Designing a model of happiness for faculty members; a model derived from grounded theory

Happiness is considered one of the most influential factors in organizations that increases positive emotions of the staff and will reduce productivity by reducing negative emotions. Faculty members are the most important human capital of universities and higher education institutes. Therefore, addressing the issue of happiness and its causes among faculty members is so important. The purpose of this study was to design a model of happiness for faculty members which uses the systematic structure of Strauss & Corbin's grounded theory. Deep interviews were conducted with 26 faculty members of Islamic Azad universities in Tehran as a key player in the field of organizational happiness and owners of works in this field were by using purposive sampling. The data were analyzed in three stages of coding (open, axial and selective) and the result was 17 general categories which took place in the form of a paradigmatic model consist including strategies for establishing the organizational happiness model (planning for creating organizational happiness), intervener environmental conditions (individual characteristics of professors and students), underlying features (Family, work, welfare, teaching and research, organizational culture and economic conditions), causal conditions (social relations, work environment, work equipment, incentive system and ethical behavior of the work environment), The main phenomenon (organizational happiness) and its consequences (Reputation of the university, increasing university efficiency and reducing burnout). This model reflected the operationalization process of organizational happiness model of faculty members among Islamic Azad University of Tehran branches and the relationships between their categories and their dimensions.