Public Service Motivation (PSM), Essay Example

Numerous studies have been carried out to examine the reasons that drive people to enter into public service and remain highly committed to settle (Hondegham &Horton, 2006). The public service motivation (PSM) notion is believed to have been developed by Lois R. wise and James Perry (1990). PSM is an extensive, versatile concept dealing with many views in diverse ways and thus inherently complex to measure and characterize. Mann (2006) pointed out that the PSM notion still remains vague; there exists no perfect definition or best standard gauge to fully describe it. This has lead to some researchers abandoning the whole idea of PSM altogether.

According to Perry and Wise (1990), PSM can be reasonably defined as “an individual’s predisposition to respond to the motives grounded uniquely or primarily in public organizations and institutions”. However in the later years, Rainey and Steinberger (1999) came up with a rather broad definition saying that public service motivation is “general altruistic motivation to serve the interest of the community of people, a state, a nation, or general human kind”. Brewer and Selden (1998) simplified the same by defining it as the inspiring force that stimulates the concerned individuals to carrying out public service (Rainey and Steinberger, 1999).

Factors That Affect PSM

In the Perry and Wise definition the individual motivation refers to the psychological needs, requirements and motivations which can only be fulfilled by working in the public service sector. They acknowledged that there are three separate motives: affective, norm based and rational. Affective based motives signify the concerned individual’s self- sacrifice, norm based show their commitment to the social justice, civic responsibilities and the general public interest while rational motives signify and points out the attraction and appeal toward the policy formulation of the public domain. A research carried out using the Q- methodology study revealed four distinct groups of public servants. Communitarians are motivated by the appeal to public responsibility and service. Humanitarians get motivated by the compassion sense of justice, fairness and public service. Patriots are motivated by the sense of advocating, championing and working for the entire wellbeing of the state or authority in power; and Samaritans are strongly appealed to assisting the under privileged members of the public (Rainey & Steinberger, 1999).

Mostly, PSM studies and research have been focusing on examining the express relationships either as “dependent or antecedent”. For instance work related construes such as remuneration, organizational commitment, job satisfaction etc, are assumed to appease and attract individuals with high PSM and therefore the end up getting more satisfied and thus perform better as their PSM values are well compensated (Pandey & Stazyk, 2008).

The individuals PSM values depends on their backgrounds and the magnitudes is influenced first by the consistency of the valuation system with the PSM (ordinal parameters such as low moderate or high cannot be used to identify PSM) and secondly by the individual attitude towards the work, organization or the specific activity. For instance in situations where an individual has high PSM values and feels consequently that the work duties and the organization matches the PSM values, more job satisfaction and performance can be realized.      Generally PSM has no direct influence on satisfaction and performance; effects are only realized through indirect value congruence of the perceived PSM magnitude. An individual PSM emanates from a range of life encounters and experiences; some possibly connected with the childhood encounters, religion or connected with the individual professional life (Pandey & Stazyk, 2008).

Application of PSM

PSM theory is useful to the managers of the public sector in their quest to attract, maintain and motivate a high- quality and motivated workforce. Since the performance of any organization significantly depends on the quality of the workforce employees, the possession functions of employment selection and recruitment determines the success or failure of any sector or organization. Managers therefore need to attract and retain high PSM valued employees in order to realize improved performance. Thus PSM is a significant tool especially when carrying out structural readjustment of the public sector, for instance when retrenching non performing employees (Rainey & Steinberger, 1999).

PO Fit What It Is and How It Relates to PSM

A study carried out at the University of Kansas examined the effects of the value congruence and social networks among the public service employees (Sanjay, 2009).It revealed that employees harbor social connection and networks both within and outside the workplace organization. A strong sense of responsibilities is likely to make employees stay within an organization. They also projected that the person- organization (P- O) fit profile the turnover intention of the employees. Individuals who possess strong motivation exhibit high P- O fit in terms of satisfaction and congruence and thus are more likely to commit themselves to the public service for a longer duration of time (Sanjay, 2009). The suitable fit therefore of an individual to the organization makes him/her more favorable to the general organization activities thus affecting the opinions regarding the specific tasks and activities carried out.

Research results have drawn the parallel between PSM and person – organization fit. Accordingly, individuals having high PSM are likely to head to the public sector for employment. In such a case, the public sector serves as a proxy for the organizational goals and values. The incentives of financial rewards is generally used in studying PSM and also as a way of evaluating the sector values that motivate the person- organization fit. Regardless of the job sector, individuals are likely to take up jobs that favorably satisfy their financial needs. This is mostly in a case where they have a variety of jobs opportunities to choose from (Sanjay, 2009).

In a case where the P-O fit is operationalized through the assumption that employees with high PSM values are likely to favor public sector job opportunities due to the perceived congruency with the values of the public service, it is evident that PSM does not increase or reduce the likelihood of the same individuals taking up private sector jobs. This simply means that it is insufficient to link PSM and the type of sector of employment while determining the P- O fit (Rainey & Steinberger, 1999).

PSM and the Hiring Process

Most companies use PSM as part of the pre- employment method of assessing the potential employees. The PSM theory gives a significant and variable insight in order to fully understand how managers can attract, retain, appease and motivate such employees.  This has proved to be a better method of assessment rather than the convectional interview process. Generally interviews are mostly used to gauge person employability. However, this method can be flawed since it is subjective as it aims at disapproving the candidate rather that favoring their chances. The pre- employment PSM assessment provides a valid and unbiased platform beyond the interview evaluations (Sanjay, 2009).

In many cases employment assessment is viewed as an additional cost to the employer, since in most cases a recruiting organization is involved as well as interview time required, the cost of retraining the new interns and the lost income due to mediocre performance. These extra costs are saved through the pre- assessment of the PSM values of the candidates thus ultimately getting the desirable person for the job opportunity. The good hire also improves the companies turn over and quality of service (Sam, 2008).

PSM pre-assessments are complex and thus sophisticated yet simple and user friendly. They give forced choice parameters that help to gauge the real actual character and behaviors of the candidates and thus their competence levels. It thus focuses on the character behavior rather than just the personality.

References

Brewer, G.A. & Selden, S.C. (1998). Whistle-blowers in the Federal Civil Service: New Evidence of the Public Service Ethic. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 8:413-39.

Horton, S. & Hondeghem, A. (2006). Public Service Motivation and Commitment. Public Policy and Administration; 21; 1 Management. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Pandey, S. & Stazyk, E. (2008). Antecedents and correlates of public service. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Perry, J. & Wise, L. (1990). The Motivational Bases of Public Service. Public Administration Review, (50) 367-73.

Rainey H.G. & Steinbauer P. (1999). Galloping Elephants: Developing Elements of a Theory of Effective Government Organizations. Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory. 9(1).

Sam M. (2008). Using Psychometric Assessments in the Hiring Process. Retrieved November 18, 2009, from http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/using- psychometric-assessments-in-the-hiring-process-455011.html

Sanjay K. P. (2009). The Ties that Bind: Social Networks, Person-Organization Value Fit, and Turnover Intention. Retrieved November 17, 2009, from             http://jpart.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/mum013v1.