General Computerization Improved Public Administration Activities - Coursework Example

Public Administration and Technology Introduction Public Administration is mandated to implement government policies. Rabin, et al. (2006) noted that civil servants have the mandate of implementing specified policy within the government framework. In this regard, public administration ensures that every facet of the federal, state and local public services is executed in a way that will enhance service provision by the government. However, for the public administration to be in a position to achieve its objectives, it is critical to focus on integrating technology in its operations. The focal point, therefore, is on how the public managers can successfully implement information technology in order to create more efficient services provision. With increase in population, the civil servants have an added task of ensuring that every government policy is fully and efficiently implemented. To enhance this, information technology has been argued to foster such developments (Garson, 199). Rationale for the use of technology in public administration Studies have documented that, for public administration to realize its goals effectively, there is a need to consider transforming it to take the form of business. This argument is denoted by the idea that the overall goal of companies is to make profit. However, to achieve this, companies must consider facets that foster competitive advantage to make profit. Making profit is associated with quality of services and goods offered while taking care of good customer service. Nevertheless, companies clearly understand that to achieve this it is not a simple thing and requires strategic positioning. Among these strategies is the use of technology. This helps the company to advance in many ways. In light of this, the public administration should change its operations so that they can take the form of a company. It must view citizens it serves as customers. This way, there will be efforts to employ every necessary technique to satisfy the public. Therefore, technology becomes indispensable since it helps in enhancing every operations of the public administration (Reddick, 2012). Financial accounting Bekkers, et al. (2006) stipulated that the use of information technology helps in improving tax collection. This is a very indispensable department of the public administration since the government relies on those taxes to be able to execute different functions. Provision of services cannot be possible without funds to support the projects aimed at improving the lives of the citizens. Therefore, information technology can be used to enhance tax collection. This also applies to distribution of funds to different departments requiring the funds. With technology, it is possible for the government to effectively distribute the resources. In another dimension, with the increased technology, the public administration can easily identify departments or individuals that embezzle funds allocated (Bekkers, et al., 2006). This is aided by the availability of software that can be used for analysis of financial figures. As opposed to old ways of executing things, the public administration can efficiently complete given projects in a shorter time since the public servants can use technology to evaluate functionality of such projects. In the old days, paper work was the order of the day in the public administration. This made things go at a slow pace. Nowadays, the use of technology has enhanced the way things are handled especially issues concerning finances. Management of public assets and resources have also been improved since evaluation of the funds required to maintain such assets can easily be executed by the use of technological advances in the information technology (Snellen, et al., 2012). Corruption With the advanced technology, public administration has recorded reduced instances of corruption. The most susceptive area of public administration is the department of treasury when there are complex projects that require large sums of money for execution, public servants may be enticed to embezzle such funds. However, chances of embezzling the funds are high if the public administration is not using technology in its operations (Milakovich & Gordon, 2012). This is arguably true because the use of technology has been documented to have helped in monitoring areas that pave way for corruption. For instance, large projects might require complex calculations of funds required for their execution. This may create a room for corrupt individuals to manipulate the figures to steal the money. However, sophisticated software has eliminated some of those challenges since they can be used to easily execute calculations in a matter of minutes. Poor provision of services by the public servants has been a debatable issue for a long period. Many public servants have in the past been accused of undermining the citizens when they seek government services. Some have been reported to be lazy in their places of work. However, with the introduction of CCT cameras in most of the public administration offices, such incidences have reduced. It would be easy to prove what transpired between a public servant and the citizen with the aid of video footage supported by the CCTV. This way, such public servants understands the consequences of being involved in unprofessional behaviors (Milakovich & Gordon, 2012). In another dimension, technology has helped in improving public sectors that have for a long time lagged behind in regard to provision of services. With performance contracts that have been aided by technology, many public servants put efforts to serve the people with intent of meeting the requirements of the contract. This way, several public sectors are able to thrive (Fang, 2002). For example, the administrative system has been enhanced in such a way that every public service officer is required to log into the administrative system when they arrive in their work of places. Since the system is made for keeping record of the time the officer arrived in the place of work, it is possible to identify those officers that reported to work late. By the end of the day, the officer is required to input what he achieved or accomplished throughout the day. This way, supervisors and managers can scrutinize the work flow in their departments. The government has also benefited from the use of technology in various public sectors. Transparency has always been a challenge in most corrupt public sectors. With better communication facilitated by information technology, people can now report cases of corruption using designed websites without the fear of their identities being revealed. The government can equally communicate different projects to the citizens. Different information communicated to the public can be put under the scrutiny of the public to evaluate accountability by the government and particularly by the civil servants. Civil society can also use technology to raise awareness about issues of corruption. Data provided in different government websites can be collected by the public and analysed for detection of any corruption deeds within the government and several public sectors. E-judiciary Information technology enhances the way the judiciary operates (Olufemi, 2002). Specifically, filling and protection of evidence has been improved by technology in the judiciary. In the past, many cases were delayed since the filling was done manually and tracing files was difficult tasks. This also enhanced corruption in the judiciary. Some court clerks could hind the files with intentions of delaying the cases as a way of corruption. Nowadays, courts have utilized technology to enhance filling of cases and other related information. In the past, cases of lost or damage of evidence were common because evidence was stored manually without proper record keeping. Currently, it is difficult to tamper with evidence due to the use of technology. E-judiciary has also helped the way cases are handled in courts. Workflows in court room during proceedings have been made efficient and transparent. The use of technology has also helped in informing the citizens on their rights and other court related procedures (Olufemi, 2002). This has helped in facilitating proceedings because citizens are enlightened. Electronic identification With the increase of terrorism activities across the globe, the department of immigration has benefited greatly in regard to identification of persons entering the United States from other countries. It is easier to electronically identify individuals with dubious activities that can threaten the security of the United States (Graham & Avery, 2013). Issuing of passports and visas has been easy with possibility of detecting individuals that might have been marked as a threat to the country. With the help of electronic registration machines, individuals that might want to have fake passports and other documents can easily be spotted. There has been a concern on the use electronic chip gadgets that can be used by the homeland security to combat terrorism. Apparently, this kind of technology is proposed to include chip gadgets that will be inserted to foreigners or other citizens believed or suspected to carryout terrorism activities in the United States. Although such a technology has been criticized for the controversy revolving around violation of civil liberties, it can be argued that such a technology is meant for a good course (Graham & Avery, 2013). The homeland security has also benefited from the use of technology by having aerial surveillance of suspects of terrorism and other insecurity activities. With the support of Patriotic Act of 2011, the government has been able to come up with different technological ways of combating terrorism acts and other deeds that support the same. Citizen mobilization Information technology has been used by different public administration sectors in disseminating different information to the public in relation to various social services to the subscribers of mobile networks. SMS has been used by various departments to enlighten the public about various campaigns and other critical information that relates to public administration. This enables the public to receive the information that can help them in a rather quick way as opposed to when people would only wait for news and other old ways of disseminating information. E-procurement Many government projects have been delayed due to slow pace of procurement especially when this is done manually. However, with use of technology, various procurement departments in different public administration offices have benefited a lot since technology has made it possible to carry out different procurement activities in such an efficient manner (Farazmand, 2001). In addition, this has also reduced the rate of corruption in the procurement docket. This has been instrumental especially to the department of commerce where technology has been used to aid the procurement process. On the same note, smuggling of goods has now been reduced because of the use of techno logy in the department of trade. Conversely, illegal drugs have also been reduced due to the use of technology that helps in detecting different illegal drugs on their transit points (Farazmand, 2001). Most of the drugs smuggled in and out of the United States have been put under scrutiny due to the use of detection technology. This way, the government has benefited in many ways since there has been less instances of criminal activities. Studies have documented that, communities with many instances of drug abuse record high rates of crime. Additionally, the use of technology has also helped in reducing poverty, which is notable in communities that have many instances of drug abuse. Health care prevision Healthcare provision in the United States has benefited greatly for the use of technology. Delays that were perceived to be normal in the healthcare provision have been made a thing of the past through application of various technological advancements (Snellen, et al., 2012). For example, paper work has been for a long time hampered provision of medical services in public health institutions. With the aid of computers and other technologies, paper work has been reduced since patients’ clinical data can easily be stored in computers. The proposed use of Electronic Health Records is aimed at facilitative health care services. It is argued that ETR would help in reducing back log that hamper efficiency in different public health institutions. The delays that make physicians unable to work efficiently are argued to be eliminated by the use of ETR. The technology involves inserting chips under the skin of patients where all their medical data is store. This is believed to facilitate retrieval of medical records when patients visit public medical centers. The loss of data that has been witnessed in the past due to the utilization of paper work is reduced. In addition, creation of specialized software and hardware has been used for the facilitation of patients’ documents. This is also followed with the development of specialised software and hardware that is used for medical technology like X-ray machines and scanners. This has been helpful in that the government is able to offer health services to its citizens more efficiently. At the same time, hospitals and insurance companies can easily share information and communicate on various issues revolving around payment of medical covers for patients. The department of health and human services has also used technology in the invention and advancement of medicines that can be used to cure different diseases (Fang, 2002). Education The education sector has been a beneficially of technology. Teachers nowadays use computers and other supportive application to aid their teaching techniques. This has helped in reducing paperwork thus enhancing education (Reddick, 2012). Different learning institutions have also benefited from the use of technology by a way of sharing information as well as exchange of ideas used in the execution of various teaching techniques. Equally, in learning institutions where the government has availed different technologies for students learning such as computers and internet, the students are positioned to learn more efficiently. With a click of a mouse, students are able to research billions of different topics in their area of study. This has broadened the learning space where students can learn many and different things in a short period. Negative effects of technology in the public administration Although technology has been embraced for having benefited the public administration in many ways, there are several negative effects attached to it. For instance, many government websites have in the past been hacked and confidential data stolen (Reddick, 2012). The same technology utilized to store such confidential information has been used to either steal or manipulate the same information for dubious goals. Many civil servant employees have lost their jobs for misunderstanding caused by the default of the technology used in their workplaces. Manipulation of data by use of other technologies has also been used in the past and this has led to different forms of corruption. Conclusion With many deliberations on different dynamics of technology and public administration, it is apparent that the public administration has benefited in many ways. Financial accounting in the public administration has been enhanced. Corruption has been greatly reduced through the use of different technologies. Education sector has also benefited with students and teachers having different computerized systems that enhance learning and teaching respectively. Healthcare provision has also improved through application of different technologies that enables medical professionals to work efficiently. Different procurement activities in the public administration have been effective with the aid of technology. In the past, the judiciary has been criticized for delayed determination of cases due to lack of technology. However, court proceedings have been enhanced through the use of technology. Nevertheless, the government should design mechanisms of dealing with challenges that face such technologies. This can be achieved by developing software and other systems that counter cyber crimes. References: Bekkers, M, et al. (2006). Information and communication technology and public innovation: assessing the ICT-driven modernization of public administration. Amsterdam; Washington, DC: IOS Press. Fang, Z. (2002). E-Government in Digital Era: Concept, Practice, and Development. International Journal of The Computer, The Internet and Management, 10 (2), 1-22.. Garson, D. (199). Information technology and computer applications in public administration: issues and trends. Hershey [u.a.] Idea Group Publ. Graham, M. & Avery, E. (2013). Government Public Relations and Social Media: An Analysis of the Perceptions and Trends of Social Media Use at the Local Government Level. Public Relations Journal, 7 (4), 1-23. Farazmand, A. (2001). Handbook of Comparative and Development Public Administration. New York: CRC Press. Milakovich, M. & Gordon, G. (2012). Public Administration in America. New York: Cengage Learning. Olufemi, J. (2002). Electronic Governance: Myth or Opportunity for Nigerian Public Administration? International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2 (9), 122-140. Rabin, J. et al. (2006). Handbook of Public Administration, Third Edition. New York: CRC Press. Reddick, C. (2012). Public administration and information technology. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Snellen, M. et al. (2012). Public administration in the information age: revisited. Amsterdam; Washington, D.C.: IOS Press. Read More