## Citizen‘s Charter

Modernization of Public Administration Department (Odbor modernizace veřejné správy)
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### Workshop I Objectives and performance indicators

A joint initiative of the OECD and the European Union, principally financed by the EU
Elke Löffler and Salvador Parrado
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#### Getting started - Defining quality

#### Exercise 1: How would you define ‘quality of service’?

- What is YOUR definition of ‘quality of service’?
- Is this the definition that other people in your organisation have, too?

DISCUSS THIS WITH YOUR COLLEAGUES.

#### Conceptualisations of quality

- ‘Conformance to specification’ - engineering and contract management (Deming)
- ‘Fitness for purpose’ – meeting corporate and social objectives - systems analysis (Juran)
- ‘Meeting or exceeding customer expectations’ - consumer psychology (PZB) .
- Bringing about a passionate emotional involvement between the customer and the service – social psychology (Pirsig)

EACH OF THESE IS INTERESTING!

#### Exercise 2: How many definitions of ‘quality of service‘ are used in your agency?

- Is there ONE official definition of service quality in your agency?
- OR is there NO definition of ‘quality of service’ in your agency?
- OR are there SEVERAL definitions of ‘quality of service’ in your agency?

WHICH IS WORSE: HAVING NO DEFINITION OR THREE?

#### Summary

Service quality is difficult to define but easy to recognise by its absence..

- If there is no definition, there is no language for discussing quality.
- If there are too many definitions, there is only confusion when quality is discussed.
- It is best to agree a single definition in the organisation, and discuss how to assess it and how to assure it, then to implement these plans … and then to move to a different definition some time later, if desired.

#### “What gets measured gets managed” - Measuring quality

#### Purposes of Performance Management

- Control
- Strategic direction, ‘shaping’, ‘steering’
- Hands-off empowerment
- Learning and continuous improvement

#### Definitions in performance management

- Objectives (aims, goals):
  general aspirations
- Performance indicators (performance measures):
  variables which tell us how close we have come to reaching our objectives
- Targets
  a specific value of a PI to be reached by a specific date

#### First step: Establish a clear hierarchy of objectives
Example 1: Hierarchy of objectives for safety

- To increase the public’s feeling of community safety
  - To deter crime
    - To prevent crime
    - To detect crime
    - To provide high visibility policing
  - To increase public’s knowledge of actual levels of crime
    - To use Neighbourhood Watch Groups
    - To use media
    - To use community reps to inform people

#### Group exercise 3: Define a hierarchy of goals

- Start with your definition of quality as used in the first exercise – what does it suggest is your overall aim for the service?
- Think about which other objectives you need to achieve to make this overall aim a reality (write these actions on post-it notes)
- Order these post-it notes into a hierarchy of objectives

#### AND …?

“To reduce the occurrence of coronary heart disease and to reduce associated deaths and ill health and to improve the treatment and rehabilitation of those suffering from it”.

Health of the Nation (HMSO, 1991)

#### Objectives are more important than targets

- NHS waiting list targets!
- Filling projects with easy-to-reach members of ‘hard-to-reach’ groups!
- Getting the numbers through the door by giving people a ‘quick dose’ rather than a real experience, e.g. in musical performance, theatre performance, craft workshops.

However, in each case, some smarter PIs might have been set to protect the underlying objectives?

#### And finally …

Measurement is no substitute for management …
… but guesswork is a poor substitute for measurement!