The current trend of administrative research taking place in advanced countries is centered on renewing the relationship between governmental administrative bodies and citizens. Governmental administrative bodies centered on citizens have become a hug...
The current trend of administrative research taking place in advanced countries is centered on renewing the relationship between governmental administrative bodies and citizens. Governmental administrative bodies centered on citizens have become a huge phenomenon among advanced countries since the 80's, and this has also had a profound influence on the Civil Service in Korea. However, the government here has not been able to deal satisfactorily with the requests and desires of citizens and, so, distrust and dissatisfaction has grown and led to citizens forming a negative view of governmental administrative bodies.
Also, within the private sector many companies are trying hard to project a positive image of them selves and thus raise their competitiveness. As companies in the private sector are striving to forge a better public image, so also in the public sector governmental agencies are seeking ways to boost their image. Through internal organic reforms and initiatives governmental agencies can improve their credibility and provide a more efficient and quality performance to their citizens.
Therefore, in order to improve the image that the public has of administrative bodies, the following research began by looking into the civil appeal administrative agency, one among many kinds of administrative bodies that exist. The reason I chose the civil appeal administrative service is because it is at the forefront of the meeting point between the government and the citizen. I have looked into the factors that create or form an administrative image in terms of theory and reality and tried to discover those factors that affect the administrative image and its goals for image improvement. Based on such research and analysis, I have designed an approach that studies how the factors that form the image of an administrative body are formed and how this image can be improved in 3 ways.
First, I analyzed the elements that affect the image of the administrative body into non-institutional factors and institutional factors, and then analyzed the institutional factor further by dividing it into two parts: the institution itself (hardware) and the operation and communication component (software).
A survey was carried out among a total of 300 citizens on their views of the civil appeal administrative agency. Although the average image score of a central government administrative agency came out low at 2.82 out of 5, the score for the civil appeal agency was 3.11. This higher score can be attributed to the more efficient service provided by the civil appeal administrative agency and its superior communication process.
Although this research had some inherent structural weaknesses for example, public administration is a new field of inquiry and the depth of theory still quite shallow, I believe this research has uncovered several useful facts that could help to form the basis for a new approach to help improve the image of governmental administrative agencies. Based on these facts, I have presented a few recommendations on how to improve the image of an administrative body.
First, in order to improve the image of administrative agencies, it is crucial to raise public awareness of the civil appeal administrative agency and its policies. Although there are various services, facilities or resources within the civil appeal administrative agency, citizens are unaware of these services and accordingly they are not fully utilized by citizens. For citizens who can use the civil appeal call center, they can benefit from the consultation service at the call center provided for civil appeals. In this way a citizen can have his complaint heard and case resolved to his or her satisfaction. In due course, naturally, evaluation scores will improve.
Also, internet services should be provided for convenience in various civil appeal issues, and for issues that need to be taken care of through actual consultation or issues that need extra help, they should be handed over to the central office through the citizen proposition policy and the satisfactory resolution of such issues will be reflected in citizens' evaluation.
Second, any improvement in the performance of the civil appeal agency is closely related to the public officials who work at the agency. The improvement in the image of the administrative body starts with having a customer-centered mind that looks upon the citizens using the civil appeals service as customers. Although the civil appeals service for citizens is very important in itself, the administrative image that is created by the public servants who actually communicate with the public and administer the policy is far more important. The title of "civil appealer" should be changed to “civil appeal customer” and government ministers as well as public servants should not just focus on cost reduction and efficiency but need to figure out an appropriate reward program for public servants who work at this crucial interstice where the public meets the government.
Third, the issue of accessibility is critical in the formation of a positive image for any administrative body. With regard to the civil appeals agency, visitor shave the means to pursue their appeals by visiting, calling on the phone or using the Internet or mail. Among these methods, calling in on the phone was the preferred method of contact.
Firstly, through operating an independent and specialized civil appeal call center for various sectors or areas, a more sophisticated and competent civil appeal consultation service can be provided that satisfies citizens' requests; Secondly, through an integrated civil appeal call center, citizens should have easy accessibility through a unified telephone number so that all citizens can use the service promptly and conveniently.
The current electronic government system should be widened and made more convenient. And, just as the government discloses all budget-related information through the digital budget system in an attempt to improve transparency and accountability, the general civil appeal sector should bring in a digital system as well. Also, in order to improve efficiency, it should offer a better civil appeal administrative service by analyzing systemic problems and by creating a more positive image for the body. This should eventually help improve the competitiveness of the government.