How to improve customer service in gov't organisations
COMMENT | There is a saying, "A fish rots from the head down".
The saying is very true in nearly all situations that I have been observing. The entire organisation either becomes customer-focused or totally lost in its focus because of its chief executive officer.
When ordinary citizens have to raise their complaints at different levels, and sometimes all the way to the menteri besar or the minister, it shows that something is wrong, not only with the organisation but with its chief.
Years ago, when I was working with a multinational company, the managing director emphasised meeting customer requirements. Training was emphasised to bring about a change in culture.
In fact, even as I write, this term “meeting customer requirements” used by American businessperson Philip B Crosby has become so ingrained in me that I automatically use it without thinking further.
Our modus operandi was based on "excellence through quality", an adaptation from Crosby’s quality system. The ISO system was also put in place. It took many man-hours to see the quality system put in place, but the outcome was an improved work environment and job satisfaction.
Two ways of handling customer complaints
I have also observed this in another example I often like to quote, based on my experience with two government-linked organisations. One was headed by the late Ani Arope of Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB). The other was Telekom Malaysia.
Ani Arope was a man of principle and he would not compromise on the quality of service provided by TNB.
Whenever a complaint came to my attention back then, I would send a short message to his personal assistant, Syed. “Give me five minutes, I will get back to you,” Syed would tell me.
Maybe, eight minutes later, Syed would respond: “TNB men are on the way to deal with the problem.” Within a couple of hours, the problem would be fixed – and knowing that he went out of the way to help a complainant, I usually brought only the more urgent issues to his attention.
On the contrary, a faulty phone problem had to be brought to the attention of Telekom. Its public relations officer back then would never respond to phone calls; it was always her assistant who picked up the call on her behalf.
On one occasion, I was told to write officially to Telekom about the complainant’s issues. As I was a stringer back then, I told the editor that I would write the story and let it appear in the papers first, but I would also write the official letter as well.
Two or three weeks after the complaint was highlighted in the newspaper, one fine day, I received the standard response from Telekom saying that Telekom is looking into the complaint!
This, unfortunately, is still the way how some of our civil servants are responding to complaints. In a lot of occasions, they do not even respond to letters at all. Silence makes the complainant escalate the issue, much to the chagrin of the one being put in the spotlight.
In following up with parents’ complaints recently about my son’s school, as their scribe, I have written scores of letters to the three different levels, at the district education office, state Education Department and finally, to the Education Ministry.
To date, I have only received one official response, which is basically a standard reply from the state director of education. The other letters were never responded to until the dust had to be kicked up and the press gave a lot of coverage.
While some actions have been taken, the measures taken by the Ministry of Education are only vaguely communicated to the complainants. This sometimes drives us up the wall, especially when the same thing happens again...
COMMENT | There is a saying, "A fish rots from the head down".
The saying is very true in nearly all situations that I have been observing. The entire organisation either becomes customer-focused or totally lost in its focus because of its chief executive officer.
When ordinary citizens have to raise their complaints at different levels, and sometimes all the way to the menteri besar or the minister, it shows that something is wrong, not only with the organisation but with its chief.
Years ago, when I was working with a multinational company, the managing director emphasised meeting customer requirements. Training was emphasised to bring about a change in culture.
In fact, even as I write, this term “meeting customer requirements” used by American businessperson Philip B Crosby has become so ingrained in me that I automatically use it without thinking further.
Our modus operandi was based on "excellence through quality", an adaptation from Crosby’s quality system. The ISO system was also put in place. It took many man-hours to see the quality system put in place, but the outcome was an improved work environment and job satisfaction.
Two ways of handling customer complaints
I have also observed this in another example I often like to quote, based on my experience with two government-linked organisations. One was headed by the late Ani Arope of Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB). The other was Telekom Malaysia.
Ani Arope was a man of principle and he would not compromise on the quality of service provided by TNB.
Whenever a complaint came to my attention back then, I would send a short message to his personal assistant, Syed. “Give me five minutes, I will get back to you,” Syed would tell me.
Maybe, eight minutes later, Syed would respond: “TNB men are on the way to deal with the problem.” Within a couple of hours, the problem would be fixed – and knowing that he went out of the way to help a complainant, I usually brought only the more urgent issues to his attention.
On the contrary, a faulty phone problem had to be brought to the attention of Telekom. Its public relations officer back then would never respond to phone calls; it was always her assistant who picked up the call on her behalf.
On one occasion, I was told to write officially to Telekom about the complainant’s issues. As I was a stringer back then, I told the editor that I would write the story and let it appear in the papers first, but I would also write the official letter as well.
Two or three weeks after the complaint was highlighted in the newspaper, one fine day, I received the standard response from Telekom saying that Telekom is looking into the complaint!
This, unfortunately, is still the way how some of our civil servants are responding to complaints. In a lot of occasions, they do not even respond to letters at all. Silence makes the complainant escalate the issue, much to the chagrin of the one being put in the spotlight.
In following up with parents’ complaints recently about my son’s school, as their scribe, I have written scores of letters to the three different levels, at the district education office, state Education Department and finally, to the Education Ministry.
To date, I have only received one official response, which is basically a standard reply from the state director of education. The other letters were never responded to until the dust had to be kicked up and the press gave a lot of coverage.
While some actions have been taken, the measures taken by the Ministry of Education are only vaguely communicated to the complainants. This sometimes drives us up the wall, especially when the same thing happens again.
Communication solves half the issues
In saying this, I was nonetheless impressed with the Ministry of Works (JKR).
Through WhatsApp, I noticed a few pictures and a video clip about some repair work that needed to be done on the Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2, where stalled cars could pose a danger to other motorists.
I took the initiative to write to the JKR complaints unit. Then a video clip came a day later and I saw how dangerous it was that waiting for an answer or action to be taken by JKR could mean a bigger accident.
My impression of JKR based on past experience - you can write letters and emails, but you will never get any response, or the job will be overlooked, until it appears in the newspapers.
Therefore, I took the trouble to forward the complaint to the Works Minister, Fadillah Yusof, himself. Within minutes after he received my email, he asked his men to check. Then, he asked for the pictures to be forwarded to me showing that repair work had already been done to the damage on MRR2.
He also informed me that an earlier picture which I had received was not from MRR2, but somewhere in Port Klang.
When I commended Fadillah for his prompt reply, saying that good and prompt communication is half the battle won, he told me that all JKR officers have been instructed to activate their Twitter accounts and their performance is judged not only by their response, but by their communication as well.
Finally on Monday, two days after the complaint was first sent via email to JKR complaints unit, I received a response, which I forwarded to Fadillah. He replied: “Not to my standard.” I could only respond: “Wow! Wow!”
And, he shared with me a mobile phone application that people can download onto their handphones. Except for the need for the camera to be accessible right away, which the minister said he will get his men to look into, the app is simply superb. Now, with the app, I can point to a pothole or a streetlight that needs repairing and send the information to JKR within less than 60 seconds.
I wish that all cabinet ministers and state executive councils would implement this kind of complaints system, which also helps to map all the issues of the same nature within a geographical location, based on input from the community or residents.
It all begins at the top. Are the people at the top taking a deep interest in the way their organisations respond to public complaints? Or are the staff still lackadaisical towards people’s dissatisfaction? It takes the chief to kickstart changes in an organisation’s culture if he wants to make a difference.
STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
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