1.

Introduction

Public sector organizations are responsible for providing essential goods and services for
the benefit of the citizens of their countries. The public sector has been under increasing
pressure to improve upon service delivery and to demonstrate that it is customer-centric.
Service quality has therefore been defined as an overall judgment similar to attitudes
towards the service and generally accepted as an antecedent of overall customer
satisfaction. Public sector organizations are responsible and accountable to the citizens
and communities of their countries as well as to their customers or clients. In this topic
we focus on the customer service delivery of Ethiopian civil service university
department of public financial management and accounting.

2. Background Ethiopian Civil Service University

The Ethiopian Civil Service University started operation in 1995 but was formally
established in February, 1996 as an autonomous institution with legal status by the
Council of Minister Regulation No. 3/1996. Since establishment, the University has
contributed immensely in developing the capacity of the Ethiopian Civil Service
University through education and training.The need for the establishment of the
University arose from the acute need for the country’s civil service system with the new
form of government structure, namely, the Federal Government System introduced in
1991. In this historical and political shift from a highly centralized unitary government
system to a decentralized federal system, and given the country’s existing higher
institutions’ intake capacity, the shortage of trained manpower in the country in general
and in the emerging regions in particular, was acute. As a result, the duties and
responsibilities of self administration by the regional state government and their various
agencies were very difficult to handle. To satisfy this urgent need, the University began
operations with only two fields of studies: Law and Economics. The University has been
able to make tremendous contribution in capacity building through the provision of short-
term courses and specialized undergraduate and postgraduate programs; rendering
research and consultancy services; providing library documentation services and
facilitating conferences, seminars and workshops. The University employs delivery
modalities ranging from resident training and educational programs to the on-the-job,
evening and distance education, including Global Development Learning Network.

The University strives to equip civil servants with relevant theoretical and practical skills
that will empower them to optimally discharge their responsibilities. This article explains
the activities of the different organs of the Ethiopian Civil Service University. It explains
the background to establishing the University. Our belief that human resources are the
most precious assets of the nation has been shared by the governments and individuals.
We appreciate the patronage and support of the government and people of Ethiopia as
well as our international collaborators.

2.1. Vision of ECSU

To become a leading center of excellence in public service capacity building in Africa by

2025 through building efficient, effective, transparent and accountable public service
which can contribute to the realization of the development and transformation drive of
the country.

2.2. Mission of ECSU

Enhancing the service orientation, transparency and accountability of the public service 
by building its  capacity through Specialized Education, Training, Consultancy, Research
and Community Services.

2.3. Core Values of ECSU

 Customer Focus
 Commitment
 Continuous Learning
 Welcoming Diversity
 Attention to the Disadvantaged
 Participatory leadership
 Collaboration
3. Objectives of the University

The University shall with a view to improving the professional and leadership capacity
and ethical standards of the Ethiopian Civil Service, have the following objectives

 to design training and educational programs and provide same using various
modalities
 to conduct research
 to provide consultancy services
 to formulate standards and certify professionals 

4. Facts and Figures of ECSU

The University promotes a participatory approach to decision-making at all levels. It

constantly attempts to foster the ideals of cooperation by encouraging the involvement of
its stakeholders towards its development and advancement.

The following special features make the ECSU system unique:

 Adoption of an interactive-oriented approach to teaching and learning

 Carrying out of needs assessment and impact evaluation
 Provision of special academic support programs for those in need
 DLC-based provision of training through fully interactive video conferencing
facility
 Promotion of a participative management system
 Writing of senior essays, whereby students go back home to work on problems
facing their respective regions
 Continual process of quality improvement

5. Customer Service Delivery

5.1. Meaning and scopes of Service delivery

Service delivery can be defined as any contact with the public administration during
which customers – citizens, residents or enterprises – seek or provide data, handle their
affairs or fulfill their duties. These services should be delivered in an effective,
predictable, reliable and customer-friendly manner.

5.2. Ways to Deliver Great Customer Service

Too many companies don't understand that while delivering excellent customer service is
one of the key ingredients for repeat business, it's that special personal relationship with
one customer and one associate that provides the link between customer satisfaction and
customer retention," he said. "The service delivered by frontline associates must be
viewed as the first step in the journey of loyalty." Shapiro offers ten tips for retaining
customers.

1. Make sure that every one of your frontline associates is capable of making a good first
impression. First opinions are formed within the first 10 seconds. You never have a
second opportunity to make a warm and welcoming first impression.

6. Civil Service Ethics Reform

6.1. Objectives:

The Ethics Reform sub-program has set the following major objectives:

 Issuing codes of ethics and conduct, national and institutional charters of citizen’s
rights and responsibilities, and evidence and procedure rules;
 Establishment of the Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption body;
 Undertaking national campaign to build public awareness and demand for high
ethical practices;
 Build the capacity of media, police, public prosecutor and judiciary on the skills
necessary for detecting, investigating and adjudicating cases of corruption;
 Conduct survey of public perception on the scope of corruption in the country.

7. Components of Ethics Reform Sub-program

The lead agency for Ethics Reform sub-program is the Prime Minister Office. This sub
program has six components/projects:

A. Issuing codes of Ethics and conduct

 Develop codes of ethics or conduct for political appointees, people’s

representatives, judges, and public employees were issued and the code of ethics
is being implemented.
 Develop national and citizen charters
 Implement the twelve principles of Ethiopian civil service

8. Twelve principles of the Ethiopian public Service

Integrity, Loyalty, Transparency, Confidentiality, Honesty, Accountability, Serving the

Public Interest, Exercising Legitimate Authority, Impartiality, Respecting the Law,
Responsiveness and Leadership

 The Need for the Policy

The state of service delivery in civil service institutions calls for fundamental
improvement. The Government is committed to bringing about such an improvement.
This policy on service delivery is the first step to realize such government commitment.

The policy is specifically needed to:

 create awareness among civil service institutions and the general public about
government intentions and expectations regarding service delivery and quality of
services;
 publicize the rights and obligations of both service providers and recipients;
 ensure that civil services institutions strive to deliver better services within the
same framework;
 encourage and promote service delivery improvement throughout the civil
service;
 Ensure continuing improvement in service delivery.
9. Objectives of The Policy

The overall objective of the policy on Service Delivery is to attain user satisfaction in
service delivery in the civil service. Its specific objectives are to ensure:-

 efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery in the civil service thus reducing
the burden of providing and receiving services and there by facilitating economic
and social development;
 equity in access to government provided services and in the treatment of service
users;
 that institutions are managed in such a way as to provide better quality services
and are accountable for failure to do so.

 Policy Instruments/Directions

The policy instruments/directions are designed to attain the overall and specific
objectives of the policy through:

 Formulation of mission statement

 Promoting positive attitude towards serving the public.
 Defining eligible users and setting advance requirements that have to be
fulfilled by the service sectors.
 Facilitating easy access to services by users.
 Coordinating related services.

 Working in partnership with members of the public.

This means efficient coordination of related services in an arrangement whereby

complementary services in different institutions or departments within an institution re
coordinated to reduce inconvenience to service users and/or to avoid unnecessary cost to
the government.
  Establishing complaints Handling mechanisms
 Providing Adequate information
 Consulting with service users
 Setting Service Standards'
 Providing cost effective services.
 Promoting Transparency

This means efficient coordination of related services in an arrangement whereby

complementary services in different institutions or departments within an institution re
coordinated to reduce inconvenience to service users and/or to avoid unnecessary cost to
the government.

 Establishing complaints Handling mechanisms

 Providing Adequate information
 Consulting with service users
 Setting Service Standards'
 Providing cost effective services.
 Promoting Transparency
1. Show appreciation to your customers.
2. Thanking customers in a meaningful and thoughtful anner on every
customer/frontline encounter shows customers you care and appreciate their business.
3. Review your letters and email communications to ensure that they sound welcoming,
personalized and make your customers feel important and appreciated.
4. Create a culture whereby your associates are treated as family and neighbors and
they will, in turn, treat your customers the same way. Customers notice and
appreciate when a company appreciates their associates.
5. Answer questions from customers by not only responding to their direct inquiry, but
by providing them with additional useful information. Customers often enjoy learning
more about a potential purchase than what's written on a tag or in a brochure.
Understand that the underlying ingredient of customer service is helping people.
6. Make sure that every frontline associate has a history of helping people. It will almost
guarantee a great customer service experience.
7. Say hello and smile.  Getting a big, warm hello can go a long way in giving a
customer the feeling of "Hey, this company is really happy to see me."
8. Leverage the return counter in a retail store environment to make customers feel
comfortable about returning an item and offering special attention to help them find
what they need. Customers don't like making returns. Make the return process an
enjoyable and non defensive process. Customers will really appreciate it.
9. Listen to customer comments such as, "This is the first time I used your site," "I just
moved into the neighborhood," "I just happened to stop by," and take those
opportunities to engage the customer to build a relationship and lifetime of loyalty.

10. Make sure you thank your employees and reward them appropriately
2.4 Rules for Good Customer Service
There are various rules that we must consider in serving our customer in an appropriate
or effective way. Among these rules the following are some of them:
 Answer your phone
 Don't make promises unless you will keep them
 Listen to your customers
 Deal with complaints
 Be helpful - even if there's no immediate profit in it
 Train your staff (if you have any) to be always helpful, courteous, and
knowledgeable
 Take the extra step
 Throw in something extra
 These principles are:
 • Consultation:
 • Service standards:
 • Access: All citizens should have equal access to the services to which they are
entitled.
 • Courtesy: Citizens should be treated with courtesy and consideration;
 • Information;
  • Openness and transparency:
 • Redress:
 Value for money: Public services should be provided economically and
efficiently in order to give citizens the best possible value for money.
3. Citizens and Customers

3.1. Pursuing Citizen-Centered Service

The implementation of two important concepts helps to promote citizen-centered service.

 The no-wrong-door concept means that no matter what point of service citizens
contact (e.g. a government website, a government telephone number), they should
be able to get the assistance they need.
 The idea here is that citizens should not have to think about which department or
even which government provides the service they are seeking.
 The necessary coordination and integration should be provided by the
government(s) involved
 Government service delivery should be citizen-centered for at least three reasons:

1. It should be conceived and executed from the outside-in—not inside-out—with the

needs, Perspectives and satisfaction of citizens foremost in mind.
2. Many of the clients of government are “involuntary clients,” whose service
relationship with government derives from their obligations as citizens, or from the
rights of other citizens.
3. Those who deliver government services should always bear in mind that the quality
of government service delivery can and should contribute to strengthen democratic
citizenship, and the bonds of confidence and trust between citizens, and between
citizens and their democratic governments

The conceptual frame work on service delivery and Customer-centered

Service delivery

Focuses on four components:

  Citizen Expectations of Government Service Delivery: knowing citizen/client
expectations, perceptions and priorities, and involving them in service
improvements;
 Measuring and Reporting on Performance and Accountability: measuring
progress in closing the service gap and using that information to guide the
selection of service improvement tools;
 Government Delivery of Services: continuously improving the capacity of public
organizations to deliver the service citizens expect; and
 Government Service Improvement Toolbox: choosing the appropriate mix of
tools to close the service gap, as guided by citizen and client priorities for
improvement.

In order to understand the nature of the "service gap" and what tools to employ to reduce
it, organization must first identify the needs of their clients. By obtaining accurate client
feedback, organizations can then:

 ensure they are providing what clients want, as opposed to what they think and they
want;

allocate resources more effectively by targeting priority areas; and Validate resource
requests

Ways of Improving Service Quality

 While public sector services perform better than we thought, the inescapable fact
is that there is still a gap between the service citizens expect from government,
and what they get.
 In order to close this gap we must work on those things that will make the most
difference to our clients.
 New public sector management techniques will help us to improve the quality of
service delivery in public sector.

Total Quality Management

  Total Quality Management is one of the management techniques whose emphasis
is on high quality service and customer satisfaction.
 Quality refers to the degree of excellence in producing a desired output.
 It is characterized by minimum error or dissatisfaction.
 The desired output could be in terms of timeliness, reliability accuracy,
accessibility, convenience waiting time specification and response time, among
others.
 Quality can also be seen as conformance to the requirements of the customer.
 It comprises both efficiency and effectiveness .
 TQM is a structured system for meeting and exceeding customer needs and
expectations by creating organization-wide participation in the planning and
implementation of breakthroughs and continuous improvement of processes.
 TQM processes are divided into four sequential categories: plan, do, check, and
act (the PDCA cycle). In the planning phase, people define the problem to be
addressed, collect relevant data, and ascertain the problem's root cause; in the
doing phase, people develop and implement a solution, and decide upon a
measurement to gauge its effectiveness; in the checking phase, people confirm the
results through before-and-after data comparison; in the acting phase, people
document their results, inform others about process changes, and make
recommendations for the problem to be addressed in the next PDCA

Business Process Reengineering (BPR)

 Business Process Reengineering is a fundamental rethinking and radical redesign

of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in Cost, Quality, Time
(speed) and Service.
 It combines a strategy of promoting business innovation with a strategy of making
major improvements to business processes so that a company can become a much
stronger and more successful competitor in the marketplace.
 Reengineering starts with a high-level assessment of the organization's mission,
strategic goals, and customer needs.
 Basic questions are asked, such as: "Does our mission need to be redefined?
  Are our strategic goals aligned with our mission?

4. Who are our customers?

4.1. Literature Reviews of Customer Service Delivery

Various studies conducted in the areas of public service delivery in Ethiopian civil
service institutions indicate that several problems exist and have been leading to poor
quality public service delivery. In April 2001, Government of the Federal Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia published a service delivery policy of the Ethiopian civil service
realizing that the existing system requires reforms or adjustment to improve public
service delivery. The policy came up with the assumption that effective implementation
of the policy requires that all civil servants, service users and other concerned bodies
have sufficient understanding of the objectives, contents, concepts and principles that
enables civil service initiations to carry out what is expected of them and makes service
users aware of their rights to receive services and benefit thereafter.

Factors influencing Efficient Service Delivery

The key to effective quality monitoring for the service delivery

 Listen to your customers by monitoring interactions. ...

 Capture all of your customer feedback channels. ...
 Ask your customer what they think. ...
 Use quality monitoring to help agents improve skills. ...
 Do not view agent development as a one-off activity.
 Elements in Service Delivery System

1. Service Culture: Culture is the set of overriding principles according to which

management controls, maintains and develops the social process that manifests
itself as delivery of service and gives value to customers. Once a superior service
delivery system and a realistic service concept have been established, there is no
other component so fundamental to the long-term success of a service
organization as its culture.
2. Employee Engagement includes employee attitude activities, purpose driven
leadership and HR processes. Even the best designed processes and systems will
only be effective if carried out by people with higher engagement.
3. Service Quality includes strategies, processes and performance management
systems. The strategy and process design is fundamental to the design of the
overall service management model. Helping the client fulfill their mission and
supporting them in the pursuit of their organizational purpose, must be the
foundation of any service provider partnership.
4. Customer Experience includes elements of customer intelligence, account
management and continuous improvements
5. Challenges of public service delivery

The main challenges of public service delivery includes,

 inconsistencies of rules and regulations

 Corruption in service delivery
 willingness to provide service as per request
 lack of accountability
 lack of integration problem among different government service providers.
 sense of belongingness

6. How can public service delivery be improved?

To improve public-sector efficiency, governments would benefit from less rigid and
more decentralized structures that allow high-level executives to have more decision-
making autonomy. Another ways to improve service delivery were found to be
increasing citizen participation in the affairs of the local authority and partnership with
the community in service delivery, flexible response to service user complaints, offering
value for money and ensuring that service users pay their bills on time.

7. Customers that affect the organization

The organization can be affected by Internal and external customers
1. Internal customers
Internal customers are those who maintain a close and direct relationship with
an organization and who work to achieve the satisfaction of the external
customers.
2. External customers
External customers are not part of an organization but receive something from it.
Internal Customers of ECSU
Internal customers are those who maintain a close and direct relationship with a
university and who work to achieve the satisfaction of the external customers; they would
include the personnel of the institution, both the teaching and research personnel, as well
as the support service staff .

Teachers, principals, human resources employees, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, the
administrator are all internal customers for the university.

8.External Customers of ECSU

All Federal, Regional States and City Council Administrations including
Students are our customers.

 Ministry of Defense
 Ministry of Justice
 Ministry of Agriculture
 Students
 Ministry of Civil Service
 Ministry of Federal Affairs
 Tax and Customs Authority
 Office of the House of People Representatives
 Office of the House of Federation
 Federal Supreme Court
 Federal Tax Appeal Tribunal
 Federal Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission
 Federal Disaster and Preparedness Commission
 Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency
 Regional Management Institutes
 Regional Civil Service bureaus
 Government Employees Social Security Agency
 Private Organizations Employees Social Security Agency
 Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority
 Transport Authority
9. Charities and Societies Agency

 Ministry of Urban Development and Construction

 Ministry of Finance and Economic Development
 Ministry of Labour & Social Affairs
 Information Network Security Agency
 Public Procurement & Property Administration
 Ministry of Women, Youth and children Affairs
 Ethiopian Police University College
10. Facts that we identified about their strength and weakness

As Ethiopian civil service University College of finance management and development

and department of public financial management and accounting we identified their
strength and weakness on service delivery as follows:

1. Strength(based on facts)
 Accessibility of information through the internet
 The students can get the information like their grade, courses as well as
 Arrangement of learning class

There is a common learning class for all field of studies in the department, this
makes the students free of confusion to find the class. It also helps the students and
teachers to save their time.

11. Supporting materials through the website easily.

 Distribution of learning materials
There is availability of learning materials such as: white board, projector, white board
markers, sitting chairs etc.
  Posting program schedule for learning and exam on time
 There is proper and fast service during registration
2. Weakness(based on facts)
 There is no supervision of department during teaching delivery:
 There is no brief mission, Vision and objectives available around the department and
other related offices.
 There is a lack of motivation on some employees:

Some of the employees in the department office have no interested to serve their
customer for those who stand at the entrance of the office by asking their needs or their
problems.

 Poor relationship with the class representative as well as with the students:

The relationship with students is important to identify the problems in teaching delivery,
but there is no such relation to discuss and identify the problems in order to solve the
problems of teaching progress.

 They don’t care about the health of the students

 There is no cross checking whether the teachers are teaching or not.Due to corona
Virus, once the rule is stated by the ministry of health the department has its own role
to contribute in protection of COVID 19 but there is no such activities to protect the
disease. There is no protection materials like Sanitizer around the learning place, No
checking whether the students are wear their mask or not and for those who are
careless about the virus the department doesn’t take measurement actions.
 Table of Contents
1.Introduction.................................................................................................................................1
2.Background Ethiopian Civil Service University..........................................................................1
2.1.Vision of ECSU....................................................................................................................2
2.2.Mission of ECSU..................................................................................................................2
2.3.Core Values of ECSU...........................................................................................................2
3.Objectives of the University........................................................................................................3
4.Facts and Figures of ECSU..........................................................................................................3
5.Customer Service Delivery..........................................................................................................3
5.1.Meaning and scopes of Service delivery...............................................................................3
5.2.Ways to Deliver Great Customer Service.............................................................................4
6.Civil Service Ethics Reform........................................................................................................4
7.Components of Ethics Reform Sub-program...............................................................................4
8.Twelve principles of the Ethiopian public Service.......................................................................5
9.Objectives of The Policy.............................................................................................................6
2.4 Rules for Good Customer Service.........................................................................................8
3. Citizens and Customers..............................................................................................................9
3.1. Pursuing Citizen-Centered Service......................................................................................9
4.Who are our customers?............................................................................................................12
4.1. Literature Reviews of Customer Service Delivery.............................................................12
5. Challenges of public service delivery.......................................................................................14
6. How can public service delivery be improved?........................................................................14
7.Customers that affect the organization.......................................................................................14
8.External Customers of ECSU....................................................................................................15
9. Charities and Societies Agency................................................................................................16
10.Facts that we identified about their strength and weakness......................................................16
11.Supporting materials through the website easily......................................................................16