Extending the Information-Processing View of Coordination in Public Sector Crisis Response

Coordinating the response of multiple public agencies to a large-scale crisis is a challenge that has been studied predominantly according to the information-processing view. In this paper, the authors extend this view with the notion of emergence giving special attention to information and communication technology (ICT). The extended framework is applied in a case study of crisis response exercises in the public sector. The findings suggest that current practices concentrate on standards and hierarchy, but mutual adjustment and emergent coordination also occur and are susceptible to analysis and equally relevant to understand coordination practices. In addition, ICT can provide information processing capabilities needed for coordination but may also create information processing needs by increasing the volume of data and the interconnectedness of responders. Applying the extended framework improves the understanding of coordination and forms the basis for its future use in designing ICT to support coordination in crisis response and e-government.

The Same Wine but in New Bottles. Public E-Services Divide and Low Citizens’ Satisfaction

When introducing public e-services, the Lebanese government predicted that it would reduce inequality between citizens (OMSAR, 2002). However, the results of this research prove that this will not be the case, and the introduction of the virtual channel of services delivery system will create a public e-services divide. In response to the research questions: “what is an e-services divide?” and “what are its antecedents and consequences?”, this cross-sectional explanatory research shows that the public e-services divide will separate citizen’s who have access to ICTs, who have the skills to use ICTs, and who accept use of public e-services from the others. The public e-services divide will result from the e-access divide, the e-skills divide, and from the public e-services acceptance divide, which will lead to lower citizen satisfaction.

A Goal-Driven Management Approach based on Knowledge Exploitation for e-Government Projects

The implementation of electronic Government projects in public sector organisations is a challenging task, due to technical, organisational and cultural specificities of the domain. Research shows that such IT projects have higher failure rates than similar approaches in the private sector, also indicating the lack of a method to transfer knowledge and apply best management practices in an effective way. The proposed management approach aims to recognise structure and reuse past successful attempts, in ways that support the overall viability of an e-Government project. After stating the fundamental principles of project management that apply to public sector IT projects, the authors present a conceptual model for e-Government project management, including entities such as dimensions, goals, activities, deliverables and roles that can be structured and adapted to cover all types of relevant projects in an out-of-the-box approach. This knowledge base of predefined project components can then be populated and utilised in making more informed decisions for effective project management of e-Government initiatives. This way, the proposed method supports public officials and practitioners in learning from past experience projects and in designing and running e-Government projects in a more systematic manner, thus, significantly increasing the likelihood of project success.

Engaging Citizens on the Internet

This article presents empirical results relating to citizen-government relations on the internet that are based on an assessment of the World Wide Web presence of 428 local governments in northeast Ohio. Northeast Ohio provides a useful picture of E-government-citizen relationships because it includes a range of local government forms (counties, townships, etc.), urban and rural populations, and Midwestern influences that many consider “typical” of American states. The website reviews conducted assess citizen-government engagement in a variety of areas. The measures used include simple engagements like the ability to sign up for email updates and the presence of event calendars to more involved interactions, such as blogs, e-pay services, and open records requests. Using these measures, the authors assess citizen-government engagement among local governments in the sample.

E-Government Implementation Perspective

Though many countries are still just beginning to grasp the potential uses and impacts of Electronic-government (EG), advances in technologies and their applications continue. Observing the proliferation of EG, countries are increasingly turning to the Internet to market their EG system to gain a competitive advantage. However, the effectiveness and efficiency of such online government systems largely depends on the mission of implementing EG. For successful adoption and implementation of EG, it is essential that a country first identify an explicit objective and a specific strategy. We have examined implemention strategies of EG of seven diverse countries whose objectives and mission for implementing EG differ significantly. However, they have the following strategies in common: i) extensive application of information and communication technology (ICT) in the public sector; ii) overall reformation of the public sector; iii) development of a better quality service structure; and iv) more cohesive integration of citizens with government.

An Approach to Assessing Quality of Electronic Government Services

The emergence of e-Government in developing countries has led to the discovery of many innovative ways of public service delivery to citizens and businesses. India has chosen the common service center based service delivery model, where multiple services from single or multiple government agencies can be obtained in one location. However, the assessment quality of service at these centers, especially in comparison to the quality of service delivery under manually run operations has not been addressed in literature. In this paper, the authors propose and demonstrate a method to evaluate the quality of service at common service centers by exploring the case of an urban local body in India. Specifically, the paper uses the Analytic Hierarchy Method to assess quality improvements and discusses the implications for public managers.

Evaluating Public Programs Implementation

This paper discusses the importance of evaluating the implementation of public programs as an integral component of organizational actions performed by public administrations. Drawing on contributions from policy studies and organization theory, the authors assign a dual role to evaluation: valuable cognitive resource and accountability tool for the policymakers. This exploratory case study contributes to the literature on implementation evaluation by providing an encompassing theory-grounded perspective on a recent e-government project by the City of Milan. The authors’ preliminary findings confirm the heuristic potential of an evaluation approach where interdisciplinary inputs can enlighten not only the results, but also the process of design, adoption and the use of e-services.

Tracking the Evolution of E-Governance in India

An attempt is made in this paper to gain an understanding of the evolution of Electronic Governance (E-governance) in India. The initial part of the paper examines the Historical Perspectives and the evolution of E-governance in India since the formation of the Department of Electronics. The following sections give a detailed study about the initiatives taken by the Government of India over periods of five years and their Missions and Objectives in the creation of a “Transparent and Efficient Govern ability” from grass root levels. The relative development with the induction of these technologies through various policies and reforms are mapped against the projects and gauge the significant impact on the ability of our government to establish the current E-governance structures.

An Analysis of Literature on Consumer Adoption and Diffusion of Information System/Information Technology/Information and Communication Technology

This paper provides a comprehensive and systematic review of literature pertaining to consumer/household/residential adoption and diffusion issues in relation to ICT/IT/IS to ascertain the current “state of play” within the field along a number of dimensions. Eighty articles on the adoption, acceptance and diffusion of ICT/IT/IS, published in 54 peer reviewed journals between 1998 and 2008, were reviewed, from which information on a series of variables were extracted. The subsequent findings suggest that the positivist paradigm, empirical and quantitative research, the survey method and the TAM theory were predominantly used when investigating the topics of the adoption and diffusion of technology within the consumer/household/residential context.

Harnessing Interagency Collaboration in Inter-Organizational Systems Development

In spite of the increasing need for building interagency systems, the literature on effective inter-organizational collaboration is practically inexistent, both from the methodological and practical perspectives. Using an action research approach, this paper reports the findings of a four-year long action research that seeks to identify critical success factors for establishing and maintaining interagency collaboration in a large-scale inter-organizational system development project. The findings were drawn from direct experiences during the implementation of the cross-border internet-based system for trade and transport facilitation in Thailand, which required an involvement of more than 40 governmental and business stakeholders. This paper suggests a stepwise approach for the establishment and maintenance of interagency collaboration, and derives methodological and practical implications from this large-scale experience.