Crisis Management or Management Crisis?

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran, during his presence in the city council's open session while reporting on the Plasco incident stated: "Crisis management in the country is in crisis" and "where we should apologize to the people is crisis management, not the Plasco incident." In this regard, a member of the Tehran city council asked: "What is the mayor's opinion on apologizing or resigning after the Plasco incident?" He then asked the mayor: "What specialized courses have you taken for crisis management?" Mohsen Sarikh, head of the transportation committee of the Tehran city council, also said: "The Plasco incident is so significant that the mayor of Tehran should resign." The mayor of Tehran, a proponent of jihadist management, claims that such management makes the impossible possible. He asserts that the responsibility for the Plasco incident lies with other institutions. However, he later, in line with conspiracy theory and simultaneously from a romantic position, said: "I will definitely apologize to the people, but I stand firm against giving in to anti-revolutionary enemies sitting across the waters because I want to give my life for the people." This combination of not giving in to anti-revolutionary enemies across the waters and simultaneously giving one's life for the people reflects a blend of conspiracy theory and martyrdom romanticism, a phenomenon well-established in the culture of Iran's governance. Based on 37 years of experience with 'Basij management', it can be claimed that such a forward escape and refusal to be accountable, combined with 'anti-imperialism' and 'martyrdom romanticism', is a common occurrence and has been experienced in various managerial levels of the current Iranian regime. The use of conspiracy theory strategies in various forms such as 'hidden hands', 'cultural onslaught', and 'infiltration projects' has always been one of the ways to escape accountability and avoid resignation or prevent dismissal. Under what conditions will management be accountable? Apart from the anti-imperialist and martyrdom rhetoric of the Tehran mayor, in the real world, without the possibility of direct media oversight and mechanisms for accountability and dismissal of managers, the efficiency of an organization is questionable. The condition for improving economic management is not only continuous criticism but also that citizens and representatives of public opinion, like the media, should be able to freely and consciously choose and collectively dismiss and appoint the management system, especially the senior managers of the public management apparatus (government). The existence of a clear and simple mechanism for 'dismissal' complements the rational strategy of 'appointment'. Without the possibility of dismissal, the appointment of managers is essentially meaningless. The importance of this issue is greater for countries like Iran, where most essential economic resources are managed by the government. The lack of the possibility to dismiss high-ranking officials and managers means the emergence of a challenge known as the representation challenge (agency problem). According to agency theory, although management represents the owners of resources, due to the superior role of managers, the owners of resources cannot dismiss them. According to this theory, managers are essentially unable to represent the interests of anyone else. The conflict between the interests of the actual resource owners (the people) and managers (the political and managerial apparatus) is a natural and obvious matter. The best representative of anyone is themselves, as no one truly represents another. The gap between interests in a centralized and hierarchical management system is large, but in a decentralized management system under democratic oversight, it is limited, though never eliminated. A management crisis, meaning the lack of trust and credibility, is the result of the increase in this gap between citizens' trust and managers. To prevent a crisis, there is no way other than direct and organized participation of the people, limiting authority and tenure, transparency in decision-making processes and its legitimacy, and comprehensive oversight by institutions outside the power apparatus. The importance of this issue is greater for countries like Iran, where most essential economic resources are managed by the government. A glimpse of the manifestations of jihadist-Basij management shows that to understand what type of management dominates the municipality and other governmental bodies, it is essential to pay attention to the statements of various figures in the government. Qalibaf at the second national gathering of jihadist management in the country said: "Jihadist management makes the impossible possible." This statement is, of course, not unexpected, as officials of the authoritarian government faction believe that Basij and jihadist management can solve the country's problems within the framework of a resistant economy. Mojtaba Rouhani, the Friday prayer leader of Babol, who is also responsible for the public culture council of Babol County, says: "We need to hand over the management of the country to the Basijis." This government official also states: "Basij forces should be utilized in the management of the country because Basij managers are pioneers in solving the country's problems." Elsewhere, the head of the media Basij in Qazvin province claimed: "The only way out of the current problems is to have a Basij mindset and follow the guidelines of the Supreme Leader." But what characteristics does the Basij perspective have? Iranian media is filled with astonishing examples of the Basij management perspective on various economic, social, and cultural problems. Such problems exist to some extent in all countries, and the relevant managers of those countries never attribute the shortcomings and inefficiencies of their society to foreign conspiracies or hidden hands and enemy invasions. However, Basij managers see the source of the country's problems and issues outside the country through the lens of conspiracy theory. It is still remembered that Mohammad Reza Rahimi, the first vice president of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claimed that a person named "Jamshid Bismillah" determines the exchange rate in Iran's free market. Mahmoud Bahmani, the former head of the Central Bank, who at that time remained silent in response to the statements of Ahmadinejad's first vice president, in an interview with the August issue of the monthly magazine Diyar, when asked about those distant years, said: "People like 'Jamshid Bismillah' had no role in the market." Also, according to an economic reporter from Tasnim News Agency, Ali Karami, a full professor at Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, believes that the spread of genetically modified products is a Zionist conspiracy to make the Iranian nation sick and a serious example of infiltration. In this context, Pasdar Seyyed Yahya Safavi, the advisor and senior assistant to the commander-in-chief, states regarding the enemy's infiltration methods in the agricultural sector: "The enemy intends to infiltrate the agricultural sector with genetically modified products, which we must act wisely against!" The conclusion: The experience of the U.S. embassy occupation in Tehran, the war with Iraq, international sanctions, involvement in regional wars, environmental crises, and widespread managerial corruption are just examples of the inefficiency of management at the macro level in Iran, but it does not end there. It seems that Iran's fundamental problem is not crisis management but rather the management crisis that has repeatedly manifested itself at various political, economic, cultural, and social levels. Such a management perspective based on conspiracy delusions and projecting problems whose sources are not external but internal and a product of managerial inefficiency at various levels of governance. It is not without reason that Ahmad Masjed-Jamei, a prominent figure in the Tehran city council, says that the crisis that arose after the collapse of the Plasco building shows that urban plans in Tehran are "failed." He also states: "Structurally, we are paralyzed." 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