Identifying and prioritizing the factors affecting organizational trauma using delphi fuzzi approach

پژوهش نامه مدیریت تحول

Article 11, Volume 12, Spring & summer2020 - Serial Number 23, September 2020, Pages 251-272   

Document Type: Articles

DOI: 10.22067/pmt.v12i1.75971

Authors

reza sepahvand; Masoome Momenimofrad^* ; abdollah saedi

lorestan

Abstract

 
1- INTRODUCTION
In today's world, organizations are increasingly faced with dynamic and changing environments. thus, to survive, overcome the problems ahead, and adapt to existing developments, they should be able to change their paths and anticipate changes in the future. as new needs emerge and science and technology advance, organizations and managing them become more complex and difficult. these uncertainties, crises, workplace emergencies, and psychological pressures play a significant role in managing their performance. thus, in the age of industrialization, one of the main challenges for managers is to come with psychological pressures and control this destructive phenomenon that leads to behavioral problems and conflicts. therefore, some strategies are needed to reduce the problems caused by psychological pressures like organizational trauma.
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Organizational trauma is a person's intense anxiety about experiencing a catastrophic event that is beyond their current or routine experience and overshadows their defense structure. The source of trauma may be the own organization, the employees' relationships with each other, and/or interaction of people with the natural world. Employees may be traumatized because of their managers' misbehavior, losing their colleagues, downsizing, or their lack of necessary competencies. Factors such as the lack of focus on organizational tasks, expansion of subgroups not related to the main tasks, excessive increase of personal relationships, lack of problem-solving capacity, and forced silence are considered as signs of organizational trauma.
3- METHODOLOGY
This is a mixed-methods study that has utilized both the questionnaire and interview to identify the factors affecting organizational trauma. first, an exploratory study was conducted by semi-structured interviews. the validity and reliability of obtained data in the qualitative phase were evaluated and confirmed using the CVR coefficient and Kappa-Cohen test. on this basis, the affecting factors of organizational trauma were identified. through a field study, they were then validated.
4- RESULTS & DISCUSSION
This study aimed to identify and prioritize the factors affecting organizational trauma. In the following, the results referred to factors affecting organizational trauma: job insecurity, weak organizational culture, unusual increase in tasks and responsibilities, unclear mission and vision, managers' and supervisors' inefficiency, decrease in organization's legitimacy, lack of promotion and success, inadequate technology, lack of organizational honesty and justice, centralized and inappropriate structures, lack of organizational support, weak and inefficient communication patterns, lack of meritocracy systems, inability to attract resources, organizational silence, role ambiguity, and lack of participative management. on the other hand, after reviewing and evaluating the opinions of sample members and exploring the factors affecting organizational trauma using the delphi approach, these factors were prioritized.
5- CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS
The current results indicated that the weakness of organizational culture is the most important factor affecting organizational trauma. cultural weakness may exacerbate the organizational trauma by increasing tensions and conflicts, ignoring common values and beliefs, and so on. also, the lack of honesty and organizational justice, as the second most important affecting factor, indicates that discrimination, inputs (efforts) and outputs (rewards) mismatch, and employees' dishonest behavior lead to psychological damage. to achieve success and prosperity, the managers of public organizations are suggested to identify the factors affecting organizational trauma so that they can easily maintain their defense structures against psychological damages and increase the organization's flexibility against the crises. besides, it is suggested that public managers reduce the negative effects of organizational trauma on employees by implementing an organizational culture of empathy, intimacy, compassion, and trust.
 

Keywords

Organizational Trauma; Delphi Fuzzi Approach; Public Organizations

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