week6 rainey chapter_10

Understanding and Managing

Public Organizations

Chapter 10

Understanding People in Public Organizations: Values, Incentives,

and Work-Related Attitudes

Overview

• Like the last chapter, this chapter is also concerned with

the people in organizations. Chapter 10

• Describes concepts important to the analysis of motivation and

work attitudes

• Discusses the values, motives, and incentives that are

particularly important in public organizations

Attempts to Specify Needs, Values, and

Incentives

• Several lists and typologies are available. Some of the

more prominent are as follows:

• Murray’s List of Basic Needs (1938)

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1954)

• Alderfer’s ERG (1972)

• Rokeach’s Value Survey (1973)

• Terminal values

• Instrumental values

Attempts to Specify Needs, Values, and

Incentives

• The literature also includes prominent work on

incentives, including, among others, the following:

– Barnard (1938)

– Simon (1948)

– Clark and Wilson (1961)

– Wilson (1973)

• These scholars focus on various incentive types.

The Complexity of Human Needs and Values

Murray’s List of

Basic Needs (1938)Maslow’s Need

Hierarchy

(1954)

Alderfer’s

ERG Model

(1972)

Rokeach’s Value Survey (1973)

Terminal Values Instrumental Values

Abasement

Achievement

Affiliation

Aggression

Autonomy

Counteraction

Defendance

Dominance

Exhibition

Harm avoidance

Nurturance

Order

Play

Rejection

Sentience

Sex

Succorance

Understanding

Self-actualization needs

Esteem needs

Belongingness social

needs

Safety needs

Physiological needs

Growth needs

Relatedness needs

Existence needs

A comfortable (prosperous) life

An exciting (stimulating) life

A sense of accomplishment (lasting

contribution)

A world at peace (free of war and conflict)

A world of beauty (of nature and the arts)

Equality (brotherhood, equal opportunity

for all)

Family security (taking care of loved ones)

Freedom (independence, free choice)

Happiness (contentedness)

Inner harmony (freedom from inner

conflict)

Mature love (sexual and spiritual intimacy)

National security (protection from attack)

Pleasure (an enjoyable, leisurely life)

Salvation (eternal life)

Self-respect (self-esteem)

Social recognition (respect, admiration)

True friendship (close companionship)

Wisdom (a mature understanding of life)

Ambitious (hard working, aspiring)

Broad-minded (open-minded)

Capable (competent, effective)

Cheerful (lighthearted, joyful)

Clean (neat, tidy)

Courageous (standing up for one’s

beliefs)

Forgiving (willing to pardon others)

Helpful (working for the welfare of

others)

Honest (sincere, truthful)

Imaginative (daring, creative)

Independent (self-reliant, self-

sufficient)

Intellectual (intelligent, reflective)

Logical (consistent, rational)

Loving (affectionate, tender)

Obedient (dutiful, respectful)

Polite (courteous, well-mannered)

Responsible (dependable, reliable)

Self-controlled (restrained, self-

disciplined)

Types of Incentives

Types of Incentives

Incentive Type Definitions and Examples

Barnard (1938)

Specific Incentives

Material inducements

Personal, nonmaterialistic inducements

Desirable physical conditions of work

Ideal benefactions

General incentives

Associational attractiveness

Customary working conditions

Opportunity for feeling of enlarged

participation in course of events

Condition of communion

Incentives “specifically offered to an individual”

Money, things, physical conditions

Distinction, prestige, personal power,

dominating position

“Satisfaction of ideals about nonmaterial future

or altruistic relations” (pride of workmanship,

sense of adequacy, altruistic service for family

or others, loyalty to organization, esthetic and

religious feeling, satisfaction of hate and

revenge)

Incentives that “cannot be specifically offered

to an individual”

Social compatibility, freedom from hostility due

to racial, religious differences

Conformity to habitual practices, avoidance of

strange methods and conditions

Association with large, useful, effective

organization

Personal comfort in social relations

Types of Incentives


Simon (1948)Incentives for employee participation

Incentives for elites or controlling groups

Clark and Wilson (1961) and Wilson

(1973)

Material incentives

Solidary incentives

Specific solidary incentives

Collective solidary incentives

Purposive incentives

Salary or wage, status and prestige, relations with

working group, promotion opportunities

Prestige and power

Tangible rewards that can be easily priced (wages and

salaries, fringe benefits, tax reductions, changes in

tariff levels, improvement in property values, discounts,

services, gifts)

Intangible incentives without monetary value and not

easily translated into one, deriving primarily from the

act of associating

Incentives that can be given to or withheld from a

specific individual (offices, honors, deference)

Rewards created by act of associating and enjoyed by

all members if enjoyed at all (fun, conviviality, sense of

membership or exclusive-collective status or esteem)

Intangible rewards that derive from satisfaction of

contributing to worthwhile cause (enactment of a law,

elimination of government corruption)

Types of Incentives


Downs (1967)

General “motives or goals” of officials

Niskanen (1971)

Variables that may enter the bureaucrat’s

utility function

Lawler (1971)

Extrinsic rewards

Intrinsic rewards

Power (within or outside bureau), money

income, prestige, convenience, security,

personal loyalty to work group or organization,

desire to serve public interest, commitment to

a specific program of action

Salary, perquisites of the office, public

reputation, power, patronage, output of the

bureau, ease of making changes, ease of

managing the bureau, increased budget

Rewards extrinsic to the individual, part of the

job situation, given by others

Rewards intrinsic to the individual and

stemming directly from job performance itself,

which satisfy higher-order needs such as self-

esteem and self-actualization (feelings of

accomplishment and of using and developing

one’s skills and abilities)

Types of Incentives


Herzberg, Mausner, Peterson, and

Capwell (1957)

Job “factors” or aspects. Rated in

importance by large sample of

employees.

Locke (1969)

External incentive

In order of average rated importance: security,

interest, opportunity for advancement,

company and management, intrinsic aspects

of job, wages, supervision, social aspects,

working conditions, communication, hours,

ease, benefits

An event or object external to the individual

that can incite action (money, knowledge of

score, time limits, participation, competition,

praise and reproof, verbal reinforcement,

instructions)

Incentives in Organizations

• Barnard refers to “economies of incentives” as

fundamental aspects of human activity.

• Work by some prominent scholars is in the generalist

tradition (for example, Barnard, March and Simon).


• Clark and Wilson (1961) and Wilson (1973) developed a

typology of organizations based on the primary incentive

offered to participants.

• The main idea is that differences in incentives lead to

differences in organization behavior and processes.

Incentive

type

Organization

Behavior

Organization

Processes


• Clark and Wilson (1961) differentiate three types:

• Material incentives: tangible rewards, often monetary—wages,

fringe benefits, patronage

• Solidary incentives: intangible rewards from the act of

association—sociability, status

• Purposive incentives: intangible rewards related to the goals of

the organization—for example, working on an election of a

supported candidate

Incentives and Organization Type

• Utilitarian organizations rely primarily on material

incentives (business firms, labor unions).

• Clark and Wilson predict they will have fairly precise cost-

accounting machinery (Scott, 2003, p. 172).

• Managers will focus on obtaining necessary material incentives.

• Conflicts will be about distribution.

• Organizational goals will be secondary to incentives.


• Solidary organizations (service-oriented voluntary

organizations and social clubs) are places where people

make contributions in return for sociability and status.

• Executive efforts at securing prestige, good fellowship

• Organizational goals are noncontroversial and socially

acceptable.

• These organizations tend to be less flexible and more public in

actions and decisions.


• Purposive organizations rely on their stated goals to

attract and retain people (Clark and Wilson, 1961).

• Executives need to maintain inducements, but when goals are

lofty this is difficult to sustain.

• Often their efforts fail initially or intermittently (don't elect

candidate, don't stop hunger, and so on).

• Sometimes the goals are too vague or only support a minority of

interests.

Incentives: Subsequent Literature

• Extrinsic and intrinsic incentives—as an important

distinction

• The “most important” incentives—not conclusive, but

well-designed pay structures are consistently effective

• Research on the attitudes towards money, security and

benefits, and challenging work with varying results

The Motive for Public Service:

In Search of the Service Ethic

• So why do people want to work for government?

• Researchers call this the service ethic or desire to serve

the public (PSM, or public service motivation).

• In general, research is consistent with the finding that

public managers express a greater motivation to serve

the public.

The Motive for Public Service:

In Search of the Service Ethic

• But what do we mean by PSM, and can it be measured?

– James Perry and Lois Wise (1990) define PSM as “an individual's

predisposition to respond to motives grounded primarily or uniquely

in public institutions and organizations.”

– They separate motives into three categories:

• Rational (instrumental)

• Norm-based

• Affective

Categorizing PSM

• Rational (instrumental) motives are grounded in enlightened self-

interest and are present in individuals who believe that their interests

coincide with those of the larger community. They personally

identify with some programs and express a commitment to public

policy or special interest advocacy.

• Norm-based motives describe a desire to serve the public interest, a

duty and loyalty to the government, and a concern for social equity.

• Affective motives, such as altruism, are characterized by a

willingness or desire to help others.

Dimensions and Questionnaire Measures of Public Service Motivation

Dimension Questionnaire Items

Attraction to Public

Affairs

Commitment to the

Public Interest

Compassion

Self-Sacrifice

Politics is a dirty word. (Reversed)*

The give and take of public policymaking doesn’t appeal to me. (Reversed)

I don’t care much for politicians. (Reversed)

It is hard to get me genuinely interested in what is going on in my community. (Reversed)

I unselfishly contribute to my community.

Meaningful public service is very important to me.

I would prefer seeing public officials do what is best for the community, even if it harmed my interests.

I consider public service a civic duty.

I am rarely moved by the plight of the underprivileged. (Reversed)

Most social programs are too vital to do without.

It is so difficult for me to contain my feelings when I see people in distress.

To me, patriotism includes seeing to the welfare of others.

I seldom think about the welfare of people whom I don’t know personally. (Reversed)

I am often reminded by daily events about how dependent we are on one another.

I have little compassion for people in need who are unwilling to take the first step to help themselves.

There are few public programs I wholeheartedly support. (Reversed)

Making a difference in society means more to me than personal achievements.

I believe in putting duty before self.

Doing well financially is definitely more important to me than doing good deeds. (Reversed)

Much of what I do is for a cause bigger than myself.

Serving citizens would give me a good feeling even if no one paid me for it.

I feel people should give back to society more than they get from it.

I am one of those rare people who would risk personal loss to help someone else.

I am prepared to make enormous sacrifices for the good of society.

* “Reversed” indicates items that express the opposite of the concept being measured, as a way of varying the pattern of questions and answers. The

respondent should disagree with such statements if they are good measures of the concept. For example, a person high on the compassion dimension should

disagree with the statement, “I am rarely moved by the plight of the underprivileged.”

Source: Perry, 1996.

More on PSM

• Perry’s later research (1996) finds evidence of

dimensions of the PSM concept.

• Uses a twenty-four-item measurement scale and identified four

factors of PSM:

1. Public policymaking

2. Public interest

3. Compassion

4. Self-sacrifice

• Three factors are consistent with the original theory, a fourth (self-

sacrifice) represents a common factor in the PSM literature.

More on PSM

• Naff and Crum (1999) used a subset of the 1996 PSM

scale to analyze the data from the 1996 Merit Principles

Survey.

– Found a strong, positive correlation between PSM and

performance. Valid concerns remain about the use of self-

reported appraisals as a proxy for performance.

• Alonso, Pablo, and Lewis (2001) examine the link

between PSM and job performance.

– Results are mixed, but notably could not replicate the Naff and

Crum findings of a positive correlation between PSM and

performance.

More on PSM

• Additional studies by Perry (2000) use the measurement

scale to investigate the correlation between PSM and 5

antecedents:

– Parental socialization

– Religious socialization

– Professional identification

– Political ideology

– Individual demographic characteristics

• Perry also developed a process theory of PSM that

focused attention on pro social behavior and the

variations across institutions in the motivational process.

Other Motivation-Related Work Attitudes

• Work-related attitudes have been used to compare public and private managers.

• Major concepts of work attitudes include

• Job satisfaction

• Role conflict and ambiguity

• Job involvement

• Organizational commitment

• Professionalism

Job Satisfaction

• Concerns how an individual feels about his or her job

– Determinants

• This is one of the most intensively researched areas (approximately

3,500 studies) with no clear consensus on its meaning.

• There are many ways to measure and thus to define.

• One prominent approach (Hackman and Oldham, 1980) draws on

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

• Consequences

– Inconsistent findings on the connection to performance

– Fairly consistent (but not strong) findings that job satisfaction ties

to absenteeism and turnover

Job Diagnostic Survey

• The model proposes that attention to five job design characteristics (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback) indicates the potential of the job to motivate the person holding it.

• Three critical psychological states (experienced meaningfulness of the work, experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work, and knowledge of the actual results of the work activities).

• In turn, these factors increase the likelihood of positive personal and work outcomes, especially from employees with a high growth-need strength, including high internal work motivation, high quality performance, high satisfaction with the work, and low absenteeism and turnover.

– The “Job Diagnostic Survey” is drawn from J. R. Hackman and G. R. Oldham, “Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 1975, pp. 159-170.

Motivation Potential Score (MPS)

• MPS is the summary of Hackman and Oldham's Job

Characteristics Model.

• MPS measures the overall motivating potential of a job,

or job satisfaction.

• Calculation: MPS = Meaningfulness of work X autonomy

X feedback. (Take the average of skill variety + task

identity + task significance, then multiply the average by

autonomy and feedback.)

– J. R. Hackman and G. R. Oldham. 1975. “Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 159-170.

Role Conflict and Ambiguity

• Role conflict: incompatibility of job requirements

• Role ambiguity: lack of information about a position

• The characteristics of an individual’s role in an

organization determine the stress experienced in that

job.

– Role conflict and ambiguity have been measured.

– Research shows the relationship between role variables and job

satisfaction as well as other organizational factors such as

participation in decision making in organization.

– Individual characteristics, such as need for clarity, influence how

much role conflict and ambiguity a person experiences.

Job Involvement, Organizational

Commitment, and Professionalism

• Questions have been designed to measure these job

characteristics.

• Which characteristic do you think these questions

measure?

1. Do you see the organization’s problems as your own?

2. Do you believe you should have autonomy in your work?

3. Is your work an important part of your life?

Motivation-Related Variables in

Public Organizations

• Role ambiguity, role conflict, and organizational goal

clarity

• Work satisfaction

• Organizational commitment and job involvement

Motivation-Related Variables

in Public Organizations

• Research points to a somewhat lower satisfaction with various

intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of work in many public organizations

than exists in many private ones.

• Different interpretations for findings:

• Findings may reflect public organizations’ administrative constraints—

personnel system and purchasing.

• There may be related frustration with administrative complexities and

complex political and policymaking processes, public sector realities that

diminish some intrinsic rewards.

• Buchanan (1974, 1975) found that groups of federal executives

expressed lower organizational commitment and job involvement than

executives from private firms.

• Steinhaus and Perry (1996) concluded that a public versus private

dichotomy is too simple a distinction for analyzing organizational

commitment.

Job Involvement and Job Commitment

• Job involvement – The construct resembles intrinsic motivation but is distinct from

general motivation and satisfaction.

– It figures importantly in professional jobs.

• Job commitment – Relates to a sense of pride in work

• Calculative commitment is based on perceived material awards the organization offers.

• Normative commitment is tied to perceived relationship to values.

• Identification commitment derives from a sense of pride of association.

• Affiliation commitment derives from a sense of belonging.

• Exchange commitment is based on belief that the organization appreciates effort.

The Challenge of Motivation in the Public

Sector

• Research on organizational commitment suggests frustrations, constraints, and problems associated with public sector management.

• On the positive side, research reflects a strong current of motivation and constructive attitudes in public organizations.

• The body of knowledge offers ideas, but little in the way of concrete scientific solutions.

• The challenge this brings to leadership of public organizations is presented next.

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