Moving from a National Model toward a Provincial Model of Empowerment for Managers and Executives in Public Sector: A Case Study

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of literature & Humanities, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

2 Department of Psychology, LaPSCo, University of Clermont Auvergne, Clermont Fernand, France, Department of Psychology, National Research University of Moscow, Russia

3 Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

The first aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of activities, strategies and processes associated with managers’ empowerment based on the National Human Resource Empowerment Model in Iran. The second aim is to propose a provincial model of human resources empowerment for managers and executives. To collect data, a qualitative research approach including semi-structured interviews and content analysis was used. The research sample consists of 27 managers who were recruited by purposive sampling method from an Iranian organization in public sector. The results of interviews revealed that there is a practical gap between current effectiveness of human resources empowerment in the studied organization and the optimal effectiveness suggested by the national model. In addition, content analysis showed that lack of a systematic and trackable plan of human resources empowerment had stopped the implementation of empowerment strategies. This provincial empowerment model can be used to keep managers motivated and efficient where regional, social and cultural values are considered important in the workplace. Moreover, it could be used to remove the gap between current effectiveness in studied organization and the optimal effectiveness indicated in national model through more motivated and empowered managers.This provincial empowerment model can be used to keep managers motivated and efficient where regional, social and cultural values are considered important in the workplace. Moreover, it could be used to remove the gap between current effectiveness in studied organization and the optimal effectiveness indicated in national model through more motivated and empowered managers.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

AL-Rousan, M. A. (2014). The Relationship between the management information system and the administrative empowerment (A field study on the Jordanian banking sector). International Journal of Business, Humanities and Technology, 4(3), 121-129. Ambad, S. N. A., & Bahron, A. (2012). Psychological empowerment: The influence on organizational commitment among employees in the construction sector. Journal of Global Business Management, 8(2), 73. Akbari, M., Hosseini, S. M., & Ziyae, B. (2016). Human resource development: A model for agricultural faculty members in Iran. International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development (IJAMAD), 6(2), 131-143 Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. London and New York: Routledge. Baird, K., & Wang, H. (2010). Employee empowerment: Extent of adoption and influential factors. Personnel Review, 39(5), 574-599. Beer, V. (1991). Guerilla tactics for employee empowerment. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 4(4), 62-70. Bruna, M. G., Chanlat, J. F., & Chauvet, M. (2017). Conducting a diversity policy as a management change agent: A key issue to an organization’s performance. Management and Diversity: Thematic Approaches (pp. 37-57). Emerald Publishing Limited. Blanchard, K., Carlos, J. P., & Randolph, A. (2001). Empowerment takes more than a minute. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. San Francisco, California
Blanchard, K. Carlos, J. Randolph, A. (2000). Three keys of empowering. Translated into Persian by: Fazlollah Amini. Tehran: Fara. Conger, J. A., & Kanungo, R. N. (1988). The empowerment process: Integrating theory and practice. Academy of management review, 13(3), 471-482.
Chua, R. Y. J., & Iyengar, S. S. (2006). Empowerment through choice? A critical analysis of the effects of choice in organizations. Research in organizational behavior, 27, 41-79.
652 (IJMS) Vol. 12, No. 4, Autumn 2019
Chow, I. H. S. (2018). The mechanism underlying the empowering leadership-creativity relationship. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(2), 202-217. Daronkolaee, M. A., Esmaeili, M. R., & Nikaeen, Z. (2014). The relationship between dimensions of empowerment and performance of physical education teachers of the city of Tehran. Annals of Biological Research, 5(1), 148-154.
Davari, A., & Rezaee, H. R. (2003). Employees Empowerment, Car industry. No: 60. (In Persian).
Delgoshaei, B., Tabibi, J., & Pahlavan, P. (2007). Designing a human resource development model for the health sector of Iran, Journal of Research in Medical Sciences. 31(4). 317-325. (In Persian).
Davis, M. C. & Coan, P. (2015). Organizational change. In J. Robertson & J. Barling, (Eds.), the Psychology of Green Organizations (pp. 244-274). Oxford University Press, Oxford Fawcett, S. B., White, G. W., Balcazar, F. E., Suarez-Balcazar, Y., Mathews, R. M., Paine-Andrews, A., ... & Smith, J. F. (1994). A contextual‐behavioral model of empowerment: Case studies involving people with physical disabilities. American Journal of Community Psychology, 22(4), 471-496.
Foy, N. (1997). Empowering people at work. Cambridge: Gower Publishing. Gilpin-Jackson, Y. (2017). Participant experiences of transformational change in large-scale organization development interventions (LODIs). Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 38(3), 419-432.
Hendry, C. & Pettigrew, A. M. (1990). Human Resource Management: An agenda for the 1990s. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1(1), 17–43.
Hodavand, S., & Sadegian, S. (2007). Effective structure in employees empowering, Tadbir, 18(180), 3-15. (In Persian). Jose, G., & Mampilly, S. R. (2014). Psychological empowerment as a predictor of employee engagement: An empirical attestation. Global Business Review, 15(1), 93-104.
Moving from a National Model toward a Provincial Model of Empowerment for … 653
Iranian Empowerment Foundation of Human Resources (2008). Human Resources Empowerment, Isfahan: Andishe Gostar. (In Persian). Isaksson, U., Hajdarevic, S., Abramsson, M., Stenvall, J., & Hörnsten, A. (2014). Diabetes empowerment and needs for self‐management support among people with type 2 diabetes in a rural inland community in northern Sweden. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences, 29(3), 521-527. Israel, B. A., Checkoway, B., Schulz, A., & Zimmerman, M. (1994). Health education and community empowerment: Conceptualizing and measuring perceptions of individual, organizational, and community control. Health education quarterly, 21(2), 149-170. Koberg, C. S., Boss, R. W., Senjem, J. C., & Goodman, E. A. (1999). Antecedents and outcomes of empowerment: Empirical evidence from the health care industry. Group & organization management, 24(1), 71-91. Kundu, S. C., Kumar, S., & Gahlawat, N. (2019). Empowering leadership and job performance: mediating role of psychological empowerment. Management Research Review, 42(5), 605-624.
Krippendorff, K. (2004). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Leonard, S., Lewis, R., Freedman, A., & Passmore, J. (2013). Handbook of the psychology of leadership, change, and organizational development. John Wiley & Sons. US Meyerson, G., & Dewettinck, B. (2012). Effect of empowerment on employees’ performance. Advanced Research in Economic and Management Sciences, 2(1), 40-46.
Monfared, N., & Zamani, G. H. (2005). Evaluation of improvement plans of human resources in agriculture organizations, Journal of agriculture sciences and natural resources. 12(6), 49-59. (In Persian). Maitland, A., & Thomson, P. (2014). Future Work (Expanded and Updated): Changing organizational culture for the new world of work. Springer, Palgrave Macmillan publisher, UK Nauman, S., Khan, A. M., & Ehsan, N. (2010). Patterns of empowerment and leadership style in project
654 (IJMS) Vol. 12, No. 4, Autumn 2019
environment. International Journal of Project Management, 28(7), 638-649.
Ongori, H. (2009). Managing behind the scenes: A view point on employee empowerment. African Journal of Business Management, 3(1), 009-015. Page, N., & Czuba, C. E. (1999). Empowerment: What is it? Journal of extension, 37(5), 1-5.
Pines, E. W., Rauschhuber, M. L., Cook, G. D, Norgan, G. N., Canchola, L., Richardson, C., & Jones, M. E. (2014). Enhancing resilience, empowerment, and conflict management among baccalaureate students: Outcomes of a pilot study. The Journal of Nurse Educator. 39(2), 85-90. Pigeon, M., Montani, F., & Boudrias, J. S. (2017). How do empowering conditions lead to empowered behaviours? Test of a mediation model. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 32(5), 357-372. Papaioannou, A., Vamvoukaki, M., Kriemadis, T., Vrondou, O., & Kourtesopoulou, A. (2011). The Relationship between human resource empowerment and organizational performance in fitness clubs. In Proceedings of the 19th Congress of the European Association for Sport Management, Madrid, Spain September.
Rappaport, J. (1984). Studies in empowerment: Introduction to the issue. Prevention in Human Services, 3,(2-3), 1-7.
Rafiq, M., & Ahmed, P. K. (1998). A contingency model for empowering customer-contact services employees. Management decision, 36(10), 686-693.
Razavieh, A. (2015). Research methods in behavioral and educational sciences. Shiraz: Shiraz University Press.
Solomon, B. B. (1976). Black empowerment: Social work in oppressed communities. New York: Columbia University Press. Smith, S. M. (2008). The impact of structural empowerment on project manager’s organizational commitment. Journal of Academy of Business and Economics, 8(1), 1-7.
Spreitzer, G. M. (1995). Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 38,(5): 1442-1465.
Moving from a National Model toward a Provincial Model of Empowerment for … 655
Stray, V., Moe, N. B., & Hoda, R. (2018). Autonomous agile teams: Challenges and future directions for research. arXiv preprint arXiv:1810.02765.
Thomas, K. W., & Velthouse, B. A. (1990). Cognitive elements of empowerment: An "interpretive" model of intrinsic task motivation. Academic Management Review, 15(4): 666-681.
Tune, N., & Millett, S. (2017). Designing Autonomous Teams and Services: Deliver Continuous Business Value through Organizational Alignment. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media, Inc. Ugboro, I. O. (2006). Organizational commitment, job redesign, employee empowerment and intent to quit among survivors of restructuring and downsizing. Journal of Behavioral & Applied Management, 7(3): 232-257. Vantrappen, H., & Wirtz, F. (2018). A smarter process for managing and explaining organization design change. Strategy & Leadership, 46(5), 36-43. Zimmerman, M. A. (1990). Taking aim on empowerment research: On the distinction between individual and psychological conceptions. American Journal of community psychology, 18(1), 169-177.
Zarei Matin H., Mohammadi Elyasi, G., & Saenati, Z. (2007). Survey of in service training relationship and employees empowerment in agriculture organization, Management culture, 5(16), 87-116. (In Persian).
Interdisciplinary Journal of Management Studies (Formerly known as Iranian Journal of Management Studies)
Volume 12, Issue 4
November 2019
Pages 629-655

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics