Investigating the status of the organizational structure and professional maturity of the staff of the General Department of Sports and Youth of Lorestan province

Master's Thesis

Abstract:

The main purpose of this research is to examine the status of the organizational structure and professional maturity of the staff of the General Department of Sports and Youth of Lorestan. The current research is of a descriptive-correlation type, which was carried out by the field method. The statistical population of the research includes the employees of the General Department of Sports and Youth of Lorestan province, which is 41 people in total. The statistical sample was considered equal to the statistical population as a whole number, and finally, 38 questionnaires were received out of 41 questionnaires sent. The data collection tool was the Robbins Organizational Structure Questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale and the Professional Maturity Questionnaire of Kritiz et al. (2011) on a 2-point scale. After confirming the validity by expert professors, the reliability of the research tool was calculated by Cronbach's alpha method as equal to (0.73 and 0.70), respectively. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the research variables, and in the inferential statistics section, Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests, Pearson's correlation test and one-sample T test were used to test the hypotheses, and SPSS21 statistical software was used for this purpose. The research findings show the unfavorable situation of organizational structure and professional maturity of employees. On the other hand, there is no significant relationship between organizational structure and its dimensions (formality, concentration) and professional maturity of employees. The results of the research show that the relationships between organizational units, the way of dividing and distributing tasks among people and interactive patterns should be redesigned. Also, attention should be paid to the level of awareness and readiness of employees to accept the performance of job duties through training courses and workshops.

Keywords: organizational structure, professional maturity, organizational formality, organizational focus

-1) Introduction

Today, organizations as social institutions affected by developments, are experiencing increasing complexities. They have become stuck in their systems and interactions and they need to plan and review themselves to accompany or lead in the era of transformation. In this situation, organizational structure as a familiar word in the organizational field has a special role (Akbari, 2011). Organizational structure is a set of ways that divide work into specific tasks and provide coordination between them (Manourian et al., 2016). Organizational structure determines relationships and reporting channels of communication, specifies responsibilities and delegation of authority, and clarifies decision-making (Williams, 1991). Lines of responsibility and authority are determined by the structure of operations and activities within the organization (Farohi, 2015). Organizational structure shows managers who are responsible for supervision and employees know the managers from whom they take orders. Helping the flow of information is also one of the facilities that the structure provides for the organization (Arnold, 1986). On the other hand, an organization in its structure can bring an employee to professional maturity by considering groups for training. Professional maturity was proposed by a person named Super (Patton, 2001). According to Super Professional Maturity, people's readiness to make professional decisions and adapting to job duties is proportional to professional growth. Although the psychological processes in this field are not clear and precise, it is certain that professional maturity is influenced by personal life experiences, personality, perceptions of family background illness experience, acquired education, work values ??and awareness of the requirements of the work environment and the employer (Warren, 2005). In such changing and dynamic conditions, having employees who have reached a level of professional preparation and maturity is very important for the sports and youth departments of each province that are responsible for the development of sports in the country. Therefore, the researcher, understanding the importance of organizational structure and the level of professional maturity in the growth and development of the sports and youth departments of the provinces, while conducting this research, draws the attention of the managers of sports organizations to the importance of these concepts in the country's sports field, and by relying on the opinions of scientists and experts, as well as explaining the experiences of sports organizations in other countries, plays his part in the transformation of the beliefs and insights of the country's sports management and the improvement of the sports organization's abilities.

1-2) Statement of the problem

It is a local organization that coordinates their group efforts for certain goals.. In fact, organizations are responsible for the realization of goals that are beyond the scope and capacity of individual power and its implementation requires collective organization and group effort. Based on this, the organization is considered to consist of two main bodies:

1- The human body or semi-human body of the organization: in the autopsy of the organization, this part includes people who handle the various affairs of the organization in various capacities such as managers, specialists, employees, workers.

2- The material half of the organization: this part is made up of various elements, the most important of which are: building and space, equipment and devices, raw materials, monetary and financial facilities, and information.

The proportions of these components are subject to fundamental variables such as the organization's operations, the organization's goal, the organization's environment. Despite the importance of the material body of the organization and its role in researching organizational goals, if for any reason the human factors within any organization do not have enough motivation and desire to work and participate in efforts to achieve the goals, the organization will lose its original dynamics and basis (Zavareh, 2014). One of these important human factors within the organization is the professional maturity of employees. From the point of view of professional super maturity, it means a person's readiness to perform job duties in order to improve his job (Pridax, 2001). Savikaz (1984) also defined professional maturity as the level of a person's readiness to perform job duties in order to make career advancement, make decisions, and have valid information about global jobs (Ekbolt, 2010). By focusing on professional maturity as a person's ability to choose the desired job, it is often observed that psychological issues can create unique personal experiences that lead to the creation of values, attitudes, and inappropriate demands in relation to work and jobs (Emadi, 2007). Work values ??and poor perceptions of existing job skills can lead to unrealistic career goals, while a person's job skills perceptions may differ from their actual experiences and levels. Also, these thoughts may show undeveloped career thinking that is the result of lack of experience in life, lack of sense of responsibility, lack of trust and work interests, and lack of adherence to work ethics and values. Although the psychological processes in this field are not clear and precise, it is certain that professional maturity is influenced by personal life experiences, personality, perceptions of family background illness experience, acquired education, work values ??and awareness of the requirements of the work environment and the employer (Warren, 2005).

On the other hand, organizational structure in an organization can play a significant role in the professional maturity of employees The discussion of organizational structure has started since the emergence of theories of organization and management among scientists and management experts. Organizations must have a structure in order to coordinate and control their activities and to move towards achieving certain goals or objectives (the existential philosophy of each organization). The skeleton structure of the organization is the distinguishing core of organizations. The structure of any organization determines its ability to respond to environmental challenges (Taghizadeh, 2011). Mintzberg (1972) defined the organizational structure as follows: the structure of the organization can be defined as the whole set of methods that determine the duties of people in separate departments and then provide coordination between them (William, 2009). Organizational structure is the governing relationship between individuals and groups who strive to achieve goals and is divided into two structural dimensions (formality, complexity, focus) and content dimensions (size, technology, environment, strategy) (Robbins, 2013). The structural dimensions of the organization express the internal characteristics of the organization and provide a basis by which organizations can be measured or compared with each other. The content dimension represents the whole organization and its goals, which affects the structural dimensions (Damanpour, 1968). The organizational structure is shown in the organizational chart. An organizational chart is a visible symbol of all activities and processes of an organization. In the planning of the organizational structure, there are always three main pillars and they are observed. These three pillars are: 1- The organizational structure determines the formal reporting relationships in the organization and indicates the levels that exist in the administrative hierarchy and also determines the control area of ??the managers or supervisors. 2- The organizational structure determines the people who are grouped in the work departments and grouping and division are circles that exist in the whole organization.