Customer Service - Research Paper Example

Introduction Organizations in both the private and public sector have been affected by various economic hardships and competition whereby organizations have to fight for the attention of the customers. Customer service is the new technique that organizations are using to develop continued relationships with customers at a relatively lower cost than advertising and/or learning from mistakes of collapsed organizations. This tool includes the psychological and emotional needs of customers or service users in service delivery so that they do not just buy goods and services but invest in experiences that are memorable and satisfying. For government agencies, it gets more complex as the customers are the public. Government agencies are now required to account for and minimize expenditure and upgrade services delivered to the citizens. Managements of these agencies are often turning to human resource training and technology to deliver services fast and competently to achieve satisfactions for all queries, complaints or inquiries. Customers have been accustomed to attention from the private sector, and they now want the same from their government agencies. Government agencies have adopted standards of measuring citizens’ satisfaction in responding to their needs through electronic or manual reviews (Newby and McManus, 2002, pg 13). NTPFES is the Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services, a government agency providing policing, fire and rescue, and emergency services response across the Northern Territory of Australia (NTPFES, 2010, pg10). Such is an example of an organization that has embodied customer service to improve service delivery to customers. Customer Service in government agencies exists to bridge the gap between governments’ service delivery and their citizens’ satisfaction. Quality Management as a tool for Customer Service There has been a shift in the management systems from an emphasis on product quality to Total Quality Management for customer satisfaction. This change focuses on continual improvement of organization’s output. Quality of outputs in this case very much includes all products and services and the processes that are involved in the production of the products or services. The shift is intended for the sole purpose of meeting, if not surpassing customer expectations. Customer service provision requires the co-operation of all levels of management within the organization. Achievement of excellent customer service is guided by tools and principles. The tools are the so-called ‘hard’ aspects of customer service. They include the analyzing systems of an organization’s performance using a wide array of analysis tools and the presentation of these in a way that all the stakeholders using the information can understand that when recommendations are applied, it would lead to better results. Display of organizations’ performance could be represented in various ways including tabulation, graphs, polygons and charts. Statistical analysis of results is a common method used to evaluate performance of output through, mean, mode, probability analysis, critical path analysis and variance and correlation analysis. When these tools are used, quantitative data is displayed to help in controlling the output be it products or services. Most organizations in the world today are registered with different standardization agencies locally or internationally such as The International Customer Service Institute (TICSI) or the International Standard Organization ISO 900 series. These set up standards of different kinds that aim at improving excellence in customer service by having a policy that focuses on quality improvement. Results from statistical analysis should be checked against these standards, and the necessary areas of improvement are identified. The ‘Soft’ aspect of total quality management focuses on the principles that guide organizations. Emphasis is put in improving the output of each person through knowledge distribution and participation so that there is total involvement of employees. Continuous improvement and training increases the empowerment of the employees and creates room to further one’s performance. Support from top-level management creates motivation, and as employees are managed democratically being able to voice their thoughts that encourages innovation of ideas and teamwork. Customer satisfaction is paramount especially in the case of government agencies whose sole customers are the citizens, When these principles are implemented, performance can be checked through market share, customer satisfaction and employee performance. Important Elements for Customer Service The NTPFES being a government institution serves the public, specifically in Northern Australia. In order to provide effective customer service, the customers must be identified depending on the roles that the agency performs. The main duties of the Police Force to the citizens are to maintain law and order, Guard human life and property, maintain road safety, carry out investigations and manage emergencies. The Emergency unit educates public, train’s volunteers and manages counter-disaster operations. With the roles identified, it is easy to determine the customers both from within the agency and from outside. All the workers are the internal customers while the residents of Northern Australia would then qualify as external customers (NTPFES 2010, pg 10). Once the roles of an organization are identified, it helps in guiding the elements for customer service. The first element is that the service should be customer oriented. In government agencies, this goes on to mean the citizens. The service provision is then tailored towards achievement of citizens’ satisfaction according to needs and conditions. Inter and cross-governmental service delivery is the second element. There should be an integrated service delivery approach across management structures and from local to national levels of government. The third element in customer service is active communication whereby the government can supply information to the public for transparency and accountability. NTPFES publishes its reports in its website in a timely manner to allow revision of the accounts by the citizens showing involvement of stakeholders that gives them the feeling of owning the process. The last element of customer service in organizations is efficiency in service provision on a timely and competent manner regardless of the methods of communication used. This last element is dependent on the other three and near absolute efficiency can only be achieved when all the other elements have been achieved (Accenture, 2007, pg 4). Ways of Conducting Customer Service There are several ways of conducting Customer service. The first and most important is staff training on professionalism. The staff of an organization represents its face and as the internal consumers of the agency. They should work as a team to strengthen their efforts. All the staff participates in service provision to the customer either directly or through the chain of team members by helping colleagues carry out their job. Their relation with the customer will be determined by their approachability, hospitality and competence (Newby and McManus, 2002, pg 68). Customer relations once established should be managed to be able to enjoy repeated business, customer ambassadorship and trust for lifetime business. The staff needs to give attention to detail in delivering services, flexibility to sensitive situations, taking responsibility and good communication skills. These include, short call waiting periods and in time reply to emails. Quality standards required when addressing customer requests whether it is done via telephone, online or in person should be able to meet the customers need satisfactorily. Government agencies are increasingly using electronic information sources for their citizen customers including online directories, yearly reports and log in accounts to gather private information (Sears, 2001, pg 65). The question of privacy of these records is severely questioned in the wake of numerous online hackers that could access and possibly harm individuals or result to espionage on countries’ records. Importance of Customer Service Provision of information on Governments’ activities and their inclusion in management of this information gives a sense of transparency in government tasks. This participatory way of management of citizens’ resources gives a sense of ownership to the whole process and ideally promoting cohesion in development agendas. Citizens who are satisfied with the work of its government become more engaged in maintaining standards of good governance in their communities. Good customer service by the government to its people through dealing with queries and complaints enhances consensus and thus activities of the people are wholly directed towards a particular goal such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s). When governments focus on providing citizens services that are dependent on outcomes and that are customer needs oriented, there is a tendency of generating trust within the government (Schultz, 2003, 281). These enhance longevity of governments and thus flow of development plans through from short term, medium term and long term. Most of the government agencies have benchmarks for meeting standards of excellence. The NTPTES prepares all its annual reports in accordance to the Public Sector Employment Act, Section 28, Financial Management Act, Section 12 and 15 and the Information Act (NTPFES, 3). These help in highlighting of any resource misappropriation and trends of past issues in annual reports. Employees should then feel the need to take action to counter any misconduct and provide exceptional services to citizens. Customer service has highlighted social inequities in the society and thus resolving them. Such matters as inaccessibility of government agencies to disabled persons have been addressed. Stigma associated with certain groups of people is common. For example, suffering from certain diseases such as HIV has been countered by education and public awareness creation to remove such stigmas that are government sponsored initiatives (Hardina, 2006, pg 264). Unregistered persons may not be able to access some services due to prohibition by law. The role of policy and regulations by governments to improve customer care is vital. Conclusion Education and public participation in decision-making and service provision in government agencies has brought about awareness to their rights. People want to relate with their governments in friendlier terms. This includes accessing information in a clear and transparent way, being able to request for services and raising concerns where they occur. Technology has been a major tool in improving customer care in many all sectors including government agencies. Most of the government agencies around the world do not feel the need for customer care as there is less competition and citizens already depend on them for particular services. However, in the recent past, many governmental agencies have embraced the idea of customer care and learnt the needs of its citizen customers for improved governance. The system has reduced complaints, strengthened inter and intra governmental conflicts and given rise to satisfied citizens. List of References Accenture, 2007, Leadership in Customer Service: Delivering on the Promise, Washington DC. Pg 4. Hardina, Donna, 2006, An empowering approach to managing social service organizations, New York: Springer Publishing Company. Pg 264. NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services, 2010, Annual Report, NT Police, Fire and Emergency Service. Australia. Pg 10. Newby Tony, McManus Sean, 2002, The Customer Service Pocketbook, London, United Kingdom. Pg 68. Sears Jean, Moody Marilyn, 2001, Using Government Information Sources. Greenwood Publishing Group. Connecticut, USA. Pg 65. Schultz, A. 2003, David Encyclopedia of public administration and public policy, New York: Infobase Publishing. Pg 261. Read More