United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Before Satisfaction Surveys Initiative Dubai has traditional government sector that had no customer focus. Government employees did not believe that they have customers. There were no documented procedures; no defined standards for customer relationship management government services were far away from creativity and innovation. All government services used to require a huge amount of paperwork and prolonged inefficient processes. Most of the service prerequisites were redundant and requested by different government entities involved in one service.
There were no measurements or evaluation what so ever for the quality of services provided by the government. Customers of the government were not involved at all in the process of designing government services. Customers' needs & expectation were never captured or analyzed.
Services were not well defined and packaged as such so that customers would easily know the requirement of getting certain service, the time required for the delivery, and the cost associated with the service if any. Access to government services were mainly through physical existence of customers in the government departments.
Services delivery locations were not equipped with the appropriate facilities such as waiting areas, photocopiers, ATM machines…etc. Also, the front line employees were not trained nor empowered to show the right attitudes and behaviors with customers.
On the other hand, People management was not in the agenda of government departments’ top managements, and the concept of internal customer does not exist. Some departments had never sent a single employee for training.
Employees were never involved in the process of developing HR policies and systems. There were no means of evaluation or assessment of employees' feedback or perception on the leadership style in their work or any of the HR related process in the work place.
No formal career path planning was in plane in most government entities. Also there were no defined and effective channels of communication, hence there was not any dialogue between employees and management of the government entities.
People were not truly engaged with their employers, there was no participation in the decision making process, lower loyalty, and higher rate of turn over to private sector.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The solution sought by Dubai Government Excellence program was developing and implementing an initiative that comprises: • Measuring and evaluating perception of both Customers and Employees of Dubai Government based on world class criteria for Customer Satisfaction and people satisfaction. • Conducting Mystery shopping in the government entities. • Providing comprehensive periodical reports to the management of government entities including a score, strength points, and areas for improvements based on the agreed upon criteria for measurement. • Conducting training sessions and seminars to raise the awareness on the concepts of Customer Satisfaction & Employee Satisfaction • Announcements and recognition of best 3 and announcement of worst 3 scores by HH the Ruler of Dubai. The satisfaction surveys initiative in DGEP has succeeded in spreading customer orientation concept in the government of Dubai to the extent that match or exceed private sector. Most of the government entities are now implementing comprehensive CRM programs and Employee Engagement programs. Customer’s satisfaction is now a first priority for Government entities in Dubai. Human resources needs and training are a primary concern for our top management who also communicate and empower their people to enable them to accomplish their targets and serve their customers better. The initiative offers a comprehensive reference which enables all government departments to reevaluate current practices and performance in customer relationship management as well as their HR systems and compare it with expected performance, and work towards bridging this gap. The initiative encompasses the main factors of developing both Customer Relationship Management and Employee Satisfaction & Engagement Management in the government of Dubai. The Satisfaction Surveys initiative in DGEP is playing a major role in fostering and engraving the culture of customer-focus among all the Governmental entities in Dubai, causing a dramatic and tangible change in the satisfaction measures. Dubai Government Customer satisfaction Index (function of Customer satisfaction surveys & Mystery shoppers study) has improved from 63% in 2005 to 80 % in 2008, while the lowest score achieved by a government entity was 70%. The initiative provides comprehensive international framework for measuring customer & employee satisfaction in government performance as well as providing feedback, guidance and support for the departments and conducting training sessions & seminars on the topic of customers & employee satisfaction. The feedback reports provided to the government entities has triggered most of the improvement initiatives in theses entities in areas of Customer relations and HR management. The initiative also provides consolidated government wide reports that constitute rich inputs to center of government entities that are responsible for developing cross governmental policies, strategies, and improvement programs. One of the most effective tools used in the initiative is the motivation provided by the announcement and recognition of the results. DGEP took the lead to be the first program in the Middle East that start conducting period customers and employees satisfaction surveys for all the governmental entities in Dubai, moreover conducting periodic mystery shopping program in the government.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The customer satisfaction, Mystery shopper, opinion Poll, and Employees satisfaction studies initiative was established by an order of H.H Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and prime minster, and Ruler of Dubai. This initiative is targeting Dubai Government departments’ customers as well as their employees. Dubai Government Excellence program DGEP was responsible for establishing the initiative and managing it in all phases; DGEP developed the framework of the initiative and search for the international best practice in this field. To assure objectivity DGEP worked closely with international consultant to develop the study questionnaires, methodology, calculations, and reports, and over view and monitor the field work conducted by the consultants. Before the start of every cycle of the study, detailed meetings are conducted by the initiative team with each department to understand their services, locations, customer and employees and to explain the study requirements and time frame. To get the buy in of the government departments and to incorporate their needs and special requirements in the study, the questionnaires and reports design were reviewed frequently by the departments and their notes were considered in amending and regularly updating the studies’ methodology. In addition, after several years of conducting the studies, spreading the awareness on the subject and changing the culture of the government departments toward being customer focused government and involving their employees, a team from government departments was established headed by the initiative project manager to review and update the methodology, calculations and reports of the studies and recommend further improvements on it. The scores of the departments are announced by HH Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the winners are recognized in prestigious annual ceremony and the scores are also announced in the newspapers The stakeholders: • Customer satisfaction and Mystery Shopper: o The government departments’ customers • Opinion Poll: o The Dubai Public • Employees satisfaction: o The government departments’ employees • All the studies: o The studies initiative team o The international consultant o The government departments

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
A research on the best practices was prepared to come up with the studies framework and to develop the initiative concept paper, then an international consultant was involved to come up together with the studies detailed questionnaires, forms, calculations methodologies, field work instructions, reports templates…etc. The government departments were involved in this phase, by meeting with them and getting their feedback on the draft methodology, once the methodology was approved, it was communicated to the departments through intensive awareness sessions, training and meetings. The field work was conducted at the beginning on the well established departments (as pilot study) through the international consultant with close supervision and monitoring from the initiative team, upon successful outcomes of the pilot study all the government departments were included. Quality assurance is done by the initiative team on the consultant work; audits, regular meetings, detailed reporting, intensive communication and follow up on their work is assured. Also the initiative team is closely involved with training the interviewers and mystery shoppers. The initiative team also approves the questionnaires and calculation methodology, and review the reports to assure the quality of the outcomes. In every cycle, one to one meeting is conducted with each department to agree on and understand the customers categories, services, locations of the service delivery in addition to getting their list of employees, the purpose of these meetings is also to get their feedback on the questionnaires and work methodology as well as their notes on the structure of the reports. The results are announced in a prestigious ceremony by HH Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the winners are recognized in this ceremony. The results are published in the newspapers are well for the departments (even the worst ranked departments). The reports are distributed to the departments including their strength and areas of improvements, and one to one meeting is conducted with each department to discuss the reports. Several knowledge sharing sessions are conducted by the initiative team to ensure the exchange of knowledge between the government departments.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
In 2000 intensive search on the best practice in the area of customer satisfaction, mystery shopping and opinion poll in the government sector was done, then the initiative framework was established including its objectives, stakeholders, frequency…etc. Beginning of 2001 the initiative was announced by HH Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and this was the kick off for the launching and implementation phase. During 2001 and all through the coming few years intensive awareness and training sessions were conducted to the government departments. At the same time the studies questionnaires and methodology were prepared in cooperation with the consultant During 2001 the field work started for the customer satisfaction, mystery shopper and opinion poll studies and the results were announced in April 2002 and the studies reports including the strengths and areas for improvements were distributed for the first time. In 2004 the employees’ satisfaction study was announced and the field work was conducted during that year after intensive awareness and training of the government departments and establishment of the study methodology with the help of international consultant. Each year and after distributing the studies reports, a workshop is conducted with the departments to discuss the potential improvements on the studies’ methodology and system, in addition to one to one meeting with each departments. Based on such involvement of the departments and extensive search on the new best practices in field; the studies’ methodology, questionnaires, and reports are reviewed and updated, and then communicated to the government departments.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The main obstacles encountered by the measurement & surveys unit are in three folds; the first is the organizational culture that used to prevail in government entities. As previously stated, before this initiative government of Dubai was very traditional body that had no customer focus. Government employees did not believe that they have customers. This prevailing culture has caused a huge resistance among all government entities that questioned the applicability of such initiative in the government sector. The commitment and involvement of HH the ruler of Dubai for the initiative have created a strong motivational tool that helped to overcome the resistance, together with the intensive and comprehensive training and one to one meetings provided by the initiative team. The second main obstacle was the diversity of services that are provided across the government. Some of these services are transactional based, others are informational. Even more, some of these services has regulatory nature and required by society such as crime combat, courts of justice, and traffic control. It was very difficult to come up with a measuring tool that can reveal comparable results. This was dealt with by designing a generic criteria based on common and well known determinants of service quality. The criteria includes requirements for the service itself , the front line employee behavior, the premises, ..etc, regardless of the nature of services provided. The third main obstacle was how to achieve a representative sample for the surveys. Dubai is known as a metropolitan city with so many languages and cultures. This difficulty was faced through providing the surveys in two languages (Arabic & English) and conducting the surveys through multiple channels including the internet (web based surveys), face to face surveys, and media polls.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Only two staff from Dubai Government Excellence Program are allocated to manage this initiative. It was decided from the beginning to involve International research & surveys firm as a consultant in all operations of the initiative to assure provision of objective and professional technical support based on world class expertise and experience. In every cycle of measurement, which is one year, The team of the initiative (including the consultant) work together in the planning stage where the criteria of measurement, the questionnaires, and the sample sizes are designed and communicated with government entities. The research consultant then handles the second stage which is data gathering and analysis, where large groups of researchers are involved under close supervision from the initiative management team. This supervision includes selection and induction of the researchers and mystery shoppers to assure their full awareness of the objectives of the initiative and to check their capabilities to perform the required job efficiently and objectively. The management team gets heavily involved again in the third stage where feedback reports are reviewed, endorsed and communicated to the government entities. The annual total budget allocated to the initiative is 2 million dirham (equivalent to aprox. 550,000 us dollars) this covers all costs including the research consultancy fees.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
All the studies methodologies and reports are electronically and physically documented, and such methodologies are updated regularly based on the international best practices and with close involvement of the stakeholders, as their feedback is incorporated in the changes of the studies methodologies. Awareness and training sessions are conducted regularly with the departments in addition to one to one meeting with each one of them to get their buy in, get their feedback and clarify the requirements of the study from their side. The transparency of the results is consider another factor that assures the sustainability of the initiative, as the scores of all departments are published in the newspapers, both the highest and lower scored departments. Furthermore; sustainability of the initiative is assured through the commitment and involvement of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai in initiative activities, his follow up to the departments scores, his recognition to the winners in this imitative and his announcements of the departments scores has a major contribution to sustainable implementation of the initiative. After the noticeable positive impact of the initiative, several national and regional countries and emirates replicated the Dubai customer satisfaction, mystery shopping, opinion poll, and employees satisfaction studies initiative, like Abu Dhabi emirates, Rak emirates, Jordan ...etc. Moreover the initiative was presented in several nation, regional, international events, in addition to welcoming many delegations welling to learn from the experience.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
Impact: The initiative contributed effectively to improving the image of Dubai City because most of the main services that is used by Dubai visitors and residents are actually provided by government or semi government entities. Hence, The dramatic transformation in the government culture toward adopting the concept of customer delighting have ultimately led to increasing the customer satisfaction index (80% is the current CSI). Some government entities apply world class practices such as the 3-rings phone pick up in their call centers. The initiative was also a primary trigger to increasing the number of electronically based services (92 % of the governmental services in Dubai are electronically based) Based on outcomes from the feedback reports several programs were launched aiming at Improving the governmental department working environment. Among these programs come the "Central Employee Appeal Committee", the "new law for government Human resources in 2007", the "and others The initiative became a role model for governments in the region. Also it has encouraged the government departments to conduct the same exercises internally Lessons learned: Leadership and total Commitment is crucial for successful implementation of the initiative and any other development initiative. Government departments with strong and visionary leaders normally achieved better results in the Customer & Employee satisfaction surveys than the others. To create shift in the mind set from the traditional public sector employee to the quality and customer oriented employee was a challenge that took a lot of effort to achieve through intensive training, several work shops, and hundreds of one to one meetings. Based on that experience it would have helped if a national-wide media campaign was also launched to help in changing the culture. Also this would help in assuring cascading the culture of excellence to all organizational level. Lack of qualified personnel in the government departments was another difficulty that faced the initiative. This was overcomed by involving the external research consultant.


Institution Name:		Dubai Government Excellence Program
Institution Type:		Government Agency
Contact Person:		Ahmed Nuseirat
Title:		DGEP coordinator General
Telephone/ Fax:		0097144399550
Institution's / Project's Website:		0097144399595
E-mail:		nuseirat@tec.gov.ae
Address:		Building 53, Dubai Health Care City, Dubai, UAE
Postal Code:		DXB72233
City:		Dubai
State/Province:
Country:		United Arab Emirates

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information