Abstract

It can be suggested that most of the problems confronting public administration in our country lies in learned helplessness. In this sense, the aim of the study is to discuss the reflections of learned helplessness to Turkish public administration and to present its correlations with existing problems. Helplessness which is highly influential on personnel’s behaviours and attitudes in Turkish public administration may be responsible for the waste of human capital, the most important factor of production that should be efficiently utilized. Turkish public administration and personnel system appears to be the reason for this situation. Since helplessness which has once been experienced is global, there may be a glimmer of hope that it can be eliminated through precautional measures. 

Key words: Public administration, Turkish public administration, learned helplessness.