Citizens of major cities are becoming even more knowledgeable, savvy and
vocal about what they expect from their public-service agencies and want
a more sophisticated relationship with their governments in return for
their votes and taxes, according to a new global research report from
Accenture (NYSE: ACN).
The report, “Exploring People’s
Perspectives on the Role of Government,” is
based on research conducted by the Accenture Institute for Public
Service Value as part of the Accenture Global Cities Forum, in which
Accenture convened full-day panels of citizens representing a wide range
of demographic backgrounds in London, Sydney, Singapore, Berlin, New
York, Paris, Madrid and Los Angeles. The purpose of the research was to
solicit citizens’ views on how effective their
governments are in delivering services that meet their needs and improve
their quality of life.
Among the key findings: People around the world want greater input into,
and more active roles in, improving public services.
“People want more active, participatory
relationships with their governments and greater involvement in the
decision-making that drives the public services affecting their lives,”
said Greg Parston, director of the Accenture Institute for Public
Service Value. “They want a greater say so
they can become ‘co-producers’
of public-service value in collaboration with not just government
agencies, but also private businesses and nonprofit organizations.”
Accenture identified several common principles that emerged from the
discussions in the eight cities and drew upon these to develop a new
governance framework for achieving public-service value. Called the
Accenture Public Service Value Governance Framework, the model presents
four key components of a strengthened relationship between people and
their government:
1. Outcomes — focusing on improved
social and economic outcomes.
2. Balance — balancing choice and
flexibility with fairness and common good.
3. Engagement — engaging, educating
and enrolling the public as co-producers of public value.
4. Accountability — clarifying
accountability and facilitating public recourse.
The framework is intended to help public-service entities engage their
constituents so that they can design and deliver services that more
closely meet the needs of the public; facilitate a more effective
relationship between people and their governments; and ultimately
deliver greater public value. Accenture will continue to refine this
framework as it convenes additional Global Cities Forum panels in Oslo,
Dublin, Rome, Tokyo and Toronto later in 2008.
Among the findings featured in the report:
People want high-quality, timely and efficient services that meet
their needs – and this requires better
integration and collaboration among government departments, private
businesses and nonprofit organizations.
Many citizens believe that narrow applications of “fairness”
and “choice” in
public service delivery actually are widening the gaps between
disadvantaged people and those who are more affluent or better
educated and able to take greater advantage of public services.
Citizens seek greater engagement with government on issues related to
quality of life and quality of public service.
Government can and should do much more to educate citizens –
helping people to articulate their own needs and perceptions of
government and harnessing their energies as co-producers of public
value.
Citizens want much more clarity and accountability from government;
the absence of it fuels perceptions of waste and inefficiency.
A predominant view emerged from the citizen feedback that the basic
values of transparency/accountability and equality/fairness should be
the guiding principles for government. More than 50 percent of
participants across all eight cities, however, said that they would not
be willing to pay more taxes to improve public services.
Comparative results across the eight cities included:
Critical public service issues
Participants in Los Angeles, Madrid, New York, Paris and Singapore
viewed cost of living as the most pressing social concern.
Sydney participants felt that health was a more important concern –
though only slightly – than cost of living.
Berlin participants identified employment (in the context of improving
the economy) as the most critical issue in their city.
Londoners were alone among Forum participants in placing crime and
public safety as the most pressing issue.
Citizen satisfaction with public service
Singaporeans rated their city highest in terms of their perception of
their public services, with 86 percent indicating they were at least
satisfied.
Madrid, New York and Sydney comprised a second tier of cities whose
participants rated their public services favorably, with 72 percent,
67 percent and 67 percent of participants in those cities,
respectively, saying they were at least satisfied with their cities’
public services.
Berlin, Los Angeles and Paris formed a third cluster that ranked in
the lower half of all cities in terms of their satisfaction with
public services, with 60 percent, 57 percent and 53 percent of
participants in those cities, respectively, saying they were at least
satisfied with their cities’ public
services.
Fewer than 50 percent of London participants said that their city
provides good-quality public services.
Customer service
At least 80 percent of participants in each of the eight cities said
that government agencies should treat users more like customers.
The definition of “customer focus”
varied somewhat among the cities, however. Participants in Madrid and
Los Angeles were focused on services being more responsive and timely –
for example, quicker emergency services response times and/or faster
judicial system processing of criminal cases.
Participants in Paris and Berlin called for better access to services
and more delivery channels, including both physical and electronic.
London Forum participants placed more emphasis on the need for
flexibility in the way government provides services. For example, some
participants indicated that they felt stymied by constraints on where
their children could attend school and expressed a desire for more
leeway in selecting schools that might be outside the assigned
districts.
“Armed with data from the Forum, we believe
that governments will be better able to tailor services, spend their
limited budgets more strategically and, ultimately, be more responsive
and provide greater value to the citizens they represent,”
Parston said.
About the Accenture Global Cities Forum
During the summer and early fall of 2007, Accenture brought together 60
to 80 residents in each of eight international cities —
London, Sydney, Singapore, Berlin, New York, Paris, Madrid and Los
Angeles — to a full-day event to deliberate
on public-service value in their city from the perspectives of taxpayer
(value for money or cost-effectiveness), consumer (quality of services)
and citizen (effect on society as a whole). Participants, who
represented a broad cross-section of socioeconomic backgrounds, shared
their perspectives on a range of public service issues, such as health,
education, affordable living, public safety, public transportation, and
the environment. The full report, “Exploring
People’s Perspectives on the Role of
Government,” along with individual city
reports, is available at www.accenture.com/globalcitiesforum.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and
outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive
capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive
research on the world’s most successful
companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become
high-performance businesses and governments. With 178,000 people in 49
countries, the company generated net revenues of US$19.70 billion for
the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2007. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
|