The Star
At you service by DR Tam Weng Wah
At you service by DR Tam Weng Wah
Public complaints are now handled by the second most senior person in an agency. And the journey to government agencies need no longer be a dreaded voyage for the public.
MOHANDAS K. Gandhi once said that the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. This in essence summarises the public service.
When the strength of a public service is defined by the people, the society is empowered.
Key to this ownership is complaints and in how the Public Service manages and responds to demands and complaints of the nation. How we react will have its corresponding effect on national competitiveness.
Vital to any national competitiveness is government efficiency and its ability to act quickly to the rapidly changing global environment.
If the government machinery is perceived as inefficient and indifferent to the changing global profiles and trends, investors will very quickly place their investments elsewhere.
The function of complaints management in governments is unique. It must be equipped to address not only issues relating to government, but also areas in private sector which if not addressed, would and could have direct impact on national competitiveness.
In the past, handling of public complaints was seen as mundane and unimportant.
In many organisations, both private and public, the handling of customer complaints is seen as a highly unpleasant and unenviable task.
In short, a non-glamorous one.
As a result it was often delegated to the lower echelons who haven’t the authority to resolve the complaints. Who is ever energised to deal with a highly unhappy and frustrated customer?
With rising competition in the private sector for market segmentation and space, as well as a national competitiveness race for investors’ fund, the effectiveness of how complaints are managed and resolved has moved from the back burners of priority to very much the front and centre agenda in the public and private sectors.
For us in the public service, the role, function and even scope of public complaints has been redefined in its breadth, depth and importance.
Today, the second most senior person in the agencies and ministries is assigned responsibility of public complaints.
In essence, the deputy secretaries-general, deputy directors-general and deputy state secretaries are now responsible for ensuring a speedy resolution of public complaints lodged against their respective agencies.
This is a leapfrog change for the service; a change instituted to ensure Malaysia does not lose pace in its relevance globally.
The responsibility of handling complaints is no longer confined only to specific agencies, but to everyone. This culture is being driven and instituted in the Service through the No Wrong Door policy.
The Chief Secretary to the Govern-ment reiterated this point in his column recently, stating — “Every public official must have the competency of a Public Complaints Bureau” and “Complaints management must be the ‘problem’ of every official.” (The Star, Saturday, June 13, 2009).
The journey to government agencies is often seen as a dreaded voyage for most. The perception has always been – they will not be served and complaints will fall on deaf ears and filed into a big black hole.
Many accounts of horror stories have been written of the expedition from one agency to another, being treated like a child by government officials, treated indifferently and/or rudely by the “I know it all” counter staff with the “don’t question me” attitude and not to mention the endless long waiting period without a firm decision for an application.
These perceptions and anecdotes, whilst having its justifications for its criticisms, cannot afford to continue.
The basic question for the service – how do we effectively manage complaints in public sector agencies?
Fundamentally, the public sector needs to take charge and adopt a more proactive approach in engaging the media and responding to issues raised promptly. As the saying goes, “reality lags perception.”
If we fail to respond to the daily complaints raised in the media, the public will rightly assume what was reported is the gospel truth.
This reflects adversely on the government’s performance and the markets’ responsiveness, hence affecting competitiveness at large.
The rule for the service today is that all letters are responded to within three working days.
Not all responses are published immediately by the media due to space constraints.
To address this, the Public Com-plaints Bureau (PCB) will post a copy of the response on the PCB website.
Often termed the “postman to complaints”, PCB has redefined its role to lead in resolution of complaints.
In keeping pace with change, we have gone “high tech, high touch” by providing “24/7” access through our website (http://www.pcb.gov.my) which allows complainants to submit their complaints “anytime, anywhere” and at their convenience using the i-Aduan complaints management system.
We will be implementing i-SPAAA (Integrated Public Agencies Com-plaints Monitoring System) for all ministries by year end.
This system will also allow the public to check the status of their complaints electronically.
i-SPAAA allows us to conduct a more holistic analysis of the recurrent complaints to determine their root causes and propose remedial measures and preventive actions by the respective agencies.
Ministries will also be posting answers to frequently asked questions on the system to cut back on time taken both for the complainant and the officials on recurring complaints.
Our records show an increase in the number of complaints received from 5,347 in 2007 to 8,066 in 2008.
This does not necessarily mean that the performance of government agencies and departments have deteriorated but rather the public now have confidence that their grievances, brought about through the complaints, will be attended to accordingly by the agencies.
It also reflects a more open and vocal society, maturing towards a developed nation.
Ultimately, the best way to defining Malaysia, is through Malaysians taking part in Malaysia.
If the government machinery is perceived as inefficient and indifferent to the changing global profiles and trends, investors will very quickly place their investments elsewhere.
The function of complaints management in governments is unique. It must be equipped to address not only issues relating to government, but also areas in private sector which if not addressed, would and could have direct impact on national competitiveness.
In the past, handling of public complaints was seen as mundane and unimportant.
In many organisations, both private and public, the handling of customer complaints is seen as a highly unpleasant and unenviable task.
In short, a non-glamorous one.
As a result it was often delegated to the lower echelons who haven’t the authority to resolve the complaints. Who is ever energised to deal with a highly unhappy and frustrated customer?
With rising competition in the private sector for market segmentation and space, as well as a national competitiveness race for investors’ fund, the effectiveness of how complaints are managed and resolved has moved from the back burners of priority to very much the front and centre agenda in the public and private sectors.
For us in the public service, the role, function and even scope of public complaints has been redefined in its breadth, depth and importance.
Today, the second most senior person in the agencies and ministries is assigned responsibility of public complaints.
In essence, the deputy secretaries-general, deputy directors-general and deputy state secretaries are now responsible for ensuring a speedy resolution of public complaints lodged against their respective agencies.
This is a leapfrog change for the service; a change instituted to ensure Malaysia does not lose pace in its relevance globally.
The responsibility of handling complaints is no longer confined only to specific agencies, but to everyone. This culture is being driven and instituted in the Service through the No Wrong Door policy.
The Chief Secretary to the Govern-ment reiterated this point in his column recently, stating — “Every public official must have the competency of a Public Complaints Bureau” and “Complaints management must be the ‘problem’ of every official.” (The Star, Saturday, June 13, 2009).
The journey to government agencies is often seen as a dreaded voyage for most. The perception has always been – they will not be served and complaints will fall on deaf ears and filed into a big black hole.
Many accounts of horror stories have been written of the expedition from one agency to another, being treated like a child by government officials, treated indifferently and/or rudely by the “I know it all” counter staff with the “don’t question me” attitude and not to mention the endless long waiting period without a firm decision for an application.
These perceptions and anecdotes, whilst having its justifications for its criticisms, cannot afford to continue.
The basic question for the service – how do we effectively manage complaints in public sector agencies?
Fundamentally, the public sector needs to take charge and adopt a more proactive approach in engaging the media and responding to issues raised promptly. As the saying goes, “reality lags perception.”
If we fail to respond to the daily complaints raised in the media, the public will rightly assume what was reported is the gospel truth.
This reflects adversely on the government’s performance and the markets’ responsiveness, hence affecting competitiveness at large.
The rule for the service today is that all letters are responded to within three working days.
Not all responses are published immediately by the media due to space constraints.
To address this, the Public Com-plaints Bureau (PCB) will post a copy of the response on the PCB website.
Often termed the “postman to complaints”, PCB has redefined its role to lead in resolution of complaints.
In keeping pace with change, we have gone “high tech, high touch” by providing “24/7” access through our website (http://www.pcb.gov.my) which allows complainants to submit their complaints “anytime, anywhere” and at their convenience using the i-Aduan complaints management system.
We will be implementing i-SPAAA (Integrated Public Agencies Com-plaints Monitoring System) for all ministries by year end.
This system will also allow the public to check the status of their complaints electronically.
i-SPAAA allows us to conduct a more holistic analysis of the recurrent complaints to determine their root causes and propose remedial measures and preventive actions by the respective agencies.
Ministries will also be posting answers to frequently asked questions on the system to cut back on time taken both for the complainant and the officials on recurring complaints.
Our records show an increase in the number of complaints received from 5,347 in 2007 to 8,066 in 2008.
This does not necessarily mean that the performance of government agencies and departments have deteriorated but rather the public now have confidence that their grievances, brought about through the complaints, will be attended to accordingly by the agencies.
It also reflects a more open and vocal society, maturing towards a developed nation.
Ultimately, the best way to defining Malaysia, is through Malaysians taking part in Malaysia.
No comments:
Post a Comment