Simulation in public sector management: a case study

We detail the development and application of a simulation model to aid decision making concerning the procedures followed in the Office of Film and Literature Classification, by forecasting the effects of possible management initiatives. The major variables are — the number of censors, the volume of publications to be classified (with special emphasis on computer technology publications) and the procedures, in particular, the number of censors with decision-making powers. A model of the system was developed using Extend; a simulation software package designed to aid decision support. This model was used to investigate the utilization of "decision-makers", and to identify and locate the bottlenecks, in the system under a number of different scenarios suggested by the client. There is also the flexibility to include additional duties that might be imposed on the Office.     

Collective action problems in public sector innovation: A business model perspective

We explore how the literature on business models can explain the outcomes of innovation attempts in the public sector. Our findings suggest that governments can access a well‐developed knowledge domain for a public sector area but have a weak ability to propagate its value for society. Drawing on the business model literature concerning interdependence and distributed agency, we illustrate how a collective action problem related to innovation may arise in the public sector. We illustrate this new category of public innovation challenge with the (failed) case of the Swedish civil contingencies system and subsequently discuss a new line of inquiry for future research.     

An empirical model of IT usage in the Malaysian public sector

Whilst there have been many studies to determine the factors that influence the use of information technology (IT) in organisations, few have considered how these factors change with the level of IT use. This paper presents the results of such a study involving the use of IT to support Total Quality Management (TQM). The population studied consisted of those organisations in the Malaysian public sector that had applied for the Malaysian Prime Minister's Quality Award during the period 1992–1997.Three sets of factors were investigated for their impact on the use of IT to support TQM in this setting: external, organisational, and technological factors. Overall, the organisational and technological factors had more influence on IT usage than did the external factors. However, as organisations became more experienced in their use of IT, the major contextual influences on IT usage levels changed. At low levels of IT usage the major contextual influences were organisational. At medium levels of IT usage a combination of technological and organisational factors became important, whilst at high IT usage levels, the dominant factors were technological.     

The emergence of digital ecosystem governance: An investigation of responses to disrupted resource control in the Swedish public transport sector

Digital ecosystem governance entails the management of complex, dynamic power relationships. As entrant platform providers seek to cultivate an ecosystem, they must carefully navigate these power relationships when dealing with governance tensions. Providers generally seek to leverage the ecosystem's generative potential by facilitating a variety of interactions and distributing design rights. Simultaneously, they need to ensure stability and order by imposing rules that resolve contentious matters and restrict ecosystem participants' degrees of freedom. This study explores how and why providers can induce ecosystem actors to engage in collaborative negotiation regarding such governance tensions through a case study of the introduction of an open data platform in the Swedish public transport sector. Our analysis offers three main contributions. First, it provides an empirical demonstration that entrepreneurial threats, as well as opportunities, can trigger platform launches and drive collaborative negotiation of digital ecosystem governance. Second, it extends conceptualizations of boundary resources beyond the current focus on transactional elements by demonstrating the role of interactive boundary resources in the negotiation of governance grounded in both social and systemic power relationships. Third, it shows how positive reinforcement can complement punitive measures to increase acceptance of design rules.     

Big data in the public sector: Uncertainties and readiness

Big data is being implemented with success in the private sector and science. Yet the public sector seems to be falling behind, despite the potential value of big data for government. Government organizations do recognize the opportunities of big data but seem uncertain about whether they are ready for the introduction of big data, and if they are adequately equipped to use big data. This paper addresses those uncertainties. It presents an assessment framework for evaluating public organizations’ big data readiness. Doing so demystifies the concept of big data, as it is expressed in terms of specific and measureable organizational characteristics. The framework was tested by applying it to organizations in the Dutch public sector. The results suggest that organizations may be technically capable of using big data, but they will not significantly gain from these activities if the applications do not fit their organizations and main statutory tasks. The framework proved helpful in pointing out areas where public sector organizations could improve, providing guidance on how government can become more big data ready in the future.     

Information resource management in the public sector

In applied informatics, the term information resource management (IRM) is used in many different ways, while in the field of public administration, the term public sector covers many different activities and varies for different levels of government from country to country. Here a classification system which defines these different situations is presented. With its use, one may establish a picture of IRM in the public sector. This classification system is used in the Netherlands to formulate policy on information systems and services (IRM) for central, regional, and local government in a more of less coordinated way. It may also be of practical value for comparative studies of different countries. Our major conclusion is that the structure of a country's public administration has always implicitly been dependent, inter alia, on the information technology available. It follows that, all other things being equal, new information technologies will influence public sector organisation and its relations with society as a whole.     

Accessible software development: a conceptual model proposal

Universal Access in the Information Society - Equal access to all software and digital content should be a reality in the Digital Era. This argument is something defended both by existing...     

Automated conceptual model clustering: a relator-centric approach

Software and Systems Modeling - In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the use of reference conceptual models to capture information about complex and sensitive business domains...     

Information systems in the public sector: The e-Government enactment framework

Despite the burgeoning number of studies of public sector information systems, very few scholars have focussed on the relationship between e-Government policies and information systems choice and design. Drawing on Fountain’s (2001) technology enactment framework, this paper endeavours to conduct an in-depth investigation of the intricacies characterising the choice and design of new technologies in the context of e-Government reforms. By claiming that technologies are carriers of e-Government reform aims, this study investigates the logics embedded in the design of new technology and extant political interests and values inscribed in e-Government policies. The e-Government enactment framework is proposed as a theoretical and analytical approach to understand and study the complexity of these relationships which shape e-Government policies.     

Quality management and the work environment: an empirical investigation in a public sector organization

The integration of quality management initiatives, particularly total quality management (TQM), and ergonomics has received increasing attention from scholars and practitioners. Above all, the question of how TQM programs relate to ergonomic aspects of organizational design and culture is at the center of this discussion. This study examines how elements of a "typical", Deming-inspired, TQM program in the public sector interact with the work environment. Elements of the TQM program were defined and measured using the Malcom Baldridge Award criteria. The specific elements examined were "Management Support of Quality", "Information and Analysis", "Human Resources", "Processes and Quality Results", and "Customer Focus and Satisfaction". The relationship between these TQM elements and the work environment were defined through five separate hypotheses. The work environment was described by the constructs "Supervisor Support", "Task Clarity", "Task Orientation", and "Innovation". Data were obtained through survey questionnaires administered to employees of four departments in a municipal government organization. Results supported three of the hypotheses, but produced some unanticipated outcomes with regard to the other two. Namely, "Management Support of Quality" was significantly related to "Supervisor Support", "Task Orientation", "Task Clarity" and "Innovation"; "Human Resources" was significantly related to "Supervisor Support"; "Processes and Quality Results" was significantly related to "Task Orientation" and "Innovation". Contrary to predicted "Information and Analysis" was negatively related to "Innovation", and "Customer Focus" was unrelated to any of the outcome variables. The relationships between these TQM elements and work environment dimensions are discussed. Implications for TQM and ergonomic practice are analyzed, and directions for future research proposed.     

New work councils: Expanded cooperation in the public sector in Denmark

This article discusses several pilot projects carried out by Danish state institutions between 1995 and 1998 to extend employee participation through changes in the structure, competencies, and task areas within workplace work councils and safety organizations. In extending these projects, the employers and employees' organizations agreed in 1999 to prolong the existing cooperative agreement as well as a framework agreement that allows for new ways to organize cooperation and safety activities. The article discusses these initiatives and raises a series of questions about the possibilities and difficulties connected with increased employee participation. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Big data and smart cities: a public sector organizational learning perspective

Public sector organizations (city authorities) have begun to explore ways to exploit big data to provide smarter solutions for cities. The way organizations learn to use new forms of technology has been widely researched. However, many public sector organisations have found themselves in new territory in trying to deploy and integrate this new form of technology (big data) to another fast moving and relatively new concept (smart city). This paper is a cross-sectional scoping study—from two UK smart city initiatives—on the learning processes experienced by elite (top management) stakeholders in the advent and adoption of these two novel concepts. The findings are an experiential narrative account on learning to exploit big data to address issues by developing solutions through smart city initiatives. The findings revealed a set of moves in relation to the exploration and exploitation of big data through smart city initiatives: (a) knowledge finding; (b) knowledge reframing; (c) inter-organization collaborations and (d) ex-post evaluations. Even though this is a time-sensitive scoping study it gives an account on a current state-of-play on the use of big data in public sector organizations for creating smarter cities. This study has implications for practitioners in the smart city domain and contributes to academia by operationalizing and adapting Crossan et al’s (Acad Manag Rev 24(3): 522–537, 1999) 4I model on organizational learning.     

Some capital investment considerations in the public utility sector

This paper presents a method for generating minimum annual revenue requirements (MARR), using the normalizing procedure, for projects with extended construction periods. The method presented includes a provision for allowable funds under construction (AFC). This paper also presents a method for calculating the effect of a project on the rate base and discusses the effects of MARR, rate base, and AFC on consumer rates.     

How and why network governance evolves: evidence from a public safety network

Public sector organizations increasingly form interorganizational networks that rely on technology to achieve what they cannot achieve independently. The governance of these public sector networks is complex due to the nature of interorganizational relationships and technology. This paper aims to increase our understanding of network governance by exploring the evolution of governance over the 40+ year lifespan of a public sector network. The historical case study is based on the technology affordance and organizational actualization concepts applied to three critical incidents in the history of a public safety network. The incidents provide evidence that technology and governance do interact, that timing matters and that future research is needed to understand more fully how and why network governance evolves and the implications of governance evolution on network performance.     

Collaborative e-Government: impediments and benefits of information-sharing projects in the public sector

Information-sharing projects are becoming increasingly important in both public and private organizations. Generally, organizations base their decision to move forward with an information-sharing project on the project's expected benefits such as better services, operational savings, and increased program effectiveness. Clearly, potential impediments particular to the government environment could limit the attainment of benefits, jeopardizing the project's business case and even the project itself. Yet, we know very little about how users’ perceived impediments affect a project's expected benefits in collaborative digital government initiatives. Using data from six public sector information-sharing projects, this paper reveals how some managerial and cultural impediments (e.g., control-oriented management) limit perceptions of expected benefits. Surprisingly, political impediments were not found to significantly affect the expectations of benefits. Additionally, the paper provides managers with specific advice on how to better understand users’ perceptions and expectations. The paper should be of interest to both academicians and practitioners who are interested in government information technology implementation, in general, and collaborative e-Government, in particular.     

Facilitating the legislation process using a shared conceptual model

The Power (Program for an Ontology-based Working Environment for Rules and regulations) research program combines a knowledge-capitalization/knowledge-codification approach with an organization-dynamics approach. Initial results indicate that this method will help to improve the quality of law enforcement and decrease the time needed for implementing legislation and regulation changes.     

Automatic classification of documents in a natural language: A conceptual model

A conceptual model is proposed for a system whose function is to solve the problem of automatic classification of text documents in a natural language, i.e., to determine whether a new text document belongs to a predefined class. The functional requirements of the future system are given. Various representations of natural language texts, as well as statistical and logical-combinatorial methods of text analysis, are discussed. This work may be of interest to specialists in natural-language processing, data mining, and computational linguistics.