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Zelenova A.S., PhD Merkulova N.V.
Voronezh State Technical University, Russian
Federation
Motivation System for Public Sector Employees
in Developing Countries
The problems relating to the motivation of public
sector employees are very up-to-date in developing countries. In the US,
Europe, Japan and Russia the system of motivation exists as a formed management
concept. However, there are developing countries with their catching up
economies, which every year involve more and more in the world economy as a
policy of international cooperation.
The public sector continues to
be very significant for international development. That is why it is especially
difficult to restore motivation in the public service to achieve the objectives
of sustainable development. In developing countries, the provision of basic
public services such as health, sanitation, electricity and water supply may
suffer from a lack of motivation, endangering the welfare of the society and
the whole country. Statistics on the disparity of public services standards based
on the analysis of popular modern economic magazines editions shows that, for example, 768 million people have
a lack of drinking water from sanitary safe sources [1]; public services cannot
adequately provide the poor population in the world in terms of access,
quantity and quality [2].
The view that all civil
servants possess sufficient internal motivation to serve the society is naive.
Unpleasant incidents worldwide, for example, the strike in South Africa, when the
workers of public hospitals refused to accept the medical service, which
brought the victims in the accident, questioned this view. However, state
employees with internal motivation exist, too. A doctor at a provincial
hospital in the Central African Republic works with extremely limited
resources, in very difficult conditions of the health system, in terms of
political crisis, etc. But he survives on benefits received from aid agencies
and refuses to leave because of his «love for humanity» [3]. Despite the fact
that the majority of state employees are already internally motivated by the
missions and goals of their organizations, they point to an acute need to
increase the level of motivation among the people working in the public sector
around the world. The problems of rapidly declining resources and increasing
complexity reflect the fact that there are issues that require attention [4; ð. 54-67].
The document of «Harvard
Business Review» identifies four drivers of motivation [5; ð. 78–84]. Employers who want to have
motivated staff should use all the four elements:
1. Acquisition - obtaining the
necessary few products available: it is best suited for the system of
competitive incentives;
2. Connecting - making
connections with people: it is achieved through the influence of a supportive
culture, which promotes friendship between colleagues, enables teamwork and
encourages the exchange of knowledge;
3. Understanding - satisfying
curiosity: organizations should create jobs that are meaningful, difficult, but
interesting for employees;
4. Protection - promoting
fairness and protection from harm by ensuring transparency and justice,
building up a trusting relationship through transparency and clarity in the
provision of remuneration and the distribution of jobs.
The study found out that the
most motivated people went to work in the public sector even at a lower level
of remuneration.
Incentives also play an
important part being essentially the basis of the impact on motives. Workers
usually do a good job when there are incentives, such as payments for
performance and bonuses. Incentives are tools used to change behavior.
Incentives can be divided into tangible and intangible. Tangible incentives
usually include salaries linked to the payments for performance or bonuses, pensions and other incentives,
such as insurance, child benefits and subsidies for housing, transport and
living expenses. Intangible incentives may consist of professional development,
holidays with pay, recognition for the performed work, flexible work hours,
positive work environment, career counseling and access to benefits. Incentives
can also be classified as private (financial and non-financial), organizational
(internal and external), related to the environment (including employment
opportunities for spouses and schooling for children).
In conclusion, it should be
noted that the tangible and intangible ways of stimulation give the best effect
only in complex. Based on the above examples, we can see that developing countries
have placed more emphasis to the material sphere. It can be determined that the
standards of living in these countries remain low. Thus, intangible incentives
should be implemented, however, the material is more relevant, which confirms
all the well-known pyramid of Maslow [6; p. 370-396]: if the basic
physiological needs are not satisfied, the next level of the pyramid will not
be reached. However, the motivational
system of public sector employees in
developing countries of the future is only a well-compiled package of tangible
and intangible features.
References:
1.
Millennium Development Goals Report 2013 – United
Nations. URL:
sr.one.un.org/millennium-...
2.
Kjorven O. Post-2015: On our Way to the World we Want, 24 February 2014 UNDP. URL:
undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/capacity-development/English/...
3.
Ryan R.M., Deci E.L. Intrinsic and Extrinsic
Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions // Contemporary Educational
Psychology 25, no.1 (January 2000): 54–67. URL: cambridge.org/core/books/...
4.
Nohria
N., Groysberg B., Lee L. Employee Motivation:
A Powerful New Model // Harvard Business Review 86, nos. 7/8 (July-August
2008): 78–84. URL: hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile....
5.
Maslow A.H. A Theory of Human Motivation // Psychological Review 50, no. 4 (1943):
370-396. URL: emotionalliteracyeducation.com/...