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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...

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