Enhancing the Quality of Public Service Delivery through Implementing Quality Management in Public Administration

 

Issue paper

 

1. Background

Commitments of the Ukrainian government made during Orange Revolution put pressure to invest in improving the performance of the public sector. In order to meet the rising expectations of the society, public administration has to become more business like. That is why public administration, in its process of improvement, should introduce some solutions from the private sector regarding customer service, external communication, innovation, process improvement, human resource management, internal communication, and motivation to provide high quality of services. The ultimate aim is to achieve tangible improvements in the quality of public services delivered to citizens.

Quality management has been used in public sector in a number of countries. In Ukraine, as the government is searching for ways to increase efficient of its public administration and to improve service delivery, quality management can offer solutions.

2. Objective of the project

The objective of this fellowship project is twofold:

1)      Developing a methodology, management framework and guidelines for implementing quality management standards in the public administration of Ukraine.

2)      Carrying out policy campaign involving stakeholders and developing policy recommendations for implementing quality standards in public administration.

3. Key issues

My research and policy papers undertake to answer the following questions:

1) What are the available quality models applied in public administration? How are they different? What do they have in common?

2) How do countries apply quality management tools? What experience can be useful for Ukraine?

3) What are some key problems that could be addressed by quality management? What are the benefits of quality management?

4) What are key steps in building a sound quality management system? What are success factors?

4. Activities and strategies

The Main Civil Service Department has been selected as a pilot institution to introduce quality management system. The Head of the Main Civil Service Department is committed to build and certify its system to comply with ISO 9001 standard. A strategy based on research of international experience will be developed for the Main Civil Service Department.

Structured interviews with renowned quality management experts will allow to gain in-depth knowledge into various quality models to gain broader perspective on the possibility of adapting a system. Study tour to Poland and Latvia will facilitate the understanding of what works and what does not work in the practical implementation of quality management and other measures to improve public service delivery.

An implementation strategy will be supported by the practical training for civil servants. Quality management documents and other tools will be developed.

A policy paper will be draft to serve as a policy campaign tool to facilitate broader discussion and engage other government agencies into the quality thinking.

5. Importance of the project

The new government of Ukraine is looking into ways to improve its overall efficiency and citizen satisfaction. As EU integration was declared to be a key priority of the new government, European experience and especially experience of the new EU member states is of particular value. The government has begun a thorough public administration reform, which includes focus at results, increased transparency, reduced red tape and improved customer satisfaction.

Quality management has been serving a number of public administrations in Europe and elsewhere as an excellence tool. The convergence of quality management tools and the adoption of the Common Assessment Framework prove the increasing emphasis EU policymakers place on quality management.

A pilot project to build quality management can serve as an example for other government agencies. International experience shows that quality management is successful only when there is a commitment and a sense of ownership in the organization. Hopefully, success of a pilot project and a policy campaign involving various stakeholders can put pressure on other government agencies to improve.

6. Results and application

The results of this project have two parts. First of all, research on quality models and best practices in various countries will be conducted. Secondly, practical work will be done in Ukraine using the example of the Main Civil Service Department. Policy campaign will be carried out to promote benefits of quality. This will be supported by training for public officials. A set of quality management tools will be developed including standard documentation as well as quality management strategy.

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