By John AlfordGovernment reformers urge the adoption of a private-sector-style “customer focus,” but critics see it as inappropriate to the public sector, in particular because it devalues citizenship. This article first argues that most public-sector organization-client interactions differ from the private-sector customer transaction. But second, it proposes that the central feature of the customer model-the notion of exchange-can be broadened in a way that accentuates the importance of administrators’ responsiveness to their publics. In a social-exchange perspective, government organizations need things from service recipients-such as cooperation and compliance-which are crucial for effective organizational performance; eliciting those things necessitates meeting not only people’s material needs but also their symbolic and normative ones.

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The TUC is applauding a partnership experiment between the Inland Revenue and the public and commercial services union PCS which attempts to encourage a work-life balance.Inland Revenue employees in the South East of England are experimenting with their working patterns in an effort to strike a more satisfying work-life balance whilst responding to the needs of the service.

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A new report suggests that some of the efforts to end bed-blocking (PublicNet Briefing, Tuesday, 30 July 2002) may not be sustainable.The view comes in the 11th Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Social Services, Denise Platt.

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