CITIZEN-CENTERED FRAME OF REFERENCE
What is citizen-centered service?
Citizen-centered service is the act of service improvement efforts
It should be rooted in citizens’ & clients’ priorities for improvement
Services should be organized based on people’s perspective, not organizational
perspective.
Citizen-centered service incorporates citizens’ concerns at every stage of service
design & delivery process
Citizens’ needs become the organizing principle around which public interest is
determined and service delivery is planned
What is the difference between citizen-centered and client-centered service?
o Clients: need not be citizens but are direct recipients of government services
o Citizens: may or may not be clients of specific government services, but are
part of the larger community & therefore contribute to and receive indirect
benefits from government services
bearers of rights & duties, and unlike private sector customers often
cannot choose an alternative service provider if unsatisfied with the
service they receive from the public sector.
What are public servants?
o Public servants serve a wide range of clients including those who would not,
given the choice, engage the service in the first place
o Key challenge: to balance potentially conflicting goals of client service
satisfaction with the protection of the interests of all citizens
Primary reason why providing high quality service is more complex in
the public sector than the private sector
o Role of public servants is not only to serve ‘customers’ but to balance the
interest and preserve the rights of ‘citizens’
Why is citizen-centred service important?
Citizens believe government has a more difficult task than the private sector, but
majority expect service that is as good/better than that provided by the private sector.
Public servants can meet challenge by working to close the gap between the service
the public expects from government services on the one hand, and their satisfaction
with the services they receive on the other
Service gap is captured between Box 1 & 3 of Network Framework for Modernizing
Public Sector Service (See image)
o focus is on the Box 1, rather than on the tools in Box 4
o important because to understand the nature of the “service gap” and what
tools to employ to reduce it, organizations must first identify needs of clients
By obtaining accurate client feedback, organizations can then:
o ensure provision of what clients want VS what they think they want
o allocate resources more effectively by targeting priority areas
o validate resource requests
What are citizen’s thoughts about government services?
o citizens rate performance of gov services significantly below private sector
o common belief that private sector service is better than public sector service
o rating difference exists because of people’s perceptions of specific private
sector services
o when rating the quality provided by the government or public sector in
general, citizens’ ratings may be influenced by negative stereotypes or bad
news stories reported in the media
, What are the 4 components of the framework?
→ knowing
citizen/client
expectations,
perceptions
and priorities,
and involving
them in service
improvements
→ choosing the
appropriate mix of tools to
close the service gap, as
guided by citizen and
client priorities for
improvement
→ measuring progress in
closing the service gap
and using that
information to guide the
selection of service
improvement tools
→ continuously
improving the
capacity of public
organizations to
deliver the service
citizens expect
What is citizen-centered service?
Citizen-centered service is the act of service improvement efforts
It should be rooted in citizens’ & clients’ priorities for improvement
Services should be organized based on people’s perspective, not organizational
perspective.
Citizen-centered service incorporates citizens’ concerns at every stage of service
design & delivery process
Citizens’ needs become the organizing principle around which public interest is
determined and service delivery is planned
What is the difference between citizen-centered and client-centered service?
o Clients: need not be citizens but are direct recipients of government services
o Citizens: may or may not be clients of specific government services, but are
part of the larger community & therefore contribute to and receive indirect
benefits from government services
bearers of rights & duties, and unlike private sector customers often
cannot choose an alternative service provider if unsatisfied with the
service they receive from the public sector.
What are public servants?
o Public servants serve a wide range of clients including those who would not,
given the choice, engage the service in the first place
o Key challenge: to balance potentially conflicting goals of client service
satisfaction with the protection of the interests of all citizens
Primary reason why providing high quality service is more complex in
the public sector than the private sector
o Role of public servants is not only to serve ‘customers’ but to balance the
interest and preserve the rights of ‘citizens’
Why is citizen-centred service important?
Citizens believe government has a more difficult task than the private sector, but
majority expect service that is as good/better than that provided by the private sector.
Public servants can meet challenge by working to close the gap between the service
the public expects from government services on the one hand, and their satisfaction
with the services they receive on the other
Service gap is captured between Box 1 & 3 of Network Framework for Modernizing
Public Sector Service (See image)
o focus is on the Box 1, rather than on the tools in Box 4
o important because to understand the nature of the “service gap” and what
tools to employ to reduce it, organizations must first identify needs of clients
By obtaining accurate client feedback, organizations can then:
o ensure provision of what clients want VS what they think they want
o allocate resources more effectively by targeting priority areas
o validate resource requests
What are citizen’s thoughts about government services?
o citizens rate performance of gov services significantly below private sector
o common belief that private sector service is better than public sector service
o rating difference exists because of people’s perceptions of specific private
sector services
o when rating the quality provided by the government or public sector in
general, citizens’ ratings may be influenced by negative stereotypes or bad
news stories reported in the media
, What are the 4 components of the framework?
→ knowing
citizen/client
expectations,
perceptions
and priorities,
and involving
them in service
improvements
→ choosing the
appropriate mix of tools to
close the service gap, as
guided by citizen and
client priorities for
improvement
→ measuring progress in
closing the service gap
and using that
information to guide the
selection of service
improvement tools
→ continuously
improving the
capacity of public
organizations to
deliver the service
citizens expect
