The work environment of government employees: Motivation, job satisfaction and work related stress among employees of three government agencies

Viðfangsefni ritgerðarinnar er hvatning, starfsánægja og streita meðal ríkisstarfsmanna. Viðfangsefnið er mikilvægt þar sem vísbendingar eru um að starfsaðstæður ríkisstarfsmanna hafi versnað í kjölfar efnahagshrunsins haustið 2008, m.a. hafi vinnuálag aukist sem talinn er einn helsti áhrifavaldur streitu meðal starfsmanna. Meginefni ritgerðarinnar er rannsókn annars vegar á tengslum hvatningar, starfsánægju og streitu og hins vegar hvort tengsl hvatningar, starfsánægju, streitu og annarra breyta mælist meðal ríkisstarfsmanna á Íslandi. Einnig er fjallað um fræðilegan bakgrunn hugtakanna hvatning, starfsánægja og streita. Helstu niðurstöður rannsóknarinnar voru að það sem hefur mest áhrif á hvatningu meðal starfsmanna er að þeir séu hafðir með í ráðum og fái leiðbeiningar og uppbyggilega gagnrýni frá næsta yfirmanni. Það sem hefur mest áhrif á starfsánægju starfsmanna er góð vinnuaðstaða og framkoma yfirmanns. Vinnuálag var helsti áhrifavaldur streitu meðal starfsmanna og stjórn starfsmanns á starfi sínu virðist ekki hafa lækkandi áhrif á streitu. Enn fremur gefa niðurstöðurnar til kynna að mikilvæg tengsl séu á milli starfsánægju og streitu.The subjective of this MPA thesis is motivation, job satisfaction and stress among government employees in Iceland and the relation among these three concepts. Motivation, job satisfaction and stress among civil servants is an important subject due to evidence that the working conditions of government employees has deteriorated in the wake of economic collapse in the fall of 2008, including increased workload which is considered one of the main drive of stress among employees. The substance of this MPA thesis is a study on the relation between motivation, job satisfaction and stress and whether a relation between motivation, job satisfaction, stress and other parameters measures among government employees in Iceland. It also discusses the theoretical background of the terms motivation, job satisfaction and stress. The main results yielded by the present research main results were that the most important factors of motivation among employees is that they are properly involved concerning their jobs and receive guidance and constructive criticism from their immediate superior. What has the greatest impact on job satisfaction of employees is a good working conditions and the attitude from superiors. Workload was the main influence of stress among employees and employees control over work does not seem to have a lowering effect on empoyees’ stress. Furthermore, the results suggest an important link between job satisfaction and work related stress