Customer-Driven Services Directly to The Public

Create Customer-Driven Programs in All Departments and Agencies that
Provide Services Directly to the Public

BACKGROUND

The National Performance Review seeks a government where services are
customer-driven. If government services are to be customer-driven they
must be judged based on the public's expectations. These expectations
are being set, in large part, by the quality of services delivered each
day by America's corporations. Federal Express says, "when it
absolutely, positively has to be there overnight."  Government can learn
from the kind of commitments that America's best corporations make and
how they view service.

These corporations view service as creating an experience.[Endnote 1]
Generating a check or providing a missing piece of information is not
all that matters; courtesy, surroundings, complaint procedures, redress,
choices, and accessibility all add up to define a quality service
experience. And these corporations seek constant feedback from their
customers on how they are doing. Can the government live up to this
corporate standard? If it does any less the idea will persist that
government just doesn't work right.

The government of the United Kingdom believes it can meet this higher
standard. Its Citizen's Charter, launched in July 1992, sets the
standard for public services to be "up to and beyond the best at present
available.'' The Charter goes on to define key principles of service,
including accessibility, choice, courtesy, putting things right, setting
standards for performance, and others. To carry out these policies,
British Rail sets on-time standards, publishes actual results, and
discounts next month's rail pass if it doesn't meet the standards.

The idea of setting the standard for federal services to be the equal of
those in the private sector may have a huge payoff. It is probably the
simplest way to tell the federal work force what kind of service to
deliver. Each government employee can immediately draw on his or her own
experience to define quality.  That is why the Air Force Tactical Air
Command adopted its written standard for visiting-airmen's quarters to
be "a moderately priced hotel, like Ramada.'' This works much better at
no more cost than the thick manual it replaced.

NEED FOR CHANGE

A program to improve government customer service would not start from
scratch. Several federal agencies have already begun to empower their
employees to focus on their real customers with immediate results.

The Ogden, Utah, Service Center of the Internal Revenue Service
processes tax returns. It instituted a total quality program, put its
focus on the customer, generated big savings, increased productivity,
and won the 1992 Presidential Award for Quality.[Endnote 2]

The employees in Ogden really believe in customer service. A taxpayer,
recently down on his luck, hitchhiked from out of state to Ogden hoping
to pick up his refund check. The Ogden center doesn't issue refund
checks, but the IRS employees pulled up the computer records and found
that the check had been sent from the disbursing center to his old
address, and returned. They ordered a new check sent to Ogden, but the
process would take 10 days, and the hitchhiker had no money. So the
employees found him shelter and, from among themselves, collected enough
food money to get him through. No wonder they won the quality award.

The customer focus of the IRS center in Ogden is not unique. The Postal
Service now routinely surveys customer satisfaction and uses the results
to judge performance around the country.[Endnote 3] The Social Security
Administration built its new strategic plan on service delivery goals
and objectives that focus on its customers.[Endnote 4] There is a
Service to the Citizen alliance of information technology leaders from
12 federal agencies collaborating on projects and funding work to sort
out how technology can improve service to the government's
customers.[Endnote 5] The Commerce Department's International Trade
Administration set up a 24-hour-a-day phone system that lets callers
select topics from a menu and fax themselves information on the changing
trade situation in Eastern Europe.[Endnote 6]

These and other initiatives already under way provide the first building
blocks for a customer-driven government, but the government lacks an
overall policy statement setting out what it is trying to achieve. Also
needed is an initial call to action in order to stimulate broad federal
participation. In addition, we need more direct customer input--most
current planning is based on what managers or other stakeholders think
the public wants.

Similarly, front-line employees need to be heard.  They need to be
placed at the center of programs to improve quality. Everything written
about successful reinvention efforts, public and private, says that
front-line employees are the best source of good ideas on how to improve
efficiency, quality, and service. Front-line employees need access to
training that will help them serve the public better. For example,
anyone who handles inquiries from the public should have the opportunity
to learn active listening skills. Front-line employees also need the
authority to deal with customer issues that they face.  Corporate
America translates this belief into action.  A 1990 Harris Poll of
service companies found 92 percent gave employees explicit authority to
handle customer problems.[Endnote 7]

Customer and employee inputs will provide a solid basis for setting
performance standards for customer services. And what gets measured gets
done, so these standards must be published, posted, and tracked.
Continuing measurement of customer satisfaction will fit neatly with the
performance measurement requirements of the recently passed Government
Performance Results Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-62).


Cross References to Other NPR Accompanying Reports

Creating Quality Leadership and Management, QUAL01:  Provide Improved
Leadership and Management of the Executive Branch.

Mission-Driven, Results-Oriented Budgeting, BGT02:  Effectively
Implement the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993.


Endnotes

1. Schneider, Benjamin, "The Perception of Organizational Climate: The
Customer's View,'' Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 57, no. 3 (1973),
pp. 248-256, and Heskett, James L., W. Earl Sasser, Jr., and Christopher
W.L. Hart, Service Breakthroughs: Changing the Rules of the Game (New
York: Free Press, 1990).

2. Federal Quality Institute, "Presidential Award for Quality,''
Washington, D.C., 1992.

3. See U.S. General Accounting Office, Tracking Customer Satisfaction in
a Competitive Environment, GAO/GGD-93-4 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. General
Accounting Office, November 1992).

4. See Social Security Administration, "The Social Security Strategic
Plan,'' Baltimore, MD, September 1991.

5. See John F. Kennedy School of Government, Customer Service Excellence
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, July 1992).

6. Interview with Gloria Gutierrez, Acting Chief Financial Officer and
Assistant Secretary for Administration, Department of Commerce
memorandum, August 11, 1993.

7. See Harris Poll/Consumer Affairs Council, "The State of Quality
Customer Service in America,'' 1990.