The institution treats people with respect, dignity and courtesy.
This is achieved through a set of standard operating principles consistent with social norms. Treating people with respect, dignity and courtesy is a quality factor fundamental to excellent service delivery. While the institution will not necessarily be praised for this, it is what people expect as the basic component of quality service. Failure to meet this standard leaves the administration open to public criticism and loss of confidence and trust.
Guideline code
SQ_00600
Mechanism
Mechanism
- The management should develop standard operating principles by responding to the following service fundamentals from a user’s perspective:
- Physical facilities, equipment, staff appearance, etc.:
- Is the office clean and tidy?
- Do the self-service computers work?
- Do the staff dress in such a way as they look proud to work here?
- Reliability – ability to perform service dependably and accurately:
- Is the office open when I need it?
- Do I get the right answer?
- Do I get passed around trying to find the information I need?
- Responsiveness – willingness to help and respond to participant need:
- Do I have to wait too long for service?
- Do the staff anticipate my needs?
- Do I ever feel they go above and beyond what is needed?
- Assurance – ability of staff to inspire confidence and trust:
- Can I trust the staff with my information?
- Am I confident what I have been told is right?
- Do I know whom to contact when I feel something is not right?
- Do the staff display competence and skill in what they are doing?
- Empathy – the extent to which the staff give caring, individualized service:
- Do they care about my circumstance?
- Do they listen?
- Do they make me feel like a person rather than a number?
- Third parties – service level agreements;
- When I deal with a service provider, am I getting the same level of service quality?
- When something goes wrong, who is accountable for getting it right?
- Do they point the finger at someone else?
- The management should measure current performance levels for each of the service fundamentals, being especially aware of any regional and cultural variations and making appropriate provisions for them.
- The management should establish realistic and achievable targets for improvement in service performance against time-based milestones (e.g. by a specific date, performance will be x). They need to allow some flexibility in the targets but should ensure they take account of the institution’s investment in capacity and capability.
- The management should establish a programme enabling executives to regularly experience the operational aspects of the organization, beyond the common executive visitation programme. Direct experience of how the organization operates is better than simply examining detailed performance data.
Structure
Structure
- The board and management should establish a set of standard operating principles to underpin excellent service delivery.
Title HTML
Guideline 4. Addressing the service fundamentals
Type
Guideline_1
Weight
10