On Service Delivery

Read the Telegraph Metro (Calcutta Edition) dated 11/02/2009 and you will find a news article in the left bottom corner titled ‘Cops run amok on train’. The article tells an incident of how two drunken cops created nuisance in a train where they harassed fellow passengers, puked and urinated (yikes!!!) on their bags. Women were chased and abused and the associated red tape prolonged this nightmare for the passengers as the GRP men at a mid-station refused to lodge a complaint citing jurisdiction problems (Apparently only Howrah GRP could have done something). The incident shows the ghastly state of affairs in two of the state based service providers: The Indian Railways and Police. I will take a few moments to ponder over the services offered by these two departments.

Indian Railways: When I was a kid I felt pride in the fact that we are among the largest rail networks in the world (We still are). As I grew I understood that not everything is hunky-dory with this mammoth. It was running into losses, was infamous for being late and was accident prone. Things changed and this mammoth started to turn into right direction (Generating profits and making right noises in Media. Lalu Prasad Yadav is now a management guru). However, with this turnaround also railways need to understand that they are into ‘service delivery’ model of business. In this area of business the ease and comfort of consumers are kept on high priority. Alas! We are still to see that kind of professionalism from the Railways. To deliver a seamless customer satisfaction, which is the benchmark to measure the efficiency of service delivery mechanism, one must always be ready to go out of the way. This earnestness would have avoided the incident mentioned above. The GRP men just had to intercept at the time the first complaint was lodged and everything would have been fine. It didn’t happen though. The problem with most of the state owned companies (especially the service providers) is that they take most of the things granted. I fully accept that it is not a child’s play to transport 18 million passengers and 2 million tonnes of freight daily but as an organization one must look to streamline the processes as far as possible. And if the product is ‘service’ then ‘customer experience’ matters most. Railways has been trying and faltering in getting the things right: be it passenger safety, passenger convenience or providing basic amenities at its properties. To maintain work strength of more than 1.4 million (largest commercial employer in the world) is no mean task but at the same time it is also important to monitor the efficiency delivered. Take for instance the case of the food which is provided through the ‘pantry cars’. The food is pathetic, small in quantity and highly priced. Though most of the service personnel are well behaved yet the food left a lot to be desired.

Police: Police in India has always been associated with a word ‘Ghoos’ (Bribe). This is not to demean the marvelous efforts by many policemen who put their own life and security of their families in the line of fire to carry on with their duties. According to a recent survey by a news channel the police force in India is amongst the most respected as well as feared institutions. As an upholder of law a position in police force comes with a lot of power (naturally). Many people tend to utilize the authorized power for personal gains and therein start all the problems (People argue that the pay is less and thus police take bribes. But the pay has steadily increased and there are many honest policemen around). In a recent episode many females reportedly asked the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar (out on his Vikas Yatra to gauge development in the state) to consider that he has brought good governance in the state only when any cultured woman can go to a police station and lodge a complaint fearlessly. And if you think that I am talking of Bihar and hence the particular case, then try out any police force in the country. As Railways Police forces in India need to realize, that though they are the protector of law, they are most importantly delivering a very basic service to Indian people (that of safety and security). They should be trained to handle the people in a more friendly way (agreed that they encounter mostly goons and hence have to use foul languages). In a commendable move Patna Police has come out with a plan to improve the image of police in common masses by reaching out to people. One policeman visits every home in a locality assigned to him to ask the residents about their problem and tries to resolve the issues if any. But this is a small step taken to a long road of improvement in service delivery mechanism of Indian police forces.

Why did I write this? Well we had a discussion on service delivery mechanism and I happened to read the above article around the same time which propelled me to think on these lines. In a session on services marketing we were asked to share the experiences, as a customer, which delighted us. Many people shared their experiences which reflected the underlying themes of ‘personal care’, ‘Recognition’, ‘Trust’, ‘Courtesy’, ‘Going out of Way’, ‘Compassion’ to name a few. One of my friends recounted how he was handed back his phone (which he had forgotten during security check) by a courteous air steward after he had boarded the flight. He was delighted by the fact someone took so much pain to call back the last dialed number to get the name of the owner, ran the check on passenger list and found out the flight on which he was flying. In delivering that phone back to him, the people associated showed their commitment to their work. In another example, a friend recounted how he was not charged the money when he complained to the chef of the restaurant, which he regularly visited, about the quality of food. The chef recognized him as the regular customer and took his words on the face value without arguing once. This may not always be the wise move (we know many people who can take advantage of this policy), yet this shows the trust that has developed between the patron and the service provider. In services industry, nothing helps you much more than the strong ‘word to mouth’ publicity. For this, one needs to have a consistently satisfied client base which can only be achieved if one has a streamlined delivery mechanism.

As I have realized this slowly, my respect for my father has increased multifold. As my father has moved on his career path his office timings have gone a massive change. When I and my brother were kid our father used to come in the evening and play with us, teach us if necessary and pamper us by taking us out on small walks or shopping etc. However things have changed as times have passed. Now he seldom returns in evening (Read: never), works on holidays and more importantly has less time to rest. We have complained a lot and he just shrugs, smiles and says ‘It’s my work’. No wonder he commands a respect in his profession which I can only dream of. In whatever free time he has, he tries his best to spend that with us. What is even more fascinating is the kind of support he gets from my mother. That can only be achieved after years of understanding and love. He works in a bank and I asked him once the reason behind this load. ‘Well, we are short on staffs and we have to function properly to deliver to the customers’. Some organizations in an attempt to make themselves lean forget the fact that they have to balance many other things too. You can automate the systems but in case of service delivery, your face will be a human and you need to give him breathing space too. Regular training, using better and efficient methods and more importantly employing sufficient human force (You do not want to fatigue your most important asset of your business: HR) may as well do the trick.

Most of our organizations engaged in Services industry have to become professional in order to provide value to the customers. This is more applicable to the government organizations where people tend to take their jobs for granted. And if India has to keep her promise of inclusive growth then the government should at least try to bring that professionalism in the basic essential services like education, health, police etc.

P.S: I know it is a long post. Thanks for reading it in its entirety.