History of Management Knowledge in Iran

  In order to compile the history of "management knowledge" in Iran, this research has used the qualitative research strategy of the Grounded Theory. Courses in Management Knowledge Evolution in Iran were explained by analyzing data obtained from interviews with a number of veteran professors of Iranian Management Knowledge and with the help of additional data collected from written sources. Oral sources have been management professors in the years before and after the revolution, which have provided narratives of the history of management knowledge in Iran. Data from oral and written sources were collected, coded, and analyzed based on a systematic model of the Strauss and Corbin's Grounded theory. This study classified management knowledge in Iran into 4 periods. The first period of "Management Emergence" begins with the establishment of the School of Political Science in 1278. The establishment of the Institute of Administrative Sciences in 1333 marks the end of the first period and the beginning of the second period of the "Management flourishing period". The social developments of 1357 are the beginning of the third period and with the Cultural Revolution, the "period of management neglect" continues for many years to come. Finally, the fourth period began with the construction period in 1368 and the Increasing growth of higher education institutions providing different orientations in the field of management, and "Management Revival Course" in Iran extends to the contemporary period.

The purpose of this study is to explain the history of management in Iran. There is no comprehensive study on the history of management knowledge in Iran. This scientific need and research interest caused the main problem of the research to be "there are no sources and texts that have studied the emergence and evolution of management knowledge in Iran as the main goal and in a methodical and coherent way.”According to the main issue, the main question of the research is "What courses has management knowledge gone through in Iran, and what have been the different conditions affecting each course, its characteristics, and the consequences of those courses?”.

This article is the result of collecting oral data from professors familiar with the process of historical developments and written sources containing information about historical events that their analysis led to a theory based on the evolution of management knowledge in Iran.

The study of the history and evolution of management knowledge in the West, especially the United States, is much broader than the study of the history and evolution of management knowledge in Iran. The scientific literature of management considers this knowledge or science as the product of the efforts of the twentieth century industrialized countries, which has a short lifespan. However, management in Iran is the product of the creation of modern educational structures that have been formed and developed in the form of imports and transfers. Management knowledge in Iran requires a comprehensive historical study that achieves a theory based on the evolution of management knowledge courses in Iran as a guiding approach for other indigenous studies.

The research strategy of this study is the data research method of the Grounded theory using the systematic approach of Strauss and Corbin. The population of this research consists of experts who are aware of the evolution of management science in Iran who are aware of the evolution of this field or have been influential in its evolution. A library study has been used to collect written resource data. The method of selecting interview samples is theoretical sampling. Data analysis was performed in three stages of open coding, axial coding and selective coding.

The findings of this study have classified the evolution of management knowledge in Iran into 4 main periods. In explaining these courses, macro systems including educational system, administrative system, political system, economic system, and social system and their influential components such as effective structures, effective experts, effective writings, and effective events have been studied and analyzed.

The evolution of management knowledge in Iran was studied in 4 periods by studying the structures of management education in the main systems. Therefore, it can be concluded that the need to learn management knowledge with a correct understanding of the political system in the first period, with the establishment of educational structures in the second period from the United States to Iran, growth and stagnation, with emotional reactions of the third period stagnated, and with a correct understanding of the need to learn this knowledge was revived in the fourth period.