ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

Department of Public Administration and Development Management

Assessment of the Efficiency of Service Delivery: In Case Addis Ababa

Electric Utility Corporation.

By

Amha Mamo

Advisor

Elias Berhanu (Phd)

A thesis submitted to the Department of Public Administration and Development Management of

Addis Ababa University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in
Public Management and Policy (MPDP)

May, 2020

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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 Approval Board of Examiners

Dean, Graduate Studies Signature & Date

Advisor Signature & Date

External Examiner Signature & Date

Internal Examiner Signature & Date

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 Declaration of Originality

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work towards the Masters of Development
Management (MPDP) to the best of my knowledge, it contains no material previously published
by another person nor material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree of the
university, except where due Acknowledgment has been made in the text.

Amha Mamo

GSD/0335/07 Signature

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ENDORSEMENT

This thesis has been submitted to Addis Ababa University School of Graduate Studies for
Examination with my approval as university advisor.

Advisor Signature

Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa

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Contents
Abstract ...............................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................................... 5
Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 10
1.1 Background of the Study..................................................................................................... 10
1.2 Statement of the Problem .................................................................................................... 11
1.4 Objectives of the Study ........................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.4.1 General Objective of the Study...................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.4.2 Specific Objectives of the Study..................................................................................... 5
1.6 Scope of the study ............................................................................................................... 12
1.5 Significance of the Study .................................................................................................... 12
1.6 Limitations of the Study ....................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.7 Organization of the Study ..................................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER TWO .......................................................................................................................... 6
2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITRATURE ................................................................................ 6
2.1. Overview of Public Services and Service Delivery ............................................................. 6
2.2 Classification of service……………………………………………………………………8

2.3 Principles of Public Service Delivery ................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.4 Core Elements of Service Management.............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.5
2.5 Determinants of efficient service
delivery………………………………………………………………………………………16

2.6 Theories on public Service Delivery .................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.8
2.4.1 New Public Management (NPM) ................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.9
2.4.2 Public choice theory ..................................................................................................... 20
2.4.3 The Gap Theory of Service Quality.............................................................................. 21
CHAPTER THREE:................................................................................................................... 22
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY .................................................................... 22
3.1 Research design (procedure) .............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.2
3.5 Data Analysis Techniques………………………………………………………………22

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CHAPTERFOUR………………………………………………………………………………23

4. Data Analysis and Presentation

4.1 Data analysis based on employees responses……………………………………………23

4.1.1 General information about employees…………………………………………………23

4.1.2 Assessment of service delivery standards……………………………………………23

4.1.3 Assessment made on training given and the reasons for absence of it………………25

4.1.4 Employees‟ Opinion on Complaint Handling Mechanism of the Corporation………27

4.1.5 Assessment Made in Empowerment of Employees……………………………………28

4.2. Assessment Made on Relationship between Boss and Employees……………………29

4.2.1 Employees Opinion on Existence of Gap between Predetermined Goals and Actual
Performance……………………………………………………………………………………..30

CHAPTERFIVE………………………………………………………………………………31

5. Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1 Summary of
findings…………………………………………………………………………………………31

5.2Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………32

5.3Recommendations……………………………………………………………………………33

Reference ..........................................................................................................................................

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Acknowledgement

At the onset, I would like to thank the Almighty God for giving me Grace to overcome trials and
temptation to complete this academic advancement. I am great full to express my utmost
gratitude to my advisor Dr.Elias Berhanu for his expert guidance, constructive comments,
suggestions and encouragement without which this work could have not been completed.

I would like to extend my appreciation to all my friends for their kind advice and help in
providing necessary documents and arrangements for discussions. I also highly appreciate and
acknowledge the assistances and encouragements kindly provided by my classmates.

Last but not least, my special gratitude goes to my family for their invaluable encouragement
throughout the study period and individuals who always stood by my side.

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Lists of Tables Page
Table 4.1Employee‟s general information based on service years………………………………34

Table 4.2 Service Delivery Standards and Employees‟ Knowledge……………………………35

Table 4.3 Training Information…………………………………………………………………36

Table 4.4 Assessment on Complaint handling mechanism based on employees response….....36

Table 4.5 Assessment Made on Participation of Employees in Decision-Making……………..37

Table 4.6 Relationship between Boss and Employees…………………………………………………37

Table 4.7 Existence of Gap on efficient Service Delivery……………………………………….37

Lists of Figure

Conceptual framework of Public value theory……………………………………………….....30

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 Abstract
The performance of Ethiopian Electric Utility in providing quality service is not in a position to
meet the expectation of service users. The complaints on the efficiency of service delivery and
response from the employees for lack of the services were indicative of poor service delivery
performance in the Corporation. Therefore, the major purpose of the study is assessing efficiency
of service delivery of EEU. It also tries to identify the major areas of problem in relation to
service delivery. The analysis was conducted using a descriptive survey method by clustering the
respondents into employees and officials; where the main focus was taken to the employees,
hence their service delivery reflects the actual service provision of the Corporation. Then
questionnaires were distributed to 19 employees and team leaders by using simple random
sampling technique. Both primary and secondary data were used in the study.

Moreover, structured questionnaires and interviews are tools used to gather relevant information
and statistical tools like percentage and tables are used to analyze the data. The research comes
up with the following findings: there was poor service quality and poor performance in service
delivery process like new connection, complaint handling and recovery of service failure
procedure. So the Corporation failed to meet such requirements in order to provide efficient
service. Therefore, the Corporation should come up with an appropriate efficient service delivery
standards, proper complaint handling mechanisms, relevant training for its front line employees,
developing various payment mechanisms and adequate resource management in order to give
quality service to its customers.

Key Terms: - Efficient service delivery.

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CHAPTER ONE
I Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

As Gant (1979) pointed out, the principal reason for the emergence of the public enterprise sector
in a country is the government‟s decision to intervene directly and actively in the economy in
order to achieve the objective of its development plan. Most frequently, decision on the creation
of public enterprises is based on the analysis and findings that show the institutional needs for
development, which the government believes the private sector, will not meet, at least by itself.
In other words, the rationale for setting up public enterprises is that they are better instruments
for promoting developmental goals.

Delivery of various public goods and services is one basic responsibility of the State. Though
with expansion of the market many services were available in the private sector, some of the core
services would continue to be delivered by the state only, because of nature of such services.
Those include important regulatory services for maintaining order in the society by ensuring that
adequate norms of public behavior are established through Acts and Rules, which everyone has
to comply with (e.g. maintaining law and order, administration of justice etc). This is also
important for protecting human rights as well as allowing everyone to enjoy certain freedoms
and carrying on various social and economic functions for their earning and well-being Joseph,
Carmell(2002).

The State has a very important role to play in making available some essential public services
which ensures certain minimum level of well-being to everyone in need of those. Financial and
other resources under command of the State are always limited and, therefore, the services are to
be delivered efficiently and effectively to ensure desired level of well-being to all the citizen and
within as short time as possible Moor, Mark(1995).

In Ethiopia, there were different approaches towards providing public services, at different times
and regimes. During the military rule of the 70‟s and 80‟s, public service delivery was conducted
trough centralized approach. There is the claim that the quality of service must be low under
centralized governance. This is because the field offices are uninformed about local conditions as
well as the needs of the residents, and thus they cannot produce a high quality of service judged

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from local resident's point of view. Also, they are free from the control of local politics and thus
do not respond adequately to the needs of local residents Henok Seyoum(2017)

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Many authors agree that service quality leads to customer satisfaction. Although; high quality
doesn‟t always results in high customer satisfaction, quality judgment is just one of the many
aspects of determining customer satisfaction about services. Chase and Bowen cited by Tjosvold,
D. (1993) identified some major determinants of service efficiency which are mentioned in the
following paragraph. preparing to serve customers, coordination between back and front offices,
reliability and consistency of service, effective use of technology, appropriate degree of
standardization in serving, appeal and functionality of facilities, logic and consistency of
business hours, handling of non -routine demands and emergencies, availability of materials,
orientation of new customers, and selection and training employees.

One of the major factors that play vital role in the day to day activity of the people is electric
power service. Unless this sector is organized and managed in proper way in order to give
quality service effectively, it has its own negative impact on future success of the corporation,
living condition of the people, as well as the development of the nation. Service quality has to be
looked from organization‟s decentralization philosophy. Sometimes customers are dissatisfied, if
the service person dealing with customer lacks discretion to facilitate the service delivery.

EEU as a service provider faces various problems especially with rendering quality service by a
well- designed delivery system for its customers that favor customer‟s satisfaction. Hence, the
researcher tries to study issues related to the following research questions.

Besides, quality of access, time taken to deliver, associated easiness or harassment, ambience in
which service is delivered, payment of hidden cost (bribe) and attitude and behavior of the
service provider are some of the factors that erode efficient service delivery. In this regard this
paper will try to the look into the efficiency of service delivery and factors rendering efficient
service delivery.

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1.3 Research questions

1. Is the organization efficient in delivering services?

2. What factors determines efficient service delivery in this organization?
3. What challenges do exist in this organization so as to provide services efficiently?

1.4 Objective of this study

1.4.1 General objective

The general objective of this study is to measure efficient service delivery in Ethiopian electric
utility corporation (EEU).

1.4.2 Specific objectives

This study has the following specific objectives:

1. Measure the efficiency of service delivery in organization.

2. Explore the negative impact to the efficient service delivery of the corporation.

3. Find out problems or challenges of efficient services delivery.

1.5 Scope of the study

The population of this study is Ethiopian Electric Utility in Addis Ababa Region Service
Centers, while the unit of analysis focuses on assessment of efficient service delivery in Addis
Ababa EEU Service Center related to the service delivery.

The study attempts to see the efficiency with which EEU uses resources in providing services. In
addition the factors which may contribute to efficiency will be addressed here.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The research provides an overview on the existing performance of public service delivery and
factors that affect efficient public utility delivery. The study will identify factors for efficient
service delivery; hence help to improve service delivery in this organization.

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1.7 Limitations of the Study

Efficient service delivery covers all aspects of an organization performance. However, due to
budget and time constraints this study is limited its scope to the a ssessment of efficient service
delivery particularly by taking the Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) Addis Ababa Region
customer service center Eight. Furthermore, since the sample is only Addis Ababa particularly at
customer service center was not large enough to represent the entire organization nationwide.
Therefore, the finding of this study should be co nsidered as showing the circumstance of
efficient service quality in EEU. Another study with a large sample size may be required in the
further to arrive at reliable conclusion about Ethiopian Electric Utility quality/efficiency service
delivery system.

1.8 Organization of the Study

The research thesis has five chapters. The first chapter deals with research preliminaries
including background, statement of the problem, objectives, scope of study and outline of the
paper. In the second chapter, review of related literature was presented in a detailed manner. In
the third chapter, research design and methodology was presented. In the fourth chapter facts and
figures obtained from both primary and secondary sources are presented, discussed and analyzed.
Based on the Forth chapter, conclusions and possible recommendations were made in the fifth
chapter. The thesis also consists of other formal sections like Bibliography, Appendices, etc.

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CHAPTER TWO

2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITRATURE

2.1. Overview of Public Services and Service Delivery

According to Gaster and Squires, (2003) Public services is a term usually employed to mean
services provided by the government to the citizens, either directly (through the public sector) or
indirectly by financing the private provision of the services, and it is associated with a social
consensus (usually expressed through democratic elections) that certain services should be
available to all, regardless of their income. Even where public services are neither publicly
provided nor publicly financed, for social and political reasons they are usually subject to stricter
regulation than most economic sectors. Public goods are non-excludability and non-rivalry. Non-
excludability refers to the difficulties to exclude potential users from the services. Non- rivalry
refers to the enjoyment of services without diminishing the benefits for other users.

Public services have distinguishing characteristics from private goods and services. Public
services are paid through general taxation or means-tested payment or direct fees. Individual
payments by choice and profit motives, which are common in the private sectors, are rare in
public services. Public services operate within a legal and financial framework that is very
different from the profits-driven private sector (Gaster and Squires, 2003).

Service delivery is tied to performance at the organizational level. It means fulfilling

organizational goals and objectives, especially in satisfying customer needs, employee needs and
investor needs. Quality service delivery is an increasingly important initiative being pursued by
organizations to improve efficiency, productivity and hence profitability

There are many definitions for public services and public service delivery. However, the centra l
concepts are the same. For instance, Humphreys (1998) defines public services as those services
which are mainly, or completely, funded by general taxation or means-tested payment or direct
fees. According to Humphreys (1998), individual payments by choice and profit motives, which
are common in the private sectors, are unusual in public services. He further explains, public
services operate within a legal and financial framework. Public services clearly vary from

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commercial services in that most operates under central and/or local government, the health
authorities, education, defense, justice/home affairs and noncommercial semi-state organizations
and do not normally function for profit Humphreys, (1998).

Another Scholar (Ole, 2001) defines public services as it is a service provided impartially, fairly,
equitably and without bias throughout the set targets for increasing the access to services and the
public service clean, effective, and free from corruption. According to Ole (2001), public service
delivery aim is achieved when service is delivered efficiently, effectively and economically
based on public needs/interests. Public institutions must therefore strive to provide such services
as required by the community as customer.

On the other hand, service delivery is defined as a product or service, promised to deliver by a
government or government body to a community, or which is expected by that
community‟(Humphreys, 1998). According to Humphreys (1998), efficient service delivery
would thus imply the satisfaction of service delivery goals with the economical use of resources.

Goldstein, S.M., Johnston, R., Duffy, J. And Rao, J; defines service delivery as providing
efficient, quick and friendly service, building strong relationships with customers, ha ndling
complaints quickly and responding to customers' issues in time. At the center of service delivery,
there should be quality customer service which is the best way to keep customers coming back,
thus ensuring long-term success. Effective service delivery is about providing the services that
the users actually use because it meets their needs (Goldstein, Johnston, Duffy, &Rao. 2002)

Generally public services are;-services to the public, Services providing public goods, services
accountable to the public and so on. Services are delivered by public and private sectors .public
services are imposed by public authorities in order to ensure that certain public interest
objectives are met. The term services are currently economic and political changes.

Another scholar defines how and what of service meaning, and mediates between customer
needs and the organization's strategic intent. The service concept is a means for the service
provider to identify the value being delivered to customers and the value expected by customers
from the organization Parasurama, Zeithaml, & Berrry, (2017).The term value is an
individualized customer perception based on a composite judgment of a number of
product/service attributes such as perceived quality, perceived costs; monetary or personal and

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other high level abstractions, intrinsic and extrinsic attributes such as prestige, accessibility and
performance.

The intended objectives of a facility can only be achieved if it is located strategically. In business
firms locate themselves at points that provide ample access by customers, workers, material
input, among others. This helps the firm to achieve its profit maximization objective.

On the other hand the government should locate its service points at places where its goals can
be attained. Therefore the ease of access by customers, who are the citizens and staff are key
factors in determining strategic location for service facilities.

Service delivery point affects the quality and efficiency on service delivery. A good system
provides services at places that are acceptable and satisfying to recipients of services (Jones &
Gessaman, 1974). Thus public services must be both accessible and acceptable to the citizens or
the respective people upon which such services are directed to.

In order to serve many people centers must be strategically located so that the public can access
the facility without encountering difficulties. Drezner et al (2012) argues that services should be
delivered at demand points. The attractiveness of a service facility is measured by the speed at
which people obtain services.

2.2 Classification of service

According to Palmer (1995:p42-51) service can be classified into the following ten points.

1. Marketable Vs. Unmarketable Service

The first classification distinguishes between services that are freely traded and those considered
by the social and economic environment of the time to be more appropriately distributed by non-
market based machines. For the latter groups, many government services are provided for the
public benefit but no attempt is made to change users of the service.

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Producers Vs. Consumers

Service Consumer services are provided for individuals who use up the service for their own
enjoyment or benefit. On the other hand, producer services are those provided to a business in
order that the business can produce something else of economic benefit.

Status of the Service in the product offering

Service can be classified according to the role of the services in that tota l quality offering. Three
principal roles can be identified:

 a pure service exists when there is little, if any, evidence of tangible goods
 a second group of services exist in order to add value to a tangible product
 a third group of services may add value to a product more fundamentally by making it
available in the first phase.

Tangible vs. Intangible Services

The level of tangibility present in a service offer derives from four principal sources.

 Tangible goods that are included in the service offer and consumed by the customers.
 The physical environment in which the service production/ consumption process takes
place.
 Equipment used in the service production process
 Tangible evidence of service performance

Extent of Customer Involvement

Some service can be provided only with the complete involvement of customers whereas others
require them to do little more than initiate the service process.

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Degree of Variability

Two dimensions of variability can be used to classify service:

 The extent to which production standards vary from a norm, in terms both of outcomes
and of production process.
 The extent to which a service can be deliberately varied to meet the specific needs of
individual customer

Pattern of Service Delivery

Whether the service is supplied on continuous basis or supplied casually or within an ongoing
relation between buyer and seller. 8. Pattern of Demand Service can be classified according to
the temporal pattern of demand they face very few services face a constant pattern through time.

People Based Vs. Equipment

Based Services Some services involve labor- incentive production methods. At the other extreme
there are services which involve equipment.

Significance of the Service to the Purchaser

Some services are purchased frequently, are of low value, are consumed very rapidly by the
recipient and are likely to be purchased on impulse with very little pre- purchased activity.

2.3 Principles of Public Service Delivery

Setting Service Standards: - Service standards must be relevant and meaningful to the
individual user. This means that they must cover the aspects of services which matter most to
users, as revealed by the consultation process, and they must be expressed in terms of relevance
and easily understood ways

Ensuring Courtesy:- The concept of courtesy goes much wider than asking public servants to
give a polite smile and to say “please” and “thank you”, though these are certainly required.

Providing More and Better Information:- One of the most powerful tools at the customer‟s
disposal is exercising his or her right to good services.

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Increasing openness and transparency: Openness and transparency are the hallmarks of a
democratic government and are fundamental to public service transformation process.

Redressing Wrongs:- The capacity and willingness to take action when the things go wrong, is
the necessary counter part of the standard setting process

Accessibility: - Extent to which a consumer or user can obtain a good or service at the time it is
needed.

Speed:-The longer it takes to respond to a complaint the more dissatisfied customers will
become.

Fairness: - Complaints should be fully and impartially investigated

Confidentiality- The complainant‟s confidentially should be protected so that they are not
deterred from making complaints by feeling that they will be treated less sympathetically in
future.

Responsiveness- The response to a compliant, however trivial, should take full account of the
individual‟s concerns and feelings.

Review: - customer feedback system should incorporate mechanisms for review and for feeding
back suggestions for change to those who are responsible for providing the service.

2.4 Core Elements of Service Management

Service Strategy

Service Strategy provides advice and guidance on designing, developing and implementing
service management – both as an operational capability within an organization but also how to
use that capability as a strategic asset. It tries to ensure that consideration is given as to why a
particular activity is to be performed - before an organization begins to think about how it will be
performed.

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Service Design

The Service Design stage of the lifecycle starts with a set of new or changed business
requirements and ends with the development of a solution designed to meet the documented
needs of the business. This developed solution, together with its Service Transition Pack, is then
passed to Service Transition to build, test and deploy the new or changed service and on
completion of these activities control is transferred to the Service.

Service Transition

The Service Transition stage of the lifecycle provides guidance on ensuring that the introduction,
deployment, transfers and decommissioning of new or changed services is consistently well
managed. Service Transition ensures that the transition processes are streamlined, effective and
efficient so that the risks relating to the service in transition are minimized. The Service
Transition stage of the lifecycle receives input from the Service Design stage and provides output
to the Service Operation and Continual Service Improvement stages of the service lifecycle
Operation stage.

Service Operation

Service operation is responsible for all aspects of managing the day-to-day operation of services,
ensuring that processes and activities are operated (and continue to be operated) on a „business as
usual‟ basis. Its key purpose is to coordinate and perform the processes and activities that support
the delivery of the services at the levels defined in the relevant Service Level Agreements. The
scope of Service Operation covers the services, the service management processes, the
underpinning technology used to deliver those services - and the people used to manage all of
these aspects. Continual Service Improvement

The Continual Service Improvement

It is not a lifecycle stage, but a wrapper used throughout the whole service lifecycle. It has inputs
and outputs for all lifecycle stages. It focuses on the overall health of Service Management
within the organization http://www.foxit.net/pages/solutions/

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Quality of Customer Service

Quality is a measure of how closely a product confirms to customers‟ needs, wants and
expectation. It is a degree to which a product conforms to customer expectation and
specification. Customers service quality expectation is formed by their past experience, word of
mouth, service firm advertising and personnel needs. They compare the perceived service with
expected service. If the perceived service fall below the expected service customers lose interest
in the provider and if the perceived service meets or exceeds the expectation they are opt to use
the provider again. Service quality is a focused evaluation that reflects the customer‟s perception
of elements of service such as interaction quality, physical environment quality and outcome
quality. These elements are in turn evaluated based on specific quality dimensions. (Zeithmoal.M
2003;86)

2.5 Determinants of efficient service delivery

Service Standards

Standards of customer service are to be improved to levels comparable with best practice and
people are to be more readily involved in decision making, service design and service reviews
(Adrienne Curry, 1999).

According to Adrienne Curry Sound operational management involves putting in place the right
arrangements for managing services more effectively and ensuring that managers have greater
control over resources, decision making and performance.

Excellent service can also be energizing because it requires the building of an organizational
culture in which people are challenged to perform to their potential and are recognized and
rewarded when they do.

Service standards are a basis for measurement of service delivery. Standards help to measure the
extent to which service is being improved. The established service standard should be available
to the public in order to meet its objectives. Unless there is a predetermined service standard, it is
very difficult to satisfy the needs of customers because of the subjectivity of the service
provisions Without predetermined service standards, it is difficult to build transparency,
responsibility, and accountability .

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Accessibility of services

The access to service delivery principle states tha t all employees should have equal access to
service to which they are entitled. Predetermined service standards are essential for customers to
know about the services they are going to be provided so that they will be able to complain if
services are not rendered according to the standards. The Authority is committed to utilizing
customer feedback in order to maintain and improve the quality of services provided.

Fairness

Perception of Fairness:-employee satisfaction is also influenced by perception of eq uity and

fairness employees perceive. Fairness is central to customer‟s perception of satisfaction with
products and services. The complaint handling system process must be fair. This means
complainants must be given the option to identify the individual(s) they are complaining about;

 Both parties of a complaint are entitled to be listened to and to have their views taken into
account;
 The person being complained about must know all the claims that are made against them
and have the opportunity to put respond and their case forward;
 All information relevant to the case must be taken into account; and the decision made
must be fair and unbiased.

Transparency

Transparency can be defined as public‟s unbound access to up-to-date and trustworthy

information about the public sector institution‟s performances and decisions. Contextually,
transparency in any service delivery is about free flow of information between service provider
and service users. In addition to the readiness and availability of working environment for
transparency in any organization, the availability of proper media and institutions that help the
system transparent is basic.

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Responsiveness

Responsiveness refers to the ability of public organizations to satisfy the demands of the citize ns
as per their preference. On the other hand, responsiveness can work as a main toll of interlinking
the demand and supply side strategies proposed by making the service suppliers to react and
work as per the preferences of the service users (the demand side).

Leadership Styles

Leadership has many definitions and there is no general agreement. Some of the definitions

Scholars have proposed that a high-performance organization requires 1st class leadership.

 Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an organized group towards goal
achievement.
 Leadership is the process through which an individual establishes the purpose or direction
for individuals or a group of people, and encourages them to move along together with
him or her and with each other in that direction, with competence and full commitment.
 Leadership is the technique by which an individual influences organizational members
towards the attainment of organizational goals.
 Leadership involves an ability to encourage organizational members towards the
attainment of goals, organizational performance, the organization needs to explore new
ways and instantaneously exploit what has been learned and transfer of existing
knowledge.

Leadership plays an important role in shaping and maintaining organizational culture, but also
different styles of leadership may develop different ways of encouraging employees. Leadership
is an important ideal for top management in their role to encourage lear ning, share knowledge
with and transfer it to employees by means of appropriate styles in different situations for the
purpose of achieving organizational goals. It has been suggested that the transformational
leadership approach is more effective than others in creating change in an organization,
especially compared with transactional leadership (Rusliza, Yahaya,Fawzy &Ebrahim, 2016).

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The roles of leadership to be effective learned from their own experience and the experience of
others. Leadership styles should be challenging, inspiring, enabling, modeling and encouraging
(Rusliza, Yahaya, Fawzy& Ebrahim, 2016).Today's organizations consist of complex matrices of
social relationships in which leadership has considerable consequences for success or failure.

2.6 Theories on public Service Delivery

2.6.1 New Public Management (NPM)

NPM paradigm emerged in the 1980s to implant a new approach into traditional public
administration. (NPM reforms shift the emphasis from the traditional public administration to
modernizations, which are the determinants for the rise of the new public management).It was
geared toward enhancing efficiency, productivity, improved service delivery and accountability
and emphasizes a result-orientation as opposed to the process-orientation of the traditional public
administration.

Though evidence of the efficiency gains from NPM practices remains mixed and there is little to
suggest that they have enhanced the effectiveness or equity of service provision, policy- makers
across the world continue to laud the merits of new public management (Andrews, 2012 and
2013 ,Curristine & Joumard, 2007).The arguments of NPM theory is that rather than focusing on
controlling bureaucracies and delivering services, public managers are now responding to the
desires of ordinary citizens and politicians to be “the entrepreneurs of a new, leaner, and
increasingly privatized government”. As such, the NPM is clearly linked to the notion of trust in
economic rationalism through the creation of public value for public money(Hope, K.R. 2001).

There are controlling bureaucracies and delivering services of NPM that derive from
„managerialism‟i. e. Emphasizing management in government. These include management
decentralization, desegregation and downsizing of government, creating a leaner and flexible
organizational structures and systems, and giving managers more freedom to manage
(Alexandria Brysland, Adrienne Curry, (2001). According to Alexandria Brysland, Adrienne
Curry, (2001),there are ideas emanating from new institutional economics that emphasize
markets and competition as a way of giving choice and „voice‟ to others and promoting
efficiency in service delivery, i.e. The use of market mechanisms such as franchising, vouchers,
contracting out, internal markets, user fees and customer orientation.

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According to the Economic Commission for Africa, (2003) the major NPM doctrines of what
must be done are:

 Direct public sector costs should be cut and labour discipline raised so as to
improve resource use.
 Private-sector-style management practices applied to increase flexibility in
decision-making.
 Competition in the public sector (through term contracts and tendering)
increased, as competition is the key to lower costs and improve standards.
 The public sector disaggregated and decentralized to make units more
manageable and to increase competition among them.
 Controls to shift from inputs to outputs, to stress results rather than procedure.
 Explicit standards and performance measures to be established, because
accountability requires clearly stated objective and efficiency requires attention
to goals.
 Managers to be given powers to conduct hands-on professional management,
because accountability requires clear assignment of responsibility, not diffusion
of power.

The new public management techniques to public services would automatically lead to improved
efficiency and effectiveness in these services Stephen, (2007). According to Stephen, (2007) the
key elements of the NPM can be summarized as:

 A focus upon entrepreneurial leadership within public service organizations;

 An emphasis on inputs and output control and evaluation and upon performance
management and audit
 The desegregation of public services to their most basic units and a focus on their
cost management; and
 The growth of use of markets, competition and contracts for resource allocation
and service delivery within public services.

25
2.6.2 Public choice theory
Public choice theory is a branch of economics that developed from the study of taxation and
public spending Jane S. Shaw, (2002). Public choice takes the same principles that economists
use to analyses people's actions in the marketplace and applies them to people's actions in
collective decision making. Economists who study beha vior in the private market place assume
that people are motivated mainly by self- interest. Although most people base some of their
actions on their concern for others, the dominant motive in people's actions, in the marketplace,
whether they are employers and employees, or consumers

According to Jane S. Shaw, (2002), public choice is often referred to an outshoot of economics.
In fact, it is more an approach to political science. Public choice uses the methods and tools of
economics to explore how politics and government work.

The ability of the democratic process to ensure their accountability to the public limited as well
as their confidence in the ability if the place market to do so. The public interest in public
administration through reform guided by public choice theory is an application of classical
economics to public administration and had a dominant influence on the development of the new
public management.

The increase of NPM doctrine is linked with increasing popular and intellectual dissatisfaction
with the growth and role of government and increasing taxation and, consequently, pressures to
curb the expansion of government and shift towards privatization (Alexandria Brysland,
Adrienne Curry, (2001),Particularly public choice theorists have cr iticized the Weber
bureaucratic model as lacking cost-consciousness because of the weak link between costs and
outputs which is efficiency and effectiveness. Further, the rewards system in the public sector is
not oriented towards improving performance. Consequently, there are no incentives for
politicians and bureaucrats to control costs. In this regard, research conducted in Ethiopia show
that, there is waste and over expenditure, with public managers focusing more on delivery than
on productivity and efficiency (Debela, 2009, Gaster, Lucy and Squires, 2003; ). Public choice
theory also argues that public bureaucracies are notoriously slow to respond to changes in the
environment, as well as being unresponsive to service users.

26
2.6.3 The Gap Theory of Service Quality
According to The Gap Theory Service Quality is defined as the difference between expected
service and the customer‟s perception of actual service delivery. This model identifies the
different sources of gaps between the expected service and the customers‟ perception of the
actual service delivery. A deficit in service quality (where the perceived service is less than the
expected service quality) may result in customer dissatisfaction and drive away customers. If the
perceived service exceeds the expected service, the customer would be happy.

Five gaps were identified as causing a deficit in service quality. Customer gap: The difference
between customer expectations and perceptions the service quality. This is a result of the
following five gaps.

1. Gap between expectation of customer and perception of management. In order to be able to

exceed customer expectation, and in this way insure customer satisfaction, service organization
management has to have a clear and accurate perception about customer expectation. Lack of
such knowledge creates a gap that can be one of the main reasons for service customers to be
satisfied.

2. Gap between perception of management and service quality specification. Even if

management accurately perceives customer expectations, there are still chances of customer
dissatisfaction that can be caused by the gap in planning quality of the service according to
customer expectations

3. Gap between specification of quality and the delivery of service. Another potential a rea for
customer dissatisfaction relates to the failure of efficiently specified quality service due to
various reasons, including incompetent workforce, and inefficient working conditions.

4. The gap between the delivery of service and external communications. In cases where
employees have relevant skills and willingness to offer efficiently specified quality service, still
customers may be left unsatisfied due to external factors such like working environment.

5. Gap between perceived and expected service. Lastly, one of the common causes for customer
dissatisfaction in service sector relates to the gap between what customers expect from the
service and what they think they have received.

27
2.7 Public Service Delivery and Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction in today's service delivery and service marketing era is believed to
strongly connect with understanding consumers‟ behavior. To understand the consumer or
customers receiving pattern as organizations or public sectors are looking to influence them, each
organization seeks help from external agencies and various sources to acquire the required
information via the very common consumer behavior research analysis .

Customer satisfaction over about a century has been studied under private business with the main
aim of building and improving customer loyalty. In the public sector the rationale of customer
satisfaction can be analyzed from both political and economic perspectives. The government will
ensure customer satisfaction in the provision of pub lic services as bargaining tool during political
campaigns to ensure it is elected back. From an economic perspective citizens deserve quality
services because they have been taxed for the provision of those services. They therefore must be
satisfied by the service providers and this can only be achieved if the government has citizens
interest at heart. Whereas citizens have a right to receive public services, the government has an
obligation towards quality service delivery (Donelly et al., 1995).

Customer satisfaction can only be achieved if customers can receive services at the public
service points without any strain (Drezner et al., 2012). In to ensure customer satisfaction there
must be quality, responsive and timely public service provision (Moore, 1995). It then follows
that customer satisfaction at the public service points can be checked using average waiting time,
staff attitude, public relations, response to complaints as well as service environment (Moore,
1995 & Benington, 2011).

2.8 Empirical Literature Reviews

Various studies conducted in the areas of public service delivery in Ethiopian civil service
institutions indicate that several problems exist and have been leading to poor quality public
service delivery. In April 2001, Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
published a service delivery policy of the Ethiopian civil service realizing that the existing
system requires reforms or adjustment to improve public service delivery. The policy came up
with the assumption that effective implementation of the policy requires that all civil servants,
service users and other concerned bodies have sufficient understanding of the objectives,
contents, concepts and principles that enables civil service initiations to carry out what is

28
expected of them and makes service users (customers) aware of their rights to receive services
and benefit thereafter.

Further, Zegeye (2013), conducted a research entitled as‟ public service delivery and customer
satisfaction‟. He used case study method to conduct his research at EEPCo-South Addis Ababa
center. The study came up with the findings like mass dissatisfaction with the corporation
indicating that there were long waiting time for getting service signifying the organization‟s
unresponsiveness to customers‟ requests, clear procedures, and predetermined service standards
were not in place and/or not posted officially; absence of communication to customers, no
consultation process and feedback collection; no training for developing skills of service delivery
and no consistent service delivery. Eventually, he concluded that the corporation was still could
not achieve excellent public service delivery to the extent required.

2.9 Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework is anchored on p ublic value theory. The public value theory was
developed by Moore (1995, 2003) as a framework for guiding strategic management in public
sector organizations. Public value theory posits that government investments must deliver what
is valuable to the public(Benington, 2011).According to Moore (1995, 2003), since the objective
of private sector organizations is to generate private (economic) shareholder wealth, the goal of
public sector organizations (governments and their departments) is to generate public (social)
worth. Thus, public value refers to the worth, advantage or benefit that an individual or entity
gives to society. Public value theory holds that government should provide services that the
public values (Moore, 1995, 2003; Benington, 2011).While public value theory has been applied
in public administration research, few studies have proposed plausible mechanisms through
which valuable and desired public services are produced. We argue in this paper that the valuable
and desirable public services and public goods are delivered through a strategic governmental
decision „chain‟,(White, 1998), that starts from policies, which must be translated into broad
programs. But for governmental policies and programs to be effective, they must be executed
through targeted projects, which must produce unique, valuable and desired public services and
translated into programs and projects. The programs and projects are thereafter implemented to
produce, what Moore (1995) calls public value.

29
 CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION

 Waiting time
 Staff attitude
 Service quality
 Service

STRATEGIC LOCATION

 Accessibility
 Convenience

INS TITUTIONAL
FACTORS

 Resource allocation
 Investment in
technology EFFECTIVE S ERVICE
DELIVERY
 Employee skills and
 Speed
competence  Timely
 No complain
 Accuracy of
S TRATEGIC solution offered
DECIS ION
 Objectivity  Multiple solutions
 Based on past  Additional
analyses services
 Informed decision
 Involves top
management

MONITORING AND
EVALUATION
 Evaluation and
tracking of service
quality
 Planning and
strategizing
 Forecasting 30
or public goods. The formulated policies are then turned into targeted development programs and
projects. In other words, for government policies to be effective and executable, they have to be
translated into programs and projects. The programs and projects are thereafter implemented to
produce, what Moore (1995) calls public value.

According to Moore (1995) public resources must be utilized to produce and maximize value for
the public/ citizens. For citizens, public value is demonstrated in the quality, responsive and
timely public services; and projects are effective mechanisms for delivering and maximizing
these valued public services. Moore (1995, 2003) argued that for governmental interventions to
be referred as providing public value, it must produce va luable and desirable outcomes for
citizens. According to Moore (1995, 2003), these programs and projects must deliver value to the
public. Thus critical role that development programs and projects play is evident in the public
value that they create in the delivery of quality and timely public services. In this respect, the
policies and projects developed by governments are important because they are expected to
produce public value; something valuable and needed by the public. Thus, a public value theory
of development projects is proposed to explain the critical role that development projects play in
the production of valuable services to the public.

31
CHAPTER THREE

3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Design and Method
Research design is a master plan specifying the methods and procedures for collection and
analyzing the needed information. A research design is simply the framework or plan for a study
that is used as a guide in collecting and analyzing the data. It is a blueprint that is followed in
completing a study. Research design is the blue print for collection measurement and analysis of
data. Actually it is a map that is usually developed to guide the research (Gibaldi, 2009).

The research methods that were used in this study are both quantitative and qualitative. Both
primary and secondary data source were used to collect the required information. Purposive
sampling technique were used to select the specific service centers for the study; convenience
sampling to set sample size and stratified sampling were used to distribute questionnaires.
Beside, structured questioners and interviews were used to obtain the required data from
employees and officials respectively.

This thesis used mixed research design to answer the research questions. Mixed methods
research is an approach to inquiry involving collecting both quantitative and qualitative data,
integrating the two forms of data, and using distinct designs that may involve philosophical
assumptions and theoretical frameworks. The core assumption of this form of inquiry is that the
combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches provides a more complete understanding
of a research problem than either approach alone (Ibid).

Therefore, the researcher employed both qualitative and quantitative primary data survey design
for the thesis that is realized through questionnaires, interviews, and secondary data is also used
from published and unpublished documents. This helped to assess the major factors that affecting
condominium housing projects on process (from the initiation up to closing of the project).

By purpose, this study relatively fits into the descriptive study design. Descriptive research
provides an accurate account of characteristics of a particular individual, event or a group in real-
life situations (Saunders and Lewis, 2007). Therefore, this study is descriptive statistical method

32
of analyzes such as frequencies, percentages, averages, etc. are employed and the findings are
described and presented in tabular format using Microsoft excel.

3.2 Sources and Types of Data

Population refers to the full set of cases from which a sample is taken (Saunders, 2009:21).
Primary data was primarily used for this study. Additional data was used from secondary
sources. A concurrent sampling in which quantitative probability and qualitative purposeful
sampling are combined in this research. Purposive or judgmental sampling is used to extract
qualitative data and stratified sampling is used to draw samples for the quantitative data. A
purposive sampling method enables the researcher to use personal preference in selecting cases
that will best enable him/her answer research question(s) and meet objectives (Saunders, 2009).
Denscombe (2007) states that sample, in case of purposive sampling, is hand-picked. It is
important when the researcher wishes to select cases that are particularly informative.

Hence, both data was used for this study. In order to measure the efficiency service delivery of
this organizations. The data required for this study were come primarily from questionnaires and
interviews from the employees. Additional from secondary data (report) was collected. The
sample organization for this study was purposely selected taking in to consideration that they are
public utility companies.

3.3 Sampling Techniques and Sample Size

The sample period for this study covered two consecutive years. Hence, year 2019 and 2020 is
relevant period for this study. In order to measure efficiency, the researcher purposely consider
these periods.

Structured questionnaires will be randomly distributed to 19 frontline employees. This is 50

percent of 38 employees who have direct contact with customers in the service center. And
interviews will be conducted with two officials of the service center namely marketing and sales
chief officer and marketing and sales monitoring officer.

33
3.4. Data collection Techniques/ Tools
In this study both primary and secondary data are collected. Pr imary data are those which are
collected afresh and for the first time, and happen to be original in character (Kohtati, 2004:95).
Secondary sources are those which are made available or have been collected for other research
purposes. It refers to data that are already available i.e. data which have already been collected
and analyzed by someone else (Kohtari, 2004).

The data analyzed and interpreted by using descriptive methods. This method help to describe
the findings and the results from the data collected. The data analysis was done from both
qualitative and quantitative stand point for the purpose of achieving the objectives of the study.
In order to drawn meaningful conclusion, data was summarized and presented using appropriate
table format using frequencies, percentages, etc.

This plus its ability to enable the researcher gain insights into the respondents‟ opinions, feelings,
emotions and experiences makes the interview method appropriate in this case. Among the
various forms of interview, the semi structured one was used. Such interview was used since it
was believed that it allows the researcher to know specific information which can be compared
and contrasted with information gained in other interviews at the same time maintaining
flexibility. This is helpful in gaining a fuller understanding of the various components of
strategic management. The interview was conducted in the office of the respondents and
followed the framework provided under the interview guide.

3.5. Data Analysis Methods

Zikmund & et.al define data analysis as the application of reasoning to understand the data that
have been gathered by determining consistent patterns and summarizing the relevant details
revealed in the investigation. It is done with the aim of making sense out of data collected using
various methodologies. All questionnaires were deposited in one place and completeness and
accuracy of each was checked. The invalid ones were excluded. The results of the questionnaire
were encoded into excel. Simplistic descriptive statistic techniques including percentages are
applied. This is illustrated using frequency tables that indicate the frequency counts and
percentages for each of the variables. The qualitative data obtained from the interview and
documents were described using qualitative analysis.

34
 CHAPTER FOUR

4. DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION

In this part of the paper, the researcher attempted to present the practical observed facts about the
efficiency of service with data collected from employees and secondary data by using tools
mentioned in the methodology part of chapter three. The same data have been analyzed in
Tabular forms.

4.1. Data Analysis Based on Employee Responses

4.1.1 General Information about Employees

All of 19 questionnaires distributed to 50 percent of the front line employees within the
service center were returned with full information‟s.

Table 4.1 Employee‟s general information based on service years.

Year of services Frequency Percentage

More than ten years 3 15.8
Five to ten years 7 36.8
One to four years - -
Less than one year 9 47.4
Total 19 100
Source: - Field survey May 2020.

As indicated in the above Table 4.1, all employees have more than one year service of
experience; hence they are expected to give reliable information and efficient service, the service
that they provide to customers.

4.1.2 Assessment on Service Delivery Standards of the Corporation and their Knowledge

Table 4.2 Service Delivery Standards and Employees‟ Knowledge

Variables Alternatives given Frequency Percentage

I. Predetermined 2 10.5
service Strongly disagree
standards for each Disagree 3 15.8
service Partially agree 11 57.9
type Agree 3 15.8
Strongly agree - -
Total 19 100
II. Knowledge Very good 6 31.6
regarding the Good 10 52.6

35
 standards of each Poor 3 15.8
service Very poor - -
Total 19 100
Source: - Field survey May 2020.

One can see from the above Table 4.2 that, substantial numbers of employees do not agree with
the existence of the predetermined service standards for each service. Only 15.8 percent of the
respondents agree to the existence of it, while 26.3 percent of the employees do not agree to the
existence of standards for each service. The remaining 57.9 percent of the respondents partially
agree on this issue. These show that there is a knowledge gap between the employees and the
service standards of the Corporation. To see this gap employees were asked to rate their
knowledge based on the standards of the service.

Variable II in above the Table 4.21 speaks about how well employees know the standard of
service delivery. The result show that 31.6percent of the respondents know the standard of
service very well, 52.6percent of them have good knowledge and the remaining 15.8percent of
them reply as their knowledge is poor. This implies that most of the employees‟ knowledge
about service standards (how they perform and serve the customers) is good.

However, there is a knowledge gap among employees on service standard that has great effect on
customer satisfaction. From this one can say that, there are some services which are performed
by the Corporation without predetermined service standard.

4.1.3 Assessment made on training given and the reasons for absence of it

According to Schneider and Bowen, successful service organization makes a clear commitment
to train the employees who interact with the customers. To see this reality employees were asked
to tell any training they have taken and the reason why for those do not take any training with
regard to service delivery. In other words, customers‟ satisfaction depends on the emphasis given
by the firm. From Table 4.2 below one can see that 7(36.8%) of the employees expressed that
they have taken training on customer service delivery and 12(63.2%) of them have not taken any
training that facilitate the service delivery process.

36
Table 4.3 Training Information

Training taken Choose alternative Frequency Percentage

Yes 7
No 12
Total 19
Reason for not taken Financial problem -
Training Negligence about its 14 73.68
importance
Problem of selection 5 26.31
It is not important to -
train
employees
Total 19 100
Source: - Field survey May 2020.

As indicated in the same Table, the majority of the employees are not provided with any training
on efficient service delivery. The reason why they did not get training is that, 14(73.68%) and
5(26.31%) of employees claim that negligence about benefit of training and problem of selection
for training. Thus efficient service deliver is questionable.

4.1.4 Employees’ Opinion on Complaint Handling Mechanism of the Corporation

Table 4.4 Assessment on Complaint handling mechanism based on employees response

Availability of Choose alternate Frequency Percentage

complaint handling Yes 8 42.1
mechanism No 11 57.9
Total 19 100
If yes, how do you Very good -
rate the mechanism Good 4 50
Moderate 1 12.5
Poor 2 25
Very poor 1 12.5
Total 8 100
Source: - Field survey May 2020.

As shown in the above Table 4.4, 57.9 percent of the employees underlined that there is no well-
designed complain handling mechanism in the Corporation, and 42.1 percent of the respondents
agree on the availability of complain handling mechanism in the Corporation. However, out of
eight respondents who give positive response for the availability of complaint handling
mechanism, 3 (37.5 percent) of them rate it as poor mechanism, 4 (50 percent) of them rate it as
good and nobody rates the complaint handling mechanism as very good. From this one can say
that there is no well-designed complaint handling mechanism available within the corporation.

37
4.1.5 Assessment Made in Empowerment of Employees

Employee empowerment means giving employees the flexibility that can lead to improved
customer service and increased customer satisfaction (CSSP, 2007).

Table 4.5 Assessment Made on Participation of Employees in Decision-Making

Do you participate in Choose Frequency Percentage

decision making? alternative
Yes 5 26.3
No 14 73.7
Total 19 100
Source: - Field survey May 2020.

About 14 (73.7 percent) of the employees responded that, the Corporation does not give any chance for
participation in decision making on issue related with efficient service delivery. Only 5 (26.3 percent) of
the respondents agree that they have chance to participate. Employees stated that the reasons why the
Corporation does not give a chance to participate in decision making are described as follows:

 Existence of dictatorship type of management

 Lack of information flow
 Existence of management problems
 Always decisions are made at top level and employee are forced to do whatever it may be
 Leave aside decision making even the Corporation does not give an opportunity to express ideas
freely.

4.2. Assessment Made on Relationship between Boss and Employees

Table 4.6 Relationship between Boss and Employees

The relationship Choose alternatives Frequency Percentage

between employees Excellent - -
and bosses Very good 1 5.3
Good 7 36.8
satisfactory 1 5.3
Not good 10 52.8
Total 19
Source: - Field survey May 2020.

The above Table 4.6 clearly indicates that the relationship between employees and their bosses found in
the Corporation were rated as not good. (52.8%) the majority of the employees are not satisfied with their
bosses. Only 7 (36.8), 1 (5.3%) of the respondents said that there is good and very good relationship with
their bosses respectively. This indicates that under such environment there can be no smooth working
condition between the employees and their boss to make service delivery efficient.

4.2.1 Employees Opinion on Existence of Gap between Predetermined Goals and Actual
Performance

38
Table 4.7 Existence of Gap on efficient Service Delivery

Existence of efficient Choose alternatives Frequency Percentage

service delivery gap Yes 10 52.6
No 5 26.31
I cannot decide 4 21.05
Total 19 100
Source: - Field survey May 2020.

As it is illustrated in the above Table 4.7, the majority 10 (52.6 percent) of the employees believe
that there is service gap between predetermined goals and actual performances.

Employees were also asked to list down the main problems that exist on efficient service
provision, and they are summarized as follows: there is no enough resource to serve customers
effectively, non-recognition of employees by the management, lack of training and development,
lack of information flow, lack of any competitive firm, system failure especially for prepaid
meter operation, no clear manual and procedure, and poor resource allocation are the main
problems.

4.2 Data Interpretation Obtained from Interviews

In this part, with the help of semi structured questionnaires, interviews were conducted with
marketing and sales chief officer and marketing and sales monitoring officer.

1. Interview with EEU Marketing and Sales Chief Officer

Qn: “Do you feel that your service deliveries are efficient enough?”

Ans: “It is difficult to say that all our service deliveries are fully satisfied because the situation
now in the country is the problem of gap. So, it may not be as efficient as needed”.

Qn: “What improvements have been made to increase service delivery efficiency?”

Ans: “There are some changes. For example, for solving meter reading problem there is rapid
expansion in prepaid meter connection and other services are given based on the assumption of
one stop shopping (one touch service)”.

Qn: “What are the main challenges in efficient service provision?”

Ans: “There is a big demand for power, expansion of network and shortage of distribution
materials”.

Qn: “Are there enough resources available to provide efficient service delivery?”
39
Ans: “It is the main problem of EEU during the last three years. This is because of the shortage
of the hard currency.”

Qn: “Have you ever made any reform in efficient service delivery system?”

Ans: “There is always follow up mechanism for improvement and continuous discussion around
the reform. In addition, there is always feedback from customers and reform team members, and
there is regular meeting of the employees, with the case team, region teams and management
members”.

4 Interview with Marketing and Sales Monitoring Officer

Qn: “Do you feel that your customers are happy with the service they receive from you?”

Ans: “It is difficult to say that all our service deliveries are efficient enough fully because the
situation now in the country is the problem of gap. So, it may not be efficient”.

Qn: “What improvements have been made to increase service delivery efficiency?”

Ans: “The Corporation applies various reforms to increase efficiency of service delivery. For
instance, civil service reforms, result oriented activities, Quick win, and recently business
process reengineering are implemented. On top of that, the Corporation reduces different contact
points and makes it as one stop shopping mechanism. However, still we need to more”.

Qn: “What are the main challenges in efficient service provision?”

Ans: “There is a great problem of power supply and resources. However, presently government
gives more attention in construction of dams to solve power supply problem.

Qn: “Are there enough resources available to provide efficient service delivery?”

Ans: “There is a great problem of distribution materials like transformer, Kwh meter, and
different type of cables. Other related materials are also not available in sufficient quantity. As a
result, the Corporation is not able to deliver efficient services”.

Qn: “Have you ever made any reform in efficient service delivery system?”

Ans: “Definitely. In recent time the Corporation implemented BPR and by doing this it set
standards for each activity based on quality, quantity, cost and time. And now we are evaluating
of BPR results”.

40
The above information from interviews shows that there exists a very serious problem of
distribution materials. The information obtained from employees and officials indicate that as a
result of material shortage it is difficult to deliver desired efficient services.

Both officials believe that there may be dissatisfied customers on service delivery. They
informed that various reforms are being implemented for improvement of efficient service
delivery. Moreover, both officials raise the impact of hard currency and the shortage of power
supply to meet the rapidly increasing demands.

41
 CHAPTER FIVE
5.1Summary of Findings
5.2 Conclusions
5.3 Recommendations

5.1 Summary of Findings

Public enterprises have been considered as a key operational instrument to achieve economic and
social development and to bring technological innovation in a number of developing countries. It
exists primarily to represent the government‟s interventionist objectives in the economy. In this
regard, EEU recognized its functions on the basis of the principles of commercialization and
decentralization to provide an adequate and efficient service. In this part of the Thesis, the
summary of findings of the study is derived from the analysis of both the primary and secondary
data. However, the data source is mainly emphasized on the primary data that had been collected
from different respondents through questionnaires and interviews. Based on the analysis of the
service delivery practice and customer satisfaction, the following findings are identified.

5.1.1 Findings:
 Almost all of the respondents believe that effective service delivery process and service
quality are important.

 Employees of the Corporation have problems in telling customers exactly when the
service will be performed. This may result in unwanted behavior.

 The majority of the customers are not satisfied for the up to date modern equipments
and the ability of the physical facilities to attract customers‟ visions. However,
customers are satisfied with cleanliness of employees and the location of office.

 There is a great problem of system failure, shortage of network, tariff problem and
lack of orientation on how to use the new technology.

42
  Employees training contribute much to the quality service provision. However, the
majority (63.2%) of them have not taken any training on customer satisfaction service.
There is also negligence about benefit of training and problem of selection for training.

 The majority of employees claim that the Corporation does not give any chance for
participation in decision making process on issues related to service delivery.

 Substantial numbers of employees do not agree to the existence of predetermined service

standards for each service type, and there is a knowledge gap between the employees
and the service standards.

5.2 Conclusions
The issue of efficient service delivery is becoming a global concern that demands continuous
reform to fit the turbulent environment.

Since, energy is the most vital and dominant factor to the development of a country, the need for
equitable development of the energy sector in parallel with other social and economic
developments. The country is well endowed with hydro power potential, which in turn could
help in the expansion of hydro-electric generation to meet the growing demand of energy in
various parts of the country. It is well known that all manufacturing enterprises, service
organizations and individual households are heavily dependent on electricity power.

In service rendering organizations the key components of their function is providing efficient
service to their customers. This efficient service is attained through performance improvement
which measures a particular process or procedure.

This study paper is prepared to assess service delivery practice of EEU in SAAR customer
service centers.

To do so, both the primary and the secondary data were gathered by using structured
questionnaire, key informant interviews and written documents. Structured questionnaires and
interview guides were prepared to gather data from employees and key informants respectively.
Both qualitative and quantitative descriptions were applied on the data gathered to analyze the
information obtained. By undertaking a detailed analysis of the situation, the following points are
obtained.

 The service given by the Corporation has improved from the previous times. In spite of
that there is still a problem in delivering efficient service.

43
 There is great availability problem of material resources; like transformer, Kwh meter,
cables, automatic, insulated wire and other materials which are important for technical
work.

 There is no clear and predetermined service standard for each activity and there is a
knowledge gap between employees and the service standard.

 The efficient service delivery level in the area is highly affected by poor performance of
the Corporation in its new customer handling practice, service failure recovery procedure
and complaint handling process in the Corporation. Therefore, the Corporation service is
below the average expectation of the customers.

 System failure, shortage of network, tariff problem and lack of orientation on how to use
the new technology have been the problems for prepaid meter users.

 The Corporation has a service quality gap with every dimension of the service efficiency.
However, the empathy dimension is relatively better than others.

 The Corporation does not give adequate training to its employees on how to serve their
customers properly and it does not try to empower them.

44
5.3 Recommendations
Concerning the efficiency of service delivery practice in EEU, the following recommendations
are forwarded.

 To provide excellent efficiency service, EEU should operate in the competitive

environment that should be done through contracting out some part of the service
to external bodies.

 The Corporation faces big problems in service failure and recovery procedure,
complaint handling and new connection process. Thus the Corporation has to
revise its service process and procedure based on gathering feed backs from both
employees.

 Predetermined service standard is vital to control service efficiency and

performance of employees. Based on the findings, there are no clear procedures
and predetermined service standards for some activities. Thus, the Corporation
has to establish a clear and precise service standards and working procedures to
measure each service standards, working procedures to measure each service
encounter quality and its performance to take corrective action in its weak
performance, and to reward its employees based on predetermined standards.

 To increase efficiency level of service delivery, the Corporation has to introduce

or develop different payment mechanisms like through banking system, at kebele
level, arranging working time especially for workers who cane not pay at regular
payment period and using new technology to pay the bill.

 Currently, the Corporation introduces new technology like prepaid meter which
has its own problem. For instance, there is a problem of network, system failure,
tariff problem (asking estimated tariff) and lack of knowledge how to use and
operate. Before introducing a new system into the corporation intensively, the
corporation has to take survey and give adequate training and development to the
respective employees.

45
 The Corporation has great resource problems. Thus, adequate resource
management is vital for the corporation. In addition to this, when there is shortage
of technical materials especially for new connection activity, the customers
should be allowed to purchase the material and give timely service.

 The way employees are treated by their management has a direct impact on the
way those employees treat the customers. Therefore, the Corporation has to treat
its employees as it wants them to treat its customers by giving recognition and
rewards for those who perform well.

 The Corporation should provide continuous training to its employees regarding

how to serve customers in appropriate way and empower its front line employees
to give punctual service without any delay.

 The Corporation has to create effective communication mechanism internally as

well as externally through effective feedback on performance in order to
minimize the performance gaps in service delivery.

46
 Appendix I

Addis Ababa University

School of Graduate Studies MBA Program

Questionnaires for employees

Sir/Madam, the purpose of this questionnaire is to gather data regarding the Efficiency of Service
delivery and in power sector the case of EEU Addis Ababa region. The study is purely for
academic purpose and thus does not affect you in any case. Your genuine, frank, timely response
is vital for the success of the study. Therefore, I kindly request you to respond to each question
item carefully and oblige.

Yours sincerely Amha.

Note: 1 No need of writing your name.

2. Please return the completed questionnaire in time.

Questions related to topic

1. For how long are you in the service of the corporation?

A. More than 10 years B. 1- 4 years C. 5 – 10 years D. Less than 1 year

2. Do you agree that there are clearly predetermined efficient service standards for each
service types?

A. Strongly disagree B. Agree C. Disagree D. Strongly Agree

3. Your knowledge regarding the standard of your service delivery is?

A. Very Good B. Good C. Moderate D. Poor E. Very Poor

4. Do you agree that the customers have high expectation of service delivery from you?

A. Strongly disagree B. Agree C. Disagree D. Strongly Agree

47
5. Have you ever taken any training in relation to customer service quality?

A .Yes B. No

6. If your answer for question number 5 is “No” what do you think is the reason for that?

A. Financial constrain B. Lack of knowledge about its important C. There is a problem of

selection for training D. It is not important to train employees as such

7. How do you rate the relationship between employees and the boss in your organization?

A. Excellent B. Very Good C. Good D. Satisfactory E. Not Good

8. Does your organization give a chance to employees to participate in decision making with
regard to service delivery?

A. Yes B. No

9. If your answer is “No” what do you think the reasons to be?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

10. Do you think that there is a gap between your predetermined goals and objectives and the
actual performance of your service delivery?

A. Yes B. No C. May be

11. Is there any well designed complaint handling mechanisms in your organization?

A. Yes B. No

12. If your response for the previous question is “Yes” How do you rate the customer complaints
handling mechanisms in your organization?

A. Very Good B. Good C. Moderate D. Poor E. Very Poor

48
13. What are the major problems in service provision in your organization?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

14 Do you have any comments or suggestions to make with regard to the service provision?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________

49
 Appendix II

Addis Ababa University

School of Graduate Studies MBA Program

(Interview)

Your Position ______________________________________

1. How do you deal with the customers in your Corporation?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

2. Do you feel that your customers are happy with the service they receive from the Corporation?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

3. What improvements have made to increase customer satisfaction?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

4. What are the achievements of EEU and the challenges it faces with regard to service delivery?
Explain
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

5. Are the resources enough to meet customers‟ satisfaction? If not, specify the resources you
lake and where from to avail those? _____________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

6. Have you ever made any reform in service delivery system in order to satisfy your customers?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

7. Is there any project/ plan related to improve service quality in future?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

50
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