Quality Management in Public Administration

The public administration''s field of functions has
developed in the course of time. Whereas the state
originally exercised the sovereign rights of a
country only, today it increasingly acts as a
service provider that seeks to please its customers.
Therefore service quality management has become
necessary in the public sector. Management theories
from the private sector essentially influence the
quality management techniques that are applied.
However, they have to be adapted to the special
conditions in public service provision.
This book attempts to give answers to the following
five questions:
How can public service quality be defined?
How can a standardised level of quality in public
services be guaranteed?
How can a public administraton''s citizen contacts be
categorised?
How can quality standards ideally be determined to
guarantee a homogenous quality of interaction
between the public administration and the citizens?
What measures are already taken in Austria and Italy?
The focus of interest is on the national and EU
level, although positive examples from local
administrative entities serve for demonstration.

Autorentext

Verena Michalitsch graduated in International Business Administration at WU Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien. At present she works as a research and teaching assistant at the Institute for Public Sector Economics, headed by Univ.Prof. Dr. Gabriel Obermann, at WU.

Klappentext

The public administration''s field of functions has developed in the course of time. Whereas the state originally exercised the sovereign rights of a country only, today it increasingly acts as a service provider that seeks to please its customers. Therefore service quality management has become necessary in the public sector. Management theories from the private sector essentially influence the quality management techniques that are applied. However, they have to be adapted to the special conditions in public service provision. This book attempts to give answers to the following five questions: How can public service quality be defined? How can a standardised level of quality in public services be guaranteed? How can a public administraton''s citizen contacts be categorised? How can quality standards ideally be determined to guarantee a homogenous quality of interaction between the public administration and the citizens? What measures are already taken in Austria and Italy? The focus of interest is on the national and EU level, although positive examples from local administrative entities serve for demonstration.