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

V. ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
This chapter looks at the impact e-government is having on organisational change in Danish
government, at both the all-of-government and the individual organisation levels. At the
all-of-government level, the relationship between e-government and the current Structural Reform is
examined. The chapter also looks at four key dimensions of how e-government affects organisational
change within individual organisations, namely: 1) information and knowledge sharing; 2)
organisational structure; 3) organisational processes; and 4) organisational values and culture. It also
looks at the impact of e-government and ICT on organisational skills, with a focus on assessing
organisations’ progress to date in developing and maintaining the skills e-government requires.
E-government and the Structural Reform
The decentralised structure of the Danish public sector sets the institutional context for the
implementation of e-government. During the past 30 years, administrative power and policy
responsibility have increasingly been transferred from State to local government, creating highly
autonomous local government which is responsible for delivery of many government services. The
resulting closeness of local authorities to the users of their services provides a helpful environment for
electronic delivery of user-focused public services.
The institutional context for e-government in Denmark is currently undergoing major change.
Although a nationally co-ordinated restructuring of government based explicitly on e-government
ideas has never been contemplated, the large-scale Structural Reform (“the Reform”) of the public
sector that is underway will likely be the dominant feature of the Danish public management
environment for at least the next three years. The Reform is not directly motivated by e-government,
but is driven by an economic goal of increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of local
government, coupled with goals of making government more open, responsive, effective and
participatory (details of the Reform are provided in Appendix 2).
While e-government is neither an explicit driver nor a goal of the Reform, it is clearly an enabler
of the reform process. It is also central to achievement of some of its key objectives, such as
reorganisation of the health sector and creation of “local service centres” that will become the primary
offline entry point for delivery of as many State and local government services as possible.
The Reform appears to be heavily influenced by the ideas informing the Government’s overall
drive for public sector modernisation, of which e-government is a key component. The Citizens at the
Wheel (2002) modernisation programme is developing approaches to public management that shift the
focus of organisational change away from structural issues (such as the shape and size of organisations
and allocation of their roles and responsibilities) to the actual nature and objectives of government
policies and functions, and the way that organisations work separately and collectively to achieve
them. It is based on the overarching principle that public services should be provided how and where
they can achieve the best outcome for their users. Within this more citizen- or user-oriented
framework, e-government can be a useful tool to enable and monitor change, improve governance
arrangements and enhance collaboration across government in the provision of public services.
Officials’ perceptions of the role and function of e-government in the process of the Structural
Reform differ within individual organisations. In extensive discussions of the Structural Reform held
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