Have you noticed that organisations in the both the public and private sectors are putting more work on to their patients, customers, clients, partners or whatever it is they call us, whilst simultaneously increasing their own income by either through taxes or prices?
Do we question the efficiency of the bodies which make it difficult to speak to them without first hearing how busy they are and how important we are to them?
We know all the hurdles, checklists and verification required to ‘talk’ to someone. We are also familiar with making appointments and having then travelled to Hereford or Gloucester to meet someone at an office we are treated as though we are laundering Roubles or drug money. And what about getting an answer from the any government department such as the DVLA?
Can it be that somehow big corporate bodies have drifted into being more concerned with the myriad internal issues of their own organisation,. than with the people they were set up to serve?
This happened some years ago when the Police Force was re-labelled Police Service. Since which they have become very interested in sociological concepts of behavioural deviancy and so ignore their role as enforcers of the law. Why else would they stand and watch protestors smash petrol pumps and glue themselves to diesel tankers to publicise an apocalyptical future?
Even Bishops forgot why they are stewards of our ancient churches when they chose to padlock them despite being given an option by the government to stay open for private prayer at the start of the lockdowns..
I suppose it is easier to forget your original organisational objectives when you feel personally secure in your job and can look forward to a secure pension. Many organisations however have stuck to their objectives and continue to deliver astonishing services effectively.
I wonder if a problem lies in a belief by corporate employees that their ‘systems’ are so comprehensive by design, that every question from a customer/patient can be answered by an FAQ (frequently asked question) therefore there is no need to respond to a customer. Simply refer them to another part of the ‘system..’
All this leads to disappearing Banks, Self-service shops, and a health service which appears to operate like an engineered crash barrier. (Such barriers are a series of devices designed to slowly take energy out of an impacting object. Each stage gives way before the object but not before taking some the object’s energy. This process continues until the object has insufficient energy to continue its progress and so gives up).
How many times have you given up when the phone is not answered?
View from the Pew 