Development of public sector customers

The objective of the analysis was, first, to follow how customers appeared and were introduced in the documents. Second, a methodological aim was to support the discursive interview data and provide a more concrete basis for the analysis. Thus, the interview analyses were conducted prior to the historical analysis and the findings from the interviews were utilised when analysing the documents. Methodological contributions will be discussed later in the Methodological and theoretical contributions section.

My first research question was:

How has the concept of customer historically developed in four public sector organisations?

The concept of customer evolved similarly in the documents in all four organisations despite the different fields of work and character of the organisations. In the 1980s customers appeared in the documents mainly abstractly, as numbers, and the word customer was rarely used. The Finnish Road Administration adopted the customer approach earlier than the other organisations, in the 1980s. The customer concept became more identifiable in the 1990s and was more intensively introduced in the documents in the 2000s. The use of the word customer was thus identified in all organisations, though it was not widely used in the day care context. In the Helsinki University Library the concept of customer as an object of work had evolved more slowly than in the other organisations.

Similar conceptions were identified in the interview analyses and the analysed documents. In the 1990s the conception of individuality appeared in the City of Tampere documents, while the Finnish Road Administration documents referred to participatory customers. Customers were to a large extent understood as active agents in the discourse in the 2000s, but especially the City of Tampere and the Finnish Road Administration also recognised customers as participatory and influential. In the City of Espoo expansion of customers toward networks and multiple service providers was identified.

A contextual and historical analysis showed how the discourse introduced, adapted and implemented the concept of customer in each organisation. Also, the documents demonstrated how intensively the concept evolved. The historical analysis revealed that the beginnings of the profound rise of the New Public Management in the 1980s were only minimally identified by the organisations in that decade. The language and implementation of the New Public Management as well as customer discourse, however, became more

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frequent and identifiable in the following decades, especially in the 2000s. Similarly, expressions of customers as the object of work, in the way they are understood in this study, became richer and more identifiable in the 2000s. The findings, particularly in the elderly care and day care context, suggested that simultaneously with the New Public Management, humanistic and democratic approaches were increasingly represented in the evolving concept of customer.

The findings supported the hypothesis that the concept of customer had developed in the discourse in the studied organisations along with the introduction of the New Public Management approach, which reflected developments at a wider societal level. The concept of customer in the public sector, therefore, has not evolved on its own. Instead, the concept has cultural-historical roots and is part of the construction of the object of activity, which is closely related to the historical development of organisations and their political-ideological values and policies (see Pirkkalainen, 2003, p. 180).

Several researches have recognised the challenges regarding political-ideological values found in the New Public Management approach (Aberbach & Christensen, 2005; Emery &

Giauque, 2005; Fountain, 2001; Richter & Cornford; Needham, 2006). The challenges concerned issues of rights, choice, responsibilities, and equality in public services, which are related to the relationship between citizenship and the customer approach. Newman and Vidler (2006) showed in their study that the shift from collective needs toward individual demand and choice was interpreted simplistically in the analysed policy documents regardless of its fundamental significance. The benefits of the business tools implemented in the public sector have been identified, such as the reduction of the one-sided power of government (du Gay, 1996). Now the issues of citizenship and business orientation, as well as political-ideology, need to be addressed and explored. In organisation studies, for example, political-ideology is often ignored or taken for granted as a context of the study.

The historical analysis in this study identified, on the one hand, a simplistic shift towards market-oriented activities emphasising customers’ influential and participatory role, and, on the other hand, a shift towards understanding customers as the object of work. Thus, the documents suggest that the New Public Management is rooted in ideas such as public choice, humanistic public administration and democratisation (Gruening, 2001).

The methodological salience of the historical and contextual analysis lies in its relation to the interview analyses, and allows for applying the principle of ascending from the abstract to the concrete (Il’enkov, 1977; Marx, 1867). Firstly, following this principle, a simplified and generalised understanding of customers was introduced in the documents.

This generalisation was adopted from the New Public Management, but also to some extent from humanistic and democratic approaches.

Secondly, the interviews provided interpretations of official policies and policy documents, which revealed changes in the object and conflicts encountered in ‘real world’

and day-to-day work settings. Thus, movement can be seen here between 1) theories, ideologies, and concepts which are widely applied across a number of countries in the public sector, and their application as generalised concepts in local policies and policy documents;

2) local and contextual interpretations of concepts in use. I continue by responding to research questions two, three, and four and then discuss the findings of the interview analyses.

160 10.2. Changes in the object of work

In comparison with the historical analysis, the interview analyses provided a more profound understanding and interpretation of the concept of customer and changes in customers as the object of work. Several analytical tools and methods were utilised to analyse the interviews, which thus were considered as the main data of this study. The findings were reported in Chapters Seven, Eight, and Nine, and all these chapters analysed the interviewees’ expressed interpretations of customers as the object of work. Chapter Seven investigated general statements of customers, whereas Chapter Eight contextualised and integrated customers in a designated part of the organisations’ activities: evaluation processes. In Chapter Nine the emphasis was on the changing character of customers as the object of work; this also included proactive and future-oriented conceptions. The findings of the analyses presented in each chapter were to some extent intertwined, and conflicting situations and temporal movement were identified throughout the data.

My second research question was:

How is the concept of customer conveyed in the discourse of public sector organisation employees?

Quantitative calculations suggested that dynamic discourse was dominant; thus, this indicates understanding customers as a concrete object of work. The Helsinki University Library was the only studied organisation in which the majority of customer discourse occurrences was dynamic. In the City of Espoo the emphasis was equally on dynamic and possibility discourse, whereas in the Finnish Road Administration the emphasis was on stabilising customer discourse. In the City of Tampere possibility discourse was dominant.

These quantitative findings, however, provided only generalisations of the concept of public sector customer.

A qualitative analysis revealed the manifold way in which an understanding of customers was produced by using a variety of linguistic and thematic expressions. Customers were realised abstractly in the discourse by using linguistic cues revealing emphasis on organisational priorities, classification style, and decontextualisation. Thematic expressions abstracting customers revealed: an imbalance between the customers’ and organisations’

needs; a blurred division of labour regarding responsibilities; and a diminishing of customers’ position in service provision. The stabilising discourse indicated organisations’

alienation from customers and their needs in service encounters as well as repetition of the New Public Management discourse. The abstraction of customers was identified in rapidly implemented new concepts and tools, and organisational restructuring as a top-down process (Vygotsky, 1987; Engeström. et al. 2005).

Dynamic discourse was produced by using a variety of thematic expression and by contextualising customers temporally and locally in narratives. Future-oriented discourse was especially emphasised in the Helsinki University findings. Thematic expressions concerned understanding customers and employees as a unity, which influenced how services were developed, and interpretations of how the object of work had changed and customer focus had increased. Rich descriptions of customers as the object of work showed profound efforts in conceptualising the customer as ‘real’.

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The possibility discourse revealed movement and balancing between stabilising discourse and dynamic discourse, thus highlighting new possibilities for development of the concept. Such discourse was produced by utilising a number of thematic expressions regarding customers and customer encounters. Confusion was identified about who customers are, which resembled Paarlberg’s (2007) findings regarding his study on customers in the New Public Management settings. Also identified was a novel understanding of personnel as a customer (du Gay, 1996). The analysis revealed manifold descriptions of conflicting situations concerning balancing between customers’ needs and organisational resources and focus. Tensions between serving customers and being professional and the uncertainty of the boundaries of work tasks indicated conflicting situations. Similar findings were identified by Newman and Vidler (2006) in their study on customers in the New Public Management context in Great Britain. Such conflicting situations are manifestations of a contradiction, and they need to be explained by elaborating the initial contradiction (Il’enkov, 1977; see also Newman & Vidler, 2006).

My third research question was:

How are customers understood as evaluators of services conveyed in the discourse of public sector organisation employees?

Quantitatively examined the findings suggested that passive and stabilising customer discourses on evaluating customers dominated the data. Thus, the described integration of customers in evaluation processes was not optimal, either from the perspective of customers or that of employees. In the City of Espoo and the City of Tampere the emphasis was on passive and stabilising discourses. In the Finnish Road Administration the discourse appeared mainly as active and dynamic. Passive and stabilising discourses were absent in the findings from the Helsinki University Library; thus the emphasis was on active and dynamic discourses on customers.

Conceptualisation of customers was expressed by interviewees by using a variety of linguistic cues and thematic expressions. In the City of Espoo customers appeared in the discourse as both active and contextualised quality controllers and passive decontextualised evaluators of services. Occasionally, customers were hidden behind organisational priorities. A change from collecting feedback as numbers toward qualitative ‘down to earth goals’ was described, suggesting a conceptualisation of customers concretely rather than abstractly.

The findings in the City of Tampere showed that occasionally customers were given an active position in the discourse, but at the same time inadequate inquiries were explained as the reason for abstracting customers. Therefore, the object of inquiries seemed to be inquiries themselves rather than customers, which created conflicting situations in work practices. Similar findings were identified in the City of Espoo.

In the Finnish Road Administration the findings indicated that, on the one hand, customers were contextualised and given an active role as quality controllers, while on the other hand, they were given a passive role as being managed by the organisation. The analysis revealed tensions between the Finnish Road Administration, customers, and service providers. Customers’ position was diminished through the service providers’ business objectives of profit, which affected the customer focus.

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The Helsinki University Library data was very small; only two quotations were identified as representing active and concrete discourse. Evaluation procedures were not discussed widely in the interviews, but linguistic cues suggested that customers had a position in building the library’s customer-orientated practices.

The findings revealed aims toward integrating customers as active participants in end-product evaluations, which the New Public Management approach recommends focusing on. Some researchers have argued that issues of control have received increasing attention in regard to feedback and evaluation processes and that a return to Taylorism can be identified in regard to quality management (du Gay & Salaman, 1992; Lorentz, 2012, Patomäki, 2007; Vaara, 2004). Thus, in addition to using customers’ evaluations as a tool to improve service, it can also be used as an instrument for control. Customers are therefore provided with a significant position in the exercise of power over employees, which blurs the boundaries between employees and customers. This study identified customers’ position as active quality controllers. But customers were also abstracted from practice by being hidden behind organisational priorities and jargon, or even being controlled by the organisation. This finding implied the conceptualising of customers as in mass production:

easily pleased ‘passive recipients of services’ instead of ‘active, enterprising, searching, innovating, and forcing change customers’ (du Gay & Salaman, 1992, p. 618). The purchaser-provider splits implemented and the use of external service providers strengthened the issues of control, but they also created new relationships between agents in regard to evaluation processes. Not only customers were given opportunities to exercise power over employees, but private sector service providers were also able to use their position for their own benefits and ignore customers to some extent.

The finding that evaluation practices and particularly evaluation tools were not purposeful and did not initiate actions to develop services revealed challenges in conceptualising customers as the object of work. Similarly, despite the discourse on participatory and influential citizens, such aims were not necessarily realised. A number of conflicting situations were described in regard to these findings, thus revealing challenges in conceptualising public sector customers within the framework of the New Public Management.

My fourth research question was:

What possibilities of expansion of the concept of customer can be detected in the discourse of the public sector organisation employees?

The fourth research question explored the dimensions of expansion of the concept of customers. The analysis suggested two dimensions illustrating the dynamics of the concept:

social and temporal expansion. In regard to the quantitative calculations, occurrences of social and temporal expansion of the concept of customer were equal, but quantitative elaboration provided a variety of expressions regarding the concept.

Firstly, in the City of Espoo the social expansion of customers was expressed as expansion of individuals towards collective customers, including families and next to kin.

Secondly, expansion was explained as multiple opportunities for customers to participate in and influence service provision. Thirdly, social expansion included the varied needs of customers due to multiple illnesses. Temporal expansion was described with the movement from past to present to future, movement between different customer generations, and movement on the care path between short-term and long-term care periods.

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The data in the City of Tampere revealed the dimensions of expansion, which included the participation of families, the influence and participation of customers in service production, and personnel as customers. Temporal expansion was expressed as movement from past to present to future and movement between different customer generation.

In the Finnish Road Administration the social expansion of customers was realised in the discourse as expansion of road user customers toward multiple customer groups, and the expansion of customers to service providers. Temporal expansion appeared from past to present to future.

In the Helsinki University Library, social expansion appeared as the varied needs of customers due to digitalisation, interdisciplinarity, and internationalisation, and as fragmented customership. The temporal expansion was expressed as movement from past to present to future and movement between different generations. The library data revealed a substantial future orientation.

The analysis suggested that the expansion of customers in all the organisations studied was realised in the discourse in manifold ways, revealing the dynamic character of the concept and the dynamic understanding of customers as the object of work. Expansion from individual customers toward collective customers, and at the same time, expansion of customers’ individual needs, demands, and opportunities to exercise influence were identified. Such findings reflected both the New Public Management ideology and the approaches of democracy. In the library context, expanded customers in the form of fragmented customership prevented rather than promoted approaching customers and their needs as a whole.

The analysis suggested new relationships and the blurring of traditionally understood internal and external participants in service provision. Employees were understood as customers of managers, which changed the relationship between participants in service provision. A similar change was identified regarding service providers as customers.

The temporal dimensions analysed revealed descriptions of how an understanding of customers as the object of work had changed, as well as how customers as the object of work had expanded. The findings suggested that both changes that have been beneficial for customers and changes that have caused frustration revealed the dynamic character of the customer concept. The descriptions of the temporal development of the concept following the New Public Management approach seemed to be continuing and affecting employees’

work. The future prospects were to some extent related to reduced resources, but also to technological development. A number of conflicting situations were identified, which created tensions for employees in service encounters. The next discusses the conflicting situations identified in the interview analyses.

10.3. Conflicting situations

The analysis revealed a number of thematically described tensions and conflicting situations expressed by the interviewees. In cultural-historical activity theory, and thus in this study, tensions, conflicts, and disturbances are understood as manifestations of contradictions which trigger learning and development. Conflicts identified in empirical data can be interpreted with the help of the theoretical concept of contradiction (Il’enkov, 1977).

The interviews in the City of Espoo revealed a number of descriptions of conflicting situations regarding either service encounters or relations between customers and their relatives. Such situations were initiated by the greater opportunity of customers and/or their

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relatives to exercise influence, as well as by the growing number of customers with multiple illnesses that are challenging for personnel working with insufficient resources. Similar findings regarding influential customers were reported, for instance by Newman and Vidler (2006). They identified, in the British health and social care context, tensions and conflicts occurring on a regular basis between customers and personnel regarding needs, wants, choice, and equity.

In the City of Tampere the conflicting situations concerned service encounters with parents and their better possibilities of influencing recruitment processes and the organisation of work. Considering the character of education professionals’ work, constant interaction, negotiation, and dialogue between personnel and customers is required. New ideologies and concepts such as the New Public Management and educational partnership may challenge the dialogue and roles of care givers and parents; thus a balance between care participants is needed. In the Finnish context Helinko (2012, p. 15) and Kiesiläinen, (2004, p. 92) identified tensions rising easily when customers’ wishes and demands contradicted day care professionals’ viewpoints. From the perspective of citizenship, however, also opposing conflicts were identified. Citizens’ possibilities of influencing decision-making the way it was presented in policies was not necessarily realised. Further,

In the City of Tampere the conflicting situations concerned service encounters with parents and their better possibilities of influencing recruitment processes and the organisation of work. Considering the character of education professionals’ work, constant interaction, negotiation, and dialogue between personnel and customers is required. New ideologies and concepts such as the New Public Management and educational partnership may challenge the dialogue and roles of care givers and parents; thus a balance between care participants is needed. In the Finnish context Helinko (2012, p. 15) and Kiesiläinen, (2004, p. 92) identified tensions rising easily when customers’ wishes and demands contradicted day care professionals’ viewpoints. From the perspective of citizenship, however, also opposing conflicts were identified. Citizens’ possibilities of influencing decision-making the way it was presented in policies was not necessarily realised. Further,