Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1
Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management and Economics, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran.
2
Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management, Farabi Campus, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
3
Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management, Islamic Azad University, West Branch, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction and Objectives: In the competitive world of the 21st century, organizations, with a tendency towards moral and human virtues, are trying to fill the spiritual, ethical, and emotional gaps of their employees by emphasizing virtues. This emphasis on new organizational studies was accompanied by the emergence of a new concept called the virtuous organization. Among the types of virtuous organizations, religious holy places have always been among the most important bases for drawing the future for humanity and, as the center of gravity and focus of global developments and cultural engineering, they reveal their capabilities. Just as people's attitudes, beliefs, norms, and opinions towards religious holy places lead to respect and consider them purer than other places, following management principles is required so that the management path is in line with reality and away from an abstract and fantasy space. In such circumstances, on the one hand, the emphasis of scientific models cited in change management and diagnosis, as the first step and one of the key stages of change, and on the other hand, the review of research conducted with a focus on organizational virtue, confirms that in the Islamic Republic of Iran, religious holy places, despite having specific missions in various cultural, social, economic, and political fields and a significant impact on the formation of the nature of Islamic society, have so far received less attention in scientific research related to change management and diagnosis. Therefore, despite various and well-known models in change management, the main problem of the research was the lack of a comprehensive, obstacle-free, and practical model for religious holy places through which one can identify and analyze their problems and problems with complete knowledge of such organizations and change their inefficient aspects. Therefore, the present study, to provide an applicable diagnosis model for organizations responsible for religious holy places in Iran, examined their dimensions and components. Accordingly, the Holy Shrine of Qods Razavi in Mashhad, the Holy Shrine of Fatemeh Masoumeh (peace be upon her) in Qom, the Holy Shrine of Abdulazim Hassani (peace be upon him) in the city of Rey, and the Holy Shrine of Ahmad ibn Musa (known as Shahcheragh) in Shiraz will be virtuous organizations that will benefit from the results of this research.
Method: The present qualitative research was designed with an applied approach to religious holy places in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Based on the Saunders onion research model, this research is placed in the interpretive paradigm layer. Its orientation is of the type of fundamental research and has an inductive process. In terms of research method, the research process was carried out by following the stages of Meta-synthesis according to the Sandelowski and Barroso method (2007) and combining it with thematic analysis according to the Brown and Clark method. The ultimate goal of the research is to understand the diagnosis model of virtuous organizations, in which the dimensions and components that constitute a religious holy place were introduced. The theoretical foundations and required data were collected through desk study of documents and semi-structured interviews with selected experts using non-probability judgmental and snowball sampling until theoretical saturation was reached. In this study, the interview protocol was designed based on the dialectical method: that is, constructing an opinion or thesis, confronting a counter-opinion or antithesis, and finally constructing a synthesis. Accordingly, first, the initial theme format was extracted from the theoretical data of the study (thesis) and then made available to the interviewees. Next, the review of the experts' ideas and opinions (antitheses) was summarized in the form of conceptual codes, and finally, the virtuous organization diagnosis model for Iranian religious holy places (synthesis) was designed.
Results: The presented virtuous organization diagnosis model is an applicable model for separating dimensions and components of religious holy places, which results in a general understanding of such organizations. It paves the way for their change and troubleshooting. Based on the findings, the introduced model consists of 4 dimensions and 20 main components. The main dimensions of this model are “pillars”, “functions”, “capitals” and “management”. In this model, the pillars dimension consists of the components of “pilgrim”, “pilgrimage”, “shrine” and “Hazrat”. “Sacred functions”, “cultural functions”, “social functions”, “economic functions” and “religious-political functions” are the components of the functions dimension. “Symbolic capitals”, “core values”, “organizational competencies”, “social capitals” and “cultural capitals” are in the capitals dimension. Finally, “planning”, “resource mobilization”, “organization”, “guidance and leadership” and “supervision and protection” are introduced as the components of the management dimension.
Discussion and Conclusion: This paper is the first research effort to present a specific diagnosis model for religious holy places of Iran, which addition to strengthening the scientific and research foundations of this field, can to some extent prevent the development of concepts and patterns imposed and prescribed to these organizations. The achievements of this research consider the main advantage of the diagnosis model in a deeper understanding and better visualization of the components of holy places and the identification of their risks and vulnerabilities. It explains operational applications in issues related to change management and diagnosis. This research considers the understanding of the organizations in charge of religious holy places possible through understanding the dimensions and components of their recognition and considers the suitability of change management, transformation, and development to be dependent on creating changes in the factors affecting the recognition components. It also concludes that the life of a virtue-based organization becomes problematic when one or more of the dimensions and components of the diagnosis are not properly explained in the organization, malfunction or deviate from its original path, or are compromised for any other reason. Neglect or lack of attention by any of the elements of the organization to any of these dimensions and components causes complications for the entire organization. Each of the dimensions and components of the diagnosis model has revealed unknown aspects of virtuous organizations. In this study, change management and diagnosis of studied virtuous organizations is a specialized activity derived from knowledge, experience, and commitment to such organizations, and it is suggested to the managers of the organizations under study that, given their mission in various social fields, they entrust this matter to those who have the necessary and sufficient technical, human, and cognitive qualifications for this task.
Acknowledgments: While appreciating the worthy participation of the group of experts selected from university professors and respected servants of the studied organizations, we would like to thank all those who participated in the research and helped us.
Conflict of interest: There is no conflict of interest in this research.
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