Developing Strategies for Psychological Resilience of Human Resources in Educational Organizations Using DEMATEL

پژوهش نامه مدیریت تحول

Article 6, Volume 15, Spring & summer 2023 - Serial Number 29, September 2023, Pages 162-190   

Document Type: Original Article

DOI: 10.22067/tmj.2023.78264.1339

Authors

Morteza Piri¹; Meysam Jafari^{* 2}

¹Assistant Proffessor, Business Administration Department, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

²Ph.D. in Public Administration, Lorestan University, Lorestan, Iran

Abstract

 
1- INTRODUCTION
Investigating psychological resilience strategies in organizations is important because it can help organizations create a culture of resilience that supports the well-being of employees and the organization as a whole. Resilience can help employees cope with stress, adapt to change, and thrive in challenging situations. Those organizations for whom resilience is a priority can benefit from increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, and improved employee morale. Investigating psychological resilience strategies in organizations is necessary to enhance the well-being of employees and the whole organization. A culture of resilience can help organizations thrive in challenging times and support long-term success and sustainability. The ultimate goal of educational organizations that are impressive learning organizations is to make people exert relatively stable behaviors. If education and learning are means to realize other organizational goals in other organizations, educational organizations are humanizing and changing behavior. Therefore, the employees of these organizations and their human resource managers are the target of organizational psychology research more than other fields. Identification and analysis of psychological resilience strategies of human resources in educational organizations can provide a broad perspective on managing employees and controlling changes. According to the stated contents, appreciable research has not investigated the strategies of psychological resilience of human resources in educational organizations. In the research that has dealt with psychological resilience so far, research gaps in the field of psychological resilience strategies are evident. In addition to covering the existing research gap, the present research will contribute to developing literature in the research field. Therefore, the current research aims to identify and rank psychological resilience strategies of human resources.
 
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Psychological resilience is a person's ability to endure and overcome adversity without heavy damage to his mental state. Resilience, until recently, was considered a personal trait but is quickly becoming a critical skill for success in the workplace. Any stressful event or situation that makes a person feel overwhelmed and unable to handle and manage assigned responsibilities can be psychologically harmful. In addition to everyday stress, there are also severe incidents such as bullying, sexual harassment, and humiliation that can hurt a person's psychology. Psychological resilience gives a person the strength to face workplace daily stress and severe incidents without emotional damage. Psychological resilience in the workplace has the following benefits: a productive work environment, happier teams that are better equipped to manage different types of stress, a positive work culture, increased employee engagement, high employee job satisfaction, improved employee relations, self-respecting personnel, and employees with practical knowledge to balance their personal and professional lives. Many organizations have succeeded in creating a resilient workforce by creating a healthy work culture where employees thrive. A high commitment to building resilience in employees is critical for an organization.
 
3- METHODOLOGY
This research is an applied study in terms of purpose, and regarding the method, it is a mixed study with an inductive-comparative paradigm. The statistical population of this research in the qualitative section was university professors and experts in educational management, human resource management, and organizational behavior. According to the purpose of the study, a sample size of 19 people was selected by conducting purposeful sampling using the snowball technique. The statistical population of the quantitative part was comprised of senior and middle managers and staff at Urmia University, which was sampled using the non-probability method.
 
4- RESULTS & DISCUSSION
In the qualitative part, analyzing the data obtained from the interviews in MAXQDA software led to the extraction of 14 psychological resilience strategies. In the quantitative phase, the analysis was carried out using the DEMATEL method. The strategies identified in the qualitative phase are as follows: perceived organizational support, coping with work-family conflict, the importance of feedback, strategic agility, horizontal management, psychological empowerment, job-employee fit techniques, tension management, improving the quality of work life, training programs, structural empowerment, dealing with cognitive distortions, effective communication, and constructive organizational culture. Based on DEMATEL analysis, strategic agility, structural empowerment, horizontal management, perceived support, and job-employee fit techniques are the most effective strategies. Psychological empowerment, flat management, tension management, and effective communication are both permeating and being influenced. Senior human resource managers at the university have paid enough attention to job matching techniques, such as fitting the tasks and abilities of people and the full description of responsibilities to improve the employees' performance and psychological health given the changes and social and work developments. Implement organizational empowerment and support requirements. The tangible attention of the organization to the employee, in addition to improving commitment and work attachment, also significantly improves productivity and job involvement.
 
5- CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS
Resilience in the workplace improves the organizational performance of employees. With the spread of emerging crises, psychological resilience has become more crucial, and human characteristics are needed to improve performance. In addition, resilience can be strengthened and developed by developing effective strategies to reduce vulnerability to stress and the impact of adversity in the workplace. According to DEMATEL analysis, stress management, feedback importance, improving the quality of work life, and effective communication were the strategies that had the most influence on others. Strategic agility, structural empowerment, horizontal management, and perceived organizational support were influenced more than the others. Psychological empowerment, flat management, tension management, and effective communication are penetrating and are influenced by other strategies. Educational and awareness programs about mental resilience include presentations, workshops, and training sessions for individuals and organizations. It is suggested that modifying the structure of work duties, responsibilities, and expectations should fit with the power and capacity of the employees. In this regard, human resource managers and supervisors of various departments should plan tasks with sufficient knowledge of functional and personality characteristics.

Keywords

Psychological resilience; educational organizations; Urmia University; Dematel

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