Management and Development Process
Year:2020 | Volume:32 | Issue:4 (110)|Papers Count:6

One of the important success factors in public sector organizations is voluntary participation or citizen-centered approach which is emphasized by modern public administration paradigm. The purpose of this research was to introduce the modern public administration paradigm and to emphasize the vital role of modern public administration dimensions as the predisposing factors of citizens’ participation in the policy-making cycle of Tehran Municipality. A matrix was made up of modern public administration dimensions and steps of policy-making cycle drawn respectively on the X-axis and Y-axis of the Cartesian coordinate system so that the importance and priority of citizens’ participation could be determined at the interception point of the matrix. Then, a conceptual model was developed based on targeted sampling method involving 10 experts and applying fuzzy Delphi technique in two phases and with structured interviews. Besides, 392 questionnaires were distributed among the staff personnel of the municipality, selected through random sampling method. Results show that participation affects policy-making cycle through one-way communication, dialogue and deep conversation in six phases; through social counseling in five phases and through work sharing in three phases. Also, modern public administration dimensions have positive impact on policy-making cycle through the four types of participation, meaning one-way communication, social counseling, dialogue and deep conversation and work sharing.

The main purpose of this study was to develop a communication competency model for Keshavarzi Bank human resource managers, based on qualitative method and grounded theory. Data gathering tool was semi-structured interviews with 15 human resource managers of the bank, selected through snowball sampling strategy. Competency codes and components (80 key concepts, 29 sub-categories, 12 core categories), acquired from the interviews, were summarized and formulated in the context of the conceptual grounded model. The final model has been developed with regard to the central theme of the research (communication competencies of human resource managers), with two appropriate behavioral dimensions of structure and content, and with regard to some other categories including: causal conditions (individual and organizational factors), contextual conditions (comprehensive government reform plan), mediating conditions (political behavior, environmental conditions, showcase management, cultural intelligence), strategies (coordination and empathy strategies, adaptive transformation strategy), and outcomes (lively work environment, and facilitating communications).

Universities, as a driving force in any country, play a key role in achieving various aspects of development. The most important asset and competitive advantage of any organization are its human resources. University employees, too, play a striking and influential role in the quality of the performance of their organization. Therefore, it is very important to address issues related to employees’ performance. The aim of this study was to explain the relationships between organizational silence and organizational commitment and their effect on employees’ social responsibility. Data were gathered through questionnaires distributed among 132 employees and were analyzed by structural equation technique. The results show that organizational silence has a positive and significant effect on social responsibility. Social responsibility has a positive and significant effect on organizational commitment. Also, results confirm the negative and significant effect of organizational silence variable on organizational commitment through the mediating variable of social responsibility. Finally, suggestions have been made for executives and researchers.

Today, knowledge is an invaluable resource which should be dynamically and smartly sought by any organization intending to achieve competitive advantage. The present research aims to identify and classify the advantages of establishing knowledge management It was carried out by using the meta-synthesis method. To reach this end, databases of articles containing those advantages and released between 2000 through 2019 were identified and categorized. Finally, 34 qualitative researches were selected. Then, the advantages were broken into three categories: advantages for the business, for the employees and for the customers and the market. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the suggested framework was approved. Based on the obtained results, the advantages for the business have the highest factorial load in the model; the advantages for the personnel and the customers and the market fall in the second and third places, respectively.

Technology transfer and the employees’ inclination to accept it is not always an easy process as they tend to be resistant to it. This paper intended to use leadership styles to present a model which could facilitate technology application by employees. The research was conducted in two phases: in phase one, technology acceptance criteria were identified and graded from the most relevant to the least relevant by ten experts selected from among Iranian university professors and defense industry specialists. Then, based on the acquired weights and by using Multimoora method, leadership styles indexes were prioritized. In the second phase, with the help of the same experts, indexes with higher grades were classified and relations among them were determined by applying interpretive structural modeling technique. Findings show that strategic leadership orientation, ability to establish leader communication and leader’ s decisiveness are the most effective in facilitating employee’ s technology acceptance.

The purpose of this study was to enhance lifelong learning based on constructivism and massive open online courses (MOOCs). Constructivism is defined basically as a learning approach, in which students subjectively construct, interpret and reorganize their knowledge. MOOCs are online courses that facilitate open access to learning at a large scale. Lifelong learning is defined as self-directed and self-regulated learning. The statistical population was composed of Ph. D and M. A students having at least one-year experience in E-learning environments. Based on self-expression, a sample of 161 individuals was selected using random sampling method. Data gathering tool was a questionnaire consisting of 67 items in the above three themes: constructivism, MOOCs, and lifelong learning. The total variance of questionnaires and their construct validity was confirmed applying exploratory factor analysis. Path analysis model was implemented and the results are as follows: constructivism has positive and significant effect on lifelong learning through MOOCs, but it has no direct or significant effect on lifelong learning. Also, in the final model, such factors as uncertainty, time management, and adaptable learning strategies were removed from constructivism, MOOCs and lifelong learning, respectively.