APPLICATION OF BUDDHIST PRINCIPLES FOR ENHANCING THE QUALITY OF SERVICE OF THE ROYAL SPONSORED FUNERAL SERVICE DIVISION OF RATCHABURI PROVINCIAL CULTURAL OFFICE

Abstract

The objectives of this research article were 1) to study the level of application of Buddhist principles for enhancing the quality of service of the royal sponsored funeral service division of Ratchaburi Provincial Cultural Office, 2) to compare the opinions towards the application of Buddhist principles for enhancing the quality of service of the royal sponsored funeral service division of Ratchaburi Provincial Cultural Office by classifying according to personal factors and 3) to study problems, obstacles and suggestions in application of Buddhist principles for enhancing the quality of service of the royal sponsored funeral service division of Ratchaburi Provincial Cultural Office. The research methodology was a mixed method research. In part of the quantitative research, a questionnaire was used as a tool to collect field data from 129 people who received services from the royal sponsored funeral service division of Ratchaburi Provincial Cultural Office. The data were analyzed by finding frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, hypothesis testing by t-test, F-test, and one-way ANOVA and in part of qualitative research, document analysis and the interview form were used as the tools for collecting field data from 9 key informants and analyzing the data with contextual content analysis techniques. The results showed that; 1) The level of application of Buddhist principles for enhancing the quality of service of the royal sponsored funeral service division of Ratchaburi Provincial Cultural Office, in general, the practice was at the highest level, when considering individually, it was found that they were at the highest level in all 4 aspects, namely, kindly speech (Piyavācā), genrousity (Dāna), self-righteousness (Samānattatā), and people-supporting (Atthacariyā). 2) The comparative results of the opinions towards the application of Buddhist principles for enhancing the quality of service of the royal sponsored funeral service division of Ratchaburi Provincial Cultural Office by classifying according to personal factors, it was found that personal factors such as gender, age, education and income had opinions towards the application of Buddhist principles for enhancing the quality of service of the royal sponsored funeral service division of Ratchaburi Provincial Cultural Office was no difference, therefore, the research hypothesis was rejected. 3) The problems and obstacles were as follows; officers did not sacrifice time to work, lack of generosity to other people, lack of pleasant speech in service, useless talk, not appropriate for the right time, lack of physical and mental collaboration, lack of encouragement and motivation to work in the service, place oneself inappropriately with the position, lack of neutrality in listening to opinions and suggestions were that one should sacrifice personal interests for the common good, should use rhetorical words to encourage, speak politely with sincerity, have good human relations with people at all levels, provide assistance, behave consistently and place oneself appropriately as a service officer.