Managerial proxemia in the public institutions and its impacts on the public personnel’ motivation

Abstract

Interaction with subordinates being one of the most important part of the administration activity is a matter that has to be handled carefully for administrators who wish to indicate that they keep the managerial performance and efficiency high. If the administrator does not establish and continue an interaction that operates as trouble-free between himself and his subordinates, he may be subject to major managerial issues. Especially as for public institutions, there are many differing factors that shape the behaviour of the administrators associated with interaction including the management mentality that is adopted by the administrator, his character and experience; the service that is provided by the institution, the quality and number of the subordinates, the corporate culture, the informal groups and the political impacts. These factors shape the task-based relationship with his subordinates personally with all the other managerial practices apart from interaction in mind and position his subordinates at differing conceptual “managerial distances” according to him depending on his will or as a requirement of the circumstances. In consequence, the administrator can be personally safe, carry on with the administration as trouble-free and can act “as special to the situation and person.” This study, which has been prepared with the purpose of concept development, tries to reveal the quality and causality of the given managerial distances within the context of public institutions. To this end, the impacts of the concept of managerial proxemics” which was developed as an effort to eliminate the conceptual gap in the field literature on the work motivation of the civil servants were examined. In order to examine the hypothesis relating to the fact that there is a linear and strong relationship between the position of the managerial proxemics field being perceived and the task motivation, a

research was conducted using the method of face to face survey on the personnel members of public institutions that operate in different service areas as part of the central and local administration. As a result of the research, the conclusion derived was that the managerial proxemics fields which were perceived by the personnel as present had a direct and strong impact on the task motivation.