Motivation and Contentment in Public Administration in Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
The article presents the results of sociological research on the theme “Motivation of civil servants”, which has been held in 2014-2015. It is stated that motivation is a key factor in improving the efficiency of public administration, because the values, motives and standards are the unifying element of the system of public administration. The feature of motivation of civil servants is due to the special role and importance of their activities: all officials in public opinion are represent state, they all must have manager’s competencies, but their status is not unequal: the highest level officials represents a political elite, and the lower is actually the staff, who provides the public goods. The study identified the main motives of officials, such as guaranteed social security and employment, as well as the expectations for career growth and availability of power. Financial incentives have minor indicators, because Republican officials are satisfied with their welfare and working conditions. It is also established that motivation is changing with the extension of age and experience of the civil service: young officials with little work experience are more motivated to comply with new requirements, such as transparency, innovation and customer focus, but with time they refuse the idealistic aspirations and accept the values of traditional bureaucracy: formalism, impersonality, professionalism, and patron-client model of career development. The main demotivating factors are a lack of initiative and stress, associated with constant change in the “playing field”, as well as the lack of career prospects. The officials with experience of the public service from 1 to 3 years, and from 5 to 10 years have lowest loyalty.