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Introduction
The organisational
challenge is
“a major challenge and
one which will require a great deal of consideration, co-operation and
flexibility if we are to be successful.” (Considine, 2001)
For the past number of
years, Ireland has performed relatively well in a number of cross-national
e-government benchmarking exercises. However, these benchmarks provide only a
relatively superficial picture of the complex process of making public services
available online. In particular, such benchmarking surveys do not delve behind
the headline figures to look at the consequent degrees of impact of information
and communication technologies (ICT) on organisational change or development.
Our study of the transformational aspects of e-government is based on original
research currently being undertaken on behalf of the Committee for Public
Management Research (www.irlgov.ie/cpmr).
It involves both detailed documentary and website analysis and in-depth
interviews with key participants in the e-government implementation and policy
processes, as well as detailed case studies. It examines the comparative impact
of, and synergies between, ICT development and organisational change.
The paper starts by
outlining the drivers and barriers to ICT and organisational change as derived
from sector (private and public) and case study analysis. The main emphasis of
the paper, however, is on examining the transformational aspects of ICT
development in the public sector in Ireland to date. The paper attempts to
assess the tangible and intangible benefits of e-government investments to date,
and outline the remaining challenges for public sector organisations in terms of
realising the full benefits from ICT with regard to organisational change.
ICT and organizational
development: an overview
As noted above, Ireland
has performed relatively well in a number of recent e-government benchmarking
exercises. For example, in February 2003, the recent eGovernment benchmark study
by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young ranked Ireland second behind Sweden in terms of the
sophistication of services online (http://www.cgey.com/news/2003/0206egov.shtml).
But we need to go beyond headline figures if we want to look at how e-government
is impacting on organisational reality and change.
Murphy (2002) in a
working paper published by the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and
Industry emphasises that organisational change is key to realising benefits from
ICT, while ICT in turn contributes to implementing organisational change,
necessitating combined investments to raise productivity growth. Similarly,
Muid (1994) informs us that the doctrines of new public management seek to
reform the business of government but also informatisation acts as a catalyst
for change and enables business transformation. Seamus Mulconry of Accenture
Consultants reiterates this point in terms of the Irish experience:
“e-government should be seen as a catalyst for modernisation of the public
service…it is really not about putting all services online.” (as quoted in
Smyth, 2003). Murphy (2002), further outlines the importance for OECD
enterprises of implementing organisational changes so as to maximize the
benefits from new technology, particularly information and communications
technology (ICT) and to realize productivity increases from investments in both
tangible (plant, equipment) and intangible (research, training) assets. Her
working paper also notes that the incidence of organisational change has been
highest in the service sectors.
Defining e-government
In this paper, the term
‘e-government’ refers to the use by public bodies of information and
communication technologies (ICTs) to deliver information and/or services to
citizens, external organisations, elected representatives and other stakeholders
in such a way as to complement, replace or improve existing delivery systems.
The term “e-government”, as used by the OECD E-Government Project, applies to
the use of ICT as a tool to achieve better government. Therefore, e-government
is not about business as usual, but should instead focus on using ICT to
transform the structures, operations and, most importantly, the culture of
government. The report highlights that e-government is an important component in
terms of overall reform agendas because it serves as a tool for reform; renews
interest in public management reform; highlights internal consistencies;
underscores commitment to good governance objectives. (OECD, 2003)
The relationship
between organisational change and ICT
Murphy (2002) defines
organisational change as firm-level modifications of structures, work
interactions and human resource practices, affecting both internal business
processes as well as relationships with customers and other firms. She further
emphasises that there is a mutually beneficial relationship between
organisational change in firms and ICT investments and also suggests that
organisational change can vary in scope and intensity. Her paper points out that
information technology is instrumental in facilitating new organisational
approaches, from lean production to teamwork to customer relations (See Table
5.1). She also states that organisational change is needed to realise the full
benefits of information and communication technology. The paper suggests that
the level of efficiencies will be determined by how ICT and workplace
organisation are combined within a firm. In particular, she pinpoints enhanced
communication, teamwork and training as needed to realise the benefits from ICT
investments. Change may be relatively shallow when restricted to the
introduction of specific work practices or alternatively, far reaching when
radical work reorganisation is implemented that affects firm boundaries, e.g.
through outsourcing and networking. Drucker (1988) mirrors this picture of
organisational change, “traditional departments will serve as guardians of
standards, as centres for training and the assignment of specialists; they won’t
be where the work gets done. That will happen largely in task-focused teams.”
A UN sponsored paper on
e-government, purports that the relationship between information technology and
organisational change has been extensively analysed in the private sector. Some
of these findings have been found to be relevant in the public sector as well,
e.g. the flatter organisation with less hierarchical levels, the capability of
decentralised operation based on revolutionary communication technologies, the
transformation of hierarchical structures based on networks, the creation of new
horizontal and strategic autonomous agencies, etc (Peristeras et.al, 2002).
Fountain (2002) emphasises that the intersection of information technology,
organisations and governance provides the opportunity for increasing momentum
behind cross-agency partnerships and systems. She points out that
inter-jurisdictional relationships, or networks, have been on the rise in the
past decade and show no sign of abating even though their failure rate is high
and implementation remains difficult. Peristeras et.al, (2002) question further
“if the change introduced by I.T. to the public sector is viewed not only as an
internal factor which provides new means and tools to perform the role of public
administration more effectively and efficiently, but considered also from an
external viewpoint as an enabler for the newly emerging information society,
should the exact roles that public administration and the state are to play in
this emerging society be questioned?” The paper deduces that evolving technology
radically affects public organisations not only by reengineering current
processes and structures but by also inducing fundamental changes to the state’s
strategic role.
Bellamy & Taylor (1994b)
accept that IT in public administrations present nascent opportunities to reduce
costs and to increase efficiency, but also to adapt bureaucracy to the needs of
the customer. The paper suggests that “in these ways IT is identified as the key
to the reinvention and indeed to the reinvigoration of public administration.”
This point is also made by Dutton, O’Connell and Wyer, 1991; Muid 1992; OECD
1992. The Information Society Commission (ISC) Report (2002) acknowledges “the
potential of e-government developments to support transformation in traditional
business processes has important implications that must be addressed as a key
element of the overall process of public sector modernisation and reform.” The
ISC Report recommends: “Government needs to develop appropriate arrangements to
ensure that the assessment of the return on e-government investments captures
both tangible and intangible benefits.”
Types & levels of
organizational change
Murphy (2002) classifies
firm-level organisation change into 3 broad streams: the restructuring of
production processes; management systems and employee involvement schemes; and
external re-organisation emphasizing customer orientation, outsourcing, and firm
networks and other collaborative arrangements (see box). The paper explains that
internal re-organisation typically affects the organisation of production
approaches and work practices compared to external re-organisation, which is
associated with the improvement of relations with customers and other firms. In
practice, firms tend to apply an eclectic set of organisational practices, often
spanning the three broad streams.
Table 1:Types
of organisational change
|
Production
approaches
|
Management
practices
|
External relations
|
|
Total quality
management
Lean production
Just-in-time
Business
re-engineering
Critical chain |
Decentralisation
Teamwork
Knowledge
management
Flexible work
arrangements
Flexible
compensation
|
Outsourcing
Customer relations
Networking
Networked
governance |
Source: Murphy (2002)
A recent OECD Report
(2003) points out that the implementation of e-government will aid a number of
back office reforms, while alternatively, e-government requires such reforms in
order to be successful. The Report emphasises that “governments, in general,
have tended to try to use technology as a patch to provide a seamless interface
with users to a Byzantine administrative structure. All too often, ICTs are
overlaid on an existing organisational structure without any thought to how
those structures can be improved.” The Report purports that since it is much
more difficult to change agency behaviour and establish co-operation, it has
been easier for governments to create national web portals, but this amounts to
information being rearranged without a fundamental shift in processes or
procedures.
The study questions ‘can
administrations continue to meet the challenge of proactive electronic service
delivery using existing practices and structures?’ The Report advocates that for
e-government to deliver its benefits, the ways in which public administrations
work will have to change and evidence reinforces the view that ICT needs to be
seen as one aspect of reforming organisations to achieve greater efficiency and
other governance objectives. The case studies we looked at emphasise that ICT
should be seen an enabler of change but not as an end in itself. The Report (OECD,
2003) maintains that member countries understand the need for a package of
changes, involving ICT and non-ICT elements. The study reaffirms that the
benefits sought, such as more effective outputs, greater efficiency, require
more than simply introducing ICT into existing organisations and work processes.
The Report outlines
possible organisational changes that may accompany further deployment of ICT at
the individual project level, the level of the organisation and from a
cross-government perspective. At the e-government project level, the Report
suggests that new work processes need to be accompanied by deep training
programmes, structured communications strategies and job redesign. This may
involve a flattening of hierarchies as the need for checking or direct
supervision of achievement of tasks is eliminated. Requirements for semi-skilled
staff may fall as routine tasks are automated and this invariably leads to
efficiencies such as the need for fewer staff. In terms of introducing
successful reform this will require coherent change management strategies and
the OECD Report, including the case studies we discuss below, found that the
vital component is dialogue with stakeholders. The involvement of front-line
staff at the project initiation stage is seen as an effective way of eliminating
the conception-reality gap between instigation of reform projects and final
deliverables. The study states that change is needed at the organisation level.
The Report suggests that while small-scale projects can be successfully
implemented without impacting on the broader organisational environment, at some
point changes in this environment become crucial if ICT-enabled reform is to
work. Examples include: re-engineering processes may require a change in the
balance of roles and responsibilities between different functional areas or
between the agency’s central office and local offices; increased data sharing
within an organisation may upset individual arrangements, by making particular
data holdings (and their operators) redundant, and require concerted management
effort to gain acceptance of the new arrangements; greater sharing of data,
enhanced communication and more consistent decision making can facilitate a
devolution of decision making to an organisation’s lower levels and the creation
of specialised units at local level or of units focused on specific customer
groups, while maintaining overall policy coherence. (OECD, 2003)
Drivers of
organisational change/ICT
Murphy (2002) found the
need to facilitate adoption of new technologies, particularly ICT, was ranked
far lower than market forces in surveys of drivers of organisational change. She
adds that this may reflect a lack of awareness of the synergies arising from
joint implementation of organisational change and ICT. However, the paper
indicates “the adoption of ICT requires a flexible organisation at the same time
that ICT increases the capacity to implement work flexibility. Organisational
change can be a principal motivator for the introduction of new technology, just
as obsolete technology can hinder the adoption of new organizational practices.”
In the private sector the
main driver of organisational change is the need for firms to adapt to changing
competitive conditions. But how does this relate to a public sector environment
where competition does not exist in many of the areas of service provision. What
drives organisational change in this instance? Timonen et al. (2003) found that
the potential of cost savings was not the main driving force behind development
of e-government in Ireland. The paper found that instead e-government work in
Ireland has been primarily motivated by a genuine desire to make government more
efficient, citizen-oriented and customer-friendly: the goal of e-government is
to achieve seamless client-centred service delivery. This is reflected in the
fact that all the main online information services are organised around the
‘life events’ of individuals and businesses, rather than around the bureaucratic
structures of government. E-government is also recognised and treated as one of
the central pillars for progressing public service modernisation in the future.
The more recent economic downturn may affect government thinking in the future
in relation to value for money concerns and this has been exemplified by the
recent refinement in the Government’s commitment of having all public services
that are capable of electronic delivery online, through a single point of
contact, by 2005 (see New Connections 2002). This target is refined to
ensure that optimum results are achieved in terms of effectiveness, impact and
deliverables (see New Connections Progress Report 2003).
The OECD report (2003)
found that key issues to be addressed for successful implementation of reform
include the need for understanding and support by senior management, and the
willingness and ability to adopt new ways of working. The Report purports that
successful major reforms involving ICTs indicate that senior management’s
understanding of the impacts of proposed reforms, their risks and benefits, is
required if the reforms are to be sold to staff and to key external stakeholders
such as political leaders. The study reiterates that this requires more than
statements of principle and good intentions, but, essentially, it involves
senior management time and understanding. In terms of adopting new ways of
working, the Report suggests that this is determined by the willingness of
senior management to commence the process of changing the organisation culture.
The study also points out that it will depend on the willingness and ability of
unions and individual staff to take up new work practices, such as more
decentralised decision making, teamwork, information sharing among peers, new
recruitment arrangements and remuneration/incentives to support the desired
changes.
Barriers to
organisational change/ICT
Muid (1994) affirms that
“the capability of IT as a catalyst for change is acknowledged and can be
regarded as a means of assisting the reforms,” but he warns that “IT can also
act as an inhibitor to change because of systems rigidity and costly legacies of
past investment.” Bellamy & Taylor (1994a) emphasise that informatisation will
continue to offer opportunities for innovation in public services, but that it
has key implications for the organisation and management of government. In their
paper, Bellamy & Taylor (1994a) outline two key questions: “Are the shifts
associated with New Public Management conducive to the optimal realisation of
the potential gains which informatisation might bring, or do they inhibit
change?” and “Can organisational units – departments, agencies, divisions, etc.
be (re)organised both internally and in their relationships in order to create
the conditions needed for the full exploitation of new information systems?”
Murphy (2002) and Brown (2001) imply that in many cases, firm performance may
not be improved if ICT investments are not accompanied by organisational
changes. Murphy singles out lack of attention to human and organizational
aspects as factors which can undermine ICT investments. In particular, Murphy
cites a survey of UK firms, which found that 80-90% of ICT investments failed to
meet all of their objectives due to poor human resource management and failure
to involve users (Clegg et al., 1997).
Bellamy & Taylor (1994b)
question “whether the technological capabilities for informatization are
outstripping the organisational, political and managerial capabilities of
constructing, controlling and regulating new information systems and new
information flows.” They accept that “the organisational and political issues in
managing IS are complex” as the “very process of informatisation disturbs inter-
and intra-organisational relationships in ways that are not easily controlled
and reordered. Its outcomes emerge from the interaction of managerial,
political, professional and commercial stakeholders around technological
infrastructures and the design and distribution of informational resources.”
Bellamy & Taylor (1994b) feel that due to these factors the results of new
projects will often be compromised and the exploitation of new opportunities
irregular. They reiterate in the paper that “if we are right in arguing that the
modernisation of public administration depends on the effective exploitation of
new information flows in government, then those factors which inhibit this
exploitation will also inevitably compromise the realising of the new public
management.” The recent OECD Report (2003) also mentions that internal
governance frameworks in the public administration may hamper the adoption of
practices that facilitate ICT-enabled reform. The study states that OECD
analysis of the use of ICTs by firms highlights the importance of flexible
labour markets and the legal frameworks covering ICT-based activity and the need
generally to reduce barriers to initiative and innovation.
Case studies
Case Study No. 1: Revenue
Online Service (ROS)
ROS (www.ros.ie)
was launched in September 2000 and has become one of the most successful
e-government initiatives in Ireland. Briefly, it is an interactive internet
based system that enable Revenue’s customers and their agents to file returns
and make payments; obtain details of their Revenue Account; calculate their tax
and conduct their business electronically. (Whelan, 2002)
A number of factors have
contributed to the success of ROS:
§
Corporate commitment:
A very important ingredient of success has been the strong corporate commitment
from the ROS Board. The Board saw electronic service delivery as inevitable and
highly desirable. Revenue in general has been one of the leaders in making its
services more customer-oriented. ROS ranks among the best practices in
eGovernment in Europe.
§
Clear strategic
leadership: The ROS Board
initially appointed a strategy manager who was able to build a small team of
experts. The commitment from the team coupled with ongoing planning and
consultation with stakeholders is a key element sustaining the project.
§
Fast delivery in small
units: The work on ROS
progressed very fast, which seems to be key ROS philosophy and probably one of
the main reasons for its success: delivering the services bit by bit, but in
quick succession, rather than waiting for a ‘big launch’. These ‘bits’ have
gradually built up to constitute an impressive service. The next phase involves
integration with Reach and also co-operation and interaction with other
Departments (e.g. Agriculture, Environment)
§
Astute HR strategies:
Another key ingredient of success seems to have been the way in which the public
and the private sectors have worked side by side: half of ROS developers are
from a private sector consultancy, half from Revenue, and they work in the same
location. In the early stages, when ROS had insufficient in-house expertise, it
outsourced some services to private sector companies. ROS has also been able to
bring people from different streams to work together, e.g. tax inspectors as
well as those in general service grades.
§
Funding:
Funding from the Information Society Fund covered part of the investment in the
service.
§
Back office
reorganisation: The ROS
team were well positioned to introduce online services
because Revenue had carried out
extensive back-end reorganisation that then facilitated the launch of ROS. This
also enhanced job satisfaction in Revenue by reducing or eliminating routine
processing duties and releasing staff for more rewarding and satisfying work.
§
Consultation with
stakeholders: Effective and
ongoing consultation both internally (in terms of a Partnership Committee,
staff, management and unions) and externally (in terms of
Accounting/Professional/Representative bodies, tax agents, software companies
and customers) is a key component of successful implementation.
§
Learning from other
countries: ROS have also
been keen to learn from experiences in other countries, e.g. New Zealand. ROS
sent a small team there to identify potential operational difficulties.
Case Study No. 2:
Donegal County Council
In 1995, the Donegal
County Manager established a project team to assess the possibilities for
organizational change prior to the rollout of a service decentralization
programme. In 1996 the Government published ‘Better Local Government: A
Programme for Change’ outlining the agenda for the modernization of the local
government system. This document advocated the development of One Stop Shop
Centres to serve as a focal point for the delivery of customer-oriented public
services. Based on this document and the decision of members of Donegal County
Council, it was decided to decentralize Council services to district offices
based in the six electoral areas in the County.
In July 2001 a
partnership was formed between Donegal County Council, the North Western Health
Board, the then Department of Social Community and Family Affairs, and FÁS to
appoint a project manager to explore the possibilities of utilizing the
framework of the Public Service Broker to develop integrated inter-agency
services to citizens through walk-in channels (Integrated Service Centres), by
telephone through a Contact Centre and on a self-service basis through the
Internet.. The Integrated Service Centres (ISCs) enable the customer to access
information, advice and services across multiple channels and multiple agencies
at a single point. (Donegal County Council, 2002, 2001(a), 2001(b))
A number of factors
contributed to the success of the initiative:
§
Clear strategic
leadership: The
County Manager selected a project team to co-ordinate the development of new
management structures to more effectively support the delivery of decentralised
County Council services and to develop the integrated service centres in close
partnership with the agencies.
§
Corporate commitment:
An important element of the new decentralized structures has been the strong
corporate commitment from the senior management team in the Council, together
with the elected members. Active support has also been forthcoming from senior
management in the partner agencies.
§
Fast delivery at a
local level: Using
the ‘start small, think big, scale fast approach,’ the majority of ISCs have
been set up. The idea is to start with a small number of services provided by
the partner agencies and Donegal Citizens Information Service, and to gradually
add participating agencies and services. The Donegal ISCs provide a test case to
research and develop the service delivery models required to enable the Public
Service Broker framework to deliver integrated multi-agency services.
§
Stakeholder
involvement: From the outset
staff were involved in the process, and ongoing use of the Partnership model as
a vehicle for planning and consultation was another important factor. (Donegal
Local Authorities, 2001) The involvement of staff at the project initiation
stage is seen as an effective way of eliminating the conception-reality gap
between instigation of reform projects and final deliverables.
§
Funding:
Funding sources for the ISCs include Donegal County Council, the ERNACT
project between Donegal and Co. Derry Local Authorities, Department of the
Environment, the Department of Social Community and Family Affairs in relation
to piloting Reach and the partnership agencies.
§
Astute HR strategies,
structural re-organisation:
Consultation was undertaken with staff at all levels in the organization. An
international organizational specialist was employed to design the structure
based on the levels of complexity of work cross-referenced by the capabilities
of employees. The structure implemented was based on the template put forward by
Elliott Jacques in his book “Requisite Organisation” – a system for effective
managerial organisation and managerial leadership. The most effective approach
outlined by Jacques was implemented by Donegal County Council and this involved
the establishment of a requisite structure of managerial layering or strata;
conducting a talent pool analysis of the population of employees, working down
from the top, stratum by stratum; ensuring role filling from the top to bottom
of the organisation, by matching individuals’ capabilities to each role;
establishing a requisite compensation structure related to stratum boundaries
and conducting training to enable all managers to implement all requisite
managerial leadership practices. Including individual compensation within pay
bands. (Jacques, 1996) ICT developments enabled an electoral area model of
decentralization to underpin the new management structures. (Donegal County
Council, 2001(a), 2001(b))
Conclusion
As e-government
development progresses to the next, more demanding, phase, and as funding for
e-government initiatives may not be as easily forthcoming as in the past, it
becomes more important to justify e-government funding in terms of the
considerable cost savings that can flow from it. For instance, great cost
savings could be achieved through developing the e-official concept where
routine administrative processes are increasingly shared and co-ordinated.
Murphy (2002) indicates that there is a need to couple new organisational
practices with ICT offering opportunities for reducing costs and enhancing
efficiencies along the entire business value chain. Bellamy & Taylor
(1994b), infer “the economic and business logic of the information age gradually
but inexorably drives service organisations, including those in the public
sector, towards profound transformations in the design of their production
processes and structures.”
In 1988, Drucker forecast
that “the typical large business 20 years hence will have fewer than half the
levels of management of its counterpart today, and no more than a third the
managers….the typical business will be knowledge-based, an organisation composed
largely of specialists who direct and discipline their own performance through
organised feedback from colleagues, customers, and headquarters. For this
reason, it will be what I call an information-based organisation.” In reality,
how far along this road of transformation have public administrations evolved?
Having reached the information, interaction, transaction and data sharing stages
of ICT development, how many projects have reached the integration or
transformation stages?
As the literature earlier
pointed out, organisational change is needed to realise the full benefits of
information and communication technology. It can be seen from various studies
that the relationship between ICT and organisational development has the
capability to engender a flatter organisation with less hierarchical levels,
decentralised operation based on revolutionary communication technologies, the
transformation of hierarchical structures based on networks, and the creation of
new horizontal and strategic autonomous agencies. In comparison, firm-level
organisation change can be classified into 3 broad streams: the restructuring of
production processes; management systems and employee involvement schemes; and
external re-organisation emphasizing customer orientation, outsourcing, and firm
networks and other collaborative arrangements.
In relation to both case
studies outlined in this paper, a number of aspects culminate in the successful
implementation of their reform programmes. Both organisations relied on the
following key elements: sustained corporate commitment and strategic leadership
from management; a clear vision statement and strategic plan was implemented;
the employment of an organisational specialist or strategic manager was used to
drive the project team; astute HR strategies were employed coupled with internal
re-organisation, and decentralisation facilitated by ICT. Both projects involved
consultation with stakeholders (internal and external) in the project initiation
stages and ongoing consultation was maintained with staff through the framework
of the Partnership Committee. Both projects have been successful due to this
inclusion rather than exclusion of the ‘people’ component, as Winfield (1991)
conjectures “to become too wrapped up in and seduced by the ‘wonders’ of
technology will lead us to neglect the all-important human element in the
equation. With every advance in information technology our dependence on humans
increases, not decreases. We ignore human needs at our peril.” The reform
programmes were also underpinned by comparative examples from other countries
(e.g. ROS-New Zealand) or organisational systems (Elliott Jacques – Requisite
Organisation). In both cases ICT is seen as an enabler of change but not as an
end in itself. As the recent OECD report (2003) emphasises and as these two
cases studies demonstrate in practice, e-government is seen as a means of
facilitating better government. The report acknowledges that e-government acts
as an enabler to achieve better policy outcomes, higher quality services,
greater engagement with citizens and improve back office procedures. The study
suggests that governments and public administrations will, and should, continue
to be judged against these traditional established criteria for success. (OECD,
2003)
In the private sector the
main driver of organisational change is the need for firms to adapt to changing
competitive conditions. In the public sector the potential of cost savings has
not to date been the main driving force behind development of e-government in
Ireland. In fact, it was considered that the prospect of cost savings played
only very little, if any, role in motivating the e-government project. Instead
e-government work in Ireland has been primarily motivated by a desire to make
government more efficient, citizen-oriented and customer-friendly. E-government
is also recognised and treated as one of the central pillars for progressing
public service modernisation in the future. It is, however, becoming more
important to justify e-government funding in terms of the considerable cost
savings that can flow from it. There is a need to couple new organisational
practices with ICT offering opportunities for reducing costs and enhancing
efficiencies along the entire business value chain.
But, this brief review
has also shown that ICTs can also act as an inhibitor to change because of
systems rigidity and costly legacies of past investment and lack of attention to
human and organizational aspects, as factors, which can undermine ICT
investments. Further constraints include whether the technological capabilities
for informatisation are surpassing the organisational, political and managerial
capabilities of constructing, controlling and regulating new information systems
and new information flows.
A recent OECD Report
affirms that organisational change is a dynamic process, with segments of
different rates of development and change. At the project and organisational
change level, senior management commitment is essential for carrying out complex
organisational changes. E-government co-ordinators can provide support to senior
managers by ensuring the sharing of experiences and good practice approaches. A
key element is dialogue with stakeholders both within and outside the
organisation. Those dealing with public management organisational issues should
act as facilitators rather than developing grand plans to restructure public
administrations around a particular current technology. Frameworks are required
for ICT use, and they need to be reviewed to ensure continuing relevance. The
report emphasises that while individual processes may be transformed, changes
will occur less quickly for organisations, reflecting the different levels of
impact on different functions. For public administrations overall, the rate of
change will be slower still. (OECD, 2003)
The OECD Report (2003)
acknowledges that, “certain ways of working may become more pervasive in the
future, with greater data sharing and networking, greater process automation and
greater collaboration between and within agencies, there will be no single
model for e-government organisations.” Therefore, each organisation will
have to assess their own needs rather than depending on the premise that one
size fits all (generic model).
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Better Local Government
(1996) A Programme for Change, Dublin: Department of the Environment.
Brown,S., (2001), “Managing Process Technology: Further
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Clegg,
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