Management and Educational Perspective

Abstract The present study aims to validate the model for mitigating the career plateauing of human resources in the Water and Wastewater Company. In terms of its purpose, the research is fundamental; regarding its paradigm, it is positivist; in terms of implementation, it is quantitative; and in terms of data collection, it is descriptive-survey. The statistical population of the study consists of 800 managers and experts of the Water and Wastewater Company of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, selected through simple random sampling. Cochran’s formula was utilized to determine the sample size for distributing the final questionnaire, resulting in a statistical sample of 262 individuals. Data collection was conducted through a structured questionnaire, the validity and reliability of which were verified. SPSS and PLS software were employed for data analysis. The results of the factor loading analysis indicate that all items of the socio-environmental dimension had factor loadings above 0.7, effectively measuring each component. Furthermore, the t-statistic for all dimensions of mitigating human resource career plateauing was greater than 1.96. This demonstrates that all dimensions of mitigating human resource career plateauing (individual, organizational, occupational, and socio-environmental factors) are in a favorable state.
Introduction
With the flattening of organizational structures, career advancement in terms of competitive vertical promotion has recently become difficult. Consequently, most employees often reach a career plateau before achieving their career goals. Career plateau is not a new phenomenon; however, the concerning issue is the speed of its prevalence in many organizations (Salami, 2020). Many managers of organizations and corporate systems have become aware that their most important asset is human resources, which is considered a highly effective indicator in the path of an organization’s progress and success, and no organization or company will be able to achieve its goals without considering these resources (Jalil Tahmasbi, 2021).
Organizations are constantly seeking effective solutions for managing the career paths of their employees (Karimi Manjarmooi, 2020). On the other hand, new organizational structures are rapidly changing, and in addition to the increasing complexity of interpersonal relationships, career paths have also undergone changes (Karim Dadi, 2021). It can be said that the prevalence of downsizing and organizational restructuring in today’s environment of organizations and companies, which seeks to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and maintain an acceptable level of profitability for shareholders by carrying out human resource reduction activities, has led to a decrease in management levels and, consequently, fewer opportunities for employee promotion and advancement. Furthermore, organizational structures have become flatter, and this uniformity means that individuals, due to less vertical mobility, are likely to remain in their current positions for a long time (Eghbalfar, 2017). Most people agree that the most frustrating and demotivating work experience is getting stuck in a job or having one’s career advancement path blocked. This experience is defined as a stage that some individuals encounter when the probability of future promotion is unlikely. Individuals experiencing a career plateau generally report unfavorable emotional consequences such as lower job satisfaction and sense of well-being, as well as adverse work outcomes related to lower job performance, organizational commitment, and a greater intention to leave (Yang et al., 2023). The career plateau perceived by employees has become a source of increasing concern for organizations (Jing et al., 2022). Therefore, considering what has been stated, the main question of the present research is: What is the validation of the model for mitigating human resource career plateauing in the Water and Wastewater Company?
Theoretical Framework
Career Plateau
Career plateauing refers to a point in an individual’s organizational career at which further job advancement or promotion becomes impossible. It is a relatively longstanding concept that has been examined by various researchers. Different types of career plateauing have been identified. First, a distinction can be made between two levels of career plateauing: structural plateauing (hierarchical plateauing) and content plateauing (Huaman & Lahlouh, 2022).
Ghasemi Zargar et al. (2025) examined the antecedents and consequences affecting career plateauing among school employees in Tehran. The results indicated that the occurrence of career plateauing in schools involves 11 influential factors, including school policies and the education system, ineffective management, inappropriate reward and promotion systems, undesirable evaluation systems, unhealthy interactions among colleagues, lack of organizational dynamism, financial issues, inappropriate structures and regulations, individual characteristics, socio-economic conditions, job characteristics, and individual consequences. It was concluded that reducing career plateauing requires focused attention on these factors.
Hurst et al. (2024) investigated stress, organizational citizenship behaviors, and coping by comparing plateaued employees with non-plateaued (normal) employees. The findings indicate that structural plateauing creates stressful conditions for employees, and the stress and its adverse effects are greater than those associated with content plateauing. The study also found a negative relationship between content career plateauing and time-related organizational citizenship behaviors. Furthermore, a negative relationship between career plateauing and job performance was reported.
Research Methodology
In terms of its purpose, this study is fundamental; based on the positivist paradigm, quantitative in its implementation, and descriptive-survey in its data collection method. The statistical population of the research consists of 800 managers and experts from the Sistan and Baluchestan Province Water and Wastewater Company, selected by simple random sampling. Cochran’s formula was utilized to determine the sample size for the distribution of the final questionnaire, resulting in a statistical sample of 262 individuals. Data collection was conducted by a structured questionnaire, the validity and reliability of which have been verified.
Research Findings
SPSS and PLS software were utilized for data analysis. The results of the factor loading analysis indicate that all items in the socio-environmental dimension had factor loadings above 0.7 and measured each component well. In addition, the t-statistic for all dimensions of reducing human resource career plateauing was greater than 1.96. This indicates that all dimensions of reducing human resource career plateauing—individual, organizational, occupational, and socio-environmental factors—were in a favorable condition.
Conclusion
The present study was conducted with the aim of validating the model for mitigating human resource career plateauing in the Water and Wastewater Company. The findings of this study are consistent with the results of Ghasemi Zargar et al. (2025), Hurst et al. (2024), Penker & Agrawal (2024), Najm al-Dini (2023), Darling & Cunningham (2023), Kwon (2022), Paryar et al. (2022), Farjam et al. (2022), and Mehraban (2021). Ghasemi Zargar et al. (2025) demonstrated that the occurrence of career plateauing in schools involves 11 influential factors, including school policies and the education system, ineffective management, inappropriate reward and promotion systems, undesirable evaluation systems, unhealthy interactions among colleagues, lack of organizational dynamism, financial issues, inappropriate structures and regulations, individual characteristics, socio-economic conditions, job characteristics, and individual consequences, which must be focused on to mitigate career plateauing.
Based on the research findings, the following recommendations are proposed:
· It is recommended that a precise design be developed for evaluation indicators regarding the progress of human resource career plateauing mitigation, with the goal of obtaining feedback and modifying relevant policies and executive processes. Furthermore, training opportunities should be identified to reduce career plateauing, and appropriate tools and equipment should be utilized in this area.
· It is suggested that policymakers increase employees’ understanding of career plateauing mitigation and the measures they can take to reduce organizational career plateauing by organizing training workshops and utilizing the experiences of other successful organizations or countries. Acknowledgments The authors gratefully acknowledge all individuals, institutions, and organizations that provided scientific, technical, administrative, or advisory support throughout this research and the preparation of this manuscript. Conflicts of Interest The authors declare that they have no financial or non-financial, personal, professional, or institutional conflicts of interest relevant to this work. Data Availability Statement The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. AI Use Statement The authors declare that no generative artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted technologies were used in the preparation, writing, or editing of this manuscript. Funding The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other financial support were received during the conduct of this research or the preparation of this manuscript. Ethics Approval All procedures performed in this study were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible institutional and national research committee.

Abstract The aim of this study is to present a model for policy-making for employee empowerment at Payam Noor University with a data-based approach. The present study is applicable-developmental in terms of the type of objective, descriptive in terms of data collection, and qualitative in terms of the nature of the data. The statistical population of the study includes specialists and experts familiar with the issues of policy-making for employee empowerment. Sampling in this study was of the snowball type. Based on the subject of the desired data, semi-structured interviews were collected and sampling continued until theoretical sufficiency and saturation. The information obtained was analyzed with Nvivo software. The results showed that the employee empowerment policy-making model with a data-based approach includes causal factors (leader competencies, human resource competencies, organizational competencies, and motivation of academic agents), contextual factors (university structure, university atmosphere, university technology), intervening factors (cultural conditions, economic conditions, social conditions, and political conditions), strategies (clarifying the vision, goals, and mission, empowering, optimizing, and facilitating processes, establishing a quality assurance system, establishing a meritocracy system, establishing an accountability system, creating motivation, and developing communications and interactions), and consequences (individual consequences, academic consequences).
Introduction
Human resources, as the most valuable organizational resource, are the center of organizational approaches and activities and play a fundamental role in achieving the goals and ideals of the organization (Alirezaei &Babaei Meybodi, 2020). A prerequisite for a developed society is to have developed organizations, and developed organizations gain their strength and success through empowered human resources. Empowerment makes employees feel more responsible for better performance in the organization (Greasley, et al., 2008). Empowering employees allows managers to benefit from the knowledge, experience, energy, skills, and motivation of the organization's people (Dickson and Lorence, 2019). Since empowerment is a strategy, its prerequisites must be provided and practical strategies and actions must be used to implement it in the organization. Therefore, paying attention to organizational intelligence capabilities and interpersonal relationships in improving employee empowerment is considered vital (Miidom, et al., 2022).
Despite the increasing interest in empowerment studies, there are still research gaps in the literature. First, given the dynamic nature of organizations and work groups, there is a need to understand what is happening and examine relationships from a dynamic and multi-level perspective. Second, the link between empowerment and the psychological contract, an implicit agreement exchange between an individual and an organization, is rarely understood; although empowerment has recently been used to explain the exchange of the employee-organization relationship. The last gap is the limited knowledge about the relationship between psychological empowerment and the quality of interpersonal interactions (Kanjanakan et al., 2023). Payam Noor University, as one of the largest higher education centers in the country, faces several challenges in the field of human resources. One of the most important of these challenges is the need to empower employees in order to increase productivity, improve the quality of services, and adapt to rapid changes in the field of education and technology. The absence of a comprehensive and integrated policy in the field of empowerment has led to the dispersion of efforts, the lack of alignment of programs, and ultimately, the failure to fully realize organizational goals. Payam Noor University lacks a comprehensive and localized model for empowering its employees, which leads to a lack of complete productivity, reduced job satisfaction, and a lack of compliance with the university's current needs. Paying attention to the specific structure of Payam Noor University (such as geographical dispersion and diversity of human resources), this research helps to increase productivity, improve the skills and motivation of employees, and ultimately achieve the university's goals. To achieve this goal, in the research process, using a qualitative method and also having the views of experts, an attempt is made to answer the question: What is the model of policy-making for empowering employees at Payam Noor University with a data-based approach?
Theoretical foundations of the research
Empowerment
The history of the first definition of the term empowerment dates back to 1788, in which empowerment was understood as the delegation of authority in one's organizational role, which should be granted to the individual or seen in his organizational role. The word Empower in the Oxford Dictionary means "to strengthen, to authorize, to provide power, to be able to". In the specific sense, it means empowering and giving freedom of action to individuals to manage themselves, and in the organizational sense, it means changing the culture and courage in creating and leading an organizational environment. In other words, empowerment is the design and construction of the organization in such a way that individuals, while controlling themselves, are also prepared to accept more responsibilities (Abbasgholizadeh, & Alirezaei, 2020). Although the term empowerment has been used very widely in the management literature, there is no clear meaning of it and researchers have not provided a common definition for it. Empowerment means designing a structure in such a way that individuals, while controlling themselves, achieve sufficient growth to accept greater responsibilities in the future (Mirmohammadi et al., 2016). In the empowerment process, the manager helps employees to acquire the necessary capabilities for career maturity and self-leadership (Hamszare et al., 2017). Human resource empowerment is a new approach to intrinsic job motivation that, by releasing the internal forces of employees, causes the flourishing of individuals' talents and competencies (Shahravi, 2021).
Research Background
Sadeghi (2025) conducted a study to investigate the effect of organizational trust, employee empowerment, and organizational citizenship behavior on improving employee performance in Bandar Abbas Municipality. This study is descriptive-analytical and data were collected through a standard questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis-structural equation methods were used to analyze the data. The results of the study show that organizational trust and employee empowerment have a direct and significant effect on improving employee performance. However, organizational citizenship behavior did not show a significant effect on employee performance. The findings indicate that creating mutual trust between employees and managers and providing empowerment conditions can lead to increased productivity and better employee performance.
Tretiakov et al. (2023) conducted a study titled “Investigating Employee Empowerment and Human Resource Flexibility in Small and Medium-Sized Information Technology Companies.” The results showed that employee empowerment has a significant impact on four dimensions of human resource flexibility (skill flexibility, communication flexibility, behavioral flexibility, and cognitive flexibility), and flexibility is an appropriate approach to responding to environmental uncertainty and is a capability to react or respond appropriately to environmental needs. Skill flexibility emphasizes the willingness and ability to adapt to changes, especially in how and when to do work. Communication and behavioral flexibility enable employees to manage and solve problems by understanding the differences between themselves and others. Cognitive flexibility causes a person to change their thinking from old situations to new situations, overcome common responses or thoughts, and adapt to new situations.
Zarei et al. (2025) conducted a study entitled "Designing a Manager Empowerment Model in Tehran Municipality". The results showed that the variables of participation, leadership, goal setting, planning, organization, allocation of resources and facilities, creativity, having team competence and adequacy, having a sense of empathy and communication, technical and specialized skills, knowledge and awareness have a significant relationship with the empowerment of managers in the southwest Tehran Municipality. Empowering managers is one of the effective tools for increasing employee productivity and optimal use of their individual and group capacities and abilities in line with organizational goals.
Research Methodology
The present study is applicable-developmental in terms of the type of purpose, descriptive in terms of data collection, and qualitative in terms of the nature of the data. The statistical population of the study includes specialists and experts familiar with employee empowerment policy issues. Sampling in this study was snowball type. Based on the subject of the desired data through preliminary studies, semi-structured interviews were collected and sampled until theoretical sufficiency and saturation were reached. After conducting 18 interviews, data analysis indicated that new data was not added to the previous data, because a high percentage of the data extracted from the last interviews was repetitive. Therefore, after conducting 18 interviews and reaching theoretical saturation, the interviews were ended and to ensure the transferability of the research findings, three experts outside the research were consulted.
Research findings
In the qualitative part of the research, taking into account the opinions of experts and experts, compiling and extracting all interviews and using the grounded theory approach (open coding, axial coding and selective coding) and based on the paradigmatic model (causal conditions, axial phenomenon, background conditions, mediating conditions and strategies), a model for setting a line and policy for employee empowerment was designed using the Nvivo qualitative analysis software. The results showed that the employee empowerment policy-making model with a data-based approach includes causal factors (leader competencies, human resource competencies, organizational competencies, and motivation of academic agents), contextual factors (university structure, university atmosphere, university technology), intervening factors (cultural conditions, economic conditions, social conditions, and political conditions), strategies (clarifying the vision, goals, and mission, empowerment, optimizing and facilitating processes, establishing a quality assurance system, establishing a meritocracy system, establishing an accountability system, creating motivation, and developing communications and interactions), and consequences (individual consequences, academic consequences).
Discussion and Conclusion
The aim of this study was to present a policy-making model for empowering employees at Payam Noor University. The results showed that the policy-making model for empowering employees with a data-based approach includes causal factors (leader competencies, human resource competencies, organizational competencies, and motivation of academic agents), contextual factors (university structure, university atmosphere, university technology), intervening factors (cultural conditions, economic conditions, social conditions, and political conditions), strategies (clarifying the vision, goals, and mission, empowerment, optimizing and facilitating processes, establishing a quality assurance system, establishing a meritocracy system, establishing an accountability system, creating motivation, and developing communications and interactions), and consequences (individual consequences, academic consequences). These findings are somewhat consistent with the results of Khalili Esnaki (2021) and confirm the results of this study.
Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended:
Focus on developing leadership competencies and creating a participatory organizational culture. Leaders should strengthen their leadership competencies and involve employees in decision-making by providing the necessary training and creating learning opportunities. Also, creating a fair and transparent reward and incentive system can increase employee motivation for progress and innovation. In addition, providing the necessary resources and facilities to perform tasks and providing career development opportunities helps employees improve their skills and work more effectively. Finally, creating open and transparent communications between employees and leaders helps build greater trust and cooperation and provides the basis for employee empowerment. Acknowledgments The authors gratefully acknowledge all individuals, institutions, and organizations that provided scientific, technical, administrative, or advisory support throughout this research and the preparation of this manuscript. Conflicts of Interest The authors declare that they have no financial or non-financial, personal, professional, or institutional conflicts of interest relevant to this work. Data Availability Statement The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. AI Use Statement The authors declare that no generative artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted technologies were used in the preparation, writing, or editing of this manuscript. Funding The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other financial support were received during the conduct of this research or the preparation of this manuscript. Ethics Approval All procedures performed in this study were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible institutional and national research committee.

Abstract The aim of this research is to present and explain a model for organizational values ​​based on skill-based human resources. The present research is applicable in terms of its purpose, and descriptive-survey of the field branch in terms of data collection. The statistical population of the present research includes employees of government organizations in Lordestan province in 2022-2024, numbering 1290 people, selected with a sample size of 296 people determined by the available random sampling method. The collection tool in the present research includes a questionnaire. The face and content validity of the questionnaire in this research was examined by experts and the construct validity was examined by factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha was used to measure its reliability. The values ​​related to the estimated Cronbach's alpha coefficient for themes were reported to be higher than 0.7, which indicates high internal correlation in the basic codes. SPSS and PLS software were utilized to analyze the findings. The results showed that contextual factors include strong organizational culture, ethical values, and team interactions; intervening factors such as government regulations, digital transformation, and economic conditions; causal factors include technological development, environmental complexities, and new attitudes; strategic factors include employee empowerment and reforming organizational structures; and the consequences of the model include increased productivity, reduced organizational conflicts, increased public satisfaction, and sustainable development of the organization. The findings show that implementing this model can lead to improved performance of government organizations, increased employee efficiency, and the creation of a dynamic organizational culture.
Introduction
In order to maintain competitiveness and improve performance, organizations need to focus on human resources as a valuable asset, and human resource development is one of the necessities of the organization, the need to link it with ethical values ​​is inevitable because negligence and injustice in its implementation lead to a lack of individual and organizational development (Hajiloo et al., 2021). Human capital is of great importance not only in organizational environments but also at the national and international levels. Countries that pay more attention to human resource development tend to perform better in terms of innovation, job creation, and economic growth. Therefore, to achieve sustainable success, organizations and governments must develop comprehensive programs for human capital development and facilitate the path of progress through training and upgrading the skills of the workforce (Fuller, 2024).
Performance management is a process for evaluating, improving, and guiding employee performance in line with organizational goals. This process involves determining performance indicators, providing feedback, and developing improvement plans (McRae et al., 2024) and organizational values ​​are a set of principles, beliefs, and norms that shape the behaviors, decisions, and culture of an organization. These values ​​serve as a guide for employees and influence how the organization interacts with customers, stakeholders, and society. Organizational values ​​can include things like honesty, transparency, innovation, accountability, and collaboration. These principles not only help create an organizational identity, but also play a role in formulating strategies and achieving macro-goals (Valeau & Paille, 2019). Skill-based HR refers to an approach to human resource management that focuses on developing and applying employees’ specialized skills. This concept is based on the principle that organizations should emphasize improving employee skills through training, personal development, and the use of new technologies, rather than focusing solely on work experience (Harney & Collings, 2021). Currently, many government agencies use traditional human resource management models that are mainly based on work history, education, and bureaucratic structures. This traditional approach has led to recruitment and promotion processes being carried out based on fixed and inflexible criteria, which has resulted in challenges such as mismatching human resource skills with current labor market needs, reduced productivity, and a lack of focus on employee skill development. Given the above explanations, the researcher seeks to answer the question: what is the appropriate model for organizational values ​​based on skill-based human resources?
Theoretical Framework
Organizational values
A set of principles, beliefs, and norms shape the behaviors, decisions, and culture of an organization. These values ​​serve as a guide for employees and influence how the organization interacts with customers, stakeholders, and society (Arieli et al., 2020).
Skill-based Human Resources
Skill-based is an approach that emphasizes the development and application of specialized skills of employees to increase the productivity and efficiency of the organization. This concept is based on the principle that organizations should emphasize the improvement of employees' skills through training and personal development, rather than focusing solely on work experience (Hancock et al., 2024). Shariati et al. (2025) studied the identification of factors affecting employee performance management with a human resources development approach in research and technology organizations. According to the interviews conducted, 6 dimensions of the paradigm model, 23 components, and 105 indicators were extracted. Then, according to the paired comparison questionnaire to identify influential and influenced dimensions, it was determined that among the 23 components, the components of the work environment, laws and regulations, socio-cultural factors, human resource planning, role clarity, performance measurement, organizational climate, reward system, employee communication, training, performance appraisal, professional ethics, leadership style and motivational factors are the most influential in that order. Altman et al. (2023); The future of work through workforce ecosystems: This study emphasizes that traditional human resource models must evolve into broader workforce ecosystems. In government agencies, this concept can help develop skills-based organizational value models, because organizations need to coordinate their human resources with technological and social developments.
Research Methodology
The present study is an applicable study in terms of purpose and data collection, and a descriptive-survey research of the field branch. The statistical population of the present study included 1290 employees of government organizations in Lordestan province in 2022-2024, selected with a sample size of 296 people and by available random sampling method. The collection tool in the present study includes a questionnaire. The face and content validity of the questionnaire in this study was examined by experts and the construct validity was examined using factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha was used to measure its reliability. The values ​​related to the estimated Cronbach's alpha coefficient for themes were reported to be higher than 0.7, which indicates high internal correlation in the basic codes.
Research findings
SPSS and PLS software were used to analyze the findings. The results showed that contextual factors include strong organizational culture, ethical values, and team interactions; intervening factors include government regulations, digital transformation, and economic conditions; causal factors include technological development, environmental complexities, and new attitudes; strategic factors include employee empowerment, organizational structure reform; and the consequences of the model include increased productivity, reduced organizational conflicts, increased public satisfaction, and sustainable development of the organization. The findings indicate that implementing this model can lead to improved performance of government organizations, increased employee efficiency, and the creation of a dynamic organizational culture.
Conclusion
The present study aimed to present and explain a model for organizational values ​​based on skill-based human resources. The results of this study are consistent with the results of Shariati et al. (2025), Altman et al. (2023), Baier et al. (2023), BCG (2023), Jooss et al. (2023), Gheiravani et al. (2023), Yousef-Kandi (2022), Zamani & Rafiei. (2021), and Hajiloo et al. (2021). Jooss et al. (2023) showed that organizations, especially government institutions, should emphasize the development of their employees' skills in order to increase productivity and organizational cohesion. Considering the results of this study, the following suggestions are made:
- Developing professional skills through holding training courses, increasing independence in decision-making and implementing incentive programs.
- Increasing attention to honesty and responsibility, developing ethical guidelines, and holding relevant training programs.
- Reviewing supportive laws, creating more flexible policies, and optimizing regulations to facilitate the implementation of changes. Acknowledgments The authors gratefully acknowledge all individuals, institutions, and organizations that provided scientific, technical, administrative, or advisory support throughout this research and the preparation of this manuscript. Conflicts of Interest The authors declare that they have no financial or non-financial, personal, professional, or institutional conflicts of interest relevant to this work. Data Availability Statement The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. AI Use Statement The authors declare that no generative artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted technologies were used in the preparation, writing, or editing of this manuscript. Funding The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other financial support were received during the conduct of this research or the preparation of this manuscript. Ethics Approval All procedures performed in this study were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible institutional and national research committee.

Abstract Abstract The purpose of this research is to identify the components of the model of empowerment of administrative system employees based on organizational intelligence and interpersonal relationships in the electricity industry of Sistan and Baluchistan Province. The statistical population includes 17 scientific experts and senior managers of electricity industry companies, who were selected through the purposeful and accessible sampling method. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data and continued until reaching the theoretical saturation stage. To increase the scientific credibility of the results in the qualitative part, Merriam's method and percentage agreement coefficient were used. The data analysis was done using the inductive theme analysis method by Max QD software. The results of this stage were presented in the form of a model including antecedents, dimensions, adjusting factors, and consequences. The results of the present research show that the use of the organizational intelligence approach and interpersonal relationships is effective for empowering employees and has caused the conceptual development of this variable and the recognition of new dimensions of this phenomenon. Thus, the presented model can be a pioneer for the electricity industry in the effective implementation of these dimensions. Extended Abstract Introduction In the era of globalization and rapid advancement of technology, the most important asset of any organization is its human power, which plays a role more than other factors in maintaining and expanding the functional level and completing the mission of the organization (Tian et al., 2018). The prerequisite of a developed society is to have developed organizations, and developed organizations gain their strength and success through capable human resources. Empowerment makes employees feel more responsible for better performance in the organization (Greasley et al., 2008). Today, empowerment is considered as one of the useful tools for improving the quality of employees and increasing organizational effectiveness. Since empowerment is a strategy, its prerequisites must be met and the strategies and practical actions must be used for its implementation in the organization; therefore, paying attention to the capabilities of organizational intelligence and interpersonal relationships in the development of employee empowerment is considered vital. Intelligence is one of the undeniable requirements for the survival of organizations and represents the total knowledge that an organization takes from the environment in which it operates. Organizational intelligence is the best response to environmental challenges. Organizational intelligence enables organization employees to adapt to environmental changes and manage environmental complexity (Miidom, et al., 2022). The importance of communication and interpersonal relationships in organizational environments is undeniable; interpersonal relationships in the organization refer to different ways, strategies, and tools that employees use in their communication activities (Arora & Rangnekar, 2016). Interpersonal relationships in the organization help employees to share what they know and feel with each other, and is one of the most important factors affecting the performance of employees, which plays an important role in achieving goals (Kyongo, 2016). That is why in recent years, interpersonal relationships have received serious attention as a basic requirement for successful job performance from managers and organizational researchers (Damghanian et al., 2017). In this context, it is necessary to use its key components for superior performance in carrying out professional responsibilities. Theoretical foundations Empowerment Empowerment means designing a structure in such a way that people can achieve sufficient growth while controlling themselves to accept more responsibilities in the future (Mirmohammadi et al, 2016). Empowerment of human resources is a new motivational in-job approach that causes flourishing of talents and competencies of people by releasing the internal forces of employees (Shahravi, 2021). Organizational intelligence Albrecht considers organizational intelligence to be the capacity of an organization to utilize all its mental forces and concentrate these thoughts to perform tasks (Albrecht, 2003). Interpersonal relationships The importance of interpersonal communication and relationships in organizational environments is undeniable; so that it can be considered one of the vital factors for job performance and success. Interpersonal relationships are a process by which people's information and feelings are shared through verbal and Non-verbal messages and must be done effectively to ensure the achievement of organizational goals (Keyton et al, 2013). Research methodology The current research is applicable in terms of purpose, and qualitative in terms of method, in which semi-structured interviews were used to extract the research components and parameters. The investigation of the background of the current research showed that the nature of this issue has not been well explained. Therefore, the method of inductive theme analysis (theme analysis) has been considered as a qualitative research method. In this research, academic experts and senior electricity managers were interviewed in order to achieve the components of the employee empowerment model based on organizational intelligence and interpersonal relationships. The selection criteria of experts are theoretical mastery, practical experience, willingness to participate, and availability. The number of participating experts was 17. According to the previous agreement with them, their names have been avoided in the text of the article. The participants in the interviews were selected in a purposeful and available manner, and the process of interviews continued until the theoretical saturation was reached. To collect data from the interviews Semi-structured interviews were used. After the interviews were completed and theoretical saturation was reached, the data from 17 interviews were analyzed using MAXQDA software. Research findings In the qualitative part, the data obtained from the interview was analyzed with the help of inductive thematic analysis. The data analysis process was restarted with open coding. Open coding was first implemented in the content of all the interviews; after extracting the initial codes, the conceptually and content-wise shared codes were merged and formed the basic themes. Also, the basic concept shared themes were merged and formed the organizing themes. The results of this stage were presented in the form of a model including antecedents, dimensions, adjusting factors and consequences. Discussion The purpose of this research is to identify the components of the empowerment model of administrative system employees based on organizational intelligence and interpersonal relationships in the electricity industry of Sistan and Baluchistan province. Based on the findings of this study, 9 dimensions were identified for the dimensions of administrative system employee empowerment based on organizational intelligence and interpersonal relationships, including personal empowerment, attitudinal empowerment, cognitive empowerment, communication empowerment, managerial empowerment, organizational empowerment, social empowerment, knowledge/informational empowerment, and spiritual empowerment. This model has the dimension of comprehensiveness and hindrance and it has been able to include all native and specific aspects of organizational intelligence and interpersonal relationships that are effective in empowering employees, and there is no part of the model that is extra or not useful. Also, from the practical aspect, it is the answer to a real business problem. In general, it can be said that the use of the organizational intelligence approach and interpersonal relationships in empowering employees is effective and appropriate, and the model of this research has been able to provide a more realistic and comprehensive view and provide useful practical knowledge for the use of managers.