How Effective Are Existing Public Services in Handling the Increasing Expectations - Essay Example

Research Proposal - Public Services How effective are the existing public services in handling the increasing expectations Background Public services are an essential part of our lives. All of us come across such services in different measures from time to time. Some of us feel satisfied with the kind of service we get from the public servants, while some of us feel frustrated when the public service offices are not able to provide the service to the best of our satisfaction. Generally it is the government of the state province or the nation, who has to provide resources, workforce, offices etc. for making such services available to the public. Welfare measures like health and insurance services, transport services, security measures, fire services etc. are some of the important types of public services which a government arranges for the general public. With growing population, widening areas of services, growing public expectations, constant monitoring by the public and the media besides the government appointed regulatory mechanism the public services offices have come under severe pressure to perform well. The police services for example are now under pressure to sniff the terror plots being hatched by terrorists. In addition the crimes like online identity theft, internet banking frauds etc. are further addition to the list of crimes that the local police department is supposed to investigate. The manpower and resources on the other hand has not been match up with the exponential numbers and types of crimes. It is under such circumstances that at some places, question marks are being raised about the effectiveness of the public services. Discussions are also being held to figure out the possible remedial measures that could be taken up by the government/s to make such services more effective and efficient. Dissertation Objectives The main intention of the study is to develop a better understanding of the concepts of public services in general and their effectiveness in these challenging times. During the study an effort would be made to study some of the recent incidents where the role of public services has been quite constructive. In addition, some such incidents will also be analysed where the role of public services has been criticised in the media or amongst the intelligentsia. The study will try to seek answers to the following key objectives. i. To analyze the availability of some pre-identified public services with respect to the numbers of people. This will involve comparison of per capita availability of such services in different regions. ii. What types of expectations do the general populace have from the government of the day iii. Find out the impact of public private cooperation in some fields. As a part of the corporate social responsibility, a number of corporate houses have also come forward in lending a helping hand to the people and the government. An effort would be made to assess how successful such associations proved in the recent past. iv. As responsible citizens we too have a responsibility towards the state and nation, which implies that we must allow the public service offices to function in an effective manner without hampering their cause or without burdening them with our irresponsible behaviour. An effort would therefore be to assess how conscious the citizens are towards their duty as responsible citizens in making the public services more effective. v. Analyse some of the public services like Fire services, police services, health services etc. This will be an effort to point out some areas which require attention in order to make such services more effective. Approach Research approaches and methods radically influence research content and, consequently, the policies designed in response to that content. If carried out in an objective manner, research not only helps the researcher in knowing about many unknown aspects, but it often provides a benchmark for future researches as well. This thesis is more of a qualitative case study which focuses on an analysis of the types of public services that we have around us and the expectations of general citizens towards making the services more efficient. To carry out such a study in general we resort to two main approaches; Deductive reasoning, which works from the more general to the more specific subjects. Sometimes this is informally called a "top-down" approach. In such approach we take up the 'theory' and then try to apply it to the hypotheses that we intend to test. For public services the standing rule is government of the day is supposed to make the life of average citizens safe, secure and hassle free. Therefore after taking up the theory, gradually we are supposed to narrow down to the testing of data and observations for their applicability to the theory/ theories to arrive at a confirmation of its applicability or not. The Inductive approach on the other hand begins with collecting data, specific observations, which then leads to broader generalization and theories. Such an approach in called as "bottom up" approach. The patterns thus detected are formulated into tentative hypotheses and we can therefore arrive at some general conclusion about our subject. This seems to be more practical in this study, as an attempt would be made to figure out instances where the role of public service offices was found wanting and some others where the public services were able to provide fullest satisfaction to the citizens and able to inculcate confidence amongst them. Principal Data Sources The method that will be involved in this process of collection of relevant data will be concise and yet comprehensive, aimed at soliciting maximum information related to the topic. Data will be compiled from the reports of some of the public service offices, reports and articles published in various newspapers, research journals and mainstream media. An effort wuld also be made to find out some data from previous researches carried out by individual researches or research institutions. Public services are also on the scanner of NGOs. Therefore, it will be my endeavour to get in touch with some of the reputed NGOs within the region and take valuable inputs from them as well. Both, online resources and offline resources will be used to compile the data. An effort would also be made to seek comparative data from some other states or nations, to arrive at a logical conclusion. Read More