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E-governance and Citizen Information 32 Theoretical Framework. The Network Administration2.3. Managing InnovationA look at the aforesaid literature leads us to consider which elements should be observedto analyse the technological innovation processes in the Public Administration. The magnitudeof the organisational changes that must occur or that are taking place with electronicgovernment and the consequences of these transformations to the traditional Weberian bureaucracymodel are yet to produce clear results. In this sense, a study on the cultural barriersof electronic government, Margetts and Dunleavy (2002), states that the first difficultyis the negative experience of many administrations in the projects dealing with change relatedto ICTs. In fact, the areas for technological innovation surrounding ICTs have been aterrain populated by failures, large expectations and not many real benefits. In addition wecould perhaps add civil servants' huge degree of distrust in major administrative reformprojects – due to both an excess and a lack of political leadership (Gil and Casamayor,2003).From a wider perspective, Fountain (2001) suggests that the challenge for a government isnot to put services online, but rather to reorganise and restructure the institutional processeson which they are supported. For this author, the Internet – as a new communications, coordinationand control infrastructure – could bring about major structural changes: in budgetand supervision processes, and the structure of committees, linked to the growth of interdepartmentaland inter-administrative networks. However, against the idea that “the Internetwill change everything”, she also states that the Internet is often used to strengthen the oldinstitutional structures rather than to expand the scope of communications.In any case, among the basic issues raised in recent years we can highlight the need toovercome administrative compartmentalisation, the rigidity caused by hierarchy or the effectsof the lack of efficiency criteria. We should consider the interaction between the organisationalstructure, actors and technological innovation processes to help us understandhow these processes occur and what their characteristics are. And finally, we could supportthe construction of our analytical model for this research project.2.3.1. Administrative CompartmentalisationThe literature on this subject states that the institutional design of public bureaucracy oftenhampers the development of interdepartmental processes and initiatives (Hudson, 1999). Infact, collaboration between departments within the same administration, which is vital in electronicgovernment, is usually where the hardest obstacles are identified. Some of the drawbackswould be the fragmentation of the Administration – not only in government units but alsohttp://www.uoc.edu/in3/pic
E-governance and Citizen Information 33 Theoretical Framework. The Network Administrationwith the recent proliferation of autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies – and the structuringof control and supervision tasks – including those that are related to budget matters, whichstrengthen the autonomy of departments and competencies, more than cooperation, betweenthem (Fountain, 2001).Fountain (2005) states that the public authorities face perverse incentives in the executionof technological innovation processes since they pursue contradictory objectives. Amongother elements, this is because the power of the government unit is measured by its resources.However, the objective is often to reduce costs. Therefore, for example, if new and moreefficient information systems are implemented, their resources would not increase, probablyfacing decreasing budgets. Once again, if information systems that reduce the redundanciesbetween administrative units and programs are implemented, resources will probablybe reduced rather than gained. Therefore, the traditional incentives used by the public authoritiesare “perverse” incentives for governance networks.2.3.2. Hierarchy and Centralisation-Decentralisation ProcessesThe presence of hierarchic structures has been identified as a problematic factor for interdepartmentalinitiatives, which are basic for the integration of services or to break administrativecompartmentalisation. One of the pioneering studies by Kraemer and Dedrick (1996)talks about certain trends of public organisations towards de decentralisation of IT functionsfrom the mid-1970s. However, the current trends seem to be towards centralisation as a wayto fight against homogeneity. Therefore, the centralisation of the control of management andthe decentralisation of services could sometimes be defended. But in many cases controlfollows the location of services. In this sense, the centralisation of information technologycentralises the power and decentralisation provides more power to sub-units. In conclusion,these authors show that a) ICTs are not centralising or decentralising agents per se but rathertry to reinforce existing trends; b) ICTs would have favoured peer-to-peer relationships asa result of transverse information systems, and c) the elite players of power tend to use theircontrol on the acquisition and use of technology to maintain their commanding positions.Benveniste (1984) states that, in any case, the decentralisation processes of the PublicAdministration are usually not perceived as a loss in prestige and power, something thatdoes not imply a conflict (actually, it seems that there is a loss in discretion).2.3.3. Results Vis-à-vis Legitimacy: the Problem of EfficiencyWe often talk about a drastic decrease in the costs of public services and, as a consequence,an important contribution to the elimination of administrations' budget deficit. If wehttp://www.uoc.edu/in3/pic
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