Good Example Of Dissertation On Low Customer Satisfaction In Government Services (Szhp)

Capstone Project

Executive Summary
Customer satisfaction is widely discussed and concerned matter of profit as well as non-for-profit organizations from decades. The increased concern for the concept is the outcome of fierce competitive economic scenario and proliferation of businesses and services in every field of human life. Critics argued that private sector is highly concerned with the measures of customers’ satisfaction while public and governmental organizations are not focusing on the phenomenon.
In regard to the above development, (Oliver, 2010; Fountain, Jane E., et al, 2011) discussed that governments’ policies and procedures as well as public sectors’ conduct leads customer dissatisfaction in comparison to private sector. Considering the importance of the matter employing mixed research approach, below developed is the piece of research with the aim of assessing the relationship of customer satisfaction and governmental service conduct.
Literary developments suggested that multiple variables that ultimately impact of the customer dissatisfaction by the conduct of government services organization. At the same time, factual review of SZHP’s policies and procedures highlighted the lacks that are leading overall customer dissatisfaction. Further, survey findings suggest that customers are highly dissatisfied from the performance of the organization due to complexity of information, critical procedures and lacks in customer-employee interface service delivery. Finally, the paper is bagged with the conclusions of mentioned findings with theoretical implications and recommended solutions as corrective reforms needed by the organization.

Introduction:

Customer Satisfaction in the past decades has gained the major attention in both profit and non-profit organizations. (Arif, Gupta & Williams, 2013) Private organizations are largely concerned with the satisfaction level of their customer while the public and Government organizations are not paying attention to customer needs. (Zhao, 2012)  Government as a major association has its clients; those clients are the natives, organizations and open and private workers. Government through its organizations, offices, and services gives data and administrations to every gathering of its clients, and accordingly this execution can be judge genuinely just by the clients. At that point the assessment methodology of the execution of general society division association depends emphatically on the client's input. Since he needs the precise data in a certain time that fits his need, and on the off chance that he got the required data, later or before this certain time, it will be pointless data. Likewise; the client needs the administrations that fulfill him and equilibrate with his desires. On the off chance that not accomplished by the general population segment associations, the client will feel that his fulfillment is disregarded which causes more grumblings. This study will concentrate on the part of connection of the consumer loyalty in general society segment and its effect on enhancing the execution in general society association.
The core reason identified is the basic policies and procedures which are not convenient for customers and they remain unsatisfactory from the organization’s performances. (Fountain, Jane E., et al, 2011) Thus the research is purposed to identify the customer satisfaction rate and impact of government policies and procedures along with the practices in public sector leading to unsatisfied customers. (Oliver, 2010)

Background of the study:

The project is purposed on Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme (SZHP) which identified the unsatisfactory customers after they received a negative feedback. Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme is a federal government organization was established in 1999 to provide suitable housing for UAE national families. Customer satisfaction rate decreased from 83% in 2013 to 64% in 2014. SZHP received feedback that customers are not satisfied of their services especially on home loan applications because loan approvals take time up to 6 years before loans get approval.  This feedback is affecting negatively the organizational reputation of SZHP. Likewise, this feedback is also contrary to the mandate and the set strategic directions of the SZHP in terms of vision, mission, values and objectives.

Problem Statement:

“The procedures and policies of Government organizations seems to impact on customer dissatisfaction, that is why it remained low and sent back a negative feedback”

Research Questions:

The problem statement indicates following research question to conduct the further research:
What is the impact of housing loans procedure and policies on customer satisfaction?
Following the primary question the research also aims to provide the answer to following question:
How far customer satisfaction is focused in Government organizations as compared to the private organizations which are applying customer focused strategies to win customer loyalty and high satisfaction.
How far the leading change in customer view and expectation of quality service impacts the process and procedures of Government organizations.

Purpose of the Study:

The current interest of the stated main problem to SZHP:
SZHP management is facing a strong challenges especially after announcing the government future objectives such as :
1. New star rating system.
Emirates Government is aiming to raise the efficiency of government service delivery to a 7 stars level by focusing on dealings with customers, speed of service delivery, reduction in waiting time, accessibility of the services.
2. UAE National Agenda (UAE Vision 2021)

That includes a set of national indicators for all government sectors to be achieved by 2021 to

Improve the quality of life of its citizens. One of these indicator is a 2 Years Waiting Time to obtain a Loan/ House for SZHP.
3. The 4th phase of the Government Excellence Program that focuses on achieving people satisfaction and happiness.

Aims and Objectives

Aims and objectives of the research are as follows:  
This research project aims to revisit and understand the overall prevailing organizational health status of SHZP.  Specifically, these objectives are hoped to be achieved:                                                                                                                    1. Review the existing policies and procedures of SZHP in terms of affecting the level   of customer satisfaction in general and in particular the processing, approval and release of home loans.           
2. Assess the level of skills and competencies of the key officers and staff of SZHP in relations to the effects to customer satisfaction.                                                    
3. Evaluate the impact of SZHP programs and services in relations to customer satisfaction.                                                                                                                
4. Come up with the proposed development and changes in terms of responsive policies and procedures; human capital development; and innovative programs and services.  

Business Reason:

Pursuing this project will help the proponent to the policies and procedures of SZHP on customer satisfaction and the following outcomes:

The outcomes that will benefit the improvements of the operations of SZHP are as follows:                                                                                                                      

Identification of the weaknesses and strengths of the existing policies and procedures of SZHP affecting customer satisfaction especially the home loan applications;                                                                                                             

Come up with the proposed responsive policies and procedures that will increase the level of customer satisfaction;                                                                             

Identify the gaps of the needed skills and competencies of the human capital of SZHP;                                                                                                                         Come up with the proposed strategies for human capital development of SZHP;   
Identity the area for improvement of existing programs and services of SZHP; and                                                                                                                             Come up with the proposed innovative programs and services that will increase the satisfaction level of the customers of SHZP.

Literature Review

Theory provides characterization to "customer" upon two approaches: With reference to reliability, “customer is any individual that evaluates the nature of the offered services and products" and on procedure situated methodology, "the customer is any individual or gathering that gets the work yield”. (Grigoroudis & Siskos, 2009)
“Consumer satisfaction” has been a prevalent point in practice of marketing and scholarly research subsequent to some researchers. (Lu & Lien, 2014) Regardless of numerous endeavors to estimate and clarify ‘consumer satisfaction’, there still does not give off an impression of being an agreement in regards to its “definition” (Kim, Vogt & Knutson, 2013).
Consumer satisfaction is regularly characterized as a post utilization evaluative judgment concerning a particular item or management services (Prud’homme & Raymond, 2013)
It is the consequence of an evaluative procedure that differences repurchase desires with impression of execution amid and after the utilization experience (Flint, Blocker & Boutin, 2011)
Towards the customer satisfaction in Government services, the study has shown that there are several factors impacting the satisfactory customers of which security and trust are key factors. (Alawneh, Al-Refai & Batiha, 2013)
Another study proposed that customer satisfaction is characterized as ‘expectations’ of the consumer from a perceived measurement of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of performances. (Morgeson, 2013)
The government practices in comparison to private organizations, increases the return on its investments through means of taxation while private organizations prefer to increase the sales to get higher returns, therefore focus on customer satisfaction and loyalty. (Seng Wong, Hideki & George, 2011)
It is evident from studies that the differences lies between private and government sector organization on the basis of customer value driven by both of them, where private organization are more concerned with customer’s satisfaction, hence it is likely resulting in low rate of satisfactory customer in Government sector. (Radnor & Johnston, 2013)
Low satisfaction of customer result ends in finding alternatives and opportunities to be retained by the strong competitive rivals. Therefore, a focus on customer satisfaction in every organization is mandatory. (Rego, Morgan & Fornell, 2013)
The customer satisfaction is given a priority in Dubai’s government organizations when they introduced Excellence program such as DGEP, shows evidence that in future the Arab world is adopting a customer focused quality view to increase customer loyalty and ultimately customer satisfaction. (Ahrens, Assembling the Dubai Government Excellence Program: A motivational approach to improving public service governance in a monarchical context, 2013) It is evident from studies that some of the leading Government organizations are tending towards customer based view of quality.
The quality preference and customer focused Government attempts to provide the excellence in quality and services is a growing trend. The article ensures that judging all Government organizations under one scale is not justified. The government generally is conceive and is attempting to get high scores and working on potential solutions to derive customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. (Ahrens, Tracing the evolution of the Dubai Government Excellence Program, 2014)
It is maybe critical to note that a significant part of the customer quality preference and satisfaction level research has concentrated on the services consumer have significant state of individual inclusions with, for example, tourism and travel, hospitality and training and development services. (Bansal & Taylor, 2015)
Obviously, consumer criticism in these zones is seen as more rational, and hence more helpful for purpose of planning. The customer satisfaction is generally concerned with the service sector they are connected to. (Babakus, E., & Inhofe, M , 2015)
Then again, customer views on imposing business excellence models, for example, water, gas, electrical, and telephonic administrations are significantly less included in the configuration and supply of these services and as the outcome are seen as to some degree inactive and less educated and probably not in a position to make accurate evaluation of Government service quality. (Akhtar & Zaheer, 2014)
One main attempt other than quality excellence models, the UAE’s organizations weather private, public or Government, are focusing on leadership development programs. This attempt to introduce the leadership should be enough effective to introduce and design customer focused procedures and process that might help in increased customer services leading to customer satisfaction. (Al Naqbi, 2010)
As per recent years, mainly because of the developing open pressures for 'privatization' and the impacts of globalization of public sectors, the evolution in thinking and considerations are taking a changing perspective, nonetheless, and most of public sectors have started to feel that they are not protected against the 'pressures' to enhance that administration services and deliver up to clients' expectations. (Saleh & Al-Marzouqi, 2014)
Generally they have started to consider customer focused view.  Truth be told, a developing number of clients have gotten to be quality cognizant and request better esteem for the cash they pay. (Ferguson & Johnston, 2011)
In this way, as with private sectors, clients utilizing public sectors anticipate that Government sectors will be proactive and eager to take fitting measures to enhance the nature of administration. (Saleh & Al-Marzouqi, 2014)
The United Arab Emirates was for quite a while one of the lowest economy growth nations on the globe. By advent of the 1960s, the disclosure of oil had completely changed the monetary and social examples of the nation. Oil income has given the nation one of the most elevated per capital income on the globe. With such enormous oil riches, the Government of UAE has embraced diverse welfare projects meant to enhance the living states of UAE residents. (Samarai, 2012)
Housing scheme for low cost is one such project of Government, whereas, customer expectation from the project of housing scheme is perceived to be high. Analyzing the impacts of policies and procedure, these housing schemes must adapt to customer expectation and their perceived value for quality and money. (Al-Mansoori, 1997)
Surely, this rising speculation makes this study an opportune and beneficial effort towards the growing expectation of customers utilizing Government Organizations.  The literature review provided the clear view of how customer satisfaction and expectation is changing within Government sector based on comparison of different services.
According to Barsky, (2013), a study carried out by the ACSI in more than 40 firms, both private and public, shows that the services given by the U.S federal government are below the expected standards. It is noted that citizen satisfaction with the government recedes 2.6%,  making a score of 64.4 out of 100 (Barsky, 2013). Based on these statistics, it can be argued that there is low satisfaction when it comes to interactions between the services offered by the government and customer ratings in terms of the services. The number of federal employees has depreciated, and this has contributed to low-quality services, especially in the sectors where labor intensive operations are offered (Thai & International Public Procurement Conference 2011).
Further studies indicate that clarity and accessibility of data and information provided by the government service sectors have deteriorated in the past few years. Citizens are, thus, not satisfied with the manner in which the federal information, on matters pertaining to customer needs, is not conveyed in a similar way in the case of private sectors. Therefore, citizens are not satisfied with the process used in the application and receiving government services. The clarity and accessibility score has a fall from 71 to 69, as per the studies conducted by the ACSI. Furthermore, application and receiving of data drops from 70 to 69 from 2010 to 2011. This implies that in comparison to the services offered by the private sectors, customer service provision is low in federal services and it deters customer satisfaction (Gerson 2013).
In the past few years, lower performance has been experienced in the delivery of services from the government. The Only Internet Service Providers have a score of 65, while the airlines have a score of 69. Hence an overall low satisfaction of customers in government services is notable. Besides, the perceived trust directly influences customer satisfaction as well as customer loyalty. Moreover, other researchers have hypothesized that a satisfied customer is more likely to repurchase, which leads to increased sales and market share (Barsky 2013).
Service waiting period is crucial, may it be in the context of private or government service delivery. According to Thai & the International Public Procurement Conference (2011), satisfaction is high in customers who are offered services with little waiting time. The influence of waiting time over customer satisfaction does not touch loyalty openly, but it affects service gratification; which has a straight effect on consumer loyalty (Barsky 2013).  
Barsky (2013) further highlights that waiting time has a major effect on customer reliability, particularly in service industries. Customer satisfaction, in conjunction with waiting time, is used as a hypothesis to exemplify consumer post-experience and critical assessment related to reasoning and sentimental features of waiting. By computing the amount to which obvious waiting period parallels customers’ projections for a detailed deal, it is essentially evident that protracted waiting time disagreeably affects customers’ comprehension of service delivery, which replicates unpleasantly on loyalty. When administrations enhance the excellence of their services, consumers’ satisfactory behavioral intents are improved while uncomplimentary intentions are diminished simultaneously (Thai & International Public Procurement Conference, 2011).
According to Gerson (2013) workers who comprehend the anticipations of their firms and are inspired to perform their occupation functions well have a constructive influence on customers. In most cases, these employees well-informed about the corporation’s merchandise, services, aims and purposes, and can converse value to the customer. The employees who are inspired to become operational company reps take time to guarantee consumer satisfaction at all heights by listening, providing facts and guidance, and solving hitches. As such, the employees can assist in maintaining the interests of the company and retain a consumer base.
Furthermore, Gerson (2013) reveals that the more workers are knowledgeable about how a corporation operates as well as its service prospect are, the more fortified they are to accomplish their job well. Employees who are skilled on business policy and best performs in consumer service in addition to satisfaction have the implements to realize the corporation’s mission with consumers. Continuing training presents staffers to innovative theories and thoughts to guarantee the company recurrently stays abreast of advanced customer satisfaction practices and methodologies. Staffers with peripheral knowledge of consumer service systems are unlikely to be encouraged to deliver anything beyond elementary service heights.
According Allen & Rao (2010), employees are more encouraged to do their work well and deliver high service levels when cherished by their employers. Firms that distinguish and prize employees for their work are likely to nurture a loyal workforce,  who are inspired to help the organization at all costs. Workers who feel capitalized in the firm through bonuses, turnover sharing advantages or credit programs has the enticement to steadily provide service heights that keep consumers satisfied.
Besides, providing continuing feedback and positive performance evaluations can inspire employees to surpass in providing great service levels. This can be attained by steering regular enactment evaluations with consumer service agents and boosting open communication concerning service anticipations. Employees should know the best way to interact with clients. Employees who are sanctioned to act for the company in creating customer service resolutions are frequently stirred to work with clients to create progressive outcomes that echo positively on the institute.
Customers compare their insights of service delivery with a set of standards. Validation up shots when the apparent performance matches principles; however disconfirmation effects from a mismatch. Both prospects are projected to control customer satisfaction or discontent (Thai & International Public Procurement Conference 2011)
A client centric firm require to pay attention to customers who are not satisfied as much as it does to those satisfied. For this reason, dissatisfied consumers are not anticipated to suspend purchasing and departure. This is however not the only complexity to be considered, but it is also evident that most of the dissatisfied consumers generally do not complain. It is the mandate of the service providers to devise ways of assessing the quality of service delivery (Allen & Rao 2010). On the same note, consumer service is one of the tools used for crafting customer satisfaction as well as consumer loyalty.

Methodology

Research methodology implies to the methods of data collection through the desired sources, their analysis and interpretation of the results generated from the analysis. Research methodology used for this project is quantitative such it attempts to gather statistical data and interpret the results to provide hypothesis validity.

Research design:

The research is designed to analyze the factor which directly affects the customer satisfaction and non-satisfaction in Government organizations. The study is specifically purposed on Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme for research.

Research Technique:

The techniques used for research and data collection includes collection of data from primary and secondary sources i.e., the academic journals, scholarly sources for literature reviews and theory collection as well as collecting the data through practical approach by survey through questionnaire.

Target Population:

The research is based on customer satisfaction; therefore the targeted population is SZHP’s customers who are either enjoying the offered benefits or standing in the queue of applicants The data is collected from both men and women above age of 18.

Sample Size:

The sample size is the actual size of population from who are surveyed and asked to provide feedback and fill the questionnaire. The total targeted sample size is 100-150 respondents. The obtained sample was 120 responses.

Data Collection

The data collection procedure includes the gathering of data and information through a survey. The questionnaire is designed to gather the answers and it was planned to record responses in easy terms.  The questionnaire is designed in three parts:

1-Close-ended questions for demographic.

2- Questions on quality of service and employees’ skills and competencies, which are designed on Likert-type Scale in order to be easy to understand and collect data from.
3- Considering the gap in the perception and expected potential of unexplored views an open-ended question to record a suggestion of audiences is also employed. The question is about suggestion of applicants on how to improve housing loans policies and procedures.

Findings and analysis

Data Analysis
Primary data has been gathered from the sample population of SZHP’s consumers. Utilizing the quantitative methods including percentage and distributive charts, the data is arranged in a meaning manner.  Below presented are the analysis and  inferences to generate an idea about overall customer satisfaction for the offered programs by SZHP.

Questionnaire: Demographics

Gender
It is intentionally made sure that both genders equally participate in the research for the purpose half of the participant of research was women as depicted.

Marital Status

Marital status was asked understanding the factors that offerings of the SZHP are channelized with status specification specifically in the case of women. Responses revealed that 36% of married while 21% of widowers is achieving the facility respectively. However, there is second largest population represented singularity of their status suggesting that unmarried people are also availing the opportunity that is possible as per law.

Age Strata and Educational Level

As mentioned above, the research is conducted with adults of age above 18. Below presented is depiction of age distribution of those who are availing the facility. Revealed insight suggests that the young population of UAE having matched income-level with a graduate degree is more interested in exploiting the opportunity. Both measures are aligned with each other.

Area and Service Channel

It was necessary to touch almost all regions of UAE to explore the view of whole population in this research. Moreover, it was important to know the service channels that people are utilizing to enjoy the services as every office conduct and regional behavioral manner impact vitally on satisfaction phenomena. Responses revealed a larger proportion of Ras Al Khaimah, comparatively less popular area of UAE is availing the facility most, and more than half people directly deal with head office for their transactions.

Facility Availing Status

71% of the participant of the study have already obtained a loan and 29% are waiting for the service.
Questionnaire Section I: quality of service and customer service employees’ skills and competencies.
After reviewing the general perception on the grounds of demographics the actual data regarding research is analyzed below to explore the worth of reported issue in terms of negative feedback from consumers.

Accessibility

First of all because accessibility of any provided facility or offered services from government is at time found difficult for general public. Accessibility of the said program is judged via following measures.
The questions were put to reveal the reachable physical existence for the audience. It was revealed that almost 72% people find it accessible to reach the main offices of the regarded service with 41% showing strong agreement with ease of accessibility. Further, around 68% participants showed agreement about multiple access point.

Service Channel

When asked about the communication channels, the respondents come up with mixed perceptions. However, the agency claims to provide multiple interactive tools to access the communication needs including web. The response may be due to the disparity of sample in understanding level of provided communication channels.

Working Hours

21% people think that the given working hours of operations are not suitable for their needs while 51% people show clear agreement however a larger portion of the percentage remained neutral in responding to the question. One reason of disagreement may be the general office hours of all organizations are same as this office, and it may become difficult for that people to visit the facility office in those hours.

Availability of required services

No one strongly agree to the matter that the provided services are completely aligned with her needs. However, the largest portion of around 42% agrees that services fulfill their needs while 35% neutrally responded to the question left a smaller percentage that disagree with the notion. Further, collectively only 21% showed agreement that nearer office to their house provide complete needed information thus it is revealed that people need to travel far away in order to get avail many of the services.

Access to information

The scale is depicting neutral to disagreement to the matter of ease of information accessibility, and there is an almost same response to the channels’ sufficiency in order to provide needed information. The gap seems vital in this regard.

Transparency

The response suggests the complexity of meaningful transactional documents of the procedure. As recorded, 74% participants collectively disagree about the transparency of the employee documents. Further, not a single respondent strongly agree with the viable transparency of the documents.

Speed of Service

Speed of service matter in terms of process time including waiting duration in queue, total length of service and response time to the application.

Waiting duration

49% people collectively disagree with the justifiable duration of a wait for availing services while 35% showed neutral thus revealing the hassle of prolonged waiting.

Length of Service

Overall neutral responses are recorded while asked about the service duration in terms of 54% neutral while collectively 37% agreed on the response.

Response Time

The ambiguity of respondents in assessing the responsive time can be perceived from their neutral response largely. It is dependent on the personal experiences, and it is revealed that only 28% people are showing agreement with efficiency and nimbleness of response process.

Easy Access to Service

Service quality is assessed by the perception of people about accessibility of multiple services including actual service to supporting activities.
Service procedures
Overall negative response was recorded asking about the complexity of the procedure in terms of ease, simplicity, and clarity. Most of the participant found the procedures difficult and vague while only 20% people think that procedures are simple and clear.
In response to the matter of customer involvement in the process via modern techniques, people showed neutral response overall. It may be due to they don’t understand the process or may be an agency does not employ customers’ feedback in improving the standards of services.
The overall response suggests that program continuously work of r developing policies and procedures as 38% people agree with the matter while 53% percent behave neutrally.

Documents and Forms Relating to the Service

When asked about the needed information in terms of guidance, the response was very disappointing suggesting only 7% agreement with only 19% neutral response to the notion. It can be inferred here that people feel documents either ambiguous or insufficient in guiding them to the right path.
However, contrary to the above matter, a wider base of respondent accepts that application forms for obtaining loans are clearer and understandable.
The matter of obtaining required document is considered complex by a majority of respondents. As reported, it is the third stage of approval of the application where all the required documents are needed and may be difficult for common people to gather all the documents as per requirement thus responded negatively.

Addressing Customer Complaints

A very mixed response is achieved against the question about addressing customer interactions in terms of complaints and terms of suggestions. Collectively 48% agree with the current procedure. However, no one strongly disagreed on the matter.
The neutrality of overall response made it vague to incline on any side of the scale. However, deep digging of the matter suggests that 21% people disagree about the effectiveness of the procedure during their experience suggests a bit disagreement about efficiency of the said measure.

Transparency of Service

The service is transparent according to the perception of the respondents as 36% show agreement while the largest portion suggests neutrality showing either agreement or not valued attitude.

Employees Service Style

Customer satisfaction specifically in services businesses is the outcome of service conduct that is highly dependent on the employees’ style of serving. Considering the matter below assessed is the service standard in terms of employee's style and skills.

Behavior and Efficiency

Overall responses suggest an agreement about the general conduct of the employees with 64% agreement on ethical behavior while 52% collectively about the interest service provider shows in one’s case.  However, people are not satisfied with the serving skills of the workforce. 62% respondents show clear disagreement about skillfulness of employees.

Knowledge of the requirements to obtain the service

Aligned with above negative response to skill question, people disagree about the knowledge level of employees that is needed to the serve the people regarding services.

Advice and Support

64% people neutrally answered the question suggesting not any memorable association that makes them respond either positively or negatively. It suggests that provided service is kind of typical traditional service and employee not specifically try to build a positive relationship with the customer via aiding them making decision.

Justice and Equality in Dealing

The response can be considered a bit positive comparatively as 56% percent respondents think services are provided on equality grounds.
Value Added
Overall response suggests may be a lack of creative and/or value-added services. Usually, value added services involve overall environment, hospitality conduct, and other smaller benefits. It may be possible that respondents are not well-aware about the notion of “Value-added” thus responded neutrally.  

Service information

Viability of information structure in terms of sufficiency is assessed below.
Clarity
Again a neutral with somewhat positive response is recorded for the clarity of information. The “fine” attitude from the neutral response can be extracted as people are not disagreeing with the level of information needed to avail the services.

Comprehensiveness

No, any authentic agreement is found in the regard, people respond neutrally with a considerable number of negative responses. It can be inferred that people consider provided information incomplete about the services.

Accuracy

Accuracy in terms of provided information is endorsed 26% collectively while a larger base still went neutral for the question.
Information through various Channel
A clear disagreement on information availability on different channels is recorded. It may be due to the level of involvement on both the side. For instance, it may not be possible for a service provider to address all needed information on the phone call or may be many things are overlooked by the client.

Service output

Any service is judged by satisfaction level of customers in terms of fulfillment of requirements as addressed below.
Service provided compatibility with client Requirements
A mixed reaction towards negativity is recorded when asked about the compatibility of services with the need for clients while there was neutral to the negative response to addressing the cultural diversity of the clients. It may be due to the perception of serving local communities of UAE only.

Overall impression from the client’s Experience

49% people disagree with the notion of satisfaction of their experience in terms of excellence while 25% behaved neutrally. The overall response suggests that people face difficulties or either not very much satisfied procedure during the conduct of achieving services via said programs.

Questionnaire Section II: Communication Mechanism

When asked about the importance of communication means to be connected for availing the services, a strong agreement on personal presences is recorded. 94 people responded in favor of personal presence instead of utilizing any other meanwhile 54 people found Phone effective to be utilized as a communication mean.

Questionnaire Section III: Suggestions

Responses of the clients in terms of suggestion against open-ended question helped sufficiently to gain insight into the issue and needed improvements by customers. To draw the landscape of improvement from clients’ perspective, some valuable responses and suggestions are discussed below.
One senior male responded availing the facility for around four years added “government should train its employees and make them handy instant tools to solve the problems, for instance.” While one other person suggested about the ambiguity that employees show while answering queries. Both of the responses suggest that employees are not sufficiently learned about the services and procedures that in turn create hassles for the customers.
A widow woman wrote a detailed answer is all about the service availability at door-step considering widow’s traveling and interaction complexities. She added “there must be a door-step service for completing the procedure as well as after grant relational services.” Further, many reported about the complexity of information in understanding real means. One added “there must be separate information documents/portals for each category of customers.” The statement is implying about the information that is available collectively for all types of clients and thus creates ambiguity.
Further, many appreciated the service but discussed the conduct process, transparency, and information flow. One suggested “employees should demonstrate complete picture of services with needed process and availability time during first meeting with the client.” Overall it was inferred from the responses that people valuable wants improvement in the current services in many aspects specifically information clarity and transparency in terms of documents and terms of employee skills.

Overall Analysis

Considering the mix responses and mostly neutral behavior of respondents, it can be inferred people are either not pleased or not value the service in many aspects. A comparatively negative perception of customers has revealed during the survey about the performance level of the employees as well as procedures due to negative responses. However, a fine percentage valued the service in many aspects specifically in fulfilling the needs, as well as ethical conduct of employees. However, overall a wider gap can be sensed in the strategic standards and provided services.

Limitations to the Study

The research designed was particularly studying the response of SZHP customers, but the sample size was too small compared to the number of SZHP’s applicants.  According to SZHP data base, the number of applicants is 30,000. It requires a larger sample size to ensure a representative distribution of the population and to be considered representative of groups of people to whom results will be generalized or transferred.  Moreover, the research could focus on other factors of dissatisfaction such as income and loan installments. These two factors are also variables of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction.

Conclusion

The study was aimed to find the gaps in the service level of SZHP as reported by the negative feedback of customers. The research is conducted to explore and understand the satisfaction level of customers with the provided services of the SZHP in terms of offerings as well as in terms of the overall procedure of availing those services.
The document presented above includes the background, purpose and objectives of the study with a clear, systematic path of study conduct in terms of methodology. As reported, quantitative approach considering the descriptive nature of the study was adopted to value the perceptions and suggestions of customers. Employing a sample size of 120 from the population of SZHP’s customers was conducting via utilizing a questionnaire based survey method.
Questionnaire was a mixture of demographic, close-ended purposeful and open-ended question. It was made sure that both genders equally participate in the survey.
The core objectives of the research was achieved by conducting first and second part of the questionnaire which was specifically crafted to judge various elements of a good service in terms of accessibility, speed, documents, information , employees and services as well. A comprehensive analysis is done in the last section of the paper to reveal the inferences via utilizing quantitative techniques systematically.
It is inferred from the analysis that people are not completely satisfied with the service in many aspects. Usually, service industry takes at par credits on the ground of strong workforce. However in case of SZHP it was clearly transparent that workforce of the institution is not very competent in terms of skills as depicted by the responses of consumers. Further, responses strongly implied towards the ambiguity of information. Mostly people responded neutrally to an important question suggested not any agreement with the standard of current service.
Though, there is a bit more agreement on customer ethics, information assistance, accessibility of the offices but overall customers are not satisfied with waiting duration and other procedures’ time. Further, people think that no other means than personal presence can provide complete guidance indicating a lack of communication channel management thus revealing the hassle of multiple visits for particular reasons. Further, people neutrally responded to value-added services suggest that their minimum or not any memorable value-added service is utilized to gain competitive advantage. Below presented are the managerial implications inferred from the analysis of responses.

First and foremost, customers are not satisfied with the current service standard.

Workforce of the service agency is not sufficiently performing due to lack of skills.
The information provided needs to be demonstrated by any personnel else needed to more concise and clear.
Communication channels are not performing to par; strategies are needed to improve the measure.
Services provided are not considered matched with all the clients, so gaps are identified in catering the needs of clients.
Corrective measures are needed in multiple aspects of feasibility of application and sufficiency in addressing the collective issues.
Though, information accuracy is not subjected to disagreement, but clarity and timely availability is found difficult for the clients.
Suggestions of clients for improvement should be critically reviewed and taken into consideration while making corrective decision
In addition to the survey assessment, secondary data was investigated to develop a comparative verdict about the actual performance and consumers’ perception regarding the organization. First, there are 10 categories of home loan applicants such as married, widower, divorced and orphan etc. For each of these categories, there are between 12-20 number of Conditions and Requirements. To meet these requirements, the applicants need to deal with 9-10 external authorities such as government departments like municipalities and courts. This implies a complex informational and task sequence that is critical to be followed by customers. According to (Saleh & Al-Marzouqi, 2014), clients expect a more practical solution from a government service than private sector. Whilst, (Al-Mansoori, 1997) discussed that customer perceived high value from housing scheme project and suggested that procedures and policies should be aligned with customer satisfaction.
Second, It was found that SHZP has changed its organizational structure and customer services managers also twice in between 2012 to 2014. Hence it can be inferred that structural and leadership changes are negatively impacting on the customer service of the organization in accordance with literary evidence. (Al Naqbi, 2010; Hoonakker, Carayon & Loushine, 2010), concluded that poor leadership impact on the process and procedures of an organization that ultimately results in customer dissatisfaction (Gerson 2013).
Finally, as compared to prior statistics number of training workshops is decreased while product description is highly complex as reported above. The development suggests that there must be lack in employees’ knowledge and skills which is reflecting as customer dissatisfaction. Gerson (2013) discussed that employee information level about the company’s offerings affects customer satisfaction. While, Allen & Rao (2010) highlighted the importance of motivational elements including recognition and development programs for the purpose of making employees deliver best services. However, reduction in training programs in SZHP suggests lack of employees’ competencies in delivering expected services.

Recommendations

Critically assessing and reviewing the data gathered from the survey, it is inferred that corrective measures in terms of reformation strategies are required by the organization to rectify its service standards and catering clients with more sophistication. Considering the regard below presented are some recommendation that are feasible to be employed as sufficient measures for improvement.

Reformation of official service information documents.

As revealed above that people are not agreed with the clarity as well as comprehensiveness of the provided informative documents which is in alignment with the findings of (Gerson 2013; Fountain, Jane E., et al, 2011). Management and officials should focus on developing more comprehensive and clear pieces of information in terms of policies as suggested by (Al-Mansoori, 1997) . (Al-Mansoori, 1997) discussing the customer expectations from a housing scheme discussed that policies and procedures should be aligned with customers’ perceived benefit of quality and value for money. One important thing that must be considered during reforming that information should be designed category wise to reduce the ambiguity and chance of misunderstandings.

Training and development programs for employees.

As discussed above on the responses, people are satisfied with the ethical conduct but disagree with the competencies of workforce in terms of skills which suggests lack of proper training. The findings are aligned with the implications of (Gerson (2013); Allen & Rao (2010)). The issue can be addressed via employing HR training and development concepts (Allen & Rao, 2010). Proper training programs should be focused on overall conduct, relationship management with clients (Thai & International Public Procurement Conference, 2011; (Allen & Rao, 2010 ) and specifically complete learning about the offered programs and services (Gerson, 2013). Further, training manuals in terms of guidelines and detailed information about offered services should be provided to the workforce as aiding tools (Gerson, 2013).

Reformation of processes for speeding up transaction time as well as transparency.

Application processing supply chain should be improved in terms of processing which is in alignment with the insight provided by (Barsky, 2013). Reducing waiting and responding time and improved systems will aid SZHP not only in satisfying customers but also reducing costs incurred in prolonged operations (Barsky (2013); Thai & International Public Procurement Conference, 2011) .

Development of a transparent control and monitoring system.

As maintained that company works with sound vision and strategic management however, it can be inferred from clients’ response that there is lack of control and monitoring system. Company should introduce a sound mechanism to improve the performance level of organization as implied in the study of (Thai & International Public Procurement Conference 2011; Allen & Rao 2010).

Improved communication channel management.

Company should focus on improving its communication channels in terms of connectivity; timely response and information availability thus decrease need of personal presence for every individual transaction. As discussed in literature, (Gerson, 2013) suggested that more informed and knowledgeable employees are the biggest asset for gaining customers’ satisfaction by performing as per expectations.

Improved value added services.

Parking facilities, greeting facility, refreshment services, assistance from trained employees, and smoothness of overall process can be considered as value added service. One opportunity company can utilize as added service is the provided legal support and assistance in gathering and submission of required documents after application approval. The above measures would be made offered services aligned with the expectations of customer services. (Morgeson, 2013; Gerson, 2013 ).
All the above presented recommendations possess the ability of sufficiently addressing the said problems and feasible as not much new infrastructures or costs are required. Further, incurred costs in necessary reforms and trainings of employees will pay positively to SZHP. Below presented are some sufficient but not really feasible on short term basis.

Building more offices to the areas where offices are not readily available.

Utilize “door-step” service suggestion for adding value.
Announced new offers of customized services in order to meet the needs of wider market base.
Announce housing facilities availability for expatriates as well.
The above implications are seemingly attractive but not feasible at this point of time as (Ahrens, Tracing the evolution of the Dubai Government Excellence Program, 2014) discussed that performance of governments cannot be measured on single scale as different circumstances matters. Secondly, governments visualize and develop potential solutions feasibly to satisfy customers and make them loyal.

Bibliography

Ahrens, T. (2013). Assembling the Dubai Government Excellence Program: A motivational approach to improving public service governance in a monarchical context. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 26(7), 576-592.
Ahrens, T. (2014). Tracing the evolution of the Dubai Government Excellence Program. Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, 30(1), 2-15.
Akhtar & Zaheer. (2014). Service Quality Dimensions of Islamic banks: A Scale Development Approach. Global Journal of Management And Business Research, 14(5).
Al Naqbi, M. (2010). Evaluating leadership deveopment in the UAE (Doctoral dissertation, British University in Dubai).
Alawneh, Al-Refai & Batiha. (2013). Measuring user satisfaction from e-Government services: Lessons from Jordan. Government Information Quarterly, 30(3), 277-288.
Al-Mansoori, M. A. (1997). Government low-cost housing provision in the United Arab Emirates: the example of the Federal Government low-cost housing programme.
Arif, Gupta & Williams. (2013). Customer service in the aviation industry–An exploratory analysis of UAE airports. Journal of Air Transport Management, 32, 1-7.
Babakus, E., & Inhofe, M . (2015). Measuring perceived service quality as a multi-attribute attitude. In Proceedings of the 1993 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 376-380). Springer International Publishing.
Bansal & Taylor. (2015). Beyond service quality and customer satisfaction: investigating additional antecedents of service provider switching intentions. Proceedings of the 1999 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference, p. 75.
Ferguson & Johnston. (2011). Customer response to dissatisfaction: A synthesis of literature and conceptual framework. Industrial Marketing Management, 40(1), 118-127.
Flint, Blocker & Boutin. (2011). Customer value anticipation, customer satisfaction and loyalty: An empirical examination. Industrial Marketing Management, 40(2), 219-230.
Fountain, Jane E., et al. (2011). The Future of Government: Lessons Learned from around the World.
Grigoroudis & Siskos. (2009). Customer satisfaction evaluation: methods for measuring and implementing service quality (Vol. 139). Springer Science & Business Media.
Hoonakker, Carayon & Loushine. (2010). Barriers and benefits of quality management in the construction industry: An empirical study. Total Quality Management, 21(9), 953-969.
Kim, Vogt & Knutson. (2013). Relationships among customer satisfaction, delight, and loyalty in the hospitality industry. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 1096348012471376.
Lu & Lien. (2014, June). Exploring the Effects of Servicescape, Brand Image, and Experiential Marketing on Customer Satisfaction. In Computer, Consumer and Control (IS3C), 2014 International Symposium on (pp. 669-672). IEEE.
Morgeson, F. V. (2013). Expectations, disconfirmation, and citizen satisfaction with the US federal government: Testing and expanding the model. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 23(2), 289-305.
Oliver, R. L. (2010). Customer satisfaction. Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing.
Prud’homme & Raymond. (2013). Sustainable development practices in the hospitality industry: An empirical study of their impact on customer satisfaction and intentions. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 34, 116-126.
Radnor & Johnston. (2013). Lean in UK Government: internal efficiency or customer service? Production Planning & Control, 24(10-11), 903-915.
Rego, Morgan & Fornell. (2013). Reexamining the market share-customer satisfaction relationship. Journal of Marketing, 77(5), 1-20.
Saleh & Al-Marzouqi. (2014). An Examination of the Quality of Customer Service at a Public Utility Organization in the GULF Region. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 6(1), , p140.
Samarai, M. A. (2012). Sustainable housing utilising indigenous materials in the marshes. ALAM CIPTA, International Journal of Sustainable Tropical Design Research and Practice, 3(1).
Seng Wong, Hideki & George. (2011). The use of importance-performance analysis (IPA) in evaluating Japan's e-government services. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 6(2), 17-30.
Zhao, J. S. (2012). Key issues and challenges in e-government development: An integrative case study of the number one eCity in the Arab world. Information Technology & People, 25(4), 395-422.
Allen, D. R., & Rao, T. R. (2010). Analysis of customer satisfaction data: A comprehensive guide to multivariate statistical analysis in customer satisfaction, loyalty, and service quality research. Milwaukee, Wis: ASQ Quality Press
Barsky, J. D. (2013). World-class customer satisfaction. Burr Ridge, Ill: Irwin Professional Pub.
Gerson, R. F. (2013). Measuring customer satisfaction. Menlo Park, Calif: Crisp Publications.
Thai, K. V., & International Public Procurement Conference. (2011). Towards new horizons in public procurement. Boca Raton, Fla: PR Academics Press.