Description
I have done this case study for one my semester
Customer Services in Government Offices.
Aim of this paper is to analyze how the Customers are treated in Government offices in India and the possible solutions to improvise the same. With the dawn of the year 2011, our country is looking forward to grand development to establish the economic and social stability and a positive ‘way forward’. It is said that several Government servants do not accept the point that the people they deal with are the same as those who go to supermarkets and/or who are served as ‘kings’ and ‘queens’ by private sector suppliers of goods and services. Thus, they may be rather reluctant to refer to them as their customers. The difficulty with this resistance is that if Government Servants don’t consider the public as “customers,” then the Government will face the risk of acting in bureaucratic, non-responsive ways. Resistance to the use of the word “customer” is generally based on an inaccurate notion of what the word customer means, in retail, service or public sectors. In any organization the commitment to customer service begins at the top. The organization’s leaders must buy into the fact that they not only need to meet their customer’s expectations, but actually strive to exceed them. They must develop a company culture that understands this concept. Compared to the private sector organizations, the public sector is somewhat lacking in this area. In fact, this concept itself has been misinterpreted or misunderstood by most of public servants. One needs to fine-tune the right ‘mindset’ amongst at least the customer interface staff of the institution, so that they could maintain an outstanding personal relationship in dealing with the clients/customers and slowly encourage the culture of customer service within the organization.
For Example: What you can see common in the following list: City, State and Police officers, Public works Department offices, Driving License Department offices etc. Yep, you guessed it. Their commonality is a public perception of being the black holes of customer service. The image they invoke up is not one that makes most people warm and fuzzy. Consequently, hardly anyone thinks of them as the epitome of customer service. Is this just an inherent problem that cannot be "fixed"? Or is it one that is just perception and not reality? Unfortunately, from my perspective, it is reality. Case-in-point: My recent entry to TNEB office in Chennai. I could literally feel the life force being sucked out of me as I made the rounds. No one appeared to be enjoying their jobs. There was no excitement. It was as if a dark cloak wrapped around everyone as they entered the building.
Although everyone answered my questions, it was done as an automaton would do. Lifeless, passionless, without eye contact, seemingly trying to avoid any personal contact. It was almost painful. Being a new married guy, it was not a nice experience to me. I have never paid any TNEB bills before that time and this time I have no choice. I have to go TNEB office regarding an issue with readings noted in my EB Card in person. As I dragged myself around from office to office, I started to ask myself questions, looking for an explanation for this mutual misery.. Q - WHY is it like this? Is it because most governmental agencies handle such a huge number of people? A - No, many retail stores and restaurants are able to handle even more people with grace and hospitality. For example, Reliance Fresh has branches all over the India and still they are able to provide better Customer Service than Government sectors. You can compare your experience with any ration shop run by Government against the Reliance Fresh branch in the same city. Q - Is it the repetitiveness of the job? A- No. See above. Q - Is it because they know they have a captive clientele? A - Ahhh, now I think we're getting somewhere. Yes, but not entirely. It is not just the lack of competition; it is mainly because they have not had customer service as a priority. This comes from the top. The someone to blame is the leadership for they are not only tolerating, but condoning poor customer service. Q - Are the employees hired that way or is it a learned blandness? A - Learned definitely. All new employees start by wanting to please their boss and peers. It is management that drives the employees to rudeness because of the climate that they either tolerated or encouraged this type of anti-service. Q - Is it because our expectations drop to sub-level whenever we stop in a governmental agency? A - I think this a major problem area. When was the last time you complained about poor service to "Guv-mint OH-fish-al"? Probably never because you were so glad to leave that you zoomed out of there the instant you were finished. Then the out-ofsight, out-of-mind principle kicked into effect. Does it really have to be this way? The answer of course, is an emphatic "No!" Just as everyone deplores drive-by shootings, drive-by customer service is NOT customer service at all.
Q - Is the Customer Service Matured? A. Not Much Really. We need to have online access to various government records. Is the government available and accessible online?. How well do agencies manage communications with citizens and business? This piece considers multi-channel integration (i.e. – mail, internet, and phone), agencies working together to provide services, and proactive communication. Q. How Often Feedbacks are received from Citizens? A. I have not seen the Feedback registers in most of the Government offices today. Citizens needs to be provided with registers, email ids to share the feedbacks
10 Ways to infuse a sense of service into governmental jobs: ? Have fun, damnit. ? Make sure customer service is a requirement, not an option. I am convinced that people don't start to work with a bad attitude. Everyone wants to please their coworkers and their boss (at least, initially). When employees exhibit poor attitudes, leadership has failed, not the employee. It is the responsibility of management to either solve or eliminate problems. Don't blame the symptoms. ? Make customer service an integral part of job performance evaluation. ? Emphasize the personal part of customer service. It must be personal because it is a relationship, even in non-profit or noncompetitive markets. Anonymity breeds rudeness. ? The leadership has to buy into the personal, caring part of their job. ? Customer service is measured by the level of personal caring that the provider gives to the customer. ? The job cannot just be a job. The job must give the employee something more than a paycheck. Look for it, it's there.
? Believe it or not, your customers are people. They deserve to be treated as individuals. The first person in line is a person, not just an anonymous part of an anonymous group. ? Have leadership who will lead. ? Emphasize customer service. Again.
As you can see, 90% of the scores were based upon communications and interactions with citizens and businesses. The countries that ranked the highest in the study were Singapore (1st), Canada (2nd), and the United States (3rd). Singapore’s development of a nationwide broadband system will allow for integrated processes across the government sector. They’ve involved private sector businesses and the public in development of this strategy. Ultimately, the focus of this strategy has been on creating value for the citizens and businesses of Singapore. Canada ranked 2nd in the study, and though their focus is also of putting citizens at the center of initiatives, the primary difference between Canada and Singapore is that Canada’s public has not perceived much improvement in the system over the last few years. The eGovernment program in the United States has put it in the 3rd position of the study results. This internet-based program has allowed citizens and businesses to interact with the government in a stream-lined process. Also, since quarterly results of measures agreed upon by agencies are made available to the public, they are motivated to meet and exceed the goals. Focus on the citizens, and their perception of government is important for each of these 3 countries, and has resulted in high customer service rankings. What is the focus of your municipality as it relates to customer service? What are you doing to achieve it?
Common complaints made by the customers about the public sector ? Negligence ? Irresponsibility ? Inefficiency ? Long waiting hours and queues. ? Officers taking long lunch and tea breaks, thus hard to meet them ? Most of the time officers do not attend to the telephone calls, leave alone returning calls ? Delay in replying to emails or telephone messages within the same working day, or within 24 hours if received after office hours ? Poor interdepartmental coordination ? Bureaucracy and red tape ? Not technologically advanced ? Lack of innovation ? Bribery and corruption ? Poor quality in deliverables
doc_118227404.doc
I have done this case study for one my semester
Customer Services in Government Offices.
Aim of this paper is to analyze how the Customers are treated in Government offices in India and the possible solutions to improvise the same. With the dawn of the year 2011, our country is looking forward to grand development to establish the economic and social stability and a positive ‘way forward’. It is said that several Government servants do not accept the point that the people they deal with are the same as those who go to supermarkets and/or who are served as ‘kings’ and ‘queens’ by private sector suppliers of goods and services. Thus, they may be rather reluctant to refer to them as their customers. The difficulty with this resistance is that if Government Servants don’t consider the public as “customers,” then the Government will face the risk of acting in bureaucratic, non-responsive ways. Resistance to the use of the word “customer” is generally based on an inaccurate notion of what the word customer means, in retail, service or public sectors. In any organization the commitment to customer service begins at the top. The organization’s leaders must buy into the fact that they not only need to meet their customer’s expectations, but actually strive to exceed them. They must develop a company culture that understands this concept. Compared to the private sector organizations, the public sector is somewhat lacking in this area. In fact, this concept itself has been misinterpreted or misunderstood by most of public servants. One needs to fine-tune the right ‘mindset’ amongst at least the customer interface staff of the institution, so that they could maintain an outstanding personal relationship in dealing with the clients/customers and slowly encourage the culture of customer service within the organization.
For Example: What you can see common in the following list: City, State and Police officers, Public works Department offices, Driving License Department offices etc. Yep, you guessed it. Their commonality is a public perception of being the black holes of customer service. The image they invoke up is not one that makes most people warm and fuzzy. Consequently, hardly anyone thinks of them as the epitome of customer service. Is this just an inherent problem that cannot be "fixed"? Or is it one that is just perception and not reality? Unfortunately, from my perspective, it is reality. Case-in-point: My recent entry to TNEB office in Chennai. I could literally feel the life force being sucked out of me as I made the rounds. No one appeared to be enjoying their jobs. There was no excitement. It was as if a dark cloak wrapped around everyone as they entered the building.
Although everyone answered my questions, it was done as an automaton would do. Lifeless, passionless, without eye contact, seemingly trying to avoid any personal contact. It was almost painful. Being a new married guy, it was not a nice experience to me. I have never paid any TNEB bills before that time and this time I have no choice. I have to go TNEB office regarding an issue with readings noted in my EB Card in person. As I dragged myself around from office to office, I started to ask myself questions, looking for an explanation for this mutual misery.. Q - WHY is it like this? Is it because most governmental agencies handle such a huge number of people? A - No, many retail stores and restaurants are able to handle even more people with grace and hospitality. For example, Reliance Fresh has branches all over the India and still they are able to provide better Customer Service than Government sectors. You can compare your experience with any ration shop run by Government against the Reliance Fresh branch in the same city. Q - Is it the repetitiveness of the job? A- No. See above. Q - Is it because they know they have a captive clientele? A - Ahhh, now I think we're getting somewhere. Yes, but not entirely. It is not just the lack of competition; it is mainly because they have not had customer service as a priority. This comes from the top. The someone to blame is the leadership for they are not only tolerating, but condoning poor customer service. Q - Are the employees hired that way or is it a learned blandness? A - Learned definitely. All new employees start by wanting to please their boss and peers. It is management that drives the employees to rudeness because of the climate that they either tolerated or encouraged this type of anti-service. Q - Is it because our expectations drop to sub-level whenever we stop in a governmental agency? A - I think this a major problem area. When was the last time you complained about poor service to "Guv-mint OH-fish-al"? Probably never because you were so glad to leave that you zoomed out of there the instant you were finished. Then the out-ofsight, out-of-mind principle kicked into effect. Does it really have to be this way? The answer of course, is an emphatic "No!" Just as everyone deplores drive-by shootings, drive-by customer service is NOT customer service at all.
Q - Is the Customer Service Matured? A. Not Much Really. We need to have online access to various government records. Is the government available and accessible online?. How well do agencies manage communications with citizens and business? This piece considers multi-channel integration (i.e. – mail, internet, and phone), agencies working together to provide services, and proactive communication. Q. How Often Feedbacks are received from Citizens? A. I have not seen the Feedback registers in most of the Government offices today. Citizens needs to be provided with registers, email ids to share the feedbacks
10 Ways to infuse a sense of service into governmental jobs: ? Have fun, damnit. ? Make sure customer service is a requirement, not an option. I am convinced that people don't start to work with a bad attitude. Everyone wants to please their coworkers and their boss (at least, initially). When employees exhibit poor attitudes, leadership has failed, not the employee. It is the responsibility of management to either solve or eliminate problems. Don't blame the symptoms. ? Make customer service an integral part of job performance evaluation. ? Emphasize the personal part of customer service. It must be personal because it is a relationship, even in non-profit or noncompetitive markets. Anonymity breeds rudeness. ? The leadership has to buy into the personal, caring part of their job. ? Customer service is measured by the level of personal caring that the provider gives to the customer. ? The job cannot just be a job. The job must give the employee something more than a paycheck. Look for it, it's there.
? Believe it or not, your customers are people. They deserve to be treated as individuals. The first person in line is a person, not just an anonymous part of an anonymous group. ? Have leadership who will lead. ? Emphasize customer service. Again.
As you can see, 90% of the scores were based upon communications and interactions with citizens and businesses. The countries that ranked the highest in the study were Singapore (1st), Canada (2nd), and the United States (3rd). Singapore’s development of a nationwide broadband system will allow for integrated processes across the government sector. They’ve involved private sector businesses and the public in development of this strategy. Ultimately, the focus of this strategy has been on creating value for the citizens and businesses of Singapore. Canada ranked 2nd in the study, and though their focus is also of putting citizens at the center of initiatives, the primary difference between Canada and Singapore is that Canada’s public has not perceived much improvement in the system over the last few years. The eGovernment program in the United States has put it in the 3rd position of the study results. This internet-based program has allowed citizens and businesses to interact with the government in a stream-lined process. Also, since quarterly results of measures agreed upon by agencies are made available to the public, they are motivated to meet and exceed the goals. Focus on the citizens, and their perception of government is important for each of these 3 countries, and has resulted in high customer service rankings. What is the focus of your municipality as it relates to customer service? What are you doing to achieve it?
Common complaints made by the customers about the public sector ? Negligence ? Irresponsibility ? Inefficiency ? Long waiting hours and queues. ? Officers taking long lunch and tea breaks, thus hard to meet them ? Most of the time officers do not attend to the telephone calls, leave alone returning calls ? Delay in replying to emails or telephone messages within the same working day, or within 24 hours if received after office hours ? Poor interdepartmental coordination ? Bureaucracy and red tape ? Not technologically advanced ? Lack of innovation ? Bribery and corruption ? Poor quality in deliverables
doc_118227404.doc