Abstract
<p>This study was conducted to analyze the managers’ and employees’ attitude towards obstacles to devolutionin Mazandaran Province Gas Company (Iran). According to the exploratory studies, devolutionobstacles was explored and identified at two dimensions including managers’ unwillingness to devolutionand subordinates’ reluctance to accept authority. To analyze the data and to confirm or reject the research questions, first,<strong> </strong>the <strong><em>Kolmogorov</em></strong><em>-<strong>Smirnov test </strong></em>was used to determine the normality of data. Given the non-normality of data, non-parametric tests such as one-sample one-tailed Wilcoxon test, Friedman test for ranking components, and Mann–Whitney test were used to identify the employees’ and managers’ different perception of obstacles to delegation of authority. Findings of the study indicated that Wilcoxon test was not significant at o.o5; that is, lack of trust and confidence in subordinates, inability of managers in guiding subordinates, lack of controlling processes, managers’ sense of insecurity, and unwillingness of managers to delegate authority were not the main obstacles to devolutionby managers in Mazandran Province Gas Company, and their effects were not significant. In line with examining the obstacles effective to the devolutionby subordinates, it was found that the fear of criticism, blame, and dismissal along with the lack of adequate motivation in subordinates were recognized as the most important obstacles to adoption of authority by subordinates in Mazandran Province Gas Company.</p>
Highlights
One of the main challenges facing today’s organizations is non-assignment of authority by superiors and, in some cases, rejection and resistance of the subordinates to accept the authority and responsibility
Findings of the study indicated that Wilcoxon test was not significant at o.o5; that is, lack of trust and confidence in subordinates, inability of managers in guiding subordinates, lack of controlling processes, managers’ sense of insecurity, and unwillingness of managers to delegate authority were not the main obstacles to devolutionby managers in Mazandran Province Gas Company, and their effects were not significant
The issue of devolution is considered as an extremely vital issue in the management arena of this company, and naturally, without paying attention to delegating authority to lower levels of organization, the flow and continuation of gas delivered to citizens will face some defects practically, and this calls for senior managers to take delegation of authority into their consideration to carry out the fast and optimal gas delivery activities as well as to respond to the company’s subscribers on time
Summary
One of the main challenges facing today’s organizations is non-assignment of authority by superiors and, in some cases, rejection and resistance of the subordinates to accept the authority and responsibility. Running today’s large and complex organizations seems impossible given the diversity of activities and problems they are confronting, without delegating a part of management authorities to the lower level managers (operational level) as well as decentralization in carrying out activities. On the other hand, delivering gas to cities (58 cities) and villages (2921 villages) within this province is viewed as the inherent missions of this company Given this importance, the issue of devolution is considered as an extremely vital issue in the management arena of this company, and naturally, without paying attention to delegating authority to lower levels of organization, the flow and continuation of gas delivered to citizens will face some defects practically, and this calls for senior managers to take delegation of authority into their consideration to carry out the fast and optimal gas delivery activities as well as to respond to the company’s subscribers on time. They need to pay attention to the employees’ and operational level managers’ willingness to accept authority and responsibility as a vital and important issue
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