Studying the Possibility of Changing the Department of Health Educational to a Knowledge Based Organization: a Glance at Staff's Viewpoints

The Ministry of Health, as one of the vital and large organizations of Iran, needs to adapt itself to the changes of the world to move from a traditional to a modern knowledge-based organization. The main aim of the present survey was to study the level of use of knowledge-based organizations components in the Department of Health Education from the staff’s viewpoint. The present study was a descriptive one whose statistical population consisted of all Department of Health Education staff (about 136). Almost all of them were surveyed because of the small size of the population. A research-made questionnaire was used to collect the data. One professor and two experts of the field evaluated the questionnaire and based on their views its validity was confirmed. The reliability of the research instrument was found to be 0.90, using Cronbach’s alpha. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, T test, Pearson correlation coefficient and Friedman test were used to analyze the collected data. According to the results, the means for the objectives, culture, structure and technology application components were 2.28, 2.23, 2.19, and 2.25, respectively. Therefore, all knowledge-based organizations components in the Department of Health Education were at a poor level. To become a knowledge-based organization, the managers and organizers of this department should pay more attention to providing more opportunities for open communication with the staff and their greater involvement in decision-making and overall strategies, and respecting the expertise of employees.