Human resource motivation in Romanian public administration - The European Union enlargement context

Intrinsic motivation is widely considered by public administration scholars as fundamental for the Public Service Motivation (PSM). In apparently contradiction with the theory of PSM, the extrinsic motivation techniques, such as financial incentives, function better in Romanian public organizations, the reason being in general connected with the payment level for the public servants and their expectations for the work performed. In the context of new legal obligations arisen in the period of joining the European Union, Romanian public authorities recruited more employees. After 2008, influenced by lower budgets and political changes, this dynamic of human resources was inverted, in some places with very significant personnel fluctuations, leading to major misbalances of public service. Public servants cannot be motivated if they do not have the intrinsic motivation specific for the work in public service as defined by PSM theory. Thus, we consider that the actual recruiting system of public servants in Romania need to be reformed to introduce in public sector well equipped individuals. Although intrinsic, PSM is not immutable and can be lost. Public servants can loose PSM because of extrinsic motivational factors (low salary, lack of promotion, permanent structural changes of the organization, manager's disregard for procedures / law).