A Thematic Analysis of Obstacles to Good Governance in the System of Non-Governmental Economic Organizations in Iran (A Study of the Association of Iranian Home Appliance Industries)

After the experiences of inefficiency in societies managed by the governments based on authority-oriented methods, today, governance is considered the result of not only government actions, but also various social forces, including the private sector, the third sector or non-governmental organizations, influential groups, etc. Governance refers to the criteria that include creating rules for exercising power and resolving conflicts within the framework of those rules (Graham, 2003:57). The World Bank considers governance as a method, based on which power is exercised over the economic management of a country and its social resources to achieve development (World Bank Report, 2009:69). This approach focuses on changing the traditional power structure and is based on crushing and distributing power between government and non-government levels, decentralizing, and encouraging participation. At the same time, non-governmental economic organizations are under the influence of governmental governance and rule over their members. In fact, governance of non-governmental economic organizations affects the activities of their members just as government rulers’ decisions affect the activities of those organizations. In Iran, non-governmental economic organizations are not still involved as one of the important players in the public sector of the economy and do not play a significant role in policy-making or executive programs. Due to the lack of good governance in the system of non-governmental economic organizations of Iran, there are conflicts between the members of the government. Due to lack of good governance and non-participation of members, there are conflicts between economic non-governmental organizations and their members.

Considering the unfavorable situation of governance in the system of non-governmental economic organizations of Iran, this research, looked for the typology of obstacles to the government's good governance over non-governmental economic organizations and their members via identification of structural weaknesses and performance of governance institutions with the approach of institutional analysis.This research was based on a qualitative approach and a thematic analysis. The research community included the members of Iranian Household Appliance Industry Association. 21 persons were selected gradually and purposefully. The data were collected through episodic interviews and analyzed by the coding method.

The findings showed that the government’s governance over non-governmental economic organizations did not comply with the components of good governance. A chain of negative effects of its unfavorable governance had caused the increase of exchange costs in the system of Iranian non-governmental economic organizations, which had a negative domino effect on the country's development process. The government did not accept non-governmental economic organizations as the main beneficiaries in the country's economy. For this reason, there was a conflict and a gap of trust between the government and non-governmental economic organizations. Therefore, these organizations considered the government as the cause of damage to them and their members. The scope of this mistrust was extended by the conflict between the private sector and the government, the results of which were reflected on the country's failure to develop.Non-governmental economic organizations were facing many issues in the field of governing their members. These included the problems of rotation of power, transparency, efficiency, financial independence, acquisition of economic resources, specialized and skilled personnel, members’ low participations, and conflicts between the managers of economic non-governmental organizations and their members.To improve the governance system of non-governmental economic organizations over the members, the members’ roles in public assemblies should be recycled optimally. Governance in the system of non-governmental economic organizations in Iran has been authority-oriented until now. Due to the changes in the country's cultural, social, and economic structures, the paradigm of protector-oriented is no longer compatible with the actors’ spirits of the economic non-governmental organizations. and the patterns of patriarchal and authoritarian governance in these organizations are declining. This system is changing from the state of other-headship to the state of self-headship. In fact, the system of non-governmental economic organizations in Iran is leaving the authority-oriented paradigm and entering a participation-oriented discourse.