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This diploma thesis focuses on determining the internal and external factors (both economic and social) that affect the motivation of civil servants to conduct and perform their work activities in ministries of the Czech Republic.The research that forms the basis for it is primarily a follow-up to the quantitative research of prof.PhDr.Arnošt Veselý, Ph.D. The diploma thesis is multidisciplinary and not only deals with human resource management in terms of its functionality, efficiency, and effectiveness, but also in terms of its influence on, among other things, public policy, sociology, psychology and public economics. The theoretical part is based on the theory of motivation (Madsen), McGregor's theory of X and Y, Maslow's hierarchy of needs and the theory of bureaucracy (Weber). The work is theoretically and methodologically anchored in the findings of alternative action theory (Weinberger, 1997), the ontology of ethical phenomenon (Hartmann, 2002) and the concept of public accountability (Veselý). The empirical part includes the results of qualitative research conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews with 17 ministerial officials across 8 ministries of the Czech Republic. During the interviews, research topics were presented in the form of questions, the answers to which were...

Government wage bills have been growing across the world, but are exceptionally high in the MENA region relative to countries’ state of development, whether measured as a share of GDP, or of government revenue and spending (World Bank, 2004). Across the region government wage bills threaten fiscal sustainability. There are many drivers behind the large wage bills, whether of central government alone or of general government. Government employment numbers also seem to grow inexorably, in many areas faster than required to deliver services in line with population growth. Other factors have been weak staff control systems, the authorization of new recruitment outside budget frameworks, and laxly applied staff performance assessment systems, in addition to absenteeism, and the difficulty under public service rules of disciplining and ultimately terminating poorly performing staff. This paper takes a look at government wage bill growth, alongside current approaches to recruitment, staff performance assessments and promotions, with particular emphasis on Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. These country examples are complemented by a broader regional analysis to illustrate overarching trends in public sector employment.The objective is to identify the various forces at work, how they interact, and thereby document and understand better the dynamic of public sector wage bill expansion in the Middle East as well as potential linkages to public sector performance. The paper also looks at reform efforts, extracts lessons and identify potential reform options to better control wage bill growth and the unbalancing effects it has had on the efficiency and effectiveness of government spending generally. Furthermore, while the paper does not present a comprehensive overview of the nature of public employment in MENA, it aims to identify potential areas for further research in this domain.

Often codes of ethics require dealing with conflict of interest (CoI) without defining the boundaries of the phenomenon. In this case, CoI recognition is left to the discretion of the individual. The aim of this work is to answer to the following research questions: How much is really known about the meaning of the term CoI? Do individuals share the same CoI definition? In order to address these questions, we use the results of a questionnaire administered to 86 Italian public sector employees during some training courses on conflict of interest and corruption. The choice of this sample is particularly significant in that the Italian regulation provides for all public employees a code of conduct that requests avoiding, or at least disclosing, the CoI without prior definition of the meaning of the term. The results of our analysis show that public employees are uncertain about or come to different considerations of what CoI is and is not; consequently they deal with it in different ways. Thus, codes of con...