I. Introduction
Motivation could be thought of as an action. The action of motivated staff members of a
company is an element which adds to productivity. Hence, a manager is ought to have efficient
employees who could produce efficiently. The performance of a job consists of four elements:
ability, understanding of the task, environment, and motivation (Mitchell, 1982, pp.82-83).
Many works have been written about the topic of motivation. Such works went further to
discuss, not only assess the essence of staff motivation, but to also assess whether employees
from the private sector have other motivation antecedents than the ones in the public sector. An
example of this is the Public Service Motivation, a theory that discusses this issue.
However, theory differs from reality. Employees of the public sector are known to be
weary and lazy (Wilson, 1989, p.xviii; Wright, 2001, p.560). The matter of motivating public
sector employees by their managers is looked at to be one of the “Big Questions of Public
Management” (Behn, 1995).
This paper’s question is: what are the theoretical factors and practical tactics that can help
public sector managers to motivate their employees?
The meta-analysis used in answering the question if based on real application where
interviews with managers took place. The managers have experience in public sector.
Literature review will consist of four parts. The first part will discuss motivation and
clarify its meaning. The second part will talk about why motivation is important, where its
effects could be examined. The third part studies if there a difference between private and public
sector staff motivation exists. The last part goes through a few theories of motivation, and also
determines factors of motivation that are mentioned in the theories. It would then be followed by
the discussion and final remarks, and then, the conclusion.
II. Motivation – It’s Meaning (what is it all about in the research)
We need to know the meaning of motivation first before attempting to motivate public
staff. In 1981, Kleinginna and KLeinginna highlighted more than 140 meanings for motivation
(p.263).
The origin of motivation in Latin, when translated, means to excite, move, affect, and
impact. Motivation is the degree to which a person is moved or aroused to act (Rainey, 1993,
p.20). A more detailed definition is : the set of psychological processes that cause the arousal,
direction, and persistence of individual’s behavior towar attaining a goal (ibid.;
Greenberg/Baron, 2003, p.190; Robbins/Judge, 2008, p.209).
From the aforementioned definition, we could see the limestone of motivation, which
consists of –arousal-, -direction-, and persistence.
Moreover, motivation is an individual trait as could be seen based on the definition.
Individuals differ and thus have different tendencies, perceptions, dreams, and needs.
Motivation relates to willingness, determination, and choice of self. Meaning, a staff
member willingly and consciously decides as to whether he/she should give some effort and
commence action (Mitchell, 1982, p.81). This means that a staff’s motivation could be
manipulated on one hand, and that only the staff member is the person who could perform such
action. This means that staff members can be influenced to be motivated (Bruce/Pepitone, 1998,
