Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Mahdi Alizadeh ¹
• Ziba Feizy ²

¹ Assistant Professor, Department of Human Resource Management, Amin University, Tehran, Iran

² Master of Public Administration, Danesh Alborz University, Qazvin, Iran

Abstract

Organizational Grit is a new concept of positive psychology and characteristic of successful people worldwide. Organizational Grit expresses enthusiasm to achieve long-term organizational goals. However, there needs to be more understanding about the lived experience of Organizational Grit. In this research, the phenomenological method was used to describe the lived experience of this phenomenon. The statistical population of this research was the judicial staff of Kurdistan Province. In this research, first, based on the questionnaire of Southwick and his colleagues, people with Grit were identified. Then, with the non-random-targeted sampling method, an in-depth interview was conducted with eight people. The findings of the qualitative analysis showed that the essence of the experience of organizational strength consists of four main themes: Organizational Grit as an active personality with sub-themes of innovation, patience, flexibility, learning, optimism, self-confidence, and risk-taking. Moreover, healthy thinking; Two: Organizational Grit as work spirituality with the sub-themes of God's satisfaction, God's people's satisfaction, honesty, piety, politeness, ethics, fairness and work conscience; Three: Organizational Grit as work endurance with the sub-themes of perseverance, pursuit, effort courage, decisiveness, being committed, accuracy, authority and foresight, Four: Organizational Grit as a general problem solver with the sub-themes of problem analysis, expertise, responsibility, service-oriented, realization of justice, citizen rights, result-oriented and solving judicial cases. Understanding the lived experience of organizational Grit can facilitate the organization's movement toward achieving its goals.

Introduction

Goal pursuit is ubiquitous in our everyday life. Goals can keep us going and provide something to aim at; they guide our actions, big and small. Indeed, goal pursuit can be considered the cornerstone of human behavior (Milyavskaya& Werner, 2021). In connection with this subject, A newly defined personality trait called “grit” has been attracting the interest of scholars in recent years. Duckworth et al. defined grit as a personality trait of perseverance of effort and consistency of interest for long-term goals and suggested Grit as a valid predictor of long-term success shared by the most prominent leaders in every field (Suzuki et al., 2015).
People adopt different behavior patterns in the way of motivating their long-term goals. Some people are steadfast and continue their efforts despite various issues and challenges (Arco Tirado et al., 2018). High-performance people have special attitudes and behaviors that differentiate them from others, and this capability has been proposed as organizational strength (Fernandez-Martin et al., 2020). Considering the importance of organizational Grit and the research gap in this field, this research investigates the lived experience of people with Grit in the judiciary using the phenomenological method. It seeks to answer the following main question:
What does organizational Grit mean from the point of view of judicial staff?

Literature Review

The studies of Duckworth and his colleagues in 2005 also showed that a large part of people's success is explained by their ability to be Grit in addition to intelligence (Guerrero et al., 2016). In other words, pursuit, effort, and interest, which indicate Grit, are distinguished from intelligence and talent and are equally critical in achieving success (Duckworth et al., 2015). Grit is in the intra-individual field and expresses the necessary capacity to regulate individual behavior and emotions to achieve goals (Shechtman et al., 2013). Duckworth and his colleagues define Grit as a non-cognitive parameter of individual abilities to pursue long-term goals without changing interests or goals along the path that leads to desirable outcomes (Duckworth et al., 2012).
People with high and low Grit are distinguished only in situations of failure or difficulty. Difficulty is necessary for the distinction of having or not having Grit. (Lucas et al., 2015). People with Grit have a positive view of the work environment, see failure as a success for learning, and have long-term goals (Wagner & Ruch, 2015). When faced with difficult problems, these people do not give up easily and have perseverance and stability in the face of changing directions (Duckworth et al., 2007). Because they have positive emotions and expectations, they have more continuity and continuity in doing their work (Ginti, Brindle, 2015). People with Grit are conscientious and highly motivated (Meriac et al., 2015). They are conscientious, reliable, organized, diligent, and self-controlled (Duckworth & Seligman, 2005). People with Grit have the capacity and ability to self-regulate and enjoy doing the task until the end of the work - not for the reward - (Kohen, 2014). In addition, people with Grit are self-efficacious and optimistic (Kraft & Duckworth, 2015).

Methodology

In this research, the philosophy of interpretive research, inductive research approach, phenomenological research strategy and qualitative research method were used, and the data collection method was interview. The phenomenon of organizational Grit is an individual variable, and in its investigation and analysis, it should be addressed from an individual lens. In this regard, first, in the Kurdistan Province Justice Research Society, the Organizational Grit Questionnaire of Sutwick and his colleagues (the attached questionnaire) was distributed, then the people who had an average score of 4 or higher (out of 5 points) were identified as people with Grit and then with Non-random-targeted sampling method, in-depth interviews were conducted with 8 people (according to Table 1). The phenomenological approach is to study how the phenomenon is described by humans and their experience through the senses. The experience and interpretation of the phenomenon is the focus of phenomenological research (Mohammadpour, 2017). In order to deeply understand and understand the phenomenon of organizational Grit, this research deals with the lived experience of people with Grit.

Discussion and Results

Qualitative data analysis showed that the lived experience of organizational Grit includes four main themes and thirty-two sub-themes as follows:

Organizational Grit as an active personality with sub-themes of innovation, patience, flexibility, learning, optimism, self-confidence, risk-taking and healthy thinking.
Organizational Grit as work spirituality with the sub-themes of God's satisfaction, God's people's satisfaction, honesty, piety, politeness, ethics, righteousness and work conscience.
Organizational Grit as work endurance with the sub-themes of perseverance, follow-up, hard work, decisiveness, being committed, accuracy, authority and foresight.
Organizational Grit as a general problem solver with the sub-themes of problem analysis, expertise, responsibility, service-oriented, realization of justice, citizen rights, result-oriented and solving court cases.
Conclusion

The results of the research showed that the lived experience of organizational Grit indicates having four main themes, and according to these four themes, organizational Grit can be described as follows:
Organizational Grit means having the characteristics of an active judicial personality (innovative, flexible, learning, optimistic, self-confident, risk-taking, patient and healthy thinking), which with the approach of work spirituality and righteousness (pleasure of God, satisfaction of God's people, honesty, piety, politeness, ethics, right-mindedness and work conscience) and the presence of work perseverance (persistence, follow-up, effort, decisiveness, commitment, accuracy, authority and foresight) in order to solve public issues and litigation (problems, expertise, responsibility) acceptable, service-oriented, realization of justice, citizenship rights, result-oriented and solving court cases).
In general, the phenomenon of organizational Grit is common in some dimensions such as personality traits, having work endurance and problem solving (result realization), but in this research, work spirituality makes it different from other definitions and is proposed as an innovation in the definition of organizational Grit.
 Acknowledgments
The researchers consider it necessary to express their appreciation and gratitude to all the judicial staff of Kurdistan province who helped them in conducting this research.

Keywords

• Organizational Grit
• phenomenology
• active personality
• work spirituality
• work perseverance and general problem solving

Main Subjects

• Organizational Behavior