When developing a new vision for the future of governance, public servants in Canada in 2004 began to realize that a shift was needed in the way that democracy was going to have to operate; it was realized that “representative democracy has not be replaced, but become more participative. Democracy is no longer just voting every four to five years, but a continuous, engaged, informed and collaborative dialogue involving all players” . While the quote speaks volume about representative democracy, it also represented that, along with a change in representative democracy, comes a change in democratic institutions, and as a result, public sector organizations tied to these institutions. Several factors have driven this shift, including the rise of e-government.
For several decades, debates have raged on over the potential restructuring of the public service in the pursuit to achieve greater performance while meeting the needs of all players involved. Over the past two decades, e-government and the rise of information communication technologies (ICT’s) have been a central aspect of this debate, with e-government seen as a way to bring about this change in performance by leveraging the use of ICT’s to enhance the way government functions . Several Westminster systems, including Canada, have looked to adopt principles of e-government as a way to achieve these new performance goals, as highlighted in the Government Online 2006 document and the ensuing push towards more citizen-centric and citizen-friendly services . However, within the context of e-government implementation, several questions arise. Has this implementation of e-government principles been effective? If so, to what extent? And if e-government is changing the way that public organizations function, what changes are occurring and are they significant?
This paper aims to examine to what extent e-government ICT’s have contributed to a shift in public service organizations within Canada. While changes have occurred, evidence suggests that significant changes have been context dependent and relatively incremental due to barriers which arise from the current organizational structures within public organizations. While these barriers present challenges, there is the potential for future ICT’s, given the nature of their specializations, to impact public sector organizations within Canada in a less context-dependent nature and through a more holistic approach, leading towards more flexible and collaborative structures within public sector organizations.
The Rise of a Focus on Service and Barriers to Entry
Public sector organizations at multiple levels of government in Canada are embracing e-government ideas, and trying to leverage the potential benefits from ICT’s, specifically with a focus on service delivery. This coincides with a shift that has led to a more citizen-centric approach in organizations, as expectations have shifted around the goals that public organizations are supposed to accomplish. In the Canadian context, this has been demonstrated by the rise of ICT’s within service delivery agencies, specifically with the online portals associated with Service Canada federally , and the rise of Service New Brunswick and Access Nova Scotia provincially. The shift towards delivering these services through online portals signals a move towards multiple avenues for citizens to interact with public sector organizations in service delivery.
However, while the implementation of ICT’s has occurred, the implementation has been relatively context dependent and incremental in nature . The context has been constrained to a change in thinking, specifically the focus on a citizen-centric approach, and as a result many of the changes that have occurred have been geared towards service delivery, with a specific focus on online service delivery. E-government has the ability to have a broader scope of influence, and the ideas and technologies associated with e-government are not restricted to service delivery. These incremental changes, and limited scope of interaction with public sector organizations in, demonstrates some of the challenges that e-government and the implementation of ICT’s face.
E-Government’s Potential and ICT Implementation
E-government can be simply defined as the public organizations use of ICT’s to improve the functions of these organizations . This includes the delivery of government services, the formulation and implementation of policy, and the impact on the interactions between individuals within these organizations, as well as interactions with citizens . Currently, e-government has focused more on the delivery of services towards citizens over other aspects where it could have a significant impact. As seen in the private sector , the use of ICT’s has already paid dividends, providing a new arsenal of tools for the delivery of services, such as online banking, streaming services for entertainment delivery , and the delivery of news through new mediums of communication, such as the internet and mobile platforms. While uses in the public sector are different in context, ICT’s are no less of a tool for innovation within public sector organizations. In the public sector context, the advantage of implementing ICT’s include improving speed and effectiveness in decision making, reducing costs through the better use of resources, and increased levels of expertise both internal and external to public sector organizations . Combined together, these advantages can be leveraged through the introduction of these technologies into public sector organizations and can improve the way these organizations carry out their everyday functions, deliver services, and change the interaction between citizens and these organizations.
While ICT’s have been disruptive in nature, they have been applied to existing organizational structures, based on the Traditional Public Management (TPM) paradigm , where e-government ICT’s have been implemented into hierarchical structures with clear chains of command and the delineation of authority between elected officials and public servants . These systems have minimal citizen input, and many public sector officials operate within different “silos”; the hierarchical structures and ‘silos’ result is a cumbersome process of implementing a modern idea and modern technologies into a ridged system that is risk-adverse and incompatible with crucial components needed for e-government’s goal of enhancing performance, such as the ability for information to move freely within an organization . While these difficulties currently persist, there are several external pressures on government and tools on the horizon that may lead ICT’s to experience greater success in a wider range of applications in the future.
Towards the Future: A Shift From Rigidity to Collaboration
Changes in societal expectations of government, as well as coming fiscal constraints, have the potential to begin to shift the approach taken towards e-government and its associated ICT’s . Citizens as consumers have come to expect various forms of interactions in the private sector and a certain level of service expected in combination with ICT’s, as well as many citizens having extensive knowledge and use of them in their private lives . As such, these private interactions and expectations of service in the private sector have come to shape what they are expecting of government . A move towards greater integration of e-government tools allows public sector organizations to meet these new expectations, and can provide internal benefits to these organizations as well.
Along with changing expectations, public organizations are facing growing fiscal constraints as a result of increased costs due to declining birth rate and increasing life expectancies , as well as increasing debt loads , leading towards suggestions that shifts towards greater integration of e-government ideas may lead to greater efficiency in the delivery of services, in some cases leading towards upwards of twenty percent decline in the cost of these services . Given these new fiscal constraints as a result of structural and population shifts, e-government may provide the answer as a way to keep the level of these services at a relatively high standard while dealing with the costs associated with these new realities. A move in this direction is possible, and seems increasingly likely given these growing pressures. However, there are organizational shifts that must occur in order for these changes to have a meaningful impact.
As stated previously, many of the current barriers that result in ICT’s and e-government implementation being highly context dependent are a result of the current hierarchical design of the public service. These barriers result in information being divided into “silos”, leading to collaboration problems across jurisdictions, and current organizational values that lead to the public service to being skeptical and extremely hesitant to implement e-government tools . In order for a significant shift to occur and these barriers to be reduced, public service organizations themselves must shift away from TPM style structures and a move towards a greater degree of flexibility and collaboration, potentially found within the Public Value Management (PVM) paradigm. PVM is a move away from the rigidity of the current organizational structure and a move towards more collaboration, both internal and external to government, and a shift away from standardization present in TPM .
While not a be all and end all paradigm for public management , it better encapsulates the ideas of e-government and has the potential for e- government tools to be used in a more ‘whole – of – government’ approach, rather than incremental, context-dependent shifts. This shift could also bring increased transparency of information within the public service resulting in greater collaboration and a greater use of e-government tools in multiple functions within these organizations. However, beyond the coming fiscal constraints mentioned above, there are few incentives currently for public service organizations within Canada to pursue this shift, and move away from a TPM organizational structure. However, the introduction of future ICT’s may shift the focus and act as incentives to carry out organizational shifts.
The Coming Tools for Change
With calls for government to innovate and embrace new methods of management, the rapid emergence of new technologies that can be incorporated under the umbrella of ICT’s have the potential to facilitate this shift, and not simply in the service delivery aspect. As stated by former Privy Council Clerk Mel Cappe, e-government goes beyond service delivery and “must be regarded as a new model of government, one that is born of and relevant to the new emerging society – a society that is increasingly digital … in its interactions” . These new technologies have the ability to affect public organizations on a broader scale, and move beyond the boundaries of service delivery. Along with these changes, they have the potential to put more pressure on public organizations to move towards the greater incorporation of PVM and away from TPM, leading to a more flexible and structures as a result of the way they will be able to carry out their function.
While these technologies can be seen as extremely transformative, the question still arises as to why public sector organizations would adopt such technologies? The answer comes into the objectives that these organizations are trying to accomplish. With a more citizen-centric approach, these new technologies have the ability to reach citizen-centric outcomes through their effective management of resources, both in service delivery and other functions. With increased budgetary and structural constraints, new ICT’s can provide tools that perform specialized functions that can lead to increased performance in services and functions already performed, or the delivery of service and functions in new ways that weren’t possible before. These technologies also have the potential to break down the organizational barriers that e-government ICT’s currently face, as their inherent nature focuses on the need for collaboration and the exchange of information. They are specialized tools that can help organizations achieve their goals and can they can begin to frame e-government ideas, such as the open exchange of information, as a value of these organizations, rather than ideas that threaten these organizations.
One such technological shift that may occur is a move to intelligent apps, as well as data analytics. Intelligent applications and data analytics have the ability to free up human resources, speed up the intake of relevant data to public service organizations, and analyze user trends of services for potential use in improved service delivery . Another is the use of the internet of things (IOT’s), where information from sensors and other physical objects connected on an information network is processed to provide information which can improve the use of limited government resources, resulting in a more efficient process to delivery services and carry out tasks, while maintaining effective service . Finally, distributive ledger technologies, such as blockchain, providing an avenue for increased security and efficiency in data handling, especially with highly sensitive data . Currently, certain federal public service organizations have begun to experiment with these technologies, specifically distributive ledger technologies and their ability to disclose information publicly , to see how they can be used within public sector organizations.
While public organizations have the ability to reject these changes and continue to try and implement current and future e-government tools within a TPM paradigm, doing so seems counterintuitive. Taking this approach could lead to a “public sector that is out of touch with public expectations, out-dated and unnecessarily costly” . This is counterproductive to the goals that public organizations are currently trying to achieve, and as a result, does not represent a productive or meaningful path for public organizations to pursue. In order to continually innovate, improve the functions of public sector organizations, and meet citizen expectations, a move towards a more collaborative system is needed, and ICT’s have the potential to act as a facilitator for this transformation.
Conclusion
E-government ICT’s have begun to effect the way public sector organizations function. With changes in perceptions, both internally and externally, about what these organizations should accomplish, e-government, and the associated ICT’s , have been seen as a way to meet these changes and any challenges that may be faced. This change in perception, and the implementation of ICT’s in service delivery, already represents a significant shift that has occurred within public sector organizations. However, the current structure of these organizations limits the potential of ICT’s within these organizations, and has narrowed the scope of where they should be applied. Their potential extends beyond service delivery, and can be tools that, when properly applied, have multiple benefits.
Changes in perception, other external pressures, and the emergence of new ICT’s that can be seen as more applicable to public sector organizations may led to ICT’s being adopted in a broader context. If such a change occurs, in order to fully realize their potential, structural organizational changes will need to occur. These technologies may be the driving force behind these changes, as they cannot simply be applied to the current structure of public service organizations. If continued implementation of ICT’s is limited to a structure that is ridged and lacks the flexibility and collaboration that is required for them to thrive, they will continue to be limited to incremental, context dependent changes within public sector organizations, and fall short on what they can truly accomplish.