Accountability and the Ombudsman's Office of the State of Maranhão

Abstract

The objective of this research was to identify the perception of accountability by users of the services of the Ombudsman's Office of the State of Maranhão (MPMA). The usual mechanisms of bureaucratic control have not been sufficient to ensure the efficiency of public services in meeting the growing demands. In research on public services, there are gaps in studies that use the manifestations of ombudsman users, produced directly from contact with the Public Administration. It is considered to be an appropriate way to show the real demand, brought by the citizen/user to the service of a public organization such as the Public Prosecutor's Office. The work was carried out using the Content Analysis technique. Qualitative research was produced, with a cross-sectional cut and secondary data, obtained from the records of manifestations of users of the MPMA Ombudsman's Office, between the years 2016-2019. In the data analysis, the WORDART and MAXQDA softwares were used. The method indicated the efficiency of the association of terms vocalized by the citizen and suggestions of the language to detect and explain demands to public management recognized by institutional control, made by the TCU. The study contributed to show that the users of the ombudsman presented critical manifestations regarding public management and were useful for the recognition of factors associated with accountability-social control, accountability, transparency and social participation.