Mechanisms of Promotion of Subjective Responsibility of the Staff of Public Services Organizations of Tehran City: A Study of the Gap between the Existing and Desirable Situation

The nature of duties in the public sector is such that the process of decision-making by government servants and managers can turn into a complex and intricate problem due to conflict of interests and roles. Today, we witness that in the era of ethical crisis and sharp decline in people’s trust in the public servants’ observance of ethical principles and legal rules an inevitable wave of responsibility has started among the organizational officials and researchers. The review of related literature acknowledges the significance of high subjective responsibility for establishment of a balance between contradictory interests and encountering intricate ethical issues as an inextricable part of public duty. The present paper, following a synthetic method, aims to identify mechanisms for enhancing subjective responsibility of public servants in 23 organizations offering public services. In the qualitative section of this research, three categories of mechanisms were identified, i.e. organizational, managerial and vocational mechanisms for promotion of subjective responsibilities. In quantitative section it was found that there is a significant gap between utilization of these mechanisms in the prevailing situation and the desirable situation of public services organizations of Iran.