فصلنامه فرایند مدیریت و توسعه
سال شانزدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 55، بهار 1381)

Two management theories have in recent years furnished divergent views about the roles and motives of managers. In the economically and materially oriented "agency theory", managers are introduced as people who are after their personal interests, preferring them to the interests of the organizations. The approach entails a search for methods that would harmonize the goals of the managers and the organization, thus transforming the managers from agents to stewards. In the "stewardship theory", which provides a social and psychological outlook, managers are viewed as stewards who devote their time and energy to the organization and who put the interests of the organization ahead of their own. The present article reviews both approaches and attempts to offer suggestions on how to use the two theories eclectically in organizational situations.

Devising a comprehensive employment plan and determining factors impacting this plan entail recognizing key factors contributing to the overall success of employment generation efforts in the industrial sector: As numerous factors affect this process، it would be impossible to reach the abovementioned objective without a scientific and meticulous attempt to define key factors in this area. The present research has been conducted in the industrial sector of the East Azerbaijan province. Research findings yielded one hundred factors affecting employment in this sector. These factors were then grouped in ten categories using the factor analysis technique. The study found that «improved management in the industry sector» has a major effect on employment generation.

The present research studies how material and non-material factors could attract people to work in public and private sectors. The study focuses on the effect of financial incentives on better performance in the workplace, as well as the importance of wages, job security, authority, and job satisfaction in both the public and the private sectors. Research subjects are all public and private sector employees in Semnan Province with at least two years work experience. The computing formula, derived form the formula provided by Cochran's Sampling Techniques (1977), puts their number at about 230. A number of the subjects are also graduate students of public administration, industrial management, and industires management at Semnan's State Management Training Center, Semnan's Islamic Azad University, and the Semnan Branch of Iran's Higher Education Center for Industries. Random selection, closed ended questionnaires, and the Likert Scale are used for data collection purposes. The present research method is computatinal (peymayeshi) Chi-square (X2) and T-Test are used to analyze the data. Findings in the public and private sectors are after opportunities to enjoy on-the-job training and upward mobility. Job security, wages, and incentives appear to be of secondary importance and as such do not serve as distinctive features of any of the two sectors. In the private sector,however, employees attach importance to financial incentives and promotion.

Studies show that private sector organizations in many developed countries utilize Business Process Reengineering (BPR). Management theories indicate that BPR has spilled over to these countrie's public organizations as well. While defining BPR and its methodology, this article focuses on characteristic features of state-owned organizations and on how these features impact the implementation of BPR in the public sector. A successful instance of BPR in a state organization, as well as advice for achieving BPR, is also presented.

Electronic government is an offshoot of the information technology and management of this technology and management of this technology. If implemented in the state-owned sector, e-government will effect tremendous changes in the efficiency and effectiveness of goveernment systems and services, leading to large scale popular satisfaction. While elaborating on this modern global concept, the present article expounds the importance and inevitability of e-government, the importance of meeting people's needs, the significance of people's outlook toward the government and vice versa, and ultimately the process of setting up an e-government and the challenges behind its use.

Since the 1950s, goods and service providers and customers worldwide have attached mounting importance to quality. Advancements in science and technology have boosted consumer expectations for higher quality goods and services. Consumers no longer accept just any kind of goods or services. As such, the need to present high quality goods and top services to outpace the competition automatically eliminates those organizations that fail to meet their client's demands and expectations. Also those producers whose products fail to meet international standards will find it extremely hard to survive in the competitive global market. Total Quality Management (TQM) strives to meet the client's demands. TQM is an organizational strategy which uses qualitative and quantitative methods to provide high quality goods and services to the customers. Various models and techniques have been presented to elaborate on the philosophy of TQM. One of the primary duties of a senior manager is to go through all the different TQM theories, models and techniques and to then devise a quality management model that best suits his own organization.This is because TQM models differ from one organization to another. The Fork Quality Management Model is theoretically based on the Deming system and practically based on Japan's TQM systems. This model illustrates the sequence of activities that should be undertaken in each organization to boost quality. The TQM model resembles a fork: It has a handle stands for "the managements's commitment" to uplift quality; the neck stands for" management training"; the first prong stands for (routine)" daily management"; the second for "management of overlapping duties"; the third for "policy-marking management". The model's resemblance to a fork is metaphorical. TQM actually serves as nourishment for on organiaztion. Just as a fork is used for eating, TQM feeds and nourishes the entire organization, allowing the employees to gain the needed energy to launch the quality enhancement process and pursue the unending objective of quality improvement.