Values of Government Officials in Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health

Abstract

This was a crosssectional survey research to compare the difference and to identify the association between personal attributes and spiritual leadership with values among officers at the Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health. Altogether 669 samples were studied including government officers, contracted officers and permanent employees who ware not in executive position. Data were collected using questionnaires; and were analyzed by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient. It was found that the officers at the Department of Disease Control gave the highest priority to the core values of the department and gave the least priority to organizational values. Spiritual leadership of the officers at the office was at a high level. The officers who had different working experience and working status had different core values at the Department of Disease Control. More over, different work experience resulted in different priorities in professional values. While spiritual leadership, core values, and personal values differed, the differences in educational attainment did not result in different values in the officers. Spiritual leadership had the lowest level negative association with personal values (r = -0.111, p<0.05). The authors recommended that administrators should provide a policy to promote commitment and apply values to increase the priority given by the officers to the core values of the Department of Disease Control.