Varia Ranah - Sorotan Ilmiah Perkhidmatan Awam

460 Varia Ranah: Sorotan Ilmiah Perkhidmatan Awam equality and fairness in treatment are particularly important in the public sector (Denhardt and Denhardt, 2000). Quality in public sector In the same way as customer, it is also difficult to interpret quality in the public sector. Following Bergman and Klefsjö's (2010) definition, that quality is “the ability to satisfy, or preferably exceed, the needs and expectations of the customer” (p. 23), several problems occur. First, there is more than one type of customer with needs and expectations. Second, the needs and expectations may be vastly different in some cases. For example, healthcare patients expect personal care, which is strongly associated with satisfaction (Cleary and McNeil, 1988). However, this does not directly imply that patients’ medical needs and health outcomes are fulfilled, which also is important for the quality of care (Chassin and Galvin, 1998). Grönroos’ (1984) service quality model covers both these aspects and suggests that the quality experienced from a service consists of quality in two dimensions: Technical quality and functional quality. The technical quality is the instrumental performance of the service, which can be described as what the customer receives from a service. This can often be objectively measured. Functional quality concerns how the service is provided, which is more subjective since it is created in the interaction between service provider and customer. Processes in public sector The processes in public service have many similarities with service processes in general, since they are intangible and based upon a promise of what is to be delivered (Osborne et al., 2013). In addition, the objects in processes are not materialised products but information, and the customer is often involved in the process. Similar to service processes in general, public service consists of back-office and front-office processes (Zomerdijk and Vries, 2007). Front office processes are characterised by contact with the customer, while back office processes consist of activities that are performed without contact with