Diagnosis from a Flexibility Perspective: A Grounded Theory Study in the Public Sector Mojgan Adnan Rad 1 , Mir Ali Seyed Naghavi 2* , Reza Vaezi 3 , Vajhollah Ghorbanizadeh 4 1. Ph.D. Public Administration (Human Resources), Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran. 2. Professor, Public Administration, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran. (Corresponding Author). E-mail: m.a.seyednaghavi@gmail.com 3. Professor, Public Administration, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran. 4. Associate Professor, Public Administration, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran. Abstract The present study diagnoses Human Resource Management (HRM) practices flexibility in the public sector using the grounded theory method. In the 14 in-depth and semi-structured interviews conducted in this study, samples that included experts in HRM were selected using purposive sampling. To select the sample members, two criteria were considered: having an acceptable experience in the field of human resource management in the public sector and having academic knowledge in this area. The qualitative data obtained from the field studies were coded using the constructive grounded theory. This process consisted of four steps, including initial, focused, axial and selective coding, from which were extracted 109 initial codes, 13 focused codes and 5 main categories. Data analysis showed that now, the inflexibility of HRM practices in the Iranian public sector, harm the performance of organizations in this sector and effectiveness of these practices in 5 areas including recruitment, training, performance appraisal, compensation and human resource planning. Introduction The increasing rate of environmental change in recent decades has made flexibility in various areas of particular importance. Therefore, modern organizations need new performance standards that must be developed in order to achieve development and flexibility. The public sector, under the influenced by rapid environmental changes and changing demands and needs of citizens, has been forced to adopt flexible approaches. At the same time, the laws limit the flexibility of organizations in the field of human resource management. In the latest studies in the field of