Revisiting the Motivational Bases of Public Service, Book Review Example

The PSM Theory of Business Motivation, Antecedence and Consequences

The theory of Public Service Motivation (PSM) suggests “the greater a person’s public service motivation the greater chance they will seek employment in a public sector.” (Perry, Wise and Hondeghem, 2009). Increase PSM is achieved through various sources but primary learned through social ways of life such as institutional learning, church, parenting values and other means. Further “public service motivation is directly linked to a person’s individual performance.” (Perry, Wise and Hondeghem, 2009). A person is likely to perform better at work in a public sector if they possess ratings of high PSM. The third theory of PSM suggests “public organizations that attract individuals with a high level of PSM will are less likely to be dependent on utilitarian incentives to manage individual performance individually.” (Perry, Wise and Hondeghem, 2009). Crewson suggests there is a positive intention to remain with a company within the public sector if PSM is part of the workforce (1997). Bright suggests there is strong theoretical evidence of PSM and P-O fit within an organization (2008). This theory is ambiguous though because empirical data suggests there is not much research on P-O fit and PSM compatibility. This will be discussed further in this evaluative research paper.  Wright and Christensen suggest there are other determining factors that suggest a good fit with relation to public service motivation other than P-O fit (2007). Grout suggests that workers in PSM oriented organizations are likely to move to non-profit organizations (2007). The British Household Service Panel suggest that the reason employees move to other areas of work are to fulfil their inner or intrinsic desire to meet PSM goals. (Georgellis, 2008). This suggestion goes back to deep seeded values instilled in a person which is what motivates a person prima facie to work in the public sector.  Workers in PSM environments have the tendency to ‘blow the whistle’ at improper or unethical behaviours in the workplace as reported by Seldon, 1998. The presumed reason is because of the relatively high moral and ethical standards they live according to.  Bright (in, press) stated that PSM employees are attracted by non-monetary compensation. Crewson states much of this research is based in incidence effects (1997). Multiple dimensions need to be considered for future research on PSM. Leadership abilities and to take away the old ‘practise what we preach’ mentality should be dissolved with relation to PSM.

The negative situation about public service organizations is that often their goals are quite ambiguous and this ambiguity can cause conflict within an organization. Rainey states that ambiguous goals frustrate and organization and cause internal conflict (1993). “The internal goals of a public service organization influence the level of PSM within the organization (Perry, 2000) and (Jung, C. and Rainey, H., 2009).  There is not much avail be empirical evidence from research conducted on the relationship of PSM to the federal government. Commitment, goal setting and mission specificity are key elements to PSM within the public sector. Multi-nominal logistic regression methodology has been used to target ambiguity within the public sector in order to motivate public sector employees. Of all the factors considered job commitment weighs heavily on resolving any ambiguity within the public sector.

How Does P O Fit relate to PSM?

It is quite evident that past empirical research is quite ambiguous with relation to P-O fit and PSM and the performance of individuals in the public sector. P-O fit encompasses the essence of goals, skills and values that any given employee can bring to an organization thus it is very important to access its relation to how it fits with PSM. “Congruence between individuals is accomplished by supplementary and complimentary ways.” Supplementary fits are achieved when employees have similar characteristics that bind them to the job whereas complimentary characteristics is achieved when something is missing and that missing link is added by each employee to make a whole or completeness within the workforce as explained by Kristoff (1996) and Monahan (1987). Supplementary fit is interested in attracting individuals with similar skills and goals and complimentary congruence is achieved by using resources and tasks provided within the working organization. Bretz and Judge state “P-O fit has a positive influence on employee’s attitudes and performance.” (1994). It is hypothesized that influences of PSM are mediated by an employees fit with the organization that employs them thus P-O research is flawed. Thus employees with higher levels of PSM will perform better in public sector environments. “For example, according to Perry and Wise (1990), “The greater an individual’s public service motivation, the more likely the individual will seek membership in a public organization” (p. 370). Individuals appear to be most attracted to organizations that are compatible with their levels of skill and characteristics of profile. (Bright, 2009). These individual achieve and maintain a ‘comfort zone’ in public sector environments and tend to stay employed in this line of work, though there is not much empirical data to suggest the same within the federal government. There is not much empirical data of PSM within the public sector of the federal government jobs.

How PSM is used in the Hiring Process in the Business World

Employers are seeking to hire employers that will fit the classification of ‘locals’ or people that will be long-term employees because of the time and energy and money put into training of employees. Further a good P-O fit accentuates a company with respect to collaboration within the company and profits. Relational psychological contracts are developed through good PSM fits. Employees possessing characteristics that public sector employees are seeking tend to transition toward positions with psychological contracts rather than monetary contracts for the value that intrinsic awards bring to them. Extrinsic awards are of secondary nature to the public service employee as demonstrated in my prior thesis paper.  Transactional contracts are those that are concerned with “specific expectations about work performance, work effort and how they change within the work environment” as explained by Sekiguchi (2007) and (Perry and Hondeghem, 2008). In order to facilitate an even range wit respect to transactional contracts the employee/employer relationship must be well-established in terms of communication and what the employer expects from the employee. In order to get the best fit with an employee during pre-hiring processes PSM motivational antecedents are viewed as optimal incentives with hiring the best employees that are suited for public sector jobs. Some employees may consider rewards as an incentive to good job performance and a reason to make their employment ‘local’. Moser (2005) found that employees who were recruited from within the organization found their expectations and demands were met much more than those employees recruited from an outside agency. The expectations may be less than an outside recruited employee or the employee may already be acclimated to the public service environment or a better suited fit. Attraction to future public sector employment is a highly motivating factor for some employees within the public sector whereas that factor is not a motivating one in the private industry. Civic duty, compassion and self-sacrifice were some positive characteristics observed of applicants to the public sector environment. With that said, PSM is certainly motivational to hiring the right applicant for public sector employment because of the psychological contract that seems to exist between the employer and the potential employee. Wright (2001) is correct to assume the motivations for public sector and private sectors are totally different. Private sector workers are mostly motivated by higher rates of salary whereas public sector employees are internally motivated by extrinsic rewards for their internal accomplishments. Perry (1997) believes that people’s intrinsic social values change as they develop through school, activities, functions and church related settings that influence their values. People take these values with them into their workplace. This is prevalent in the private sector employment arenas. It is these types of characteristics that public sector employees seek when hiring employees.

Reference

(Perry, J., Wise, L.  and Hondeghem, A. (2009) Revisiting the Motivational Bases of Public Service Retrieved November 20, 2009 from, http://www.indiana.edu/%7Eipsm2009/ppt/Perry_Hondeghem_Wise.pdf

Jung, C. and Rainey, H. (2009) Organizational Goal Characteristics and Public Duty Motivation in U.S. Federal Agencies Retrieved November 26, 2009 from, http://www.indiana.edu/%7Eipsm2009/ppt/Jung_Rainey.pdf

Bright, L. (2009) Does Person-Organization Fit Mediate the Relationship Between Public Service Motivation and the Job Performance of Public Employees? Retrieved November 26, 2009 from, http://rop.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/27/4/361

Perry, J. and Hondeghem, A. (2008) Motivation in Public Management: The Call of Public Service Retrieved November 26, 2009 from, http://books.google.com/books?id=5F91m1DaOmYC&pg=PT134&lpg=PT134&dq=how+Public+Service+Motivation+is+used+as+a+tool+to+hire&source=bl&ots=bf3iw3WtXw&sig=vdFmjWamzI4ennhiYbDEgCVz980&hl=en&ei=wCwPS9mHLc-AnQf-mKXYAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCIQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=&f=false