Innovation in public service management

Recently the concept of best value has emerged and with it a number of priorities for public service managers. These include elements such as: a focus on the customer and citizen, sound strategic management and sound operational management. This paper focuses on a strategic approach to best value involving measurement of customer perceived service quality, operational planning using ranked priorities and a framework for continuous improvement. An illustrative case example of best practice demonstrates the use of three appropriate techniques, which are: Servqual to measure customer expectations and preceptions; Quality function deployment (QFD) to determine operational service delivery priorities; and the Business Excellence model for the corporate framework to ensure continuous improvement and monitoring. The case involves a pioneering local authority in the UK which is presently defining a template for best value implementation. This will help provide the way forward for other local authorities. It demonstrates the importance of senior management commitment to change and a determination to bring about improvement in management practice using relevant and valid academic techniques.