Moving from a National Model toward a Provincial Model of Empowerment for Managers and Executives in Public Sector: A Case Study

The first aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of activities, strategies and processes associated with managers’ empowerment based on the National Human Resource Empowerment Model in Iran. The second aim is to propose a provincial model of human resources empowerment for managers and executives. To collect data, a qualitative research approach including semi-structured interviews and content analysis was used. The research sample consists of 27 managers who were recruited by purposive sampling method from an Iranian organization in public sector. The results of interviews revealed that there is a practical gap between current effectiveness of human resources empowerment in the studied organization and the optimal effectiveness suggested by the national model. In addition, content analysis showed that lack of a systematic and trackable plan of human resources empowerment had stopped the implementation of empowerment strategies. This provincial empowerment model can be used to keep managers motivated and efficient where regional, social and cultural values are considered important in the workplace. Moreover, it could be used to remove the gap between current effectiveness in studied organization and the optimal effectiveness indicated in national model through more motivated and empowered managers.