THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND EMPLOYEES’ EMPOWERMENT IN NATIONAL IRANIAN OIL PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTION COMPANY

Abstract

This article has been resulted from a research on an exploration of the relationship between organizational structure and employees’ empowerment. There are different approaches to empowering employees. In this research, psychological approach has been considered. The psychological empowerment concerns the attitude and perception of employees from their work place. This perception and attitude is employed as evaluation criterion for empowerment. According to research literature related to empowerment, psychological empowerment consists of four traits of competence, self-determination, meaningfulness and effectiveness. On the other hand, organizational structure, as one of the most important constituents of an organization will impact on its every internal process, including human resources and particularly employees’ empowerment. Regarding the importance of Robbins research in organizational structure studies, this study is based on his perspective for identification and evaluation of structure in statistical community of this study. Robbins’ organizational structure has three traits of formality, sophistication and concentration. In this study, first the relationship between the traits of organizational structure and employees’ empowerment in National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC) –Tehran area is investigated, then the results have been employed to identify and offer a convenient model for the establishment of psychological empowerment in research community.