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REMARKS TO SAP CANADA INC. LUNCHEON NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE, OTTAWA CANADA GOVERNMENT AND THE
INVISIBLE CURRENT OF CHANGE
October 18, 2001 by Thomas B. Riley Executive Director COMMONWEALTH CENTRE FOR ELECTRONIC GOVERNANCE
PROLOGUE This paper analyzes the importance of understanding the role
of IT in the public sector. IT
and public sector reform are intricately intertwined, as new technologies
are now changing the way public administration is being run. While the key focus in Canada has been on information and services delivery through a networked environment, single contacts that link into a range of government departments, and use of electronic information-age services, the government has recognized that application of information technology to all levels of government is an important part of public sector reform. We are seeing a multitude of changes in the public sector throughout the Commonwealth, precisely because of the transforming of government with new technologies. It can be said that there are two main, ongoing trends: 1. The increasing number of new and innovative information technologies coming into the marketplace are changing the way government not only delivers services to the public but administers itself. 2. New technologies and the Internet have transformed the way the public interacts and communicates with each other. This, in turn, is creating an interactive citizenry that is increasingly expecting more from government in the way of high tech solutions and ease of access to, not just government services, but means to communicate with government on a wide range of issues.
Introduction
Peter
F. Drucker Few, if any, developments in the
modern history of public administration and government have been as
heralded as the coming of electronic government (now commonly known as
e-government or e-governance). It
is common to hear predictions that e-government will transform our
political institutions, revitalize our democracies and fundamentally
change the relationship of governments to their citizens.
And there is little doubt that it can have profound, perhaps
revolutionary effects. Whether it does in fact bring
about a revolution in governance and public sector reform will be not so
much a function of the technology of e-government as it will be of the
ideology that underlies its implementation.
Although much has been written and discussed about the use of the
emerging tools of information technology in the design and administration
of 21st Century government, the concept of e-government is
still early in its evolution, and its final form is yet to be determined.
Indeed, e-government is a concept that exists without a firm
definition. To some, it
represents traditional government “with an ‘e’”, providing an
alternative delivery method for government services.
For others, it is a social, economic and political phenomenon,
which promises to re-engineer the nature of democratic government itself. Information and communication
technologies (“ICTs”) have always influenced the evolution of society
and, as a consequence, the nature of government.
Historically, they have enhanced existing social, economic and
political interactions, and even introduced new forms of interactivity. Examples of interactivity
attempts can be found on Canadian government web sites but these are still
at a limited stage. The
increasing growth of, and demand for, interactivity between government and
the citizenry means that governments will need to become more and more
innovative and creative in the way departments approach the citizenry.
This will result in new ways of organizing government itself.
We have already seen many examples of this in the private sector
and amongst a host of citizen groups around the world.
To NGOs, associations, lobby groups and political parties, the
Internet has become an organizational tool.
More importantly, it has become a means of fast and rapid
communications between groups and individuals.
On major issues of the day, many groups and individuals on the
Internet can respond much faster than government.
In the private sector, we have seen a complete revolution of the
world monetary system and our economies because of innovative and
strategic implementation of information technologies. The ATM machines, the
fluctuating currency exchange market, and the whole global economy, have
all come about because of the exploitation of new technologies.
But much of this happened because of visionaries and creative
leaders who put their vision into action.
Individual entrepreneurship is a key to change.
Public sector organizations have, traditionally, not been able to
deal with entrepreneurs because of the hierarchal nature of public
administrations. The
public service, as it exists, is too process-driven and does not allow
individualisation. The
emergence of the interactive society is making
greater demands on government, and the role of entrepreneurs within
government will be important in contributing to the meeting of these
demands. Interactivity is, in both a
social and technical sense, the unfastened cork that allows the
informational genie to escape from the bottle.
It leads to the emergence of new relationships, connections and
expectations that are difficult to control or predict, and which can bring
about fundamental, even revolutionary change. Today’s network-based
technologies bring new forms to the art of governance. They represent a
second, major phase in the integration of computer-based technology into
the management structures of the public sector, a phase, which may be
described, in a general sense, as “the advent of networked government“
and which is primarily marked by the move away from informational
monopolies and hierarchies. This
change from hierarchal systems to a networked environment, also called
distributed networks, represents a fundamental challenge to the nature of
public administration as we have known it.
In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Tony Blair has used his web
site to put up all the relevant documents related to Britain’s response
to the tragic events of September 11.
This was done because of the perceived need to keep British
citizens informed of ongoing developments. http://www.number-10.gov.uk/text/default.htm Modern societies and governments
have traditionally operated on a hierarchical model of information flow
and interaction. So, for the
most part, have traditional information technologies. This is not surprising, of course, given that technological
innovation and societal evolution are synergistic partners that influence
and reflect each other in much the same way that mind influences body and
body reflects mind. What is integral to the
structure, however, is the ability of hierarchies to shift dynamically
depending on the particular needs of the moment. This ability highlights a changing dynamic within the broader
society. Businesses, for
their part, have embraced the cause of corporate reengineering, and have
adopted the “network values” of partnership, coordination, distributed
intelligence and the flattening of administrative and hierarchical
structures. As Paul Saffo
states: In a web-based structure,
your title doesn’t matter: Your power is determined by whether you are a
high-quality node on the network.[2] A simple example can help
illustrate the practical differences between traditional and network
models of information interchange. Consider
two classrooms in the same school, one reflecting a traditional hierarchy,
the other a networked model. Each
classroom has the same level of computer technology.
In Classroom A, class times are
limited and scheduled according to a pre-set timetable.
The teacher lectures from notes, which he or she dispenses to the
students in controlled quantities at controlled times.
Learning takes place, but it does so in a linear and clearly
defined way. The tools of
learning are available to students only during class, and access to
computer data is limited to several pre-selected databases.
Students work from their desks, and there is little or no direct
interaction between students inside the classroom.
To an observer, the environment appears as ordered and efficient. Across the hall, Classroom B is
always open to the students, who can, and do, draw on all available
resources at any time. The
teacher leads the discussion, provides guidance and support, and is
responsible for ensuring that the students grasp the materials.
Students are encouraged to collaborate, share ideas, and explore
the full potential offered by the technology.
They have unlimited access to all electronic information on the
course topics, and scurry from desk to desk, with ad hoc discussion groups
forming and dissipating rapidly. It
is, in effect, an environment of controlled chaos. In Classroom A, the potential
for learning is in large part dictated by the rules attaching to
information access. In
Classroom B, that potential is limited primarily by the students’
motivation. While current governmental and
educational structures tend to be modelled on the former scenario, current
social and economic structures have already begun to reflect the latter.
In both scenarios, however, it is interesting to note that the
technology is the same. What is different are the underlying administrative systems
and processes that are applied to each classroom.
It is this whole system of administration that will need to be
subject to major change if the public service is to reflect the changing
nature of society. The expectations of both citizen
and business place powerful pressures on government to create systems
which allow for these kinds of interactions in the public sphere.
Those expectations find their roots in the evolution of mass
information flow from passive receipt to active exchange. Towards
a Definition of E-Government
It is fashionable to call the
current era the “Age of Information”, and rightly so. We live in a time when technological advances have
transformed our ability to collect, store and manipulate data, and to
communicate information in new and innovative ways.
It is clear to even the most disinterested observer that networked,
Internet technologies have begun to redefine our social and commercial
institutions. Not since
Gutenberg’s development of the printing press in the 15th
Century, it is said, has new information and communication technology
served as so important a catalyst for political, economic and social
change. It is also fashionable to state
that these new information and communication technologies (ICTs) will
fundamentally recast government and public administration.
Indeed, that recasting is the essential promise of e-government. Because e-government is very
much in the early stages of its evolution, the definition that is affixed
to it will do much to shape its final form. Moving towards a normative
definition of e-government, therefore, is not simply an academic exercise.
It is both a practical step and a profoundly important ideological
statement, because from that definition will follow the spring the guiding
principles and pragmatic structures that will give e-government its
long-term shape. E-government is a tool.
And, like any tool, no matter how powerful, it has limited value
and relevance in itself. Its
value arises from its application to specific goals and objectives.
As a composite of the
application of technology to government, e-government falls underneath a
large technological umbrella that includes:
The use of information and
communication Technologies (ICTs) to encourage greater citizen engagement,
on one hand, can be a liberating and democratizing force within
government. In the unbalanced
pursuit of risk reduction and the control of potential fraud, ICTs can, on
the other hand, be extremely effective instruments of control and
authoritarianism. The ability
to reconcile and balance these inconsistent outcomes is not a function of
the technology. Rather, it is
a function of the policy choices governments are making and will make with
respect to how that technology is utilized. There are many examples of
online sites that forward and promote electronic democracy.
A particularly interesting and relevant site is Electronic
Democracy New Zealand, which acts both as an information tool to put forth
the latest government reports and policy proposals, and as a means to
interact with government. http://www.naturespace.co.nz/ed/index.htm
Another example is the International Teledemocracy Centre (ITC) in
Edinburgh, Scotland, which has run online consultations and petitions for
both the Scottish Executive and local councils in Scotland and England.
The ITC has developed tools for these consultations and, as an
organization independent of government, is flexible and able to change
when it sees problems in its consultative process.
http://www.itc.org
The leader in developing tools for interaction with governments and
legislators alike in the United States is Democracy Online.
http://www.e-democracy.org/do
For a Canadian government example see: It is becoming evident that much of the leadership for change
between government and the citizenry is coming from outside groups,
individuals with drive and vision, and the citizenry itself. This, in itself, is a persuasive argument for governments to
start thinking of new strategies and innovative ways to adapt to these
ongoing changes in society. Access and Multiple Channels of Delivery The evolution from a supply driven economy to a demand
driven or customer driven economy, has created a 365/24/7 world.
As consumers, citizens expect to able to access business services
in the times and in the ways that are convenient for them, rather than for
the supplier. This is also
true of e-government services. In the provision of services, governments must be prepared
to provide citizens with response levels equivalent to those enjoyed in
the commercial transactions, and by citizens in other jurisdictions.
One of the central characteristics of information and communication
technologies is the ability to eliminate the constraints of geography.
Governments will therefore come under increasing pressure from
developments in other nations, as citizens more readily compare political
and economic efficiencies enjoyed by citizens around the world, and impose
those expectations on local governments.
However, the emergence of different modes of accessing
government services does not mean that citizens desire e-government to
replace existing forms of interaction, or to be limited to just one form
of interaction. Survey and
focus group data gathering by the Canadian government, for example,
suggests the opposite, that many people still prefer the off-line choices.
Timing
A key issue to be dealt with is the pace and timing of the
implementation of e-governmental initiatives.
Although the emergence of e–government is inevitable, it is
important that guiding philosophies and policy choices be clearly
articulated before new technologies are integrated into government.
In the absence of such articulation, those policy choices,
and the ultimate impact of technologies on the government-citizen
interaction will be driven by technical and architectural considerations
rather than the thoughtful realization of democratic goals and objectives. As new networking technologies
introduce new modes of information exchange, the traditional structures of
government will undergo powerful pressures to evolve and adapt. The pace of change is in its nascent stages.
In the next few decades public sector institutions will need to
consistently adapt and change and be innovative in ways not previously
known. In both the developed
and developing countries of the world it will be important to develop
clear sets of strategies and best practices for the use of information and
communications technologies within governments. Evolutionary times, such as the era we live in, demand new attitudes, new ways of thinking, new strategies, new structures, innovations, creativity and entrepreneurship. These challenges for government are many but doable and necessary.
Thomas B. Riley, Executive Director, Commonwealth
Centre for Electronic Governance, can be reached at: triley6@compuserve.com,
phone: 1-613-236-7844, fax: 1-613-236-7528, 100 Bronson Avenue, Suite
1203, Ottawa, Canada K1R 6G8 web: http://www.electronicgov.net
and http://www.rileyis.com
[1]The
Atlantic Monthly; October 1999; Beyond the Information Revolution -
99.10; Volume 284, No. 4; page 47-57. [2]The
End of Government Monopoly. Government Technology, Volume 12, Issue
15, November 1999, page 31 |
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