Public Management and Administration - Owen E.hughes

10
E-government
Introduction
In the first years of the twenty-first century, as the economies of many countries
change rapidly with the information revolution, it is undeniable that there
will be effects on the operations of government. Parallel to developments in the
private sector in e-business and e-commerce, there have been sufficient governmental
changes induced to warrant the name ‘e-government’ – a term
becoming more used within public management.
E-government, as a term, may refer to ‘the use of information technology, in
particular the Internet, to deliver public services in a much more convenient,
customer-oriented, cost-effective, and altogether different and better way
(Holmes, 2001, p. 2). A broader definition of e-government is the adoption of
any information and communication technology by government. The technologies
include video conferencing, touch-tone data entry, CD-ROMs,
the Internet and private Intranets, as well as other technologies such as interactive
television and Internet access via mobile phone and personal digital
assistants.
The changes induced to the operations of government are likely to be farreaching.
Public organizations have never been averse to using technology, but
they have necessarily only been able to operate within the level of technology
available. As that changes so must the way that government is organized and
operates. As noted by The Economist in a special survey, ‘Within the next five
years it [e-government] will transform not only the way in which most public
services are delivered, but also the fundamental relationship between government
and citizen. After e-commerce and e-business, the next Internet revolution
will be e-government’ (The Economist, 24 June 2000). The precise effects
are difficult to predict, but that there will be major change driven by technology
is a safe assumption to make.
The public management reforms and e-government are related reform
movements. As Bellamy and Taylor argue ‘The patterns of organizational
change which are so commonly associated with the information age are
remarkably consistent with the patterns associated with current forms of managerialism
in public administration’ (1998, p. 37). Obviously the technological
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