AbstractsBusiness Management & Administration

The effectiveness of public service complaint management processes in contexts of autocratic governance: the case of Brunei Darussalam

by Rosdi Bin Aziz




Institution: University of Birmingham
Department:
Year: 2016
Keywords: HD28 Management. Industrial Management; JQ Political institutions Asia
Posted: 02/05/2017
Record ID: 2129072
Full text PDF: http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/6213/


Abstract

Almost inevitably on occasions, purchasers, customers or users of services will be so dissatisfied with the quality or experience of procurement that they will feel driven to make a complaint. Whether in relation to public or private sector organisations, complaints can provide suppliers with valuable feedback information about their services which may help to inform and direct improvements more generally as well as in relation to the particular case and circumstances. This aim of this study has been to examine complaint management within a public governmental organization – and particularly within such an organization in an autocratic state context. The study has taken the form of a case-study – set in Brunei Darussalam - and involved a mixed methods research approach of both a survey of some 200 public servants with a structured questionnaire, and a set of some 60 more in-depth, semi structured, interviews with senior governmental officials drawn from a range of departments. While, almost all respondents and interviewees readily acknowledged the importance and value of complaints and complaint management as a key component of good customer focus, the research found that, mostly, the mechanisms for realizing such value were not in place and that, in practice, few government departments in Brunei were managing complaints in any systematic manner. This state of affairs, it has been concluded, reflects the lack of market or democratic pressures for departments to learn from complaints and to improve its public services.