Abstract

This study was conducted to analyze the managers’ and employees’ attitude towards obstacles to devolutionin Mazandaran Province Gas Company (Iran). According to the exploratory studies, devolutionobstacles was explored and identified at two dimensions including managers’ unwillingness to devolutionand subordinates’ reluctance to accept authority. To analyze the data and to confirm or reject the research questions, first, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to determine the normality of data. Given the non-normality of data, non-parametric tests such as one-sample one-tailed Wilcoxon test, Friedman test for ranking components, and Mann–Whitney test were used to identify the employees’ and managers’ different perception of obstacles to delegation of authority. Findings of the study indicated that Wilcoxon test was not significant at o.o5; that is, lack of trust and confidence in subordinates, inability of managers in guiding subordinates, lack of controlling processes, managers’ sense of insecurity, and unwillingness of managers to delegate authority were not the main obstacles to devolutionby managers in Mazandran Province Gas Company, and their effects were not significant. In line with examining the obstacles effective to the devolutionby subordinates, it was found that the fear of criticism, blame, and dismissal along with the lack of adequate motivation in subordinates were recognized as the most important obstacles to adoption of authority by subordinates in Mazandran Province Gas Company.

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