The Challenges Facing the Use of IT for the Development of Public Sector in Saudi Arabia - Literature review Example

?The Challenges Facing the Deployment and Use of IT for the Development of Public Sector in Saudi Arabia Introduction The e-government programs, strategies, projects or policies vary considerably and they depend on the context in which they are formulated and implemented. The local authorities and the governments are faced with the challenge of creating new forms of governance that are wide in their range on the basis of the scopes such as the e-government initiatives. The success is dependent on the capability of the government planners in the identification of the contingencies or challenges and the response to them by the integration of the response mechanisms in e-government solutions offered for the numerous challenges (Al-Jboori, Gharaibeh and Sahraoui 2006, p6). Majority of the people have expressed disbelief in the Saudi Arabia’s capability to transform the government towards accountability and transparency; the e-government could offer a solution in the country that is faced with deep rooted bureaucracy (Al-Jboori, Gharaibeh and Sahraoui 2006, p6). There are a number of challenges that the government of Saudi Arabia face in the deployment and implementation of IT in the public sector and they include; (a) government transformation and reform, (b) e-Citizen participation, (c) citizen access, security and privacy, (d) management of the e-government program, (e) evaluation, transparency, accountability, (f) soft and cultural barriers, and (g) the interoperability of the e-government platforms (Al-Jboori, Gharaibeh and Sahraoui 2006, p11). The rationale for the project is to identify the major obstacles or challenges that face the government of Saudi Arabia in the deployment and use of IT in the development of the public sector. Saudi Arabia is among the developing nations and the risks that are associated with the deployment of IT differ from those in the developed nations; these risks are associated with organizational and cultural factors (International Resources Management Association 2002, p36). Aim To analyze the level of IT development in Saudi Arabia To establish the level to which IT is applied in the public sector in Saudi Arabia To identify the main challenges in the deployment and the use of IT in the development of the public sector. To come up with tangible methods that can be used to alleviate these challenges. Tasks Research data is usually categorized as secondary and primary data. Primary data is developed by the researcher through the use of the data gathering techniques and secondary data is usually generated by others and it includes case materials, manual database, computer database, government departments, public organizations, and data-sets. There are a number of approaches that are used to collect data. The nature of the variables and the research questions determine the choice of the strategy for the collection of data (DeMatteo, Festinger and Marczyk 2010, n.p.). Preliminary preparations and obtaining Permissions Preliminary analysis of the public sector will be done; the preliminary analysis will be in the form of a pilot study. The analysis will entail finding suitable places (the places presumed to offer the required information) and in this case is the public sector. The number of respondents for this research is 50 people and they will be chosen randomly from the different sections of the public sector. These people have to be directly involved with issues concerning IT. Since the public sector is diverse, there are some institutions that restrict the collection of research data. A written consent or permission will have to be obtained from these institutions in the public sector. Data Collection For this research, both the primary and secondary will provide useful information regarding the public sector in Saudi Arabia. The primary data will be collected from the researcher and the secondary data will be collected from the publications made by the government departments and in particular the department that is responsible for IT. Another important primary and secondary source of the research data will be companies that have attempted to the assist the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in deploying and implementing IT in the public sector. A qualitative data collection method will be used; the method plays a significant role in evaluating impact because it offers information that is useful in understanding the processes that are behind the observed results. The method also evaluates the change in the people’s perception of their state. Qualitative method can be utilized to enhance the quality of the quantitative evaluations that are survey based by assisting in the generation of the evaluation hypothesis (University of Wisconsin n.d., p1). There are a number of methods that are commonly used in qualitative measurement; the methods are limited by the researcher’s imagination. One of the methods that are going to be used in this research is the unstructured interviewing. Unstructured interviewing entails the direct interaction between the respondent or the group and the researcher. The researcher has prior guiding questions or the core concepts that are going to be asked about; it is imperative to note that there will be no formal structured protocol or instrument. The interviewer (the researcher) is permitted to take the conversation the direction of his or her interest. Unstructured interviewing is important in evaluating a topic in details (Trochim 2006, p1). Since an in-depth analysis of the situation in the public sector in regard to the deployment and use of IT is required, unstructured interviewing will be significant. Qualitative research data collection method will assist in providing the information required to evaluate; (a) the challenges facing the deployment and use of IT in the public sector, and (b) propose changes for the mitigation of these challenges. A report will be written and editted in the course of the project lifetime. Data Analysis After the collection of the data, analysis will be made and it will be based upon the research questions and the evaluated data. The collected data should at some degree answer the research question(s). The data collected is supposed to be analyzed with uttermost care because the method of analysis is difficult to evaluate and in particular when it is being synthesized across a number of respondents. Because of the uniqueness of the interview (the respondents are not asked predetermined collections of questions), it becomes very difficult to make analysis of the data from the unstructured interview; this is in particular when there is synthesis of the information across the respondents (Trochim 2006, p1). Once the analysis has been done and the report properly updated and editted, a presentation will be done of the report to the faculty. Timing (Gantt Chart) Period 1-10 June 11-20 June 21-30 June 1-10 July 11-20 July 21-31 July 1-10 Aug 11-20 Aug 21-31 Aug 1-10 Sept 11-20 Sept 21-30 Sept Activity A                                           B           C               D         E           F                       G                                                                 Activity Desc. A Preliminary preparations B Obtaining permission and consent from the relevant authorities C Collection of data D Conducting Interview E Data analysis F Report writing and editing G Report presentation             Sources of Information and Resources Required Since the project is touching on the public sector, there are a number of things that must be availed for the success of the project. Information regarding the performance and use of IT in the public sector ought to be availed. The people’s perception of the IT in the public sector must also be known. Several information technology agencies have offered IT solutions to the public sector in Saudi Arabia; the information regarding their success and failure in the venture will be of great importance in completing this research. Project risks The project may be derailed by both conventional and e-bureaucracy; the ability of Saudi Arabia to transform the government to become transparent and accountable has been under scrutiny and this is because the nation is deeply entrenched into bureaucracy (Al-Jboori, Gharaibeh and Sahraoui 2006, p7). The solution to this problem is to find channels that can enable the success of the project; the bureaucracy factor can be dealt with by working with administrators who are not swayed by bureaucracy. Oracle offers a solution in how the public sector can be effective in managing its finances through the Oracle E-Business suite (Oracle Middle East 2007, p2). The adoption of such a suite can also assist in the reduction of bureaucracy. Professional issues The lack of a central authority to supervise the process of the e-government program implementation may trickle down to the effectiveness of the project. The implementation rules for the e-government were enforced on 2006 and they were only capable of making up to the post hoc requirement for the government agencies to prove conformance; this obstructed the previous corrective actions. Despite this being a section of the entire IT plan, there is no entity that can be identified to take the responsibility of the digital migration of the overall government. The government organizations are required to implement a portion of the e-government plan on their own and this requires the re-engineering of the processes to deliver services online (Al-Jboori, Gharaibeh and Sahraoui 2006, p9). This may slow down the process of the project since there is no identifiable government entity that is responsible for the entire process of the IT plan. These are matters to do with legislation. Culture has a big role and may become an obstacle for the effective implementation of the project. There are people who still refuse media such as TV and thus internet cannot be an exception (Al-Jboori, Gharaibeh and Sahraoui 2006, p11). The over reliance of the global consultants in the e-government projects can lead to the minute consideration of the soft factors in the e-government development; thus, the design-reality gap continues to widen leading to failure of the e-government project. References Al-Jboori, A., & Gharaibeh, G., & Sahraoui, S. (2006) e-Governance in Saudi Arabia: Can it overcome its challenges? In: eGovernment Workshop ’06, 11 September 2006 West London, UK: Brunel University, pp1-18. DeMatteo, D., Festinger, D. & Marczyk, G. R. (2010) Essentials of research design and methodology. John Wiley and Sons. Oracle Middle East. (2007) Oracle solutions for the public sector [online], AMEinfo.com. Available from: < http://www.ameinfo.com/96126-more2.html> [Accessed on 1 June 2011]. Trochim, W. M. K. (2006) Qualitative methods [online], Research Methods Knowledge Base. Available from: [Accessed on 4 June 2011]. University of Wisconsin. (n.d.) Data collection methods [online]. Available from: [Accessed on 4 June 2011]. Read More