Designing a Model of Organizational Depression in Public Sector Organizations

Organizational depression is one of the new challenges of public sector organizations; ignoring it can have long-term harm to the organization and its employees, and since people spend most of their time in organizations today, neglecting this issue can cause damage. Seek irreparability. The present study aimed to investigate the causes of organizational depression with the foundational data approach (case study: government organizations). The current study is qualitative research, and its statistical population consists of professors and experts in organizational behavior and organizational psychology. The statistical sample was selected using a targeted method. In order to collect data, 16 in-depth interviews were conducted with experts, and the obtained data were analyzed using three stages of open, central, and selective coding. The final model was designed based on the Strauss-Corbin method. During this research, 175 open codes were obtained in the form of 21 core codes, non-fulfillment of goals and plans, weak political-legal factors, toxic organizational atmosphere, inappropriate physical space and equipment, telegram management, behavioral problems, personality problems, problems Family, physical disability, job burnout, conflicting relationships with colleagues, negative working conditions, lack of welfare system, financial disability, lack of justice, ineffective communication and unconventional control systems were categorized as sub-categories of this research. All extracted concepts were categorized into six selective codes from the paradigm model. Positive entropy was categorized as the causal conditions of organizational depression, individual factors as contextual factors, job dissatisfaction as a central category, poor financial performance as intervening factors, culture as a strategy, and organizational decline as a consequence of organizational depression.IntroductionObserving society's current situation and the existing problems and issues shows that many government organizations are weak, and inefficient, and in organizational psychology, they are sick and considered neurotic organizations. The existence of sick organizations also causes damage and problems to the whole body of society, just as the combination of multiple symptoms indicates the emergence of a disorder in humans. Similar patterns of strategic and structural defects also indicate the existence of specific organizational damage in the organization. A neurotic organization is, above all, an anxious organization. Such organizations have doubts about their abilities to achieve compatibility and success. For this reason, instead of spending their energy on achieving success, They often spend time, resources, and effort to avoid failure. In recent years, show behaviors have increased at all government organizations. Non-fulfillment of managers' promises due to severe reduction of resources and inability to provide them, weak performance of managers and, as a result, distrust of managers, failure to make correct and timely decisions, and lack of basic plans to deal with problems, reduction of citizen's rights in organizations and the lack of proper implementation of programs, etc., it is evident that all of these cases within organizations have reduced organizational commitment, reduced motivation in human resources, disturbed personal-work life balance, and in general indifference of employees to organizations. In the long term, the phenomenon of organizational depression appears. And seek to design a paradigmatic model of organizational depression in government organizations.Materials and methodsThis research seeks to develop a model of organizational depression in public sector organizations using the foundation data method; therefore, this research is considered qualitative research. To do it, the foundation data method and the Strauss-Corbin approach have been used in the model's design. In this research, theoretical data from background studies and literature related to the research, which is necessary for expanding the topic and interview questions, have been used. Also, to collect field data, interviewing experts have been used to develop categories. Three stages of coding were used to analyze the data obtained from the interviews: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding.Discussion and resultsThe researcher identified 175 open codes during the interviews and classified them into 21 core codes. The results indicated that The subcategories of behavioral problems, personality problems, family problems, and physical disability were categorized under the main category of individual factors. The subcategories of job burnout, conflicting relations with colleagues, and negative working conditions were categorized in the main category of job dissatisfaction. Lack of welfare system and financial inability are subcategories that were categorized in the organization's main category of poor financial performance. The subcategories of lack of justice, ineffective communication, and unconventional control systems were grouped in the main category of dramatic culture. Finally, the subcategories of inability to pursue goals and plans, vague goals and plans, reduction in organizational performance, inefficient leadership, and management were grouped in the main category of organizational decline.ConclusionIndividual factors are factors related to people's personal behavior and were categorized in the model of organizational depression, behavioral problems, personality problems, family problems, and physical disability under the title of individual factors in the form of underlying factors that cause organizational depression. These factors can be the severity of depression. It affects the organization, and it differs among the employees of the organization. In this research, "job dissatisfaction" has been chosen as the core category. The core category is the category that has the most repetition among the received codes. In this research, job dissatisfaction was the category repeated in all the interviews and hence has been selected as the central category. The subcategories of job burnout, conflicting relationships between colleagues, and negative working conditions were grouped in the main category of job dissatisfaction. Lack of welfare system and financial disability are subcategories categorized as poor financial performance of the organization and selected as intervening factors in the organizational depression model. Lack of justice, ineffective communication, and unconventional control systems were selected as subcategories of dramatic culture, and dramatic culture was chosen as a strategy in the organizational depression model. In the above research, organizational decline is the consequence of organizational depression, poor organizational performance, unclear goals and plans, inefficient leadership, and management were categorized as organizational decline subcategories.