OECD Peer Review of E-Government in Denmark - ePractice.eu

In terms of its impact on organisational culture, values and skill requirements, e-government has
so far only had a limited effect. It is reported to have had a positive impact on the overall transparency
of government processes, but has yet to lead to the desired level of change in the way that people
communicate, both with and within government. Despite the great success of the eDay initiative, the
majority of communication is still occurring in non-digital ways. Within government this may be
attributable to widespread resistance to change – a problem regarded by many people interviewed for
this review as being the biggest barrier to e-government-enabled organisational change that they
currently face.
While some of this resistance is no doubt the predictable reaction of organisations to changes of
the type and magnitude that e-government allows, some may also be due to issues related to the impact
that e-government is having on organisations’ skill requirements. Aside from a self-acknowledged
lack of ICT and e-government skills among the top level of Danish government officials, there appears
to be a shortage of people with either the technical and/or business skills needed to effectively fill
other e-government related roles in government organisations. Some of this may be due to a
fragmented approach to development of ICT curricula and provision of training by the education
sector (both public and private). To the extent that it affects the overall capacity of Danish government
organisations to implement e-government, this lack of skills is a significant issue.
Proposals for action
13. The Government should consider whether there is a need to put in place measures to better
communicate to government organisations: 1) the relationship between e-government and the Structural Reform;
and 2) the role of e-government in supporting the Structural Reform through enabling strengthened governance
arrangements, improved communication, enhanced collaboration across levels of government, delivery of more
user-focused services and greater cost-effectiveness.
14. The Government should consider steps to strengthen the use of ICT as a tool to improve knowledge
diffusion and increase collaboration across government. As a first step, the Government could consider building
on established co-operation frameworks such as existing “new service communities” by expanding their mandate
to include supporting the creation of ICT-enabled learning networks within their respective areas of responsibility.
It could also consider whether there is a need for development of additional frameworks (e.g. a public sector
knowledge management strategy) and/or infrastructures (e.g. a public sector intranet) in support of enhanced
information and knowledge management, and increased collaboration on both e-government and the wider
business of government, both within and between organisations.
15. In order to enable and encourage the supply of ICT skills which better match the requirements of
government organisations, the Government could examine whether there is a need to improve demand and
supply of ICT skills through: 1) improved communication of currently available public and private ICT learning
resources; 2) establishing content that meets market requirements in existing ICT curricula of both private and
public institutions; and 3) ensuring the ongoing development of ICT curricula in line with both organisations’ and
employees’ needs.
6. Common frameworks and collaboration
Collaboration on e-government is well advanced in Denmark. Interviews with officials revealed a
strong commitment to the concept and practice of collaboration, and general satisfaction with the way
the supporting policy and operational environment enables this type of behaviour. Because Denmark
has put significant effort into developing leading examples of this aspect of e-government it is covered
in considerable depth in both this summary and the main body of the report.
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