Research Strategies in Educational Sciences

Research Strategies in Educational Sciences

Designing and Validating the Senior Managers' Model

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 PhD in Educational Management, Department of Educational Management, Faculty of Management and Economics, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 Associate professor, Department of Educational Management, Faculty of Management and Economics, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3 AsAssociate professor, Department of Educational Management, Faculty of Management and Economics, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Background and Aim: The present research was conducted with the aim of designing and validating the growth model of senior managers of Iran's telecommunications industry.
Methods: In terms of design, the research is mixed research that has been done with both qualitative and quantitative methods.  First, in the qualitative part, the main components were identified, and based on the identified components, the growth model of senior managers of Iran's telecommunications industry was designed.  In the quantitative part, the validity of the designed model has been checked by performing factor analysis.  The statistical population of the qualitative section includes industry experts and university faculty members.  At this stage, the snowball sampling method was used, based on which 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted to reach theoretical saturation.  The statistical population in the quantitative section consists of 172 senior managers, which was calculated using Cochran's method.  A researcher-made questionnaire did data collection.  The questionnaire is designed based on five dimensions of individual growth, organizational growth, educational growth, research growth, and professional growth and 25 components.  Four subject experts confirmed the validity of the questionnaire and its reliability was calculated using Cronbach's alpha as 0.94.  The obtained data were subjected to exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis using SPSS24 and Lisrel software.
Results: The results obtained from the present research showed that the fit indices of the growth model of senior managers of the Iranian telecommunication industry are acceptable and suitable, and the proposed model has acceptable validity.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the current research is a dynamic and systematic framework for the professional growth and development of the senior managers of Iran's telecommunications industry through the design of various professional development programs such as personal development (strengthening skills to face change), educational development (creating multiple learning opportunities), organizational development (empowerment to acquire required skills), research development (ability to lead research projects) and professional development (ability to present has provided services to the organization and society).
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