محمدحسین کناررودی

One of the challenging topics among public administration theorists is the relationship between the two concepts of politics and administration. Various theories have been proposed regarding these two concepts; however, no consensus has been reached, and political science and public administration theorists still struggle to define the boundaries between administration and politics. Today, the concept of the state encompasses both bureaucracy and politics. However, understanding the nature of politics and bureaucracy and their interrelationship is difficult, as each can influence the other. This paper aims to separate the concept of politics from bureaucracy to better understand the extent of their influence. This influence can have positive or negative consequences, depending on the conditions and contexts of different societies. In practice, however, distinguishing between administration and politics is very difficult, and some theorists believe that separating these two concepts is not feasible in practice. Furthermore, this relationship may differ in developed and developing countries, taking on a distinct form. The aim of this paper is to examine and study the relationship between politics and bureaucracy in the public administration of Iran.

Design/ methodology/ approach: 

The current research adopts a qualitative approach. To achieve the defined objectives, research data were collected through purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews with 11 executive experts from the Ministry of Energy. An inductive thematic analysis method was used to analyze the data and address the research question.

 After collecting and analyzing the data, 95 initial codes were identified. These were categorized and re-examined to extract 24 basic themes, ultimately leading to the identification of 7 organizing themes and a network of themes. The organizing themes include the dependency of decisions on personal opinions, consideration of political power in decisions, nepotism in selecting bureaucrats, the short-term nature of bureaucrats' service, the presence of formalism in selecting bureaucrats, the weakness in utilizing scientific findings and experts, and the weak connection between experts and decision-makers. The findings indicate that the public administration and bureaucracy in Iran have deviated from Weber’s ideal bureaucracy. Previous research has shown that most developed countries have closer alignment with Weber's ideal bureaucracy in their public administration, implementing structural features such as administrative hierarchy, specialization, and meritocracy. Studies have shown that better results in public administration can be achieved if politicians' decisions and policies can be separated from the execution and administration of public affairs.

Limitations & Consequences:

 The final model presented by the researcher may not be generalizable to all public sector organizations.

Practical Consequences: 

The findings of the current research are based solely on one ministry due to the broad scope of the topic, which may pose limitations in terms of generalizability.

Innovation or value of the Article:

 Most studies and research conducted to date on the relationship between politics and administration have been focused on developed countries, and the existing literature is predominantly related to developed countries and modern states. Therefore, the results of studies conducted in developing countries can offer both theoretical and practical innovation. The current research examines the relationship between politics and administration in the public administration of Iran, which, as a developing country, allows for deeper and more precise studies. Ultimately, the results can be used to reform the administrative and political systems. Additionally, this research can help address existing challenges in the country's public administration from a comparative studies perspective.

Talent acquisition for start-up businesses is a crucial concept that can lead to several significant problems such as market share decline if overlooked. The situation worsens when start-up businesses decide to keep pace with digital developments and start incorporating digitalization into their talent acquisition strategies. For this purpose, the current research sought to provide a framework for talent acquisition in start-up businesses, focusing on talent recruitment, selection, and onboarding in the digital platform.

The research adopted a qualitative approach, more precisely a multiple-case study design. This strategy sought to understand the research problem in depth and to generate rich experiences from participants. Twenty purposely selected managers and specialists from four purposely selected information technology start-up businesses that are experts in the field were involved. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with an analysis based on thematic analysis conducted in three stages. 

Following the interviews, the data was coded in three stages, leading to the extraction of three general categories consisting of basic themes, organizing themes, and comprehensive themes. The final stage of research coding identified ten key themes for talent acquisition in startups, including: taking an aggressive approach to talent acquisition, creating a strong employer brand, managing relationships with talents, identifying risks in talent selection, designing selection criteria and methods, determining selection quality, setting onboarding timelines, and developing learning methods and content for onboarding. 

Drawing from the identified themes, this study proposes three digitalization-driven strategies to enhance talent acquisition in startups: talent recruitment, talent selection, and onboarding processes. In talent recruitment, aligning strategy with digital transformation to attract a diverse talent pool is crucial. Implementing an agile selection system using technology is recommended for talent selection while updating onboarding processes for agility is vital in the onboarding phase. Finally, a conceptual model presenting final strategies and comprehensive themes was developed as a framework for talent acquisition in start-up businesses, emphasizing the importance of having a structured approach to talent management. A talent acquisition framework is an important step for startups because it helps them in their digital recruitment strategy, enabling their productivity to be better.

Digitalization and agility are the dominant features of the gig economy. Therefore, it is crucial to consider digital transformation and organizational agility in both the public and private sectors. The level of preparedness of the public sector for the digital transformation as a new approach to employee management and enhancement of the capabilities of public sector organizations is also of high significance. This relatively new concept includes the use of web-based technologies to optimize processes and create better results in human resource management (HRM). The purpose of the present qualitative research was to present a model for digital HRM in the public sector to fit in the digital era.

Qualitative research method was used to conduct the present study. To achieve the research objective, data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 36 human resource experts in the public banking network (including 8 banks), who were selected using the purposive sampling method.

The findings of this study consisted of 4 comprehensive themes, 15 organizing themes, and 58 basic themes, which were obtained in three stages of coding. The comprehensive themes were digital architecture, digital ecosystem, the drivers of digital HRM, and the digital HRM outcomes.

The obtained results indicated that the public sector requires digital HRM to create agility in the gig economy. As an innovative and inevitable strategy, public sector organizations need digital HRM to improve their agility of the public sector banking network and facilitate the transformation and the transition to the digital economy. Unfortunately, there is currently a major weakness in the knowledge and practice of digital HRM in the public sector. The present study considered this issue and some new concepts that have not been mentioned in the existing literature.

A qualitative study of what is the human dignity of employees in organizations and identifying factors affecting human dignity and its consequences on employees in the workplace is one of the concerns that we face in the present era. Having committed human resources is a measure of competitive advantage for an organisation. It highlights the organization’s brand in the society and leads to its growth and development. Employees who are not committed to their organizations, they do not try to achieve their organizational goals. They are not effective in creating a useful culture. It may lead to an indifferent culture among employees towards the issues and problems of the organization. These negative consequences blocks an organization to achieve its goals.  In today’s world, managers might assume that using a new management software and hardware, they can increase their organization’s efficiency. However, experts believe that it is the human resources that ultimately determine the economic and social development of a country, not only the capital or other material resources. Extensive studies conducted in several countries have shown that the most important factor toward a company’s growth is its human resource development. This cannot be achieved except by accommodating the principles of human relations, out of which respect is one of the most vital elements.  The success of organizations depend on creating the strategic capability by ensuring the presence of skilled, committed and motivated employees in the organizations. Especially when those employees are scarce and unimitable and they are considered as creative people. With such descriptions, maintaining the best employees is more difficult than attracting them. Striving for maintaining human resources is not possible without knowing the important things that motivate them. Today's organizations pay a lot of attention to their employees. The experience has shown that the more the material (external) needs are satisfied, the more their psychological (internal) needs are satisfied. Failure to meet those needs significantly reduces employees’ performance and motivation and their willingness to work will be reduced. Commitment also leads to productivity as it promotes an individual's compatibility with the organization, increases individual creativity and efficient utilization of human resources. The most important factor in the development of organizations is the development of human resources by considering the principles of human relations, the most important of which is respect for human dignity and spiritual values. Hence, the main purpose of this study is to explore the human dignity and its antecedents and consequences for employees.

A qualitative approach was chosen for this study. The sample group was selected from the employees of insurance companies. The research was conducted by interviewing the sample group in Kish Island. The Data was analysed using MAXQDA software and content analysis method. First, descriptive and demographic data were presented and then qualitative analysis was discussed in six stages. The meaningful propositions were identified, the basic themes were extracted, the organizing themes were identified. and 8 comprehensive themes were developed . Then, a network of themes was drawn and finally the relationships between the themes in the network of drawn themes were described.

The eight identified key areas are as (1) short-term relationships versus long-term relationships; (2) mutual relationship between employees and the business environment of an organization; (3) multiplicity of success criteria; (4) promoting welfare, health and livelihood of employees; (5) employee empowerment; (6) spiritual management of employees; (7) management of performance and development of employees; and (8) development and an organizational culture based on ccustomer-orientation. The theme of employee empowerment in the organization shows that employees should be given responsibility and authority to be able to make decisions about their specific tasks. Factors that affect employees’ empowerment are identified in this theme. In order to maintain employees’ human dignity, they should have the necessary capabilities to perform their work activities to avoid job criticism. They should be protected and their human dignity should be preserved by receiving encouragement and promotion. Indicators of employee empowerment include employee participation in decision-making and timely payment of salaries. Employees also have a better sense of doing their job by creating a customer-oriented organizational culture with customer satisfaction of employees. It also, preserves employees’ human dignity outside of the organization. Customers reciprocally respect those employees that respect them, thus preserving employees' human dignity. Indicators identified in this research include not dealing with issues personally, corporate social responsibility, responsibility, ethical principles and serving to the people.

The results of the study showed that the most significant factors that initiate human dignity are spiritual management of employees, developing an organizational culture based on customer orientation, bilateral relationship between employees and the business environment, multiplicity of success criteria and short-term versus long-term relationships. The most important consequences are performance management, employee development, employee empowerment as well as improving their welfare, and health. Performance management is done to identify, measure and develop the performance of individuals and groups and coordinate performance with the strategic goals of the organization. Employee development includes activities that affect employees’ personal and career growth. Leading employees to do the right thing and train them to get things done can prepare them for the right job. Performance management and development indicators include work ambiguity, importance of employees for managers, giving importance to employees' work and holding training courses and specialization of work.

Acceptance of virtual educational qualifications by human resources recruitment specialists’ affairs in organizations is one of the important issues. This qualitative study focuses on the views and biases of recruitment experts towards virtual education (online) in comparison with traditional (face-to-face) education. The method of data collection was semi-structured telephone interviews with 18 human resource recruitment specialists in the public sector. The obtained information was coded by theme analysis method and then analyzed to find concepts related to the acceptance of virtual educational documents. The majority of respondents believed that online and traditional education in reputable universities are equally acceptable. Lack of social interactions in online education and the credibility of some particular teaching universities were among the concerns of recruitment specialists. The results showed that attitudes about e-learning are changing towards a more positive one. It is suggested that students in virtual educational classes participate in social activities outside the classroom to compensate for the lack of social interaction in virtual educational classes. Uuniversities with virtual education should also gain or maintain their credibility and seek to increase the credibility of their academic credentials for acceptance among recruitment specialists’ affairs.

The objective of the present research was to identify the components affecting the work life quality of female employees of Kish Island Civil, Water, Services Company and the factors affecting these components. The population of the study were female employees of Kish Island Civil, Water, Services Company. The research sample was 24 individuals whom were selected via a semi-structured interview. The research design was qualitative and its analysis was performed by thematic analysis. Research findings included nine effective factors on improving the quality of work life of women such as: quality of work environment, communication in the organization, human dignity, family-oriented facilities offering and policies, career factors, attention to organizational factors, solving organizational problems, forging staff promotion and organizational progress. The results also indicated that special attention to the mental health of employed women, their welfare, fun and fun events, sport classes, consultations with recreation and tourism sites to consider a discount for the employees, organizing women's sports events, solving employee insurance problems were the factors which organization could do to ensure the safety, health and welfare of the staff.

As more and more data are generated day by day, the applicability of internet of things (IoT) devices becomes inevitable. The analysis of such data can have many benefits for the organizations and societies. Since previous research has not addressed the identification and prioritization of these applications, the purpose of this study is to identify and rank big IoT data analyses.

This article was divided into two sections. In part 1, the researchers used the meta-synthesis method to identify the applications; and in part 2, the multivariable method was used to prioritize the applications. Moreover, TELOS feasibility (Technical, Economic, Legal, Operational, & Scheduling) and AHP were used to weight and rank the criteria. Then, the applications were ranked based on the experts’ opinions through Vikor’s method.

In this research, the meta-synthesis method has been used to identify the applications of big IoT data analyses. In this meta-synthesis method, 490 articles were initially identified and after eliminating conference papers, 257 articles were selected to initiate the meta-synthesis process. Finally, 51 articles were selected and as a result, 256 sub-applications were identified which were categorized into 114 main categories, 16 industries, and 7 analytic applications. It is also noteworthy that the diagnostic application within the health and transportation industries (with 102 & 100 applications, respectively), as well as the monitoring application within the health, transportation, and agriculture industries were reported to have the highest functioning. The most identified applications in industry-analysis belong to transport-diagnostic (32 applications), health-diagnostic (29 applications), health-monitoring (26 applications), agriculture-monitoring (25 applications), and transport-monitoring (20 applications). In the prioritization step, after calculating the weights based on the experts’ opinions and hierarchical analysis, the applications of transportation and health industries were ranked using TELOS feasibility as well as the experts’ ratings and the Vikor’s method. According to the experts’ opinions and TELOS feasibility criteria, the predictive applications in the transportation industry and the automation applications in the health industry have received the highest priorities.

According to the research findings, big IoT data analysis is mostly used in the transportation and health industrieswhere the predictive applications in the transportation industry and the automation applications in the health industry have been regarded as a priority. Based on these results, the two health and transportation industries and their priority applications are proposed for the companies that want to work in this area. Due to differences in prioritization of the applications in the two transportation and health industries, the justifications for the two industries are different as well.

Start ups need the application of new management techniques and concepts. Gamification is considered as a useful tool for organizations and this qualitative research answers the main question of the research wich is that how can build a gamified process in the field of human resources, especially in recruitment section of startups. In this research 12 people are interviewed. These people were experts of human resources and gamification. In relation to primary and secondary themes in the field of gamification design during recruitment process in order to improving the recruitment of proper human force for small and medium startup businesses, 8 primary themes and 21 secondary themes are recognized. 8 primary themes which are effective factors on designing gamified recruitment process for startups are as follows: designing work plan, recognizing the job skills of applicant, examining the job innovation of applicant, developing the technology substructures of organization, characteristics of applicant, recognizing the psychological capital of applicant, recognizing the social capital of applicant, and the applicant`s adjustment ability to job purposes. The final result is a framework for designing a gamified process which is suit for human resources especially in the recruitment section.

In today’s organizations and indus tries, there are many reasons to believe that human resource decision-making is accompanied by numerous ethical, social, and legal considerations, which jus tifies research in this area. The purpose of this s tudy is to inves tigate decisionmaking models in human resource management in knowledge-based indus tries. The focus of this research is on the discovery of new findings as a process for decision making and its integration as a career field for human resource management. This qualitative s tudy examined the perceptions and experiences of HR professionals working in small and medium-sized businesses. The population of this s tudy include HR professionals from several relevant and reliable professionals of knowledge-based firms that address the needs of HR professionals. Inductive (closed) and deductive (open) ques tions were used to collect the research data as part of the interview protocol. In-depth interviews were conducted using the ladder technique. Finally, the results of data analysis using the thematic analysis and according to the four types of perceptions, experiences, effects, and outcomes of the experts, showed 19 sub-themes and nine main themes such as ineffective human resource management measures, was ted organizational resources, creativity Organizational, / No job involvement, Increased negative behaviors in workplace / Departure of human resources, Decrease in human resource empowerment / Decrease in psychological capital and Lack of access to organizational perspectives.