Background & Purpose: Effective management in governmental organizations is recognized as one of the key pillars of success and the provision of optimal services to society. However, approaches such as mushroom management, where employees are deliberately kept uninformed, can pose challenges to organizational productivity and trust. The purpose of this study is to propose a model for mushroom management that, through an analysis of this approach, offers strategies to strike a balance between managerial control and enhancing employee participation.
Methodology: The present study, from the perspective of research philosophy, is situated within the interpretive paradigm and adopts an inductive approach. This research is classified as qualitative in nature. The participants of the study included university professors and senior and mid-level managers of governmental organizations in Lorestan Province, selected through theoretical sampling. Accordingly, based on the principle of theoretical saturation, this study achieved its objectives through 14 interviews. The required data were collected using semi-structured interviews, and data analysis was conducted employing Clarke and Braun’s thematic analysis method.
Findings: The data analysis resulted in the formation of 235 initial codes, 21 sub-themes, and 4 main themes. The identified main themes include: individual factors, organizational factors, environmental factors, and legal-regulatory factors. The identified sub-themes consist of: manager’s leadership style, fear of losing power, poor communication skills, lack of trust in employees, negative attitude toward transparency, manager’s experience and background, controlling personality, closed organizational culture, rigid hierarchical structure, absence of transparency policies, inefficient reward system, excessive focus on short-term goals, intense internal competition, political factors, economic factors, social factors, cultural factors, laws restricting information transparency, weak oversight of information flow, laws promoting excessive bureaucracy, and deficiencies in legal requirements for accountability.
Conclusion: This research, by presenting a multi-level model of mushroom management, contributes to the theoretical richness of the public management literature and provides a comprehensive understanding of the interaction of individual, organizational, environmental, and legal factors in the formation of this model. From a practical perspective, this model can be used as a guide for policymaking, reforming leadership styles, and enhancing transparency and accountability in government organizations.