ABSTRACT
Private companies have always had to concentrate on their reason for being in business, the customer. While some may argue this premise, companies that are not customer-oriented enough usually find themselves out of business. It is a relatively new phenomenon in the public sector, however, to use the word “customer” when referring to the consumers of government services. Terms like “benchmarking,” “strategic planning,” and “total quality management,” once re-served for the private sector, are used frequently today in most government offices. What has caused this change? Federal agencies are modifying for various reasons, but much of the recent change is due to the passage by Congress of the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA).
