An Exploratory Study on Public Service Values in Macau
AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON PUBLIC SERVICE
VALUES IN MACAU
Zenon Arthur S. Udani[1]
and
JAVIER CALERO CUERVO[2]
ABSTRACT
This exploratory study looked into the values manifested by employees of the Macau Government Tourist Office, the Public Security Police and the Health Bureau. Employing the multiple case study method, data were collected through face-to-face interviews. Interviewees generally perceived an improvement in the quality of public service and an overall enhancement in the values of public servants. Good work attitudes, professionalism, effective spirit of service, genuine care and concern for clients, more open communication, and attentiveness to the needs of the general public were among the values cited as crucial in government service. The deliberate formation and development of values among public servants should be explored in the region. For this matter, HRD practitioners should look into the developmental needs of government agencies with the view of humanizing and enhancing the quality of public service.
INTRODUCTION
Values refer to what people consider important in life, work and leisure, as reflected in their behaviors and moods (George & Jones, 2002). Values determine what people do and how they do things (Mitchell, 1997). For Chinese societies like Macau, the five constant virtues of loyalty, filial piety, faithfulness, brotherhood and sincerity take on center stage (Correia, 1999). Good values lived by people in the workplace have helped organizations face the hard times (Collins & Porras, 1994). Some business enterprises have been more judicious in adopting a proactive stance toward molding positive values. Recognizing the need to espouse a set of ethical values, these organizations have invested resources to disseminate and inculcate values among their employees (Mele, 1997; Aguilar, 1994; Clutterbuck, et. al., 1992; McCoy, 1985).
Values that are internalized by people characterize organizational behavior (Posner et al., 1985). They are either reinforced or challenged by the organization’s predominant culture (Hall, 1994). The top management of any enterprise usually aspires to develop a culture that would benefit the public that they serve. They want a reputation that would win the trust and goodwill of their various publics (Novak, 1994; Hoffman, 1986).
When ethical values prevail in a corporate culture, the organization and its employees benefit from the situation. This paves the way to ‘a culture of greater ethical quality’ (Mele, 1997: 21). Noronha (1998) observed how Chinese cultural values are related to certain Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophies and practices in organizations. For example Noronha (1998: 61), noted how ‘Harmony with Others’ is linked with the ‘internal and external customer satisfaction; and job satisfaction and enrichment’. Greater trust and harmony in the workplace enable people to perform more and work better. On the other hand, if the countervalues pervade the culture, the result would be dismal for the organization. Selfishness and greed, for instance, render impossible a cohesive corporate culture and cripple excellent service toward the public.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Literature on values as relevant to organizations highlights their instrumental role in the pursuit of corporate goals and objectives (Collins Porras, 1994). Espoused corporate values indicate what the organization and its people should do (McCoy, 1985). They are indispensable toward the fulfillment of an organization’s vision and mission (Phillips, 1995; Waterman, 1994).
Likewise, values dispose people to reflect on what is ethical (Aguilar, 1994; Waterman, 1994). This challenge is extended to the whole enterprise such as developing a ‘virtuous organization’ (Collier, 1995; Ortiz, 1995) or an ‘ethical organization’ (Di Toro, 1995; Driscoll et al., 1995).
The relevance of values in organizations is intrinsically linked to the need for ethical formation of people (Carballo, 1993). This need is highlighted by a keen interest on virtues which are the good habits of people (Montague, 1992; May, 1988). While the workplace highly regards professional competence among employees, equal attention should be given to integrity and character excellence (Estanislao, 1995; Sonnenberg, 1994; Kouzes Posner, 1996). Professional development should go in tandem with the development of human virtues. Thus, ethical values have to be nurtured in organizations (Ortiz, 1995; Carballo, 1993).
Public service organizations need people who are equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes and values in order to render their service effectively and efficiently. Adequate knowledge and proper skills enable employees to discharge their duties faithful to the nature of their jobs and the mission of the organization. Positive attitudes empower them to serve clients according to the manner they want to be served. And ethical values orient and guide employees to pursue what is truly good and important in the fulfillment of their jobs. These values are continually strengthened and reinforced by consistent behavior, as in the case of prompt and efficient service propping up the value of customer care. The relationship of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values considers ‘knowledge’ as an important element of ‘Culture’ and ‘skills’ as reflected in ‘Behavior’ of the Culture-àValues-àAttitudes-àBehavior-àCulture continuum (Correia, 1999).
While all organizations give due importance to the knowledge and skills of their employees, they have to harness their values as well. In the case of public service organizations, a peculiar set of values characterize them (Mitchell, 1997). A recent report by the United Nations found a renewal of traditional civil service values (United Nations, 2005: 16): ‘This resilience of traditional civil service values is reflected in the renewal of concern in many countries for the recruitment and retention of a core of more or less permanent, committed, talented individuals, a theme that is addressed throughout the present report. One argument is that they are needed to foster a distinctive culture of public service professionalism, including a strong commitment to citizen-centered values.’
Before Macau’s handover to China in 1999, civil service was characterized by ‘inefficiency, insufficient training, politicization, corruption, frequent reorganization and intense bureaucratic politics’ (Lo, 1995:140-141). While Macau’s public service has seen changes over the past few years, developing a culture of excellent service needs more attention. In the absence of a positive public service culture, structural and technical changes may not be sustained in the long run (Lou, 2005).
Mr Edmund Ho, Macau’s Chief Executive, has indicated that civil servants should possess five core attributes, namely: (a) the virtue of affection toward the Chinese nation, Macau and its people, (b) capability and adaptability necessary to perform their work, (c) motivation and hard work to perform, (d) efficiency and effectiveness in responding to public needs, and (e) fairness and justice. These five core values characterize what a good civil servant should be and broadly express the requisite public administration culture needed by a good government (Kwok, 2005). Effective and outstanding government agencies, on the other hand, are supported by a mission-guided culture, steered by effective leaders and backed by their stakeholders (Rainey Steinbauer, 1999).
Macau’s civil service, which had been described as inflexible and overly bureaucratic, had also been criticized as composed of employees who set their self-interest before public interest (Lo, 1995). To guarantee effectiveness and efficiency in public service, besides possessing the relevant knowledge and technical skills, public servants must also have the drive to excel in their work performance and be committed to give the best service at all times (Kwok, 2005).
Transforming an organization means transforming its people and aligning their values to the core values of the institution. Ho’s proclamation outlined a template for the ideal demeanor of a civil servant. However, congruence between the ideal and actual performance is verified by an objective evaluation of the work of employees and the public’s satisfaction about their service (Kwok, 2005). If employees feel that they are already doing what they are supposed do and are unwilling to bear more responsibility in revitalizing Macau’s public administration, any change effort will most likely fail. Moreover, cultural reform in the public service may be radical or incremental. While the Macau government has chosen the route of implementing incremental changes focusing on performance standards and work procedures, it will eventually have to deal with transforming its culture in order to build an effective service organization. The government will also have to ensure that any change effort is suited to the needs of the Macau people and the concerned agency. Access to feedback channels, public participation and consensus are crucial to identifying strategic needs and yielding change plans beneficial to the society (Wong, 2004).
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The framework of the research underscores the importance of values in delivering genuine public service among government agencies. While technical skills and knowledge are needed in becoming an excellent professional, good values also have to be acquired by individuals and fostered within the organization in order to ensure high quality public service. Values are important in guiding and directing a person’s thoughts, attitudes, decisions, moods and actions. They also serve as the foundation of a strong organizational culture.
The chart below shows the framework of this research, conveying the idea that while technical skills are necessary in fulfilling effectively any task, good values are likewise indispensable in guaranteeing excellent public service.
FIGURE 1
Conceptual framework
Improving the technical skills of public servants and enhancing their values facilitate excellent public service. Technical skills pertain to the know-how and expertise of employees. Guided by the right values, these skills are put into proper use in achieving organizational goals and objectives.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research employed the multiple case study method focusing on the service of three government agencies which were chosen deliberately for their visibility and relevance to the Macau public. The organizations are the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), the Public Security Police (PSP), and the Health Bureau (HB). The significant contribution of the tourism sector in Macau makes it an important government agency to study. While the PSP provides the crucial service of maintaining peace and order in Macau, essential for the quality of life of residents and good business prospects for investors. The HB looks after the health of Macau residents which is of concern especially after the experience of SARS in 2003. For case studies, it is not necessary for the samples to be chosen randomly as pointed out by Eisenhardt (1989). Convenience sampling was therefore used in order to select the samples. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews. Being a qualitative study that is exploratory in nature, it was decided that 30 interviewees from the employees and 30 interviewees from the clients of the three government agencies would be sufficient for the study. Thus, 30 public servants from each of the three agencies were targeted for interview; as well as 30 randomly selected clients of each of these agencies were likewise interviewed. The actual number of employee interviews was 80, and clients, 90.
Six interviewers carried out the interviews using carefully selected questions focusing on the performance of the government agencies, their merits and shortcomings, the values of the employees and the interviewees’ expected image for each agency. Questions in Cantonese were used for those who preferred or spoke only Chinese. Questions in English were used for the rest of the interviewees. Each interview ranged from 30 to 60 minutes.
Most of the interviews were tape-recorded with the consent of the interviewees. And taped interviews were transcribed for data analysis. Summary reports where consolidated for the profile of the employees and clients of each of the departments (see Appendix). Overall reports for each of the departments were drafted. And finally a general report was prepared for the three government agencies.
The interview results reflected perceptions of those interviewed which may or may not reflect fairly the status of public service among the agencies considered. Nonetheless, these provide us with an exploratory view of values and services in these government agencies. The other limitations of this study are that the employee-interviewees from the PSP and the MGTO were chosen by the organizations; and for the HB, the available employee-interviewees were mainly their frontline employees.
RESULTS AND FINDINGS
The Macau Government Tourist Office
The client interviewees of the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) were generally satisfied with the overall performance of the agency. All interviewees rated the MGTO’s performance from average to good. They considered the MGTO to be doing relatively well in promoting Macau as a tourist destination. The agency is regarded as one of the most professionally-managed departments of the Macau government. All employee interviewees, on the other hand, thought that their clients were generally satisfied with their performance and services. They also thought that these past years after the handover of Macau to China, the MGTO has improved its service quality and work performance significantly. This finding is based on the perception of the interviewees rather than on a benchmark study utilized by the researchers.
The client interviewees lauded the MGTO for its promotional activities, the adequacy of tourism-related information, as well as the increase in the number of tourists coming to Macau over the past years. Clients also characterized employees in the Tourist Information Center as helpful with tourist queries, supportive and kind.
The major shortcomings identified by both the client and employee interviewees included language deficiency, work attitude problems, and the lack of continuous self-development among some employees. Both parties agreed that the MGTO employees, especially those in the frontline, needed more language training in order to be fluent in English, Portuguese and Mandarin. With enhanced language fluency, employees can do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. Moreover, frontline employees need a broader and deeper knowledge of Macau’s history and heritage in order properly respond to the queries of tourists.
Some clients also noted the need for more information and promotion about Macau’s heritage sites. They hear a lot more about the casinos in Macau than its heritage. Besides, they also had the impression that tourist-related activities were insufficient, and that the MGTO focused more on tourists from China and Hong Kong, leaving out tourists from other countries.
Noting the shortcomings of the MGTO, the client interviewees suggested specific areas of improvement for the MGTO staff members. These included professional training, language training and self-development. Moreover, the client interviewees thought that the work attitudes of the frontline staff should also be improved toward being more responsive, friendly, polite and cheerful toward clients.