USING QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT TO EVALUATE GOVERNMENT SERVICES FROM THE CUSTOMER'S PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

In this study, we examined the application of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to the evaluation of government services in view of the customers' perspective. We studied winter road maintenance services of the City of Sapporo as an example of QFD application to road maintenance, a public service. Using a descriptive questionnaire, we identified the items of dissatisfaction among road users and quantified their importance. We show QFD, which is based on the philosophy of designing a product by converting market needs into the technical aspects required for the product to meet those needs, to be highly useful for such evaluation.