Mohammad Sadegh Dadmehr; Yaghoob Maharati; Alireza Khorakian; Fariborz Rahimnia
Abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
As the competitive environment has rapidly grown over the past two decades and seriously overshadowed the activities of private enterprises, unsuccessful changes, especially in terms of instability and unsustainability of the achievements, have become a fundamental challenge ...
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1- INTRODUCTION
As the competitive environment has rapidly grown over the past two decades and seriously overshadowed the activities of private enterprises, unsuccessful changes, especially in terms of instability and unsustainability of the achievements, have become a fundamental challenge for such organizations as private banks. The research conducted in this field indicates that planning, directing, and sustaining the organizational change results is very difficult, and pervasive changes affecting the main elements of the organization do not meet the expected goals. Some researchers suggested that organizations have difficulty sustaining continuous improvement in the long term, especially after an initial period of two or three years. As in most cases, employees do not internalize the new changes and behaviors as their norms and mental beliefs and do not use them as a basis for their subsequent behaviors. The results and achievements of changes may become unstable and fade after a short time, and a return to prior behaviors may occur in some cases. Thus, the organization incurs significant financial and opportunity costs that weaken its competitive position. This is true for Iranian private banks as they do not depend financially on the government and are in a fiercely competitive environment. Therefore, the main questions are as follows: what are the strategies to achieve sustainable change, and what are their consequences in Iranian private banks?
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Different theories exist for organizational change, which can be used to support and guide research to find the roots and consequences of sustainable organizational change. Research on organizational change can be categorized into three types: 1) content models emphasizing the content and essence of change, 2) contingency models considering the context and environmental conditions, and 3) process models focusing on the stages of change. A review of different change models indicates that they focus only on the content, process, or implementation of change while not addressing the period after the implementation, including institutionalization and stabilization of change. Therefore, this research was conducted to bridge the existing gap and provide change managers and agents in Iranian private banks with a vision to understand deeply the strategies for sustaining organizational changes and their consequences.
3- METHODOLOGY
The philosophical foundation of the present research performed in private banks was interpretivism with the qualitative approach, and the grounded theory strategy was used. In this research, the systematic approach of Strauss and Corbin was used. The samples were purposefully selected by conducting snowball sampling on managers and experts of the private banks of Iran who have experience working in at least one change program in the past ten years, provided that one year lasted since achieving the results. The organizational change experts and researchers who had significant experiences were interviewed with a semi-structured method. The sampling continued to reach data and theoretical saturation. The collected data were analyzed by open, axial, and selective coding processes using the MAXQDA 20 software. Lincoln and Guba's criteria (credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability) were used to validate the results.
4- RESULTS & DISCUSSION
The research findings demonstrated that sustainable change is characterized by two features: stackability of change, including internalization of the change and its adaptation and alignment with the organizational components, and spreadability of change, including the ability to transfer experiences to other employees and apply the organizational change. According to the research findings, the strategies needed to implement sustainable changes in Iranian private banks include 1) empowering employees through training and utilizing work teams, 2) empowering the organization by establishing a knowledge management system and motivational mechanisms, the mobilization of financial resources, the scrutiny, and explanation of the organization's strategic plan, leadership style, effective processes, and agile structure. The consequences of sustainable changes include 1) employees' growth and excellence due to their increased psychological and behavioral maturity, 2) improved efficiency to increase financial resources and reduce organizational costs, and 3) improved effectiveness to satisfy the strategic stakeholders and gain a competitive advantage. The research findings are noteworthy in that sustainable organizational change is considered a way to increase the productivity and prosperity of human resources in the organization.
5- CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS
This research demonstrated that a change is sustainable and is institutionalized when it is internalized in employees' beliefs and becomes a basis for their subsequent behaviors. This is realized by applying employee and organization empowerment strategies. Therefore, it is suggested that change managers and agents in the country's private banks consider the empowerment of employees seriously by applying influential and continuous training and expanding teamwork by using the strategies identified in this research, and the empowerment of the organization by using a knowledge management system, motivational mechanisms, providing financial resources, checking and explaining the organization's strategic plan, applying an appropriate leadership style, effective processes, and structural agility.
Mahmood Abdulla; Yaghoob Maharati; Gholamreza malekzadeh; Alireza Khorakian
Abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
Small and medium-sized companies are a primary source for creating jobs and economic growth in developing countries, which cause economic diversification and the development of the private sector in these countries. According to the statistics of the European Economic Cooperation ...
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1- INTRODUCTION
Small and medium-sized companies are a primary source for creating jobs and economic growth in developing countries, which cause economic diversification and the development of the private sector in these countries. According to the statistics of the European Economic Cooperation and Development Organization, small and medium enterprises comprise more than 95% of the business in the member countries of this organization. The share of these companies in the employment of member countries of the European Economic Cooperation and Development Organization is around 60 to 70 percent. In advanced countries such as Japan and Germany, the share of small and medium enterprises in the GDP is more than 50%, and in developing countries such as Thailand, it is 38%. In Iran, 94% of economic enterprises are small and medium type, and their share in GDP is 39%. 27683 (82%) of the 34252 operational industrial units in Iran's industrial states are active, including 9726 units with a capacity of less than 50%, 9597 units with a capacity between 50% and 70%, and 8360 units with a capacity of more than 70%. They have a percentage of activity.
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Cameron and Quinn pay attention to the ethnic culture in the degree of intimacy between family members in the work environment. Ethnic culture is characterized by loyalty, ethics, commitment, traditionality, cooperation, teamwork, participation, awareness and personal development. Adhocracy culture is a dynamic, entrepreneurial, innovative and creative structure in the work environment. This culture focuses on the development of new products and services, adaptability, growth, Change, productivity, efficiency and experientialism are emphasized. Market culture is considered as a result-oriented culture in the workplace with an emphasis on winning, surpassing the competition, insisting on stock prices and market relations. The formality and structuring of positions and procedures, well-defined processes and smooth-moving organizations are often considered as the main characteristics of hierarchical culture.
3- METHODOLOGY
The questionnaire’s face validity was established through evaluating the opinions of management professors and SMEs’ managers, and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed its construct validity. The Cronbach’s alphas of greater than 0.70 also confirmed the questionnaire’s reliability. Data gathered from the managers of SMEs was analyzed by conducting structural equation modeling.
4- RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Examining the effect of four types of culture on performance also showed that the effect of group culture is insignificant and the effect of three types of adhocracies, hierarchy and market culture on performance is significant, although the effect of hierarchy culture on performance is negative and the effect of adhocracy and market culture is positive. The result of the non-significant effect of ethnic culture on performance is inconsistent with the research results of prior researches. The results of their research indicate a positive and significant effect of group culture on performance.
5- CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS
Considering that the results of this research show that different types of corporate culture have an effect on the tendency to entrepreneurship and performance, therefore managers who want to increase this tendency should evaluate their organizational culture and adapt them accordingly. It is the responsibility of senior management to disseminate, promote, maintain or change organizational culture.
Hossein Abdolahzadeh Rafi; Fariborz Rahim nia; Alireza Khorakian
Abstract
Extended abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
Today, change is an important factor for organizations’ survival, and as the main factor for the success of organizational change, managers and experts must be able to implement change programs. It seems that change management skills including understanding, ...
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Extended abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
Today, change is an important factor for organizations’ survival, and as the main factor for the success of organizational change, managers and experts must be able to implement change programs. It seems that change management skills including understanding, planning, implementing, and stabilizing change can affect attitudes toward change. Thus, employees' attitudes and mental patterns have been always considered as a fundamental factor in the literature on change readiness. As big organizations, municipalities have a large number of managers, employees, and clients and provide a variety of services. Therefore, it is necessary to review and correct their employees’ mental patterns. Accordingly, this study is aimed to recognize and compare the mental patterns of employees of Mashhad Municipality towards readiness for change from the managers' and experts' points of view.
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The concept of the mental model is not something that has recently been discovered but can be attributed to Kenneth Crick (1943). A person’s mental model is a framework of images and attitudes that limits their field of thought and action. Some scientists consider mental models as the cornerstone of knowledge building, including the main cognitive processes of change and learning. According to Levin (1947), change is to move from a steady-state to a new better state, through a pre-made plan or a set of predicted actions and steps. Many researchers have defined various dimensions of readiness for change. In this regard, Weiss (2002) suggests cognitive and emotional components for general judgments or the same attitude. On this basis, the current research considered these two dimensions as fundamental for studying the employees’ mental patterns.
3- METHODOLOGY
The current research is a practical study in terms of purpose; it is a descriptive study in terms of method; and in terms of approach, it is a mixed-methods study of having inductive-deductive reasoning. The strategy of the current study is the Q technique.
4- DISCUSSION & RESULTS
The seven steps of the Q method were performed and reached the following results. The prevailing mental pattern of "capacity building" of managers was interpreted i.e., both the individual and the organization must have the capacity to implement changes. The most important mental model is that the effectiveness of change is a function of cognitive evaluation of organization members from four determinants of executive capacity, including individual capacities, perception of resources, situational factors, and supportive structures.
5- CONCLUSION
Research findings indicated that the mindset of managers and experts is mainly cognitive and composed of 11 dominant mental patterns. By comparing several similar mental patterns between managers and experts, we can talk about the supportive mental model of managers and the mental model of supportive experts, the committed mental model of managers and the mental model of committed experts, the confident mental model of managers, and the confident mental model of experts. There is a common mentality between these two groups of human resources of Mashhad Municipality. Also, the two mental patterns of followers and expert liaisons show the high importance of social relationships and processes in the process of change and the high influence of others’ behavior and decision when facing the change.
Hoda Jannesar ahmadi; Ali Shirazi; Fariborz Rahimnia; Alireza Khorakian
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
The need for change in today's organizations in the one hand and 70% rate of failure in implementing the organizational change programs on the other caused many scholars to search on reasons for success and failure of organizational change. Although it is generally stated that effective ...
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INTRODUCTION
The need for change in today's organizations in the one hand and 70% rate of failure in implementing the organizational change programs on the other caused many scholars to search on reasons for success and failure of organizational change. Although it is generally stated that effective leadership is the key to successful change, many scholars have pointed out the lack of empirical research in this regard. Burke (2008) suggests that the impact of leadership on organizational change is not refined in the literature and there exists little scientific evidence on leadership influence. Similarly, Higgs and Rowland (2005) stated that only a few studies generally described the leader's initiatives in the process of change, and the literature in this field suffers from the lack of empirical research. Ford and Ford (2012) also pointed out the lack of definitive research on the association of leaders’ initiatives with change success. Since many studies have emphasized the role of leadership in organizational change success, the present research is accordingly to identify the leaders’ initiatives in successfully implementing the change programs.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Today's organizations are constantly changing. Although both practitioners and scholars are concerned about the change in organizations (Blackman & Kennedy, 2011), managing the organizational change is not a simple process and few organizations are successful in implementing it. Aarons et al. (2015) suggest that leadership plays an important role in effectively implementing innovation and change. In addition, precise evidence on the role of leaders in the change success is now increasing (Higgs, 2003). In Yukl's (2010) opinion, the most important task of leaders is to achieve organizational success. Hence, the ability to effectively leading the organizational change is considered as one of the desirable skills for managers of current organizations (Szabla et al., 2014). Leaders and managers of organizations should be aware of the environmental trends, crises, and developments in place of their work. They should be flexible and adaptable in creating, predicting, encouraging, and responding positively to change. Without leadership, planned organizational change will never be realized (Dumas and Beinecke, 2018).
Narges Rahnama; Alireza Khorakian; Shmsodin Nazemi
Abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
The human resources of any organization are their most valuable assets, because in the competitive environment of today's organization, one of the most important factors that maintains the competitive advantage of organizations and their dominance over environmental challenges ...
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1- INTRODUCTION
The human resources of any organization are their most valuable assets, because in the competitive environment of today's organization, one of the most important factors that maintains the competitive advantage of organizations and their dominance over environmental challenges is the human resources and organizations should try to improve their quality. Job satisfaction and work engagement are both the factors that affect the improvement of employees’ performance. What is important is the role of an important factor called fun at work, which is ignored by organizations. Based on the findings of recent studies, fun at work and innovative behavior are factors influencing job satisfaction and work engagement. It seems that few studies have been done investigating the role of fun at work its positive consequences such as innovative behavior on job satisfaction. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate this phenomenon. Fun at work is especially more important for organizations operating in the service sector such as municipalities which are mainly dependent on human resource and carry out extensive tasks to serve the citizens, and provide conditions which improve employees’ performance. There is no exception about Municipality of Mashhad. Mashhad municipality managers believe that job dissatisfaction and reduced work engagement of employees have decreased productivity and quality of service delivery to citizens. In this regard, this research has been carried out in the municipality of Mashhad. In addition, we tried to study the impact of fun at work on job satisfaction and work engagement of employees and examine the role of innovative behavior of employees as a mediator.
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
During the last decade, managerial studies have focused on fun at work. A variety of studies show the importance of fun at work as one of the dimensions of the workplace and also as a factor which makes different outcoms of work place. Fluegge (2008, 2014) defines fun at work as a work activity; an interpersonal and social work at the workplace, which has a joyful nature and enhances the entertainment and pleasure of individuals. This definition is consistent with previous definitons provided by MacDowell (2004), Becker (2012), Lim and Meeks (2009), and McLaughlin and Newstar (2003). In various studies, the factors influencing innovative behavior have been investigated at three levels of analysis: individual level, work group, and organization. Anderson, De Dreu & Nijstad (2004) presented a summary of their findings on the factors influencing innovation including self-esteem, and initiative, motivational and cognitive abilities at the individual level, job characteristics at work level, factors such as team atmosphere and the characteristics of the team members at team level, and ultimately factors such as culture, strategy and structure affecting innovation at the organizational level. Job satisfaction is one of the important factors in increasing productivity, employee commitment, attachment to the workplace, improving the quality and quantity of work, establishing good and human relationships in the workplace, and increasing interest in the work. It refers to positive or pleasing feelings of persons coming from evaluateing their job or their job experience. The widespread study of the literature on job satisfaction and related concepts from Weiss (2002) suggest that not only does job satisfaction include a positive attitude toward the job, but also a person's positive feelings towards that job. Work engagement is basically a motivating entity that shows the individuals' willingness to devote themselves entirely to work. Work engagement refers to the identification purpose and focusing on organizational goals. Jahangir, Khorakian and Lagzzian (2016) studied the effect of work attachment on innovative behavior with the mediating role of error sharing. The results of their research showed that work engagement has a positive and significant effect on the sharing of errors and the production of the ideas.
3- METHODOLOGY
The present study has an applied and survey-analytical purpose. The survey population of this study is the employees of Municipality of Mashhad which includes experts, district officials and heads of departments with a total number of 340. The sample size included 181 individuals which was determined using Morgan table. They were selected using simple random sampling method. The questionnaire was a lickert scale and consisted of 31 items and four dimesnions of fun at work, innovative behavior, work engagement and job satisfaction. In this research, fun at work was measured using the four subscales of McDowell (2004). Fun at work scale includes socializing with coworkers, celebrating at work, personal freedoms and global fun at work. Eighteen items derived from McDowell's (2004) study have been used to measure this variable. Work engagement measurements were measured using six items of Rich, Lepine & Crawford (2010) study. In order to measure the innovative behavior, four items derived from Fluegge’s (2008) study have been used. After collecting data, structural validity was calculated using confirmatory factor analysis in AMOS software. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis for the items in the questionnaire were less than 0.05, and therefore the significance of the items was confirmed.
4- RESULTS & DISCUSSION
The findings of this study are consistent with the literature on workplace fun confirming the positive outcomes of fun at work. Fun at work has a positive and significant effect on job satisfaction and employees’ work engagement. On the other hand, the positive influence of fun at work on innovative behavior was also confirmed. The results of this study are consistent with the results of other studies. In Fluegge's (2008, 2014) research, there is also a positive and significant correlation between fun at work and innovative behavior. It can be argued that fun at work is a source for creative and innovative divergent thinking. Fun at work has a positive and significant effect on job satisfaction. Job stress will decrease and positive feelings about work will increase if the working process is enjoyable for people. The positive and significant relationship between fun at work and work engagement is consistent with the results of previous studies. For example, Ching (2010) concluded that employees who experience fun at work are more satisfied about their job. Previous studies including Fluegge (2008, 2014) and MacDowell (2004) show that there is a strong relationship between fun at work and work engagement; thus, it can be said that fun at work plays an important role in increasing employees’ engagement.
5- CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS
The results of this study, like other previous studies, indicate the great impact of fun at work on job performance. Fun at work has both a direct and indirect impact on job satisfaction and work engagement. In addition, the positive and significant positive effects of innovative behavior on job satisfaction and work engagement of municipality employees in Mashhad were also confirmed. Fun at work is influential in enhancing the innovative behavior of the municipality's employees in Mashhad. On the other hand, people who experience fun at work are also more likely to be more engaged with their work and therefore are more creative. In this research, work engagement is considered as the cognitive outcome of fun at work. Fun at work acts as a positive job resource, whereby employees find the ability to regain energy and focus on their work. Since fun at work is part of the work activity and it is emphasized that it is not considered as opposite to work, both of them are not counter productive of a spectrum. It can also be suggested that work-oriented meetings be hold with the aim of solving the problem or provideing ideas for improving performance outside the office space and in a fun and friendly atmosphere with the presence of managers. Based on the demand-source model which refers to job resources such as physical, social, psychological or organizational dimensions of the occupation, fun at work reduces job demands, and increases individual learning, goal achieving, and also work engagement of employees.
Fun at work, Innovative behavior, Work engagement, Job satisfaction
Mohammad Rasoul Heshmati; Alireza Khorakian; Yaghoob Maharati
Abstract
This study aims to investigate the mediating role of "Valence of Suggestion System" in relationship between "Interactional Justice" and "Motivation to Submit Suggestion". Importance of research on suggestion system has been admitted and investigated by many scholars in previous studies. Therefore, the ...
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This study aims to investigate the mediating role of "Valence of Suggestion System" in relationship between "Interactional Justice" and "Motivation to Submit Suggestion". Importance of research on suggestion system has been admitted and investigated by many scholars in previous studies. Therefore, the aims of this study are to investigate factors contributing to participation enhancement in suggestion system considering interactional justice and valence of suggestion system variables. Statistical population of this research consists of employees of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. A questionnaire consisting of 10 questions with Licker’s 5 scale spectrum was used to collect research data. The questionnaire was distributed among 240 employees. Findings showed that valence of suggestion system mediate the effect of interactional justice on motivation to submit suggestion. Moreover, the direct effect of the interactional justice on motivation to submit suggestion was confirmed.