The Outcomes of Flexibility of Human Resources Management Practices in the Public Sector

The aim of this study is to identify the outcomes of the flexibility of HRM practices in the public sector. The present study is a qualitative study with exploratory approach that uses grounded theory and conducts in-depth and semi-structured interviews to identify facilitators of the flexibility of HRM practices in the public sector. For this purpose, 14 in-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using a constructivist approach. The samples of this study consisted of experts and human resource management professors who were selected using snowball sampling method. Qualitative data from field surveys obtained through interviews were coded using the data base method. The process consisted of four steps: initial, centralized, axial, and selective coding. In these steps, 178 initial codes, 13 centralized codes, three subcategories, and one main category (consequences of the flexibility of HRM processes) were provided, respectively. The results show that the implications of flexibility in HRM processes in the public sector include three types of variables including individual, organizational and extracurricular outcomes, and one can expect these outcomes to be flexible.