Investigating the impact of human resources development in achieving organizational agility in the urban water and sewage company of Ilam province

Dissertation for receiving the degree of Master of Executive Management (M.A)

Strategy: Strategic

Abstract:

The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the impact of human resources development in achieving organizational agility in the urban water and sewage company of Ilam province. The current research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive in terms of method and survey type. The statistical population in this research is the managers, employees and supervisors of different units at different organizational levels in the water and sewage company of Ilam province. The total size of the statistical population is equal to 420 people (N=420).  The size of the statistical sample was obtained using Morgan's table equal to 201 people. In this research, Tonke Nejad and Davari's human resource development questionnaire (2018) with a reliability coefficient of (0.87) and Organizational Agility by Sharifi and Zhang (1999) with a reliability coefficient of (0.81) were used in this research to collect data. In order to investigate the topic, one main hypothesis and seven sub-hypotheses were formulated and in order to analyze the collected data, Pearson's correlation coefficient, linear regression and structural equation model were used. The obtained results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the components of human resources development (success dimension, coordination dimension, adaptation dimension, identification dimension, intellectual dimension, attitude dimension and job dimension) and the organizational agility of the urban water and sewage company of Ilam province, so it can be concluded that there is a significant relationship between the development of human resources and the organizational agility of the urban water and sewage company of Ilam province.

Key words: human resources development, Organizational Agility, Ilam Province Urban Water and Wastewater Company

Human resource development can be defined as the process of developing and stimulating human expertise through organizational development and employee training and development in order to act, or in another definition, human resource development can be called a short-term or long-term process or activity in order to develop knowledge, expertise, productivity and job satisfaction at different individual, team, organizational or national levels (McLean , 2011).

Technological and business changes threaten the survival of organizations. Few intelligence organizations can change their internal forces and control the influencing external forces. Although most organizations have been aware of the importance of responding quickly to changing market conditions, they have never been able to design to be able to do so. Every organization must design itself in an agile manner in order to respond to a set of internal and external forces. Virtual organizations are a perfect example of agile organizations that are being formed at a high speed today and can be a response to this new need (Fathiyan and Golchinpour, 2013).

The current environment of organizations has become more complex and difficult, and the leaders of organizations have faced unpredictable problems that require their high flexibility in solving problems and facing the turbulent environment around organizations. In some organizations, it can be seen that there is no alignment between the underlying beliefs, values ??and assumptions of the members of the organization and the leaders, which causes problems in the commitment of employees to the organization and causes low performance, absenteeism and resignation of employees (Kurt [1], 2012). The development of human resources in various organizations has a special place because in the last few decades, science and technology have progressed more than any other era in human history. It means an era where half of human information becomes obsolete every 5 years and is replaced by new information and knowledge.

About half of the jobs that we see today in many countries did not exist fifty years ago. It is becoming more and more common for people to change their professional activity several times during their working life. The probability that a young person will learn a skill and continue it for about thirty years of work without fundamental change is very slim, or impossible. In a rapidly changing society, the development of human resources is not only desirable, but it is an activity for which every organization must consider resources in order to always have efficient and informed human resources at its disposal.Agility improves the organization's ability to supply high quality products and services and thus becomes an important factor for the effectiveness of the organization. Considering the importance of human resource development and agility, no special research has been done in this regard during the investigations carried out in the urban water and sewage company of Ilam province. Due to the ever-increasing expansion of tools and ways of serving the people, as well as due to the increase in the level of education and the increase in the number of employees of this company, the aforementioned research has focused its attention on the issue that if an organization has all the resources and requirements but cannot have efficient human resources, it will not be able to succeed in its work. Therefore, if an organization wants to be successful and agile, it must first attract efficient personnel and secondly pay special attention to their maintenance and development so that they will be more motivated to serve in the organization. have According to the mentioned issues, the main question of the current research is whether there is a relationship between the development of human resources and organizational agility in the urban water and sewage company of Ilam province. 1-3 Necessity of conducting research We are living in an era where turbulence and complexity are increasing. More than ever before, the world is constantly changing. In other words, today's world is characterized by continuous changes. In order to face such a challenge, organizations must be aware of the vital role of learning and development in their survival and growth. In fact, the organization should pay more attention to the development of the knowledge, skills and abilities of its employees (Tsang [2], 2008).

Development of human resources is the concept of the production of ideas by the organization's employees, and its new concept requires employees to be equipped with the qualities and skills to put their capabilities, energy, expertise and thought in line with the realization of the organization's missions with compassion and full commitment, and to constantly create new intellectual and quality values ??for the organization. In the concept of human resource development, the goal is to create skills that a person can prepare for higher jobs or heavier responsibilities. One of the perspectives of strategic human resource management is the resource-oriented theory, which is based on gaining a competitive advantage through valuable resources that are different from competitors' resources. Therefore, researchers have paid attention to human resources as an important competitive advantage and a complex and unique resource that cannot be imitated (Kainak, 2007). In recent years, the concept of agility has led to various and wide definitions of it. Perhaps the basic elements of the presented definitions can be summarized as follows:

• Response to change and uncertainty

• Creation of basic competencies

• Supply of completely customized products

• Combination of different technologies

• Inter-organizational and intra-organizational cohesion (Azer and Rajabzadeh, 2009).

Therefore, the agile organization can be defined as He presented the following: "An agile organization is a technological organization that, by creating internal and external coherence, can provide customer satisfaction by supplying customized products, despite the sharp changes in the market." A large number of researchers have measured the level of perfection of the variables that are expected to lead to agility (enablers), and some of them, by presenting a result-oriented approach, have made the expected capabilities of an agile production system (capabilities) the basis of measurement (Fatohi, 2010).     

According to the above content and the importance of human resource development and agility, the aforementioned research has also focused on this issue. Hence, if an organization has all the necessary resources but cannot have efficient human resources, it will not be able to succeed in its work. Therefore, if an organization wants to be successful and effective, it must first attract efficient personnel and secondly pay special attention to their development. In this research, the impact of human resources development on organizational agility will be identified and investigated. 1-4 Research Objectives 1-4-1 The main objective: To determine the relationship between human resource development and organizational agility of the Ilam City Water and Sewerage Company. 1-4-2 Sub-objectives: 1- To determine the relationship between success and organizational agility Ilam Province Municipal Water and Sewerage Company.

2- Determining the relationship between coordination and organizational agility of Ilam Province Municipal Water and Sewerage Company.

3- Determining the relationship between compliance and organizational agility of Ilam Province Municipal Water and Sewerage Company.