راهبردهای کارآفرینی در کشاورزی (Jul 2024)
Identifying and Providing Indicators and Criteria for Empowering Employees in Business Sustainability and Development
Abstract
Extended Abstract Background: The most important and most valuable strategic resource of organizations is its capable and creative human resources, in the absence of which other resources of an organization and even advanced technology are considered poor and incapable. A capable human force enables increasing production and added value and, accordingly, furnishes the development of the organization. Neglecting this important factor can be one of the reasons for underdevelopment in some developing countries. Investing in human capital and increasing its share in the total investment of Iran leads to better utilization of physical capital, and it is an important factor in the process of economic growth and development. To make maximum use of human resources, an organization must be able to manage this valuable asset correctly and optimally. Establishing and implementing the strategic approach of empowering human resources have created a competitive advantage for organizations, leading to the improvement of performance, creation of added value, and help implement comprehensive quality plans. The importance and efficiency of human resources are not nowadays hidden from anyone, and organizations need capable human resources to survive in a complex and challenging environment. Empowering and developing human resources are a management approach in which employees are given the authority to make their own decisions and participate in the decisions of their own organizations. Human resources are considered the most important factors of entrepreneurship and innovation in any country, and there is no doubt that the growth and development of any country are based on improving, nurturing, and empowering its human resources. Employees have many abilities and talents that should flourish through empowerment, which significantly influences improving job satisfaction and, consequently, customer satisfaction. As a mental and attitudinal concept, empowerment significantly affects the performance, productivity, and effectiveness of an organization. With empowerment as one of the human resource development approaches, positive changes have been made in the field of employees' organizational activities in the last few decades. These developments have caused organizations to use human resources properly. Therefore, empowering employees plays an important role in the progress and functional development of an organization. In fact, identifying indicators to evaluate management strategies for employee empowerment can help senior managers evaluate and find the best strategy in this field. The current research aims to investigate the indicators and criteria for evaluating management strategies for employee empowerment. Methods: The current research is an applied and descriptive-analytical study based on the objective and the nature of methodology, respectively, as well as a survey (field) study in terms of the data collection method. The required data were collected from experts using a simple questionnaire and a matrix questionnaire. Data were then analyzed in three stages: average analysis, Shannon analysis, and composite analysis. The statistical population included experts in the field of human resources of the company. Due to the limited number of the population, the non-random snowball sampling method was used to determine a sample size of 21 experts in this research. Results: Based on the average technique, self-confidence (W=0.18) and job satisfaction (W=0.17) are ranked first and second, respectively. According to Shannon's technique, creativity (W=0.219) and then threat (W=0.143) rank first and second, respectively. Based on the combined analysis of the obtained data, Shannon and weighted average techniques, the job satisfaction (W=0.16) and self-confidence (W=0.14) criteria were respectively regarded as the first and second priorities in the ranking of employee empowerment strategies for business sustainability and development. Conclusion: The two important components of self-confidence and job satisfaction should be considered the most important criteria in evaluating employee empowerment strategies. This is because empowered employees are those who are satisfied with their jobs and have more self-confidence than their colleagues and peers. Company managers and decision-makers are suggested to strengthen self-confidence and job satisfaction in their employees through the implementation of different strategies and policies, thereby empowering them for business development. Self-confidence is one of the prominent and important characteristics of capable and entrepreneurial forces. The sense of self-confidence needs to be strengthened and paid attention to empower employees and flourish their inner abilities and talents. All organizational efforts to empower, nurture, and develop employees are futile without creating and strengthening a sense of self-confidence; in other words, the ability of employees is formed in the context of self-confidence. Job satisfaction is a factor for more commitment and effort of employees in an organization that strengthens and improves the morale of employees for empowerment and increasing skills as well as organizational development and progress. Job dissatisfaction and job dissatisfaction are both deadly and destructive poisons for empowerment, and the factors that cause them should be strictly avoided in the organization. Therefore, all the policies and strategies of entrepreneurship and the ability of employees in Pars Denon Dairy Company should be evaluated based on indicators and criteria such as self-confidence and job satisfaction.
