Enhancing Service Quality: The Role of Tenant Participation and Empowerment in Community Parks

Introduction

Participation and empowerment of the tenants provides an opportunity to the service providers to improve the quality and efficiency of the services as the tenants are involved with the process and they can share their understanding and necessities to get appropriate services. It is hereby important for the service providers to involve the tenants or the public to involve in the process to maximise efficiency and usefulness of the services (Silverman, 2018). The aim of the study is to discuss the importance of involving the tenants in the process the strategies of involving the people successfully in the social campaign. The study also provides a scope to identify the barriers of involving the people and evaluate the models of involving the individuals in the service f community park in the locality, which is arranged by the local counsellor.

Aims of the community park

To open the community park in the locality

To engage the people in the locality for influencing decision and exercising their rights

To raise awareness, improve participation and partnership working for developing community project successfully

To identify the barriers and explore the strategy to improve participation of the community residents

Barriers of engaging people and improving participation

There are several barriers for which the service providers fail to involve the individuals in the process. The major barriers are lack of communication and cooperation for which it is difficult for the service providers to improve engagement with the public. In the society, it is necessary to involve all the public, living in that society, so that it is possible to take active part for the tenants in the social campaign. However, due to effective translation and interpretation, it becomes difficult to engage with the individuals, living in the society. It is hard to connect them due to lack of translation and information sharing activities. The interest of the residents in involving with the campaign of opening Community Park in the locality is also less due to lack of attachment and information sharing process. On the other hand, there is lack of communication which is another serious issue of poor involvement of the individuals in the social campaign (Frediani, Peris and Boni, 2019). This further raises the issue of lack of cooperation where the people feel excluded from the social campaign. Hereby, poor communication and non-cooperation are the major barriers of improving participation of the individuals in the social campaign of opening Community Park. On the other hand, there is lack of facilities to arrange the meeting in the society so that the individuals have the scope to involve with the social campaign and take active initiative in the process. Hereby, meeting as well as open communication and collaboration are required for the local counsellor to improve involvement of the residents in the social campaign to open the Community Park (Davies and Millward Hayes, 2010).

Additionally, there are other issues which are lack of appropriate transport, lack of proper communication and difficulties in attending meetings due to inappropriate locations which raise problems in attending in the social campaign, where the individuals find it hard to participate in the service process and take active art in the social campaign (Foot, 2009). There are other attitude barriers due to cultural diversity, failure to understand the topic of the social campaign, discriminatory attitude and lack of network to involve with others. The individuals do not feel attached with the social campaign due to discriminatory attitude and lack of concern and importance of them in opening the Community Park (Silverman, 2018). Financial resource problem and timing are other issues in improving individual’s participation and involvement in the Community Park. It is the responsibility of the local counsellor of the locality as well as the service providers to improve their strategies so that it is possible to create proper environment of engaging with all the individuals in the society, so that there would be appropriate participation and empowerment of the individuals, living in the society for successful establishment of the Community Park (Blackshaw, 2012). In order to create the social campaign, it is necessary for the service providers to engage with all the individuals and raise their interest by empowering them in the process. Hereby, it is essential to identify the strategies to improve involvement and participation of the individuals, living in the society, so that they get empowered in the social campaign and make positive contribution to achieve success (Pawson, et al., 2011).

Strategies to overcome the barriers for improving empowerment and participation

It is necessary for the organisations or the individual who are engaged in arranging the social campaign to create an atmosphere where it is possible to engage with the public and the tenants in the social campaign, so that they can get the chance to share their opinion and get empowered in the campaign. It is necessary to improve engagement and participation for getting different views and opinion from the people and implement the best one to make the campaign successful. Proper engagement of thee people with the social campaign is beneficial to make the campaign efficient and achieve success in the society through the campaign. There are different ways to make the social campaign successful by improving the participation and engagement of the individuals, living in the society. First of all, it is necessity to improve communication and cooperation so that the people get effective information about the campaign of developing Community Park and they become interested to tale active part in it. For enhancing communication, it is necessary to develop both verbal and non verbal communications. For verbal communication, it is important to share the knowledge and activities on the social campaigning verbally by open communication, arranging meeting by involving the people in the society and positive interaction with the residents. Hereby, it is necessary for the service providers to arrange meetings and invite the social communities for enhancing with them and improving their participation in the process. Additionally, it is necessary to improve verbal communication through direct interactions with the people in the society and it would be possible for the service providers to build string relationship with them and motivate them to take active part in the social campaign. Hereby, verbal communication is required for making the social campaign successful by improving engagement of the individuals, living in the society and empowering them in the Community Park (Beresford and Boxall, 2013).

On the other hand, non verbal communication is important for the service providers to make positive contribution of the social communities, where sharing information is necessary for the service providers to increase interest of the community people to get engaged with the social campaign. In this regard, printing leaflets and distributing it across the social communities is one of the effective ways to involve the people and give them importance in attending the social campaign (Gilchrist, 2004). This further helps to raise their interest to take active part in the social campaign and contribute positively to make the campaign successful for the benefits of the society. In addition to this, the programmer needs to share all the information related to the event such as purpose of the event or social campaign, necessity of participation of the social communities, activities of the social campaign and the venue and time (Lardier Jr, 2018). This information must be shared through the leaflets so that it can encourage the people to take active part in the process of the events. Additionally, developing appropriate poster with the picture of Community Park is also necessary which would be able to encourage the individuals to take active part and get empowered in the process (Adamson and Bromley, 2008).

Designing the logo for the social campaign is necessary for motivating the individuals in the society, where the people can take active part in the event. Logo design with effective tag line is hereby effective strategy to improve empowerment and participation of the social communities in the social campaign, where the logo and appropriate message can motivate the people to engage with the campaign successfully (Burgess and Choudary, 2017). On the other hand, in the recent era of globalisation and digitalisation, social media platform is essential and helpful to share the information and knowledge related to the event of Community Park and it is a platform where two way communications between the counsellor and the tenants can be developed. Hereby, the service providers need to utilise social media platform to engage the social communities and share the important messages and information with the individuals, across different social communities. Through social media message and activities, the programmers can engage a wide range of social communities across the country and increase their interest to take participation in the social campaign. Effective development of the FaceBook post with attractive pictures of the Community Park, logo of the park and tag line as well as proper information about the purpose and aim of the Community Park are effective for the counsellor to engage the residents across the social communities and empower them efficiently in the process of events. In addition to this, Twitter is another social media platform, where the services providers can engage with different social communities and influence them positively to take part in the event. Appropriate message and posts in Twitter would also be useful for the service providers to improve participation and empowerment of the people in the society.

In addition to the communication strategy, it is necessary to improve cooperation for active participation of the respondents in the social campaign. It is necessary for the service providers to cooperate with the social communities and motivate them for taking part in the events so that it is possible to empower them positively in the social campaign. Public involvement is necessary for making the campaign successful and in this context positive cooperation and partnership working process would be effective strategic planning for improving engagement with the people in the society (Blue, Rosol and Fast, 2019). Respecting each participants and showing integrity are the strategy for positive engagement in the society for making successful social event. Additionally, managing transparency and accountability is necessary for the people to engage the social communities and apart from that, it is necessary to improve integrity and create values for the social communities so that they feel special and encouraged to get engaged with the activities of the social campaign. Partnership working tactic is one of the effective strategies to improve cooperation with the individuals, living in the society. For partnership working, empowerment of the social communities is necessary and also it is essential to encourage them for sharing their opinion and make their contribution worthwhile in the events. On the other hand, for enhancing cooperation, it is required to create values for the social communities and encourage them to participate in the process for making the campaign successful (Kotus and Sowada, 2017). Hereby, cooperation, empowerment of the public and their engagement in the events will be the success factors for arranging the social campaign efficiently.

In this regard, the involvement wheel is the theory through which it is possible to understand the practice and strategy of involving the social communities in the social campaign. In this regard, as per the wheel, communication with the social communities, open discussion, engagement of the individuals, feedback management and the social involvement are effective to empower the people in the social campaign and create values for them by continuous motivation and engagement (Power and Willmot, 2007). Additionally, as per the wheel, listening, responding, measuring the outcome and information sharing are the activities to engage with all the residents in the society and motivate them to take active participation in the event of developing Community Park (Gaventa, 2006).

Hereby, it can be stated that, for positive engagement of the social communities in the social campaign depends on empowerment of the people and feedback management so that the feedback of the participants matters in arranging the event in the society. Giving them importance and involving them efficiently in the process are also necessary to improve participation of the social communities (Rolfe, 2016). On the other hand, as per the concept of four levels of participation and people involvement, it is necessary to have keeping each other involved, armchair involvement, local involvement and substantial involvement.

As per the concept, it is essential to keep each other informed with latest knowledge and information about the social events through improving two way communication and the process of informing the tenants (Willness, George and Michael, 2019). The strategies of developing chats, email, text and FaceBook activities as well as website development and Twitter messages are effective to develop two ways communication to keep the participants informed about the news and information related to the events (Mullins and Murie, 2006). Additionally, for engaging the tenants, it is important to develop newsletters, leaflets, annual report and arranging general meetings so that it would be easy to inform the tenants and increase their interest to participate positively in the event. Additionally, armchair involvement is necessary which can be done through FaceBook and Twitter posts, others social media activities and arranging social meeting for active participation of the social communities. In the third level, it is important to improve local involvement through training and development program and social development program, where the interest of the people can be improved by engaging them. Hereby, it is essential for the service providers to engage with the people through developing two way communication and improving the skill and understanding of the participants regarding the campaign related to developing Community Park (Frediani, Peris and Boni, 2019).

The Arnstein’s Ladder of Participation is effective to develop proper strategy for improving involvement of the people in the society. As per the model, there are different stages through which it is possible to improve participation of the social communities in arranging the social events successfully. The stages are manipulation, therapy, informing, consultation, location, partnership, delegated power and citizen control (Wahid et al., 2017). It is important for the counsellor to influence the individuals, living in the society by informing them with appropriate information and data about the social event of opening the Community Park with all the available indoor and outdoor games for the benefits of the individual, living in the society. Consultation with the public or the tenants in the society and partnership tactics for developing the events are effective strategy to empower the social communities in the program and enhance participation of the in the process. Sharing the power with the participants and getting them informed about latest news and information about the project are also effective to improve involvement with all the participants (Welsh Assembly Government, 2004).

Hereby, the Arnstein’s Ladder of Participation is effective to explore the strategies of improving involvement with the public and the tenants in the society and empower them well in arranging the social campaign successfully. In this regard, there are different government policies and rules which are also effective to improve involvement ad raise the interest of the individuals to take active participation in the program (WAG, 2007). The Housing Act 1985, the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 as well as the Housing Act 2004 and the Housing (Right to Manage) Regulations 1994 are effective to involve the tenants and give them freedom to participate in the social events (Laskey and Nicholls, 2019). Additionally, the Data Protection Act 1988 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are also effective to involve the participants, where the service providers can ensure safety and security of the public and protect their personal information successfully. Giving them freedom and rights to engage in the social event of developing Community Park are also important strategy to involve the people successfully in the social events (Falco, 2019). The government takes initiative to create values for the local communities by making communities safe, secure and crime free as well as ensure to provide public services and deliver locally responsible services to the tenants and the social communities as a whole. Community development projects and continuous support and encouraging the individuals are effective for the government to motivate the residents in the society and influence them to take active participation in the project (Diffley, 2009).

The strategies of publicity, two way communication and resourcing are effective to get involved with the people in the society and influence them for better cooperation. Hereby, the strategies of managing partnership working tactics as well as empowerment of the public are effective for involving the individuals in the society and leading them towards achieving future success. Data protection and information sharing activities as well as the strategies of higher communication and collaboration through partnership working tactic are also effective for improving the participation of the tenants and the social communities also in making the social campaign successful (Nayak and Panigrahi, 2020). It is necessary for the service providers to enhance the participation of the residents continuously by sharing adequate knowledge and information about the project of Community Park and social events as well as influence them, to be empowered so that their interest would be increased and they would try to make their contribution and participation positively in arranging the social campaign and making it efficient for the benefits of the society (JRF, 2006). The non-discriminatory policies and practices of the government further help the public to be empowered and feel valued in participating and engaging with the social developmental programs such as Community Park (National Assembly for Wales, 2001).

Conclusion

It can be stated that, participation and engagement of the residents in the social events such as opening the Community Park are necessary for the service providers to arrange the events successfully. There are certain barriers for which it is difficult to engage all the individuals in the events and the barriers are lack of cooperation and poor communication, lack of interest, financial issues, lack of understanding and information sharing which raise difficulties in managing the residents in the social events. In this regard, it is the role of the government and responsibility of the service providers to include all the tenants in the society and public in the social campaign so that they can be empowered and share their opinion successfully to establish the Community Park. There are different strategies of embowering the participant in the social program, which are managing transparency and accountability, developing partnership working practice, involving all the role by sharing information with others, get informed all the individuals in the society, enhance communication and cooperation so that the people can raise their interest to get active participation in the process of the event related to opening the Community Park. On the other hand, the model and the government rules and legislations are effective to encourage the people to get engaged with the events safely and participate positively to make the event successful. Hereby, the activities of events, enhancing communication and improving cooperation as well as implementation of the government policies and rules are effective to improve participation of the tenants and involve the social communities successfully through information sharing and empowerment of the residents in developing the Community Park in the locality successfully for the benefits of the social communities.

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