The image of the public service in Canada

Abstract

During the last twenty years we have witnessed a spectacular increase in the size of Canadian government bureaucracy and in the breadth of its activities. This increased participation in the provision of services by the public sector raises the question of whether government in general, and the public servants who deliver government services in particular, are perceived by the public as effective service agents. Using survey data compiled in 1978, this study sets out to determine how Canadians see the differences between the private and public sectors in terms of their abilities to be fair and prompt in their dealings with the public. The study also attempts to measure whether there are differences in perceptions of the public sector between those who have had contact with the public service and those who have not and, finally, to assess whether attitudes toward specific characteristics of public servants based on personal experience are generalized to include attitudes about the public service as a whole. The results of this study suggest that the public has little faith in either the public or the private sector's ability to provide services, that favorable contact with the public servants has little impact on overall attitudes and that experiences in using government services are only marginally related to general attitudes about government. Sommaire. Au cours des vingt dernières années, now avons assistéà un spectaculaire agrandissement de la bureaucratie du gouvernement canadien et à un développement impressionnant de ses activités. Le secteur public assurant désormais davantage de services, on se demande ce que le public pense de l'efficacité du gouvernement en général et des fonctionnaires, dispensateurs de ces services, en particulier. Basée sur des données d'enquêtes compilées en 1978, la présente étude vise à déterminer quelles sont les différences que les Canadiens perçoivent entre le secteur public et le secteur privé, du point de vue de l'impartialité et de l'empressement dont les fonctionnaires font preuve dans leurs relations avec leurs clients. L'étude essaie également de voir si le secteur public est perçu différemment par ceux qui ont des contacts avec lui par rapport à ceux qui n'en ont pas; finalement, elle tente d'établir si la perception des fonctionnaires dans leur ensemble n'est pas la généralisation d'une perception individuelle de cas particuliers. Lenquête conclut que le public ne fait pas plus confiance au secteur public qu'au secteur privé en ce qui conceme les services qu'ils assurent, que les heureux contacts avec les fonctionnaires n'ont que peu d'influence sur l'attitude générale du public à leur égard et qu'enfin, les expériences dans l'utilisation des services du gouvernement n'ont guère d'effet SIX l'attitude générale envers ce même gouvernement.

Autonomous Agencies, Happy Citizens? Challenging the Satisfaction Claim

“…In both cases, there was a strong correlation between dissatisfaction with the service and dissatisfaction with government (cf. Zussman ). But in each of the two cases, alternative patterns were identified.…”

“…Citizens are often satisfied with personal service in a particular public organization, while they may associate government as a whole with negative emotions. Zussmann () finds that positive attitudes toward services are usually not generalized to a positive attitude to government as a whole. Yet, Van Ryzin et al () find that satisfaction with the police was a very strong driver of satisfaction with local government as a whole, much more so than, for example, road maintenance or fire control.…”

Canadian public service employee satisfaction and its main drivers

“…Despite the positive intentions behind strategies to improve the public service as a career, there is a considerable amount of research suggesting that the general population does not have a positive view of the public service (Zussman : 73; Phillips, Little and Goodine ; Kernaghan : 4; Malloy : 287; Baird and Cote : 11). Some of this research indicates that public servants accept the fact that the public thinks of them in negative terms.…”

“…Employees who are proud of their jobs have also been shown to be more committed to the organization's success and are more likely to desire to remain with the organization Many scholars including Kernaghan (2001), Malloy (2004) and Zussman (1982) argue that such negative perceptions are largely unfounded and have been the product of self-interest by journalists, politicians and the general public. Kernaghan quotes Gilbert Scott, a former federal public-service commissioner in saying, "negative perceptions of public servants are essentially a function of social mythology, not of who we are or what we really do" (Kernaghan 2001: 6).…”

Bonuses and performance in the public sector.

“…Finally, the bonus system will be challenged by the general public in a way which is never experienced in the private sector. There is already evidence that the public has shrinking confidence in the public service where compared with the private sector and believes that most public servants are lazy and overpaid (Zussman, 1982). It is not unreasonable to expect that the bonus system will be viewed as a frivolous method of paying more for less service.…”