Designing and Describing a Model for Strategic Competencies of Senior Managers, using Thematic Analysis Method

This research aims to design and describe a model for strategic competencies of senior managers in petrochemical industry, the competencies which assist them to promote their performance in implementing strategic management process and result in realization of strategic goals and better performance of the organization. In this research, having reviewed the studies already done in this field and the literature of the research, a preliminary framework was developed to recognize the management competencies. In the next step in-depth interviews with managing directors of the petrochemical companies which has been selected as superior companies was conducted and “Thematic Analysis” technique has been used to analyze the interviews. The identified competencies were categorized in five dimensions of knowledge, skills, experience, attitude and personal characteristics and in order to examine the reliability of the findings, the results were edited and distributed in the form of questionnaires among the university and petrochemical industry elites. Later, the “smartPLS” software was used for model evaluation and “Friedman Test” was applied to prioritize principal and subsidiary parameters in each dimension. The research resulted in recognition of 54 principal parameters and 10 subsidiary parameters which have been categorized and prioritized in 5 dimensions of knowledge, skills, experience, attitude and personal characteristics.