Changing logos won’t fix problems in public sector – Robert Hinson

The government will have to do more than just rebranding Ghana by changing logos and names of public institutions, as that alone will not restore the poor work ethic and bad customer service that exist within the public service, former head of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the University of Ghana Business School, Professor Robert Hinson has said.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Prof. Hinson indicated that government’s supposed “rebranding” will not yield the desired results since it is just one of the many other viable options available.

Prof. Hinson was commenting on complaints of poor customer service at some public agencies including the passport office, DVLA and Ghana Post.

“I heard the Minister of Information say they are going to rebrand Ghana, we are going to give Ghana one coherent brand for all public sector institution. Changing logos and colours is just one part of the issue. Every brand has a hard side and a soft side. The soft side issues are not being tackled and that is the problem so most of these public sector leaders don't have a clue about how to deliver superlative customer experiences. “

The seeming disconnect between President Nana Akuffo Addo's grand vision and poor services delivered by state agencies has triggered concerns about government’s ability to sanitize the public sector to propel national development.

But Prof. Hinson believes a re-orientation of the public sector will resolve the diverse challenges facing the public sector.

The reorientation, according to him, should begin from the “translation of the big promises into plans, blue print , benchmarks, measurements, parameters.”

“When you develop a service strategy there are instruments that you put in place to deliver and till that happens , we will keep talking and talking and nothing will improve,” he added.

Prof. Hinson added that services delivered by government agencies will not improve until there is a diligent effort to transform customer service delivery.

Ghanaian workers have become clock watchers – Nana Addo 

His suggestion comes days after the President expressed concerns about the poor working attitude by most Ghanaian employees at the May Day Celebration held at the Independence Square in Accra.

He indicated that majority of the Ghanaian workforce after arriving at work , spend most of the time praying and engaging in other unproductive activities.

“We arrive at work late and then spend the first hour in prayer, we become clock watchers and leave in the middle of critical work because it is the official closing time. Everything comes to a stop when it rains and we seem to expect the rest of the world also to stop.”

“We have no respect for the hours set aside for work. We pray, we eat, we visit during working hours. We spend hours chatting on the telephone… we take a week off for every funeral and then we wonder why we are not competitive,” President Akufo-Addo stated.

But his claim was disputed by the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG).

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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