A Strategic Management Model for Preventing Violent Crimes in Iran

Abstract

The increasing trend of violent crimes in the country has raised significant concerns in recent years. Despite the substantial allocation of public budget towards responding to these crimes and addressing the disputes arising from them, the inefficacy and inadequacy of responses have often rendered the utilization of non-violent and preventative measures an unavoidable necessity. However, the formulation of preventative responses itself requires a comprehensive, systematic, and inclusive approach to enhance effectiveness and efficiency in executive activities in this regard. In this dissertation, recognizing this crucial aspect, an effort has been made to leverage strategic management knowledge and adopt an operational approach to present a correct, systematic, and comprehensive model for the responsible agencies involved in preventing violent crimes. The activities of the institutions engaged in the prevention of these crimes are organized within an interconnected whole. Based on this, the main question of the present dissertation is: What is the optimal model for strategic planning to prevent violent crimes in Iran? To address this question and develop such a model, both qualitative and quantitative data have been used. The aforementioned data have been derived from the study of existing research and documents, interviews with experts, and the design and implementation of two stages of questionnaires. One of the primary and fundamental measures necessary for developing such a model is the evaluation of the surrounding environment (both internal and external) of the institutions responsible for preventing violent crimes. In fact, mapping out the roadmap for future actions in this area requires obtaining a sufficient understanding of the strengths and weaknesses within the responsible organizations, as well as the opportunities and threats faced by these institutions. Consequently, the results of the questionnaire related to the assessment of the surrounding conditions of the institutions responsible for preventing violent crimes, obtained through the IPA (Importance-Performance Analysis) method, indicate a general weakness in the actions of these institutions and a significant gap between their actions and the desired state. Overall, before any attempts are made to eliminate or control the factors influencing violent crimes, it is essential to first implement necessary measures to optimize the internal environment of the responsible organizations.