Professional and efficient public administration means competent, motivated, and neutral public officers, working in system and dedicated to service of public interests. Various schools of public administration have so far differed in their approach to civil servants' work motivation (e.g. Weber's and NMP approach).

The goal of this study is to ascertain the work motivation and job satisfaction levels of Estonian higher officials, the factors influencing them (social-demographic as well as personal), and the ways of channeling them.

The higher the work satisfaction, the less officials are motivated by material factors and good relations with their superiors. Stronger motivation comes from recognition and a sense of responsibility. All the average indicators of our Job Diagnostic Survey exceed the corresponding average results obtained in the USA, Finland, and Estonia. One notices a predominance of analyzer-type people among higher officials. The other predominant types are controller/analyzer and analyzer/controller.

In the author's view, man is an open, self-organized system, the whose is to stay alive and protect his life. The principle of a motivational system on the individual level is to understand the subordinates and help them to cope with the environment. The principle of a motivational system on the organizational level is to create high-performance government organizations and to develop the organizational culture.

Volume 28

Numbers 13-14