The IT Revolution in the Form of E-Governance and Its Positive Changes - Research Paper Example

A Critical Study of Project Management Issues in E-Government in Developing Nations The increasing use of technology particularly information technology in every ‘sphere’ of human living is causing sizable impacts, both in the positive as well as in the negative direction. With the IT tools advancing and expanding, it is having optimum applications in various fields, and one of the fields in which it is making key impacts in the recent times, is regarding government functioning in the form of e-governance. Although, government functioning in majority of the countries are synonymous with paper documents, files, shelves, etc., in the recent decades, with the entry of various IT tools from computers to internet enabling devices, storage servers, etc, etc., into the government offices, its’ functioning has undergone major changes. The IT revolution is facilitating positive changes in the way governments around the world interact with their citizens, business organizations, employees, as well as other stakeholders. This is particularly visible in the developing countries, where the IT revolution has began in right earnest, and the governments there want to optimally adopt e-governance in various areas of its functioning. In addition, people in those developing countries for their part are also gradually becoming IT savvy, and thereby expecting their governments to provide services in an easy and transparent manner under e-governance. However, as those developing nations have certain inherent political, economic, cultural and even technological aspects or even drawbacks, planning and initiating e-governance, implementing it in the needed areas, making it to function effectively and making the necessary corrections, could become a difficult task. (Yildiz, 2007). This is where the role of project management comes into the picture, as it deals with all the issues that arise from the initiation of a project till its completion, and that includes e-governance. Thus, in a form of literature review, a critical study of project management issues in e-government in developing nations will be carried out. Methods To undertake a critical study of project management issues in e-government in developing nations, a wide variety of sources including books, journal articles and other web sources were read and researched. As the focus is mainly on e-governance, books, articles and websites that primarily dealt with e-governance issues, and secondarily with project management issues were selected. In addition, with e-governance in developing countries being the subject of discussion, most of the literatures or sources, which were selected, purely discussed issues in various developing countries, with other sources doing a comparison between developing and developed countries. As the subject of e-governance is a contemporary one, the selected literatures were not outdated, and were written in the recent past. Once a selection of literatures were found, each one was read and researched thoroughly to glean information regarding e-governance, its’ background, its’ role in developing countries’ government functioning, range of processes involved and importantly various project management issues that could impact its initiation, implementation and success. By reading about the project managements issues in e-governance from different sources and viewing it from varied perspectives, key inputs emerged, and that will be discussed in a critical manner in the below parts. Results Authors Date Country Type of Source Details S. A. Nawafleh, R. F. Obiedat, & O. K. Harfoushi 2012 Jordan Conference Paper This paper did a comparison of e-government in developing and developed countries Y. N. Chen, H. M. Chen., W. Huang and R. K. H. Ching 2006 United States and China Journal Article E-governance in developing and developed country was compared using case study M. Yildiz 2007 Turkey Article featured in Government journal Focused on e-governance issues in literatures, reviewing it V. Ndou 2004 Albania Journal Article Dealt with both the opportunities as well as challenges of e-government D. Dada 2006 United Kingdom Journal Article Did a literature review regarding failure of e-government in developing countries S. Basu 2004 United Kingdom Journal Article Provided an overview of e-government in developed and developing nations R. De 2006 India Round Table discussion paper The issues and concerns regarding e-government in developing countries were focused A. M. Odat 2012 Jordan Journal Article A framework of challenges and opportunities related to e-government in developing countries is dealt R. Kumar & M. L. Best 2006 United States and India Conference Paper Dealt with e-governance using a case study in India Literature Review E-Government can be defined as an electronic form of interaction, transaction as well as information exchange, which normally happens between the government, citizens, employees as well as private businesses, for the purpose of delivering effective services to all the above involved stakeholders. Nawafleh, Obiedat & Harfoushi (2012, pg.8) defines e-government on these same lines, by stating that “e-government is defined as using ICTs systems to transform relations with citizens, business sector, government agencies and employees to promote the empowerment of citizens, improving service delivery and enhance accountability, increase transparency, improve government performance efficiency.” On the other hand, Yildiz (2007) brings out the technological perspective of e-government by defining it as utilizing the Internet, database, networking, discussion support, multimedia, automation, tracking and tracing, and personal identification technologies and the World-Wide-Web for delivering government information and services to citizens. Chen, Chen, Huang and Ching (2006, pg.24) adds to this perspective by broadly defining e-government as the “use of all information and communication technologies, from fax machines to wireless palm pilots, to facilitate the daily administration of government, exclusively as an Internet-driven activity that improves citizen’s access to government information, services.” The other definition by Basu (2004, pg.100) also focuses on the non-paper electronic nature of governance, as e-government is defined as a form of governance carried out using “information technology to free movement of information to overcome the physical bounds of traditional paper and physical based systems.” At the same time, a key perspective regarding the role of e-governance is, it is more than just a government run website on the web, and instead it is a virtual system which supports as well as simplifies government functioning. Given afore pointed out perspective, it is evident that e-government is not merely the computerization of a government system, but in a way utilizing technology with the intention to achieve high levels of improvement in all the areas of government, thus benefiting all the involved stakeholders. (Dada, 2006). Basu (2004) while listing out the areas that are covered or actions that are being carried out under e-governance, categorize those areas or actions into four phases, namely information phase, interaction phase, transaction phase and finally transformation phase. In the first information phase of e-government, government normally “place” all the information about the government, its structure, its key officials, its schemes, etc., on its official website or websites, which could be utilized by the citizens to initiate government related actions. Basu (2004, pg.113) then talks about second interaction mode, in which the government websites would be able to “exchange information or services with citizens, where citizens can enquire, and obtain resources from database backed websites” including resources like documents, forms, etc. In the third transaction phase, the websites could have option to carry out transactions including financial transactions with the government. “Complete transactions can be done without going to an office. Examples of online services are filing tax, extending/renewal of licenses, visa and passports and online voting.” (“E-Governance”, n. d). In the final phase of integration as part of e-government, the various departments and its employees can collaborate to handle the procedures and the related works, through an interface in the website. Thus, it is clear that e-government involves carrying out various activities, and as all those activities have be planned, implemented, course corrected, etc., the role of project management assumes significance. Although, all the e-governments throughout the world could face certain “common” project management issues, when one focuses on the e-governments in the developing countries, certain “specific” project management issues could emerge. This is basically because every country or society or its citizens will have different needs as well as priorities, and so a single model of e-government cannot exist. “Each society’s and government’s readiness for e-government would depend upon which objectives and specific sectors it chooses as priorities.” (Basu, 2004, pg.114). Considering this perspective, it is important that developing countries have their own model of e-governance, instead of trying to exactly ape e-governance model being practiced in a developed country. Although, adaptation is fine, exactly copying it may not work. This point was put forward by Chen et al. (2006) who stated, most, if not all the currently published e-government strategies in relation to e-governance are primarily based on successful experiences in the developed countries, and so may not be directly applicable in the developing countries. Thus, if the developing countries come up with their own customized e-governance model, they could aptly as well as effectively cater to their citizens and their needs. Kumar & Best (2006, pg.2) lists out the benefits, governments in developing countries can get if it follows a customized e-governance model, and that includes “increased efficiency, decentralization, citizen empowerment, increased transparency, and cost reduction.” Nawafleh, Obiedat & Harfoushi (2012) adds more benefits to this list, by stating how it will save countries sizable money, help it to achieve optimum progress, aptly utilize the time as well as the effort of the public sector employees, provide precise information and also timely complete the transactions. However, as mentioned above, implementing e-governance in developing countries could bring in a set of project management issues, which are normally inherent to the developing countries of the world. These issues could diminish the potential of the e-government, and could even totally derail it in many cases. According to experts, there is a basic project management issue, which could negatively impact even the setting up of e-government let alone its functioning. Odat (2012) spells out this basic issue by stating that the real problem in these developing countries is the lack of a strong and clear vision regarding how to initiate and run a business e-government, inability to corner in the opportunities that exist and thereby strengthen it, and inability to locate the weakness and correct the course. As many of the developing countries may not have a strong governance system and could be riddled with infighting, inefficiencies, corruption, etc., they may not see e-government as a key part of good governance. Only if the governments have a positive perspective to governance, they would be able to positive vision of e-government, and could view its benefits and try to incorporate into their governance. A key part of project management is having a vision about the project, but if that vision is missing, then the next stage of planning the project may not be started. On the positive side, if the government as part of optimal project management approach has a good vision and importantly comes up with an effective plan and initiates e-government, then they could see many benefits at the outset itself. Odat (2012) points out how establishing complete electronic or internet connectivity between various ministries and departments (before bringing in the citizens) can enable smooth transfer of files and papers, instead of depending on manual labor to do the transfer. This reduction in the role of manual labor can also lower the costs aspects, along with improving efficiency. Ndou (2004, pg.9) focuses on this aspect by pointing out how “putting services online substantially decreases the processing costs of many activities compared with the manual way of handling operations.” Nawafleh, Obiedat & Harfoushi (2012, pg.9) strengthens this argument by stating that using all internal and external services online as part of e-government normally decreases “the processing costs of many activities as well as will increase the government efficiency”. On the other hand, Kumar & Best (2006) provides a key impediment regarding the transfer of data, and that is, if the data are mainly old and disintegrating historical documents (older land and real estate ownership as well as civil status registers would be in the form of paper documents), administration would find it difficult to digitize it or convert into electronic form. One of the key project management issues is maintaining quality throughout the implementation of the project and importantly after the project starts to run. This aspect of quality is also key aspect in e-government, and when one focuses on quality in e-governance in developing countries, certain studies have shown good or even adequate results, with others showing contrary results. One of the key ways through which quality can be measured is how efficient and speedy the service is provided. On the those lines, Ndou (2004) brings out the positive side by stating how e-government initiatives offers round the clock accessibility (instead of time constrained government offices), fast and convenient transactions and obviously enhances the quality of services in terms of time, content and accessibility. Ndou (2004) validates this perspective by bringing out the example of Brazil based Citizen Assistance Service Centers, e-government initiative. In these centers, which are located in shopping malls or other public places, people while shopping can simultaneously apply for identification card, new passport and even government jobs. Customer satisfaction studies revealed that over 89 percent of citizens evaluated these service centers to be excellent, thereby proving that quality of services can be ensured in e-government, as it reduces the time for transactions and also provided error free documents without time constraints. (Ndou 2004). On the other hand, other studies showed that quality could drop, as time pass on and importantly if apt content are not updated regularly in the website. Kumar & Best (2006) validates this point by pointing out how a study of rural e-government project in India revealed that though service satisfaction was high, usage diminished in course of time, and how a study in South Africa showed that lack of regularly updated content and interactivity led to the failure of a community based e-government initiative. Although, as reviewed above, e-government could have certain positive project management issues, there are number of impediments e-governance could face in developing countries. The main impediments could be the lack of IT as well as web supportive infrastructures, along with sizable computer illiteracy among the citizens. As Basu (2004) states, an e-government infrastructure in general comprises of network and security infrastructure, application server environment, data and content management tools, hardware and operating systems, etc., but many developing countries do not have these infrastructures. That is, they may not have the capability to design and make it, and also not have adequate financial resources to import it as well as maintain it after purchase. Crucially, in the developing countries internet connectivity could be minimal, and if it is extended, the bandwidth and performance could be substandard, thereby limiting the citizens’ use of internet. (Nawafleh, Obiedat & Harfoushi, 2012). Thus, as Basu (2004) again confirms, if the internet connectivity is below par and the government does not have adequate infrastructure, then the concept of e-government seems highly impractical. As pointed out briefly above, budgetary constraints are also an important project management issue in the developing countries. Basu (2004) and De (2006) supports this point by stating that the feasibility of having a successful e-government in developing countries is directly dependant on their governments’ overall ability and even the readiness to spend on the necessary information technology as well as the related costs. The other key issue which can undermine e-government functioning is the lack of sufficient knowledge and skill among the government staffs in the developing countries. As Nawafleh, Obiedat & Harfoushi (2012) stated, with IT making entry in the recent past, the old and the middle-aged government staffs, who were recruited in the earlier decades, may not have good grasp of IT and its related tools, and so could have difficulty in implementing e-government. Odat (2012) provides an additional perspective by stating how these government staffs, who might have less experience and skill in IT, could view the e-government project as a competitor to them, under the concern that this project could take their place, reduce their role as well as authority and eventually replace them. Kumar & Best (2006) found this resistance to change among the employees in the study conducted in India. Conclusion From the above review and analysis, it can be summarized that e-government has become a key component of government functioning in the current IT enabled environment, and that is applicable to the developing countries’ governments as well. E-government is being carried with the aid of various technological tools to provide easier, speedier and effective service to the citizens, government staffs as well as private organizations. In developing countries, due to certain inherent aspects, e-government could face certain project management issues. On the positive side, e-government can actualize an electronic interactive environment, using which government can provide feasible, convenient, quicker and thereby quality service to the citizens as well as other stakeholders. At the same time, on the opposite side, developing countries could have deficient IT infrastructure, budgetary constraints and also staffs with inadequate skill levels, and due to this e-government cannot be implemented effectively and so its functioning will also not provide expected results. References Basu, S. (2004). E-Government and Developing Countries: An Overview. International Review of Law Computers & Technology. 18 (1): 109-132. Chen, Y. N., Chen, H. M., Huang, W., and Ching, R. K. H. (2006). E-Government Strategies in Developed and Developing Countries: An Implementation Framework and Case Study. Journal of Global Information Management, 14(1): 23-46. Dada, D. (2006). The Failure of E-government in Developing Countries: A Literature Review. Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. 26 (7): 1-10. De, R. (2006). E-Government Systems in Developing Countries: Issues and Concerns – Discussion. IIMB Management Review. “E-Governance.” (n. d). E. Oman. Retrieved. http://www.ita.gov.om/ITAPortal/Info/FAQ_eGovernmen.aspx Kumar, R & Best, M. L. (2006). Impact and Sustainability of E-Government Services in Developing Countries: Lessons Learned from Tamil Nadu, India. The Information Society, 22: 1-12. Nawafleh, S. A., Obiedat, R. F. & Harfoushi, O. K. (2012). E-Government between Developed and Developing Countries. International Journal of Advanced Corporate Learning. 5 (1): 8-13. Ndou, V. (2004). E-government for Developing Countries: Opportunities and Challenges. Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. 18 (1): 1-24. Odat, A. M. (2012). E-Government in Developing Countries: Framework of Challenges and Opportunities. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology. 46 (2): 1013- 1021. Yildiz, M. (2007). E-government research: Reviewing the literature, limitations, and ways forward. Government Information Quarterly 24: 646–665 Read More