Document Type : Research Article (with mixed approaches)

Authors

• Armin Manochehri ¹
• Ardeshir Shiri ²
• seyedmehdi Vaeseh ³
• Homayoun Moradnezhadi ⁴

¹ 1. MSc. Student of governmental management, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Ilam Univesity, Ilam, Iran

² Management Group, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Ilam Univesity, Ilam, Iran

³ University of ilam

⁴ Entrepreneurship and Rural Development Group, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Ilam Univesity, Ilam, Iran

Abstract

Purpose: Feedback is considered a two-way and dynamic process in organizations that requires interaction between the sender and receiver. Very few researches have been done in connection with managers' feedback in Iran in such a way that it can be said that a scientific research vacuum is felt in this field. The aim of the current research is to identify the challenges of feedback to managers in government organizations.
Design/ methodology/ approach:  This research is a mixed-methods study in terms of its type and is applied in terms of its purpose. Data was collected through a literature review, and the tool used for data collection was a structured interview. The population in the qualitative section included all experts and specialists in the field of management in government departments and organizations in Kermanshah. The theoretical sampling method was used to select samples in the qualitative section. During the interviews, theoretical saturation was achieved after conducting 9 interviews, and the process was stopped. Then, the desired components were extracted by coding the data obtained from the interviews using the MAXQDA20 software. Content validity was used to examine the validity of the extracted components using two relative content validity ratios (CVR) and content validity index (CVI). The obtained values for the CVR index were all greater than 0/49 and for the CVI index greater than 0/79, meaning that the dimensions under study had appropriate validity. In addition to the qualitative methods of retesting and retesting by two coders to check the reliability of the extracted components, the results obtained from the retesting (84/28%) and retesting by two coders (84/47%) were higher than the standard level; therefore, it can be said that the reliability of the coding was confirmed. The statistical population in the quantitative section consists of 32,647 permanent and employed employees in government organizations in Kermanshah city. Based on Morgan's table, 377 people were selected using the available sampling method for the present study. To examine the validity and reliability of the questionnaire in the quantitative section, three criteria of Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability, and convergent validity were used.
Research Findings: Research findings reveal that challenges associated with providing feedback to managers in organizations can be categorized into six primary groups. Employee behavioral challenges include reluctance and procrastination in providing feedback, reticence, and silence in the face of managerial behaviors, fear of providing feedback, job insecurity, personality traits, indifference to organizational events, and a lack of hope for change. At the managerial level, challenges relate to sabotage of feedback, autocracy, inappropriate treatment of evaluators, avoidance of performance evaluation, a lack of sense of duty, retaliation against feedback providers, intolerance of criticism, and managerial self-censorship. Managerial personality challenges encompass low tolerance thresholds, defensive and aggressive behaviors, fear of feedback, lack of courage, low self-esteem, introversion, demotivation regarding feedback, a negative mindset towards feedback, disbelief in feedback's impact, and taboo subjects. Structurally, challenges pertaining to the absence of guidelines and regulations for providing feedback, a lack of reward guidelines, the precedence of relationships over rules, a weak human communication system, a lack of information exchange, an unfavorable participation system, a closed environment, the absence of a performance evaluation system, and a lack of a suitable cultural context. Cultural challenges similarly involve a lack of guidelines and regulations, a failure to reward corrective feedback, the precedence of relationships over rules, a weak communication system, a lack of information exchange, an unfavorable participation system, a closed environment, and the absence of a performance evaluation system and a suitable cultural context. Finally, cognitive challenges include fear of retaliation, potential consequences of providing feedback, a culture of flattery within the organization, implicit immunity of managers, a significant power distance, and a patriarchal managerial culture.
Limitations & Consequences: The unwillingness of organizations and their members to disclose confidential information about managers' performance and feedback led to the evasion of accountability by managers.
Practical Consequences: Identifying the challenges of feedback to managers in public organizations can pave the way for creating an organizational structure based on transparency and fairness in the organization.
Innovation or value of the Article: The issue of identifying the challenges of feedback to managers in public organizations has been addressed for the first time in Iran in this research, which is considered the originality of this article.
Paper Type: Original Paper
 

Keywords

• Feedback Challenges
• Feedback Challenges to Managers
• Public Organizations
• Mixed Research