The Good, the Bad, and the Public: Strength of Culture in the Public Sector

Abstract

This study attempts to quantify the relationship between employee motivations, rewards, and culture within federal agencies. Much of the literature written on the public sector focuses on the ideas of employee motivation and public sector reward systems as they relate to the employees’ level of commitment to their respective organization. This study, unlike many others, will include existing conditions within the public sector that could influence both organizational commitment and culture, such as teamwork, goal clarity, and how poor performance is addressed. Cultures are likely to be different across agencies due to the nature of the agency’s objectives. Rather than trying to determine and quantify specific cultural values within the federal government, this study will quantify the strength of culture by measuring the cohesion of employee organizational commitment within federal agencies based on employee responses to the 2011 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.