Knowledge Management
R. Movahedi; F. Bakhtiari-Hamedani; H. Saadi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The agricultural sector is one of the most important economic and social sectors of the country that needs proper management to achieve the goals of agricultural and rural development. Knowledge management (KM) and organizational agility (OA) are two important strategies in ...
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Background and Objectives: The agricultural sector is one of the most important economic and social sectors of the country that needs proper management to achieve the goals of agricultural and rural development. Knowledge management (KM) and organizational agility (OA) are two important strategies in managing organizations. KM refers to resources that are systematically designed to foster the most effective learning and lifelong learning in the organization and includes such components as acquisition, storage, transfer and application of knowledge. OA also includes such components as the ability to create change, flexibility, accountability, collaboration, training and learning in the organization. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between KM and OA is in Agricultural Jihad Organization, Tehran branch.Methods: This research was an applied one in terms of its aims and survey in terms of its data collection procedures. The statistical population includes 450 agricultural Jihad staff. Out of these, 207 were selected and included in the sample using Cochran formula. The research instrument was a standard questionnaire that consisted of three parts: 1) biographical characteristics of the respondents, 2) questions related to organizational agility, 3) questions related to knowledge management. The instrument for assessing knowledge management was used with 23 items and 4 variables including: knowledge acquisition with 4 questions, knowledge transfer with 6 questions, knowledge storage with 6 questions, and application of knowledge with 7 questions; all items were anchored on a five-point Likert scale. The organizational agility questionnaire was used by Zhang (2012), with 27 items and 4 variables including: quickness with 7 questions, responsiveness with 6 questions, flexibility with 7 questions, competency with 7 questions; all items were anchored on a five-point Likert scale. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software and Smart PLS. The main variables of this study included organizational agility, knowledge management and individual variables.Findings: The results showed that there was a significant relationship between organizational agility and knowledge management, and among the components of organizational agility, the component of "ability to create change", "flexibility" and "ability to respond" were the most important determinants and played an important role in this regard. The results about knowledge management components showed that "knowledge application" by an effect coefficient of 0.902 had the highest impact on dependent variable of KM. The items including "knowledge transfer", "knowledge acquisition", and "knowledge storage" were other important components by coefficients of 0.894, 0.720, and 0.474, respectively. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between organizational agility and knowledge management in Agricultural Jihad Organization, Tehran branch. This means that increasing each component of organizational agility leads to an increase in knowledge management vice versa. Given that the most important dimension of organizational agility in this study was "ability to make a change", an agile organization would be able to identify and make changes in the organizational environment. In this regard, it is recommended to use educational programs to change management techniques in order to achieve organizational mobility.
Modern Educational Approaches
M. Samian; R. Movahedi; E. Salehi Omran; H. Saadi
Abstract
Background and Objective:The historical experience of the development process in the industrialized countries shows that agriculture has played a key role in the national development of these countries. Agriculture has complex social, political, economic, ecological, aesthetic and moral aspects. Optimal ...
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Background and Objective:The historical experience of the development process in the industrialized countries shows that agriculture has played a key role in the national development of these countries. Agriculture has complex social, political, economic, ecological, aesthetic and moral aspects. Optimal confrontation with complexities, lack of uncertainty and norms, and conflicting values and tendencies require fundamental changes in agricultural work and as a result, fundamental changes in the competencies are required by agricultural students and rural development. The goal of education should be to nurture talents, grow and develop abilities and competencies, not to define the future for students. Agricultural graduates must not only be equipped with technical and specialized skills, but also have skills to facilitate development processes, including proficiency in project management, communication and negotiation. The main objective of this research was to identify the needs of agricultural students on professional competencies and its relationship with the social structure of education based on the Borich's model. Methods: The statistical population of this study consisted both senior undergraduate and postgraduate students on different agricultural fields at both Bu Ali Sina University of Hamedan and Razi University of Kermanshah (N = 850). Of those, 385 students were selected as samples by using Cochran's formula and a simple random sampling method. The main tool for data gathering in this research was a questionnaire whose questions were designed in three sections: professional competencies, social structure of education, academic motivation. The validity of the questionnaire was calculated using a panel of experts and its reliability was calculated by Cronbach's alpha test and it was 0.88. Findings:The results of the research showed that from the viewpoint of the agricultural students about professional competencies, 8 items need to be learned by the students and integrated into students' curriculum. These were: 1. Practical skills, 2. English skills, 3. Agricultural experience, 4. Ability to implement various agricultural projects, 5. Ability to implement research project; 6. Agricultural and environmental technical knowledge; 7. Information and communication technology skills; and 8. Creativity and innovation. The results of structural equation analysis also showed the direct effect of professional competencies on two variables of academic motivation (0.78) and social structure of education (0.63), and they were significant at the level of 0.001. The results also showed that academic motivation had a direct effect on the social structure of education with a path coefficient (0.82). Conclusion: Different approaches can be used to formulate competencies and having a competency framework in a specific area. In this context, according to the functional areas and the level and nature of the expected behaviors, competencies can be divided into technical competence, methodological competence, social competence and individual competence, the ratio of which can vary from job to job. Combining different types of competencies together creates a type of competency that can be described as professional competence in practice. In recent years, one of the emerging issues is that competencies and their roles are a contributing factor to the organizations that deal with the changing environment. In this regard, the competency-oriented approach focuses on individuals and highlights the importance of human resources to achieve organizational goals.
Electronic learning- virtual
Kh. Mirzaei; H. Saadi; S.H. Movahedmohamadi; R. Movahedi
Abstract
Background and Objectives:E-learning is the newest form of distance learning and is called an approach to curriculum planning in which, in addition to using inclusive methods, computer tools and the Internet are used. The first generation of e-learning, or web-based learning programs, focused on providing ...
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Background and Objectives:E-learning is the newest form of distance learning and is called an approach to curriculum planning in which, in addition to using inclusive methods, computer tools and the Internet are used. The first generation of e-learning, or web-based learning programs, focused on providing physical classes based on educational content and the Internet. Today, many universities and educational institutions around the world have stepped in to design and offer e-learning programs and courses to meet the growing demand for education. One of the desirable features that can play an important role in increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of this type of training is the personalization of the learning environment according to the characteristics of learners. This adaptation is in order for the user to be able to benefit from the learning content and other services of the system according to their goals, knowledge and preferences, and the system, instead of treating everyone equally, treats everyone according to its own characteristics. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effective factors of e-learning adoption in agricultural higher education universities of Iran and to determine the most effective structures on the acceptance of this technology by the faculty members and graduate students. This research was performed to measure the acceptance using survey and the multivariate statistical technique of path analyses. Method and Materials: Statistical population of this research consisted of faculty members and postgraduate students in Iran’s higher agricultural education centers. Total Cronbach Alpha of the questionnaire, for the reliability of the 68 items of the questionnaire, was 88.5 % that is an acceptable figure which demonstrates the high reliability of the questionnaire. In total, 646 questionnaires were collected from 4 universities (Tehran University, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hormozgan University and Torbat Heydariyeh University). After multivariate statistical analysis ‘Path analysis’ and through calculating Beta Coefficients for different routes, the importance of each path was determined. Findings: The results showed that if members of the faculty and postgraduate students of higher education of agriculture in Iran get this reflection that the use of e-learning to carry out their educational activities is useful and reliable at higher agricultural education centers, even those people are not consistent with their subjective norms and have risks, they will continue to use e-learning. From the perspective of the respondents, e-learning is a safe and appropriate education. Therefore, possible risks in such training in virtual environments does not affect their attitude towards this type of training. Conclusion: Therefore, it can be said that if faculty members and graduate students of agricultural higher education in Iran come to the mentality that using e-learning to carry out their educational activities in agricultural higher education centers is "beneficial" as well as "reliable”, even if it is not compatible with their "mental norm" and has a "perceived risk", they will still use e-learning.
