The Relationship between Organizational Learning and Empowerment in Tarbiat Modarres University

Empowerment activates human's potentials to take advantage of his interminable resources of capabilities. Nowadays, innovative and committed staff are considered as the most influential source of an organization. At the same time, if an organization is benefitting from the features and dimensions of organizational learning as a competitive advantage, it can set the scene for the staff to present their capabilities. The study is of significance since the variables of empowerment and organizational learning are influential in the human resource productivity and optimizing the performance of Tarbiat Modarres University as a knowledge-based institution. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between empowerment and organizational learning among the employees in Tarbiat Modarres University. The study is a descriptive research and survey in type. The population of the study included all the employees of Tarbiat Modarres University in Tehran city who were totally 271. Using simple random sampling, 114 were finally selected. The research instruments were two questionnaires: Watkins & Marsick's (1992) Organizational Learning Questionnaire which measures organizational learning at three levels of individual, group (team), and organizational, and Spreitzer's (1960) empowerment scale which includes five dimensions of competence, meaningfulness, impact, self-determination, and trust among the staff. The results of regression analysis indicated that organizational learning has a positive and meaningful effect on empowerment and its dimensions in Tarbiat Modarres University. However, only two dimensions out of those for organizational learning found to be high and the rest are in a low level in that University.

Keywords: Organizational learning, empowerment, Tarbiat Modarres University