Commentary: Public Service Motivation: Lessons from NASA’s Janitor

• Author: Janice R. Lachance
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12813
• Published date: 01 July 2017
• Date: 01 July 2017

542 Public Administration Review • July | August 2017

Public Service Motivation: Lessons from NASA ’s Janitor

Janice R. Lachance is president of the

American Society for Public Administration.

She is former director of the U.S. Office

of Personnel Management and chief

executive officer of several professional

societies and nonprofit organizations. She

currently advises nonprofit and government

organizations in the areas of organizational

development, strategic planning, leadership

transitions, public communication, brand

management, public policy, and human

resources.

E-mail: janice@janicelachance.com

Commentary

A focused, well-articulated mission. A workforce

motivated by purpose, defined goals, and

the public good. Taken together, the two can

produce positive and lasting results that the public

deserves. An often-told story makes the connection

in lively and memorable detail: President John F.

Kennedy visited NASA after challenging the agency

to put a man on the moon and return him safely

to Earth by the end of the 1960s. He saw a janitor

sweeping the floor of the building lobby, walked over

to him, and asked, “What is your job?” The janitor

replied, “I am helping to put a man on the

moon, sir.”

Lectures and articles on leadership, workforce

alignment, and communications draw on this

anecdote liberally. Yet there is real doubt that the

episode actually occurred. Some accounts claim that

a reporter, not President Kennedy, spoke with the

janitor. Others state that the encounter took place at

Cape Canaveral, not NASA headquarters. Still others

wonder why a janitor would be sweeping up as the

president walked into the building.

Discrepancies aside, it is noteworthy that this story

is repeated frequently to drive home the importance

of an engaged workforce motivated by mission and

service. It also underscores the value of this article.

Robert K. Christensen, Laurie Paarlberg, and James

L. Perry have made a meaningful contribution to the

literature by tracking and synthesizing the research

on public service motivation and—even more

important—translating the findings into concrete

actions that government can take to identify job

seekers with public service motivation and maintain

it once they are on the job.

My tenure at the helm of the U.S. Office of Personnel

Management and nonprofit organizations has shown

me that public service motivation is key to achieving

any government or nonprofit mission. It is promising

that today ’ s supervisors utilize numerous lessons that

this article outlines.

I have been most fortunate to work with or observe

many public and nonprofit organizations. What

I know is that the successful ones devote significant

effort to an intentional demonstration and continual

reinforcement of the linkage between what an

employee does on a daily basis and how those

functions impact the citizenry, membership, or

individual beneficiary. I am also certain that the

Janice R. Lachance

American Society for Public Administration

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 77, Iss. 4, pp. 542–543. © 2017 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12813.