Emerging Role of Big Data in Public Sector

Author(s):  
Amir Manzoor

Technological advancements have made it easier to collect and store data. We are generating and storing data on a nearly pervasive basis and across multiple environments including work and home. Big data, a general term for the massive amount of digital data being collected from all sorts of sources, is too large, raw, or unstructured for analysis through conventional relational database techniques. For public managers, big data represents an opportunity to infuse information and technology into the design and management of organizations, personnel, and resources. Although the business sector is leading big-data-application development, the public sector has begun to derive insight to help support decision making in real time from fast-growing in-motion data from multiple sources. This chapter explores the big-data applications associated with the public sector and provide suggestions for follower governments.

Big Data ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 2458-2478
Author(s):  
Amir Manzoor

Technological advancements have made it easier to collect and store data. We are generating and storing data on a nearly pervasive basis and across multiple environments including work and home. Big data, a general term for the massive amount of digital data being collected from all sorts of sources, is too large, raw, or unstructured for analysis through conventional relational database techniques. For public managers, big data represents an opportunity to infuse information and technology into the design and management of organizations, personnel, and resources. Although the business sector is leading big-data-application development, the public sector has begun to derive insight to help support decision making in real time from fast-growing in-motion data from multiple sources. This chapter explores the big-data applications associated with the public sector and provide suggestions for follower governments.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Pencheva ◽  
Marc Esteve ◽  
Slava Jankin Mikhaylov

Big Data and artificial intelligence will have a profound transformational impact on governments around the world. Thus, it is important for scholars to provide a useful analysis on the topic to public managers and policymakers. This study offers an in-depth review of the Policy and Administration literature on the role of Big Data and advanced analytics in the public sector. It provides an overview of the key themes in the research field, namely the application and benefits of Big Data throughout the policy process, and challenges to its adoption and the resulting implications for the public sector. It is argued that research on the subject is still nascent and more should be done to ensure that the theory adds real value to practitioners. A critical assessment of the strengths and limitations of the existing literature is developed, and a future research agenda to address these gaps and enrich our understanding of the topic is proposed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 334-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Alford ◽  
Sophie Yates

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to add to the analytic toolkit of public sector practitioners by outlining a framework called Public Value Process Mapping (PVPM). This approach is designed to be more comprehensive than extant frameworks in either the private or public sectors, encapsulating multiple dimensions of productive processes. Design/methodology/approach – This paper explores the public administration and management literature to identify the major frameworks for visualising complex systems or processes, and a series of dimensions against which they can be compared. It then puts forward a more comprehensive framework – PVPM – and demonstrates its possible use with the example of Indigenous child nutrition in remote Australia. The benefits and limitations of the technique are then considered. Findings – First, extant process mapping frameworks each have some but not all of the features necessary to encompass certain dimensions of generic or public sector processes, such as: service-dominant logic; external as well internal providers; public and private value; and state coercive power. Second, PVPM can encompass the various dimensions more comprehensively, enabling visualisation of both the big picture and the fine detail of public value-creating processes. Third, PVPM has benefits – such as helping unearth opportunities or culprits affecting processes – as well as limitations – such as demonstrating causation and delineating the boundaries of maps. Practical implications – PVPM has a number of uses for policy analysts and public managers: it keeps the focus on outcomes; it can unearth a variety of processes and actors, some of them not immediately obvious; it can help to identify key processes and actors; it can help to identify the “real” culprits behind negative outcomes; and it highlights situations where multiple causes are at work. Originality/value – This approach, which draws on a number of precursors but constitutes a novel technique in the public sector context, enables the identification and to some extent the comprehension of a broader range of causal factors and actors. This heightens the possibility of imagining innovative solutions to difficult public policy issues, and alternative ways of delivering public services.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0734371X2110548
Author(s):  
Müge Kökten Finkel ◽  
Caroline Howard Grøn ◽  
Melanie M. Hughes

Women’s underrepresentation in middle and upper management is a well-documented feature of the public sector that threatens performance and legitimacy. Yet, we know far less about the factors most likely to reduce these gender inequalities. In this article, we focus on two well-understood drivers of career advancement in public administration: leadership training and intersectoral mobility. In theory, training in leadership and experience across government levels and policy areas should help both women and men to climb management ranks. We use logistic regression to test this proposition using a representative sample of 1,819 Danish public managers. We find that leadership training disproportionately benefits women, and this helps to level the playing field. However, our analyses show that differences in intersectoral mobility do not explain the gender gap in public sector management.


Web Services ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 105-126
Author(s):  
N. Nawin Sona

This chapter aims to give an overview of the wide range of Big Data approaches and technologies today. The data features of Volume, Velocity, and Variety are examined against new database technologies. It explores the complexity of data types, methodologies of storage, access and computation, current and emerging trends of data analysis, and methods of extracting value from data. It aims to address the need for clarity regarding the future of RDBMS and the newer systems. And it highlights the methods in which Actionable Insights can be built into public sector domains, such as Machine Learning, Data Mining, Predictive Analytics and others.


Author(s):  
Rhoda Joseph

This chapter examines the use of big data in the public sector. The public sector pertains to government-related activities. The specific context in this chapter looks at the use of big data at the country level, also described as the federal level. Conceptually, data is processed through a “knowledge pyramid” where data is used to generate information, information generates knowledge, and knowledge begets wisdom. Using this theoretical backdrop, this chapter presents an extension of this model and proposes that the next stage in the pyramid is vision. Vision describes a future plan for the government agency or business, based on the current survey of the organization's environment. To develop these concepts, the use of big data is examined in three different countries. Both opportunities and challenges are outlined, with recommendations for the future. The concepts examined in this chapter are within the constraints of the public sector, but may also be applied to private sector initiatives pertaining to big data.


2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-316
Author(s):  
Manoj M. ◽  
V. G. Sabu

Most of the public managers are of the firm belief that extrinsic monetary rewards predominantly contribute to employee productivity and that the motivational strategies shall be aligned to sustain extrinsic motivation (EM) rather than intrinsic motivation (IM). A substantial body of literature on motivation does not endorse this perspective. A relook of the present motivational strategies in central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) in India and an evaluation of the suitability of these strategies as drivers of agility are quite appropriate at this juncture. The purpose of this article is to examine the effects of IM and EM on work performance (WP) in CPSEs, in the context of workforce agility. This article also analyses the relationship between EM and IM in public sector settings. Data collected from 371 employees of five selected CPSEs were analysed. We found that the effect of IM on WP is stronger than the effect of EM on WP in CPSEs. We also found that EM influences IM positively. The study offers insights to public managers to review the existing motivation strategies and to focus on enhancing the IM for an inevitable agile transformation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalimullah Kalimullah ◽  
Mohd Anuar Arshad ◽  
Qaiser Khan ◽  
Shahid Khan

Purpose Building on high-performance organizations (HPO) framework, the purpose of this paper is to hypothesize the direct impact of five factors of HPO framework on public organizations’ performance in Pakistan. This is first research to employ the partial least squares (PLS) method to provide empirical evidence of the predictive power of the framework in public organizations. Design/methodology/approach This is a cross-sectional study conducted in non-contrived settings thereby keeping researcher interference to a minimum. Data collection was carried out by distributing online questionnaires to 513 employees from three different service-based public organizations in Pakistan. PLS is used to examine the statistical and substantive significance of five factors by employing SmartPLS 3.2.6. Findings This study concludes that the HPO framework has predictive relevance for public organizations’ performance surveyed in this study. Furthermore, three out of the five factors of HPO framework, namely, management quality, workforce quality and long-term orientation have positive relationships, while openness and action orientation (OAO), and continuous improvement process and renewal have a negative relationship with the performance of public sector organizations (PSOs) surveyed in Pakistan. Research limitations/implications The study’s small sample size limits this research, and only quantitative methodology is applied. A significant limitation of this research is that this study relied on a subset of respondents of surveyed organizations and may not representative of the population. Therefore, result should be carefully interpreted as some degree of biasness may be present. Furthermore, findings of the study cannot be generalized to all PSOs of Pakistan. Practical implications The implication for public managers is that the HPO framework has predictive relevance and substantive significance. However, the ideal value of HPO framework will occur when leadership considers HPO factors and struggles persistently to improve performance. The useful implication is that public managers should focus on continuous improvement process and renewal and OAO to meet stakeholders’ satisfaction. Originality/value This study answer two questions, first “is there any significant relationship of five factors of HPO framework with public organizations’ Performance in Pakistan?” and second “what is the predictive relevance level of HPO framework in the Public organizations in Pakistan?” The answers to these research questions will fill the gaps in the literature by providing empirical evidence to the existing knowledge on improvement methods, especially the public sector (PS), and contributing insights on the real world working of the five factors of HPO framework in a PS.


2020 ◽  
Vol 105 (10) ◽  
pp. 927-931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike English ◽  
Brigid Strachan ◽  
Fabian Esamai ◽  
Thomas Ngwiri ◽  
Osman Warfa ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo examine the availability of paediatricians in Kenya and plans for their development.DesignReview of policies and data from multiple sources combined with local expert insight.SettingKenya with a focus on the public, non-tertiary care sector as an example of a low-income and middle-income country aiming to improve the survival and long-term health of newborns, children and adolescents.ResultsThere are 305 practising paediatricians, 1.33 per 100 000 individuals of the population aged <19 years which in total numbers approximately 25 million. Only 94 are in public sector, non-tertiary county hospitals. There is either no paediatrician at all or only one paediatrician in 21/47 Kenyan counties that are home to over a quarter of a million under 19 years of age. Government policy is to achieve employment of 1416 paediatricians in the public sector by 2030, however this remains aspirational as there is no comprehensive training or financing plan to reach this target and health workforce recruitment, financing and management is now devolved to 47 counties. The vast majority of paediatric care is therefore provided by non-specialist healthcare workers.DiscussionThe scale of the paediatric workforce challenge seriously undermines the ability of the Kenyan health system to deliver on the emerging survive, thrive and transform agenda that encompasses more complex health needs. Addressing this challenge may require innovative workforce solutions such as task-sharing, these may in turn require the role of paediatricians to be redefined. Professional paediatric communities in countries like Kenya could play a leadership role in developing such solutions.


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