in which knowledge and intangible assets have been considered an advantage for the firms. Intangible assets have an important effect on strategies and performance of organizations. This article first defines the concepts and constructs of intellectual capital (IC). Upon the findings of this stage, the study goes on to examine the relationship between IC and performance in Bank-e Mellat.Branches of Bank-e Mellat in Tehran were chosen as sample of this study. We used correlation and structural equation modeling to test the research's six hypotheses. The findings of the study show that three out of six hypotheses of the study were confirmed and three others were rejected.

The continuous development of ICTs and their application to economic and social processes is creating new opportunities that could enhance the quality of human life. Since the technologies are embedded in the social context, it is becoming apparent that the benefits of these developments are not evenly distributed between and within countries. This inequality takes on the issue of digital divide. There is a need to find concrete ways of bridging the gaps. ICTs could contribute to reduce gender inequalities and promote the active participation of women in improving their situation. This paper presents the findings of a research concerning the attention to IT as a means for women's empowerment in Iran. The methodology of research was based on content analysis of major documents, websites and structured interviews. There are some evidence of the ignorance of gender issues in ICT policies and unnoticed importance of the subject among Iranian decision makers.

The impacts of tourism development on environment of less- developed countries have become a controversial issue in recent decades. Some countries like Iran, in spite of having vast and rich natural, historical and religious sites, have taken a more conservative stance toward tourism industry. Others, on the other hand, have taken advantage of ever-growing tourism industry and keep an eye on its vast economic revenues with no or little concern about its environmental impacts on their societies. The aim of this study is a detail examination of environmental predicaments that many developing societies encounter in the process of tourism development. The article concludes that though tourism sustainable development may bring about economic wealth for host countries, policies have to make to avoid potential dangers threatening socio-cultural environment of these countries.

The aim of this study is to examine qualitative research in practice. Qualitative research implies processes and methods that are not measured in terms of quantity, amount or frequency. Direct research is one of the strategies used by qualitative researchers to explain organizational behavior. These article intents to show the results of the researcher's experience in applying direct research to describe managerial roles Iranian administrators play at work. In this study deductive method was used to draw the model of the study and inductive approach to build the theory.