Getting service into public service

Getting service into public service Over the past few years there has been more discussion around service in public organisations, explicitly drawing on literature from marketing (Osborne et al, 2013). For public sector... [ view full abstract ]

Getting service into public service


Over the past few years there has been more discussion around service in public organisations, explicitly drawing on literature from marketing (Osborne et al, 2013). For public sector organizations to be more service oriented is clearly no bad idea, and services management in the private sector is an area of real interest and insight eminently useful in the public sector.

It should be uncontroversial that public services need to be more service oriented, indeed, that is inherent in the name ‘public service’. The need for public services to be more service-oriented stands by itself. But exactly what good service means, though, is not necessarily straightforward.

Government offices, most notably in the administrative era, were renowned for poor service, for valuing their own time above that of clients, for slowness and cost. It follows that any way in which better service can be inculcated in public service operations would be an improvement.

Improving service was an explicit part of the public sector reforms usually termed NPM. For instance, Kettl argued that ‘ a service orientation – more responsive service delivery’ was one of the six big changes ‘in countries around the world where the reforms ‘sought to replace traditional rule-based authority-driven processes with market-based, competition-driven tactics’ (2005, p. 3). But, still, actual service deviates from what could be considered good practice and a new wave of service experience is warranted.

Service standards are some way removed from an ideal. Too often, clients are given poor service from public organisations. Too often, public services are delivered as if the time of clients is without value, individual interactions are often about the exercise of raw power relationships regardless of what clients may value. Clients often do not know where they stand.

The paper develops a typology for service by consideration of what it is that clients or customers want from a service provider using several case studies. Value to clients includes: timeliness, also minimal waiting time; certainty of advice or outcome; manner of the service encounter; and feedback for continuous improvement. There are more (see Alford and O’Flynn, 2012). Providing good service is not easy for government; it may be more costly, but undesirable service is also costly in terms of reputation and public value.


References
Alford, John and O’Flynn, Janine (2012) Rethinking Public Service Delivery: Managing with External Providers (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).
Kettl, Donald F. (2005) The Global Public Management Revolution, Second edition (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press).
Osborne, S., Radnor, Z. and Nasi, G. (2013) ‘A New Theory for Public Service Management? Toward a Public Service-Dominant Approach’ American Review of Public Administration, 43:2, pp. 135-58.