Improving Job Performance of University Department Managers based on Talent Management and Critical Thinking

Job performance of department heads, as an important and influential human resources and capital in the university, is of particular importance for achieving the lofty goals of higher education. The aim of this study is to investigate talent management and critical thinking rate in improving job performance of department heads. The research method is correlational and an applied research. The statistical population of the present study is 49 managers of all departments of the Islamic Azad University of Kerman; through Cochran's formula, 44 people are selected as a statistical sample by simple random sampling. In order to collect data and measure the research variables, three standard questionnaires of talent management (Ohli 2007), the standard questionnaire of critical thinking of California Fashion (1990) and the job performance questionnaire (Patterson 1992) are used. Data are analyzed using multiple regression coefficient, Pearson correlation and SPSS software version 23. Findings show that talent management and critical thinking play a role in promoting the job performance of department heads of Islamic Azad University of Kerman and critical thinking has the most important role in comparison with talent management. Also, among the dimensions of critical thinking, the most important role is related to evaluation and then analysis, following by deductive reasoning, inference and inductive reasoning, respectively. Accordingly, the necessity of providing a suitable environment for training, growth and development of talent management and critical thinking of department heads with the aim of improving the level of their job performance as effective and valuable human resources in the university, is suggested.