Expectation management for public sector organizations

Transparency and collecting stakeholder feedback are becoming the norm also in the public sector. Though much of feedback is related to stakeholder experiences, we propose that it is more beneficial to study expectations than experiences, as expectations affect future satisfaction. This study reports a process of collecting and analyzing stakeholder expectations in one health-care oriented public sector organization in Finland, and reports how these expectations and their implications were assessed by the organization's top management. The study suggests that to ensure stakeholder satisfaction and organizational success, top management should be guided to work through the feedback. We propose a "fix or fit" approach where expectations are first grouped and then analyzed as either something that requires changing of organizational functions, or as something that requires guiding of stakeholders' expectations to fit existing functions. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.