Sustainability of the Motivation Policy Model for Employees in State Administration

Abstract

An important condition for the performance sustainability of organizations, in the public and state sector, is the maintenance and improvement of the employee motivation policy model. Motivation for work has a significant impact on the success of modern organizations; the impact is multidimensional and complex, and it has been confirmed empirically. Motivation is influenced by numerous factors, of different influence and hierarchy, which depend on socio-economic conditions and cultural determinants, but also on the characteristics of employees, and it is necessary to constantly monitor them. The paper presents a sustainable model of employee motivation in public administration and the results of research on the hierarchy and the impact of motivation factors on employees of different demographic characteristics. The research was conducted by an anonymous survey of 2128 respondents (1576 employees in the state administration and 552 persons employed in the Republic of Serbia outside the state administration), in the period March–June 2020. The questionnaire developed for this research has 16 questions on motivating factors with a scale with a high level of internal consistency. Using one-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA), tests of subsequent comparisons, and t-test, statistically significant differences are determined for the influence of motivational factors on respondents of different levels of education, age, role in organization, gender, and family status—also, the magnitude of influence ranges from small to large. The influence of motivational factors is greater for older people, for people with a higher level of education, for managers in relation to workers, for women in relation to men, as well as for persons in marriage in relation to persons out of wedlock. By applying multi-criteria analysis, the factors are ranked: the amount of salary and good interpersonal relations are at the top, while criticism and information about work are in the last positions. As a factor that negatively affects motivation, low wages stands out. The difference in the motivation of state administration members was determined by comparing the results of motivational factors’ influence with the appropriate sample of employees outside the state administration. Differences were registered for 15 out of 16 factors (only for the factor high wages, there is no difference), and the magnitude of the impact is medium and small.

An Evaluation of the Impact of Wages and Salaries Policies on the Performance of Workers in Kurdistan Public Sector

“…The government should undertake a staff reduction plan through early retirements as a short-term employment strategy. This strategy would not result in a complete hiring halt, but it would prohibit automatic filling of posts that became empty due to retirement or other factors (Kovačević et al, 2020). The success of this policy is determined by the age distribution of government employees and the hiring flexibility preserved at higher levels of decision-making (Mahdi et al, 2015).…”

“…With no central authority over employment, promotion, unemployment or retirement, there is no central authority. Although there is a legislative structure establishing working conditions, it is not possible to monitor the extent to which expenditure units comply with the law (Kovačević et al, 2020). No central registry of government staff exists and a mismatch exists between the reported salaries and the actual number of staff.…”

“…Another factor that contributes to higher wages is the informal hiring process, which may not be open and determined through a competitive process or by following salary scale guidelines, but rather on an individual basis and influenced by how employees are hired through recommendations from higher ranks (Maduka & Okafor, 2014). If this is correct, a job market will emerge as a result of people in decisionmaking positions swapping services, and it will be a question of recruiting relatives and friends who do not reveal unethical work practices at government agencies (Kovačević et al, 2020). This will result in the emergence of a corrupt system that threatens the accountability of public organizations.…”

“…Low labor productivity and a high wage rate constitute two major challenges, not only disinclining external direct investment, but leaving the region to finance developments elsewhere. They also prevent domestic investors from investing because they may have greater investment prospects abroad (Kovačević et al, 2020). In Kurdistan, labor cost does not exist as a competitive component in production.…”

Influencing Factors on Knowledge Management for Organizational Sustainability

“…Finally, what is important for this study is that some references indicate the connection between knowledge management and competitiveness [29][30][31] as well as knowledge management and organizational sustainability [20,30,32,33]. Based on the previous statements, it is evident that knowledge management is important for achieving, maintaining, and increasing the competitiveness and sustainability of an organization.…”