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Measuring Customer Satisfaction (CS) and its Role in Improving the Performance of Public Organizations. Dr. Shehu Salihu Muhammad CAFRAD, Tangier, Morocco ssmuhammad@cafrad.org. Introduction/key issues.
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Measuring Customer Satisfaction (CS) and its Role in Improving the Performance of Public Organizations Dr. Shehu Salihu Muhammad CAFRAD, Tangier, Morocco ssmuhammad@cafrad.org
Introduction/key issues • Citizens / customers are increasingly becoming sophisticated about what they want in return for their taxes, loyalty, or votes. They require that delivery of public goods and services become more effective and efficient. • Government organizations are thus challenged to deliver, to perform, by especially focusing on those issues with the greatest impact on the lives of citizens. • In response, governments all over the world are making efforts to improve their capacities to better cope with public expectations. • Thus, improvement of the performance of public organizations to better serve the customer, the citizen is increasingly becoming an issue of global concern.
Introduction/key issues cont. • This is even more so in the poorer countries of the world, where, the states’ ability to provide the minimal conditions for development- peace, security, freedom from basic wants, and the presence of essential infrastructures are taking centre stage. • In determining the performance of public bodies, the customers, for whom public services are meant, are key. They assess the quality, timeliness, accessibility, affordability and sustainability of public goods and services. The customer defines what products and services he wants, when and how. • The critical place of the customer has made it not only ideal but necessary for public organizations to design and implement some kind of measures of CS. • The motive is to obtain baseline data that could elicit the perception of the customer about the state of performance of a public organization, and consequently, of the actions or measures that need be taken to enhance their performance.
Conceptual Definitions • A relatively recent phenomenon in regard to public sector, the term “customer” refers to the end users (individuals, groups, or institutions) of the goods and services that are produced by public organizations. • By their nature, public organizations have large customer base (whether primary or secondary), especially where there is no alternative good or service to resort to by a customer. • CS is concerned with the extent to which an organization meets the expectations of their customers in terms of the quality of its products, the efficiency with which a service is delivered, the timeliness of delivery, and the concern exhibited to customers by staff that directly interface with customers. • CS is a function of the ratio of actual to expected performance, and is indicated by the customer’s level of patronage, trust, and support for public organizations. • Public organizations, usually Ministries, Departments, Agencies, public enterprises and their affiliates, are owned and funded by government, and primarily exist to serve citizens as a matter of responsibility. • They are not for profit, and Chief Executives are held accountable for their performance.
Issues and Considerations in Measurement of CS • There seem to be much reliance upon private sector-driven approaches in most of the discourse on measurement of CS. • Though managers of public organizations could draw lessons from some of the success stories of the private sector driven approaches to determining customer satisfaction, the private sector is not the real model for the development of the public sector. • As an information gaining tool, CS survey should seek to clearly establish customer perception of the performance of an organization, reveal customers’ priorities as well as indicate customer’s views on areas in need of improvement. • In designing and implementing measures of CS, a number of variables need be considered, such as customer expectations, customer’s perception of actual organizational performance, response to customer complaints, etc. Perceptions on the above significantly correlates with customer loyalty and trust for an organization.
Issues and Considerations in Measurement of CS cont. • Customer expectation is concerned simply with what a customer wants, when he wants it and how. It is his anticipation of the quality of goods and services produced by an organization. • Expectations are affected by customer’s set priorities, prior experiences, adverts, information available and the quality of service provided by similar organizations elsewhere. • Customer expectations, as is also customer perception of performance, could be gauged or obtained through a variety of methods – CS surveys, research, interview, informal discussions, public opinion, etc. • Customer’s perception of the actual performance of a public organization is a function of the sum total of the experience of the customer in terms of:
Issues and Considerations in Measurement of CS cont. • Customer’s evaluation of the quality of products and services in terms of the extent of their meeting his individual needs, their durability, reliability, usefulness, and even the esthetic beauty of the products and services of an organization; • The value of a good or service, that is whether the price of a product or service at a given point in time is worth its value relative to the quality of the product or service; • The nature and extent of customers’ complaints against public organizations. Frequency of complaints means that the quality and value of goods or services do not match customers’ expectations. Of importance also is whether an organization has a fair, timely, effective and accessible system for handling of grievances from customers; and • The friendliness, creativity, courtesy, helpfulness and the efficiency with which a service is delivered.
Issues and Considerations in Measurement of CS cont. • Perceptions about the above determine customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is significantly indicated by customer’s continuous patronage, trust, and support for an organization as well as his/her recommendation of the organization to others through a variety of means. • Public organizations could determine which of the variables above affect the most customer’s loyalty if improved. Other considerations: • Instruments for CS measure should provide the customer the opportunity to compare or benchmark against comparable high performing organizations within or outside a given country. • CS instruments should enable customers to express the extent or degree of their satisfaction. As an example, the question ‘how satisfied customers are’ in regard to the efficiency with which a service is delivered will be more useful than that which simply raise the issue of ‘if they are satisfied.
Issues and Considerations in Measurement of CS cont. • Customers need be the target of questionnaires or survey instruments administered to elicit information on the nature and extent of their satisfaction with public organizations’ performance. • Focus of attention of CS measures should be on the concrete achievement of public organizations and of the impact this has on customers. • There is the need for customers have access to information to enable them assess public organizations’ performance. • It is important to consider at the on set customer’s views in the formulation and execution of public policy. • Consideration need be given to the most efficient method of obtaining customer satisfaction views. Formal survey, it has been argued, has emerged as by far the best method of periodically assessing customer satisfaction. Research, carrying out periodic contract reviews, interviews, visits, discussions, and public opinion are important compliments to above.
The Role of Customer Satisfaction (CS) Measuresin improving Organizational performance • The outcome of measures of customer satisfaction can have positive impact not only on public organizations, customers, and organization employees, but could also serve to increase trust in government and provide as well a powerful engine for changing how government does its job. • The correlation between performance of organizations and outcome of CS measures could be seen in several ways, among which; • Customers are most likely to demonstrate loyalty, trust and confidence to an organization whose performance they are satisfied with. And a minimum level of confidence is necessary for the proper functioning of a state. Trust increases conformity to the law, and strengthen as well organizational performance. Customer dissatisfaction could lead to disenchantment, loss of confidence, or the erosion of the legitimacy of an organization or government. • Customers are more likely to continue to patronize organizations whose performance they are satisfied with, as well as tend to recommend same to others.
The role of Customer Satisfaction Cont. • Increased trust and patronage could lead to an enhanced revenue base and improved performance as may be exhibited by the quality of products, the efficiency with which a service is delivered, and improved respect and concern exhibited to customers. • This lead to benefits for customers and employees of organizations: the former are assured of an improved service that surpassed previous expectations, while the latter not only generate improved self esteem but tend to, as well, draw more income arising from the increased productivity and support of organizations by government. The outcome of CS is significant in many other respects: • It provide information on customer requirements – what, when and how they need a good or service. This makes it possible for organizations to become more customer-driven, with products developed in response to customer needs.
The Role of CS Measures cont. • It could bring about reform; organizations are challenged by the very idea of being assessed by the customer, just as the outcome of a CS survey prompt an organization to try to seek answers to questions such as ‘what is the best way to get the work done and how do we redesign services around customer requirements’? • It can help organizations identify their strengths and weaknesses, where they stand relative to comparable high performing organizations. This help to chart out appropriate measures to take to improve performance. • It can facilitate more participatory and consultative decision-making processes and open as well a new channel of communication between organizations and their customers. • CS data often do play a critical role in academic researches generally, and in validating other data generated from specialized researches conducted by organizations to enhance performance.
Critical challenges to measures of CS: Critical challenges that affect the extent of the usefulness of measures of CS: • There is need for caution on generalizations. Not only do public organizations operate under different environments (including different political contexts) but that there is varied customer needs across public organizations. There is, therefore no one-cap-fits-all approach to measures of consumer satisfaction or of the role of those measures in promoting organizational performance. • There is a limit to which public organizations could rely upon the private sector – driven approaches, particularly if the current economic and financial crisis is anything to go by. • Unlike in private sector organizations, neither public organizations nor customers typically have a choice in whether to have a relationship in the first place, especially for core government services, and this affects performance.
Critical challenges to measures of CS cont. • Customers do not have uniform, but multiple, or even conflicting expectations. Aggregating and meeting these could be an uphill task for public organizations. • There is the question of whether it can ever be possible for public organizations to satisfactorily and on a continued basis met the complex interests of differing customers in the context of their limited resources. • Finally, no matter the validity and reliability of the data obtained from measures of CS, it would come to naught if managers of public organizations or the political leadership decide to ignore such.
Conclusion/Recommendations: Conclusion/Recommendations: • There is the need to, as a matter of policy, make it mandatory for public organizations to design and implement a periodic broad based CS survey as a critical component of their monitoring and evaluation program. The outcome of such a survey should be the object of critical review and attention by not only government but also the public at large. • The object of CS survey must clearly be the customers or the end users of the goods and services produced by public organizations. • CS survey instruments must be simple, clear, but sufficient and comprehensive enough to generate objective data to enhance the performance of public organizations. • Government need to provide not only guidance, direction and leadership but also the critical needs for public organizations to perform – competitive salaries for employees, funding, equipment, and so on.
