Modeling empowerment based on Organizational Learning in Ghavvamin Bank of Tehran

In the past two decades, empowerment has been an important topic of research as a new paradigm in management (Conger & Kanungo, 1988; Kanter, 1989; Spreitzer, 1995; Thomas & Velthouse, 1990). The research purpose is to construct a structural model to assess the employees’ empowerment in Ghavvamin Bank of Tehran based on organizational learning. The population comprised all the employees of Ghavvamin Bank of Tehran, out of which a sample of 220 employees’ was randomly drawn. The research instruments were two questionnaires which were administered in the Ghavvamin Bank of Tehran : Nyfha (1997) organizational learning questionnaire which consisted of 31 items with five underlying constructs of common vision, learning and group work, organizational learning culture, system approach and participative management with Cronbach Alpha of 0.95and Spreitzer’s (1995) empowerment questionnaire which consisted of 16 items with five underlying constructs of meaning, competence, self-determination, trust and impact with Cronbach Alpha of 0.95. The results of path analysis using LISREL software indicated that dimensions of organizational learning had a direct effect on empowerment with the indices of 0.93. The model also showed that the factor of common vision had the highest direct effect on empowerment. In terms of the role of organizational learning as a predictor of empowerment, the results are in line with the findings of Blanchard (1996), Bavaria (19997), Rabrsvn (19999), Jones (2010), Johnson and Kadvl (2011) Chen( 2012) and Rachel (2012).