Information resource management in Florida: A primer

This article presents a brief history of the development of information resource management (IRM) in Florida. The principal organizations involved in IRM oversight described in this article guide the management of critical information technologies such as computers and telecommunications equipment. Entering the next century, state agencies must maintain their leadership given the current projected growth in the state's population and service demand. Effective IRM key to their continued success.     

Barriers to information sharing in state agencies: the case of the texas general land office

This paper explores barriers to information sharing and how they might be overcome. Through a case study of the Texas General Land Office, computer-based information sharing is explored in the organizational setting. In particular, the State Real Property Inventory information system is examined in terms of utilization of hardware, software, and local area networks. In addition, managerial and user attitudes towards computer use are explored. We find a number of technological and organizational factors that need to be addressed in order to improve computer- based information sharing. These technological and organizational barriers combine to create an inefficient environment for adoption and use. Finally, we suggest some improvements on how management and users can utilize information sharing technologies in more effective ways in the context of structural integration of information technology.     

Synergies between Different Types of Agricultural Technologies in the Kenyan Small Farm Sector

Sustainable intensification of agriculture will have to build on various innovations, but synergies between different types of technologies are not yet sufficiently understood. We use representative data from small farms in Kenya and propensity score matching to compare effects of input-intensive technologies and natural resource management practices on household income. When adopted in combination, positive income effects tend to be larger than when individual technologies are adopted alone. The largest gains occur when improved seeds are adopted together with organic manure and zero tillage. These results point at important synergies between plant breeding technologies and natural resource management practices.     

CAN GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS BE INFLEXIBLE TECHNOLOGY? THE OPERATIONAL STRATEGY REVISITED

Recent failures of government information systems to achieve their objectives have highlighted the risk involved in large-scale information technology projects. This article looks at one example, the computerization of the UK social security system, in the light of recent discussions of large-scale technologies and the particular problem of inflexible technologies as defined by Collingridge. It is argued that large-scale government computing projects can fit the criteria of inflexible technologies, although this is not an inherent feature of information technology. There are always more flexible alternatives available: this is illustrated using examples from both private and public organizations.     

UNHCR and the pursuit of international protection: accountability through technology?

Better management and new technological solutions are increasingly portrayed as the way to improve refugee protection and enhance the accountability of humanitarian actors. Taking concepts of legibility, quantification and co-production as the point of departure, this article explores how techno-bureaucratic practices shape conceptions of international refugee protection. We do this by examining the evolving roles of results-based management (RBM), biometrics and cash-based interventions as ‘accountability technologies’ in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ international protection efforts. The article challenges the assumption that these technologies produce a seamless form of accountability that is equally attentive to donor requests and the protection needs of refugees. By focusing on how the constitution of these techniques as ‘accountability solutions’ shapes conceptions of the very meaning of protection (ie the problem to be addressed), we also show what dimensions of protection get omitted in this co-production of technical solutions and socio-political problems.     

RESOURCE CONSTRAINTS IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT: A LAND MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY

Network analysis of information systems management is the focus of this study. Its premise is that resource scarcity will force public sector organizations to integrate and coordinate systems development tasks with other agencies in ways that will give rise to networked interorganizational capabilities. Emphasis is placed on the effect that the joint adoption by public organizations of advanced information technologies is likely to have on existing approaches to managerial decision making, particularly in the federal bureaucracy. Information models of organization suggest that expanded information processing capacity can correspondingly increase institutional capability and responsiveness, although information technology (IT) also tends to generate increasingly complex internal and external demands on the information management capacities of organizations.[1] Malone, T. W. and Crowston, K. 1994. The Interdisciplinary Study of Co-ordination. ACM Computer Surveys, 26(Spring): 87–119. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] In interorganizational domains, a history of technical collaboration, along with shared missionx and common interests, conditions the process of adoption of information systems. A case study of a partnership between the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service in an effort at the joint development of a major computer information system will indicate the need for new approaches to the management and evaluation of coordinated IT projects capable of sustaining organizational innovation. One important issue is the relationship between the cultures and practices of emergent team-led management and established centrally directive management.

An assessment of the BLM Automated Land and Mineral Records System (ALMRS) indicates that, as adversity and uncertainty increase, institutional capacity and efficacy may also increase proportionally, and resource constraint might actually prompt the development of new organizational capabilities. For this somewhat paradoxical outcome to obtain, however, public agencies must address information demands flexibly, adaptively, and cooperatively, modifying their management systems in complementary ways. They can, for instance, tackle the high costs of information system deployment by sharing expertise through interorganizational networks of user-experts. However, information systems innovation requires the corresponding development of organizational and managerial capabilities. A movement toward decentralization and teamwork may be expected to require new, integrative, forms of information systems management, and political management skills need to be brought into play to stave off external threats long enough for these changes to occur. Absent these enabling conditions, fledgling or even established team approaches to information systems development may be in jeopardy.     

Aspects of local government and politics in china: 1955–58

This study, based on work in six villages, seeks insights into the likely effect of the introduction of prospective land‐, water‐, and crop‐management technologies, being researched at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi‐Arid Tropics, on the existing village labour‐use patterns in one major relevant region: peninsular India. Explicit attention is given to the similarities and differences between small and large farms and their relevance to the adoption of the prospective new technologies.

Regional variation in labour utilisation reveals a tremendous employment‐creating potential in the existing tank and well irrigation systems in the Alfisols of peninsular India. The prospective technologies should increase employment, compared with existing technologies, by at least 100 per cent in the Alfisols and by over 300per cent in the deep Vertisols— but with some increase in the seasonal variability of labour demand. Given the existing availability of labour, there will be, with the improved watershed technologies, major farm labour bottlenecks. These should eventually generate increased wage rates and employment potentials. However, even temporary adverse effects on the timelessness of operations could be critical to the success of a double‐cropping and/or intercropping technology aiming at greatly increased yields. This would create demands for selective mechanisation, for example, of threshing.     

The human factor in technology transfer

Over the past thirty years developing countries have imported product and information technologies. Despite receiving billions of dollars in products and information, many third world countries are now poorer than 30 years ago. One possible explanation for the failure of technology to transfer effectively is the human dimension--the threat of that technology to the receiving organization's internal status structure. To increase the likelihood of successful technology transfer the following suggestions are offered: seek alternative problem definitions; allow decisionmaking latitude at the most problematic point using appropriate technology; restructure the system prior to introducing the technology.     

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND THE INFORMATION POLITY

Within the debates in Britain about changes in contemporary public administration insufficient attention has been focused to date upon the significance of new information and communication technologies. In particular, the operational importance of computer networks to government organizations, and of the information flows supported by them, have hitherto been given scant attention. A primary focus for understanding the current transformation processes in both services and organization occurring in public administration should be upon the role and significance of these new information flows. Informational capabilities are increasing throughout government organization and have considerable implications for the reforging of that set of organizations which comprise British public administration and for the relationships between and within them, as well as for the quality of publicly provided services. The shifts occurring in contemporary public administration can be usefully analysed and understood by reference to the new concept of the 'information polity'.     

NPM Reforms in Napoleonic Countries: A Comparative Study of Management Accounting Innovations in Greek and Italian Municipalities

This is a comparative study of the rationale and effects of management accounting innovations in Greek and Italian municipalities, as part of the NPM reform in the public sector. This article aims to understand the extent of adoption of accounting innovations in Greek and Italian municipalities, and the factors affecting the specific techniques in use. The study reports on a survey based on medium-sized and large Italian and Greek municipalities, targeted at public municipalities’ accountants, the users of accounting techniques. The study identifies the intended purposes of NPM reform and, particularly, management accounting innovations, analyzes a set of factors that affect the implementation of management accounting technologies, and discusses determinants and features of such innovation on a comparative perspective.     

Australian Government Failure and the Green Loans Program

Since the 2007 federal election, the Australian government has implemented numerous new programs, many with dual economic and environmental objectives. A significant number of these initiatives have not only proved unsuccessful, but have also been criticized for their implementation and subsequent management. Using the conceptual prisms offered by the literature on decentralization, augmented by the government failure paradigm, this article considers the aborted Green Loans Program, which commenced in July 2009 with the aim of encouraging water and energy efficiency in existing homes through financial assistance for investment in water and energy-efficient technologies.     

OPEN SYSTEMS AND CLOSED NETWORKS: POLICY NETWORKS AND THE EMERGENCE OF OPEN SYSTEMS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

New information and communications technologies (ICTS) continue to consume an increasing proportion of local government expenditure. Contemporary explanations of why and how these technologies are introduced into organizations, however, are limited to accounts of strategic decisions taken by individual organizations. This article offers a new understanding of why and how ICTS are introduced into organizations by developing the emergent concept of policy networks to analyse the adoption of open systems in local government. In developing this analysis, the article advances the policy networks concept by arguing for a range of sectoral sub-networks which have emerged around the broader ICT network. Following from this, it identifies the principal actors in the local government ICT network, and their relationships. Finally, it presents a case study of the network in action, in the form of an analysis of the adoption of open systems technology in one metropolitan borough council.     

Will the Digital Revolution Revolutionize Development? Drawing Together the Debate

This concluding article returns to the broad question that motivates this special issue ofStudies in Comparative International Development: Will the Digital Revolution constitute a revolution in development? In addressing this issue, we explore a number of common themes emphasized by the different contributions: the future of the North-South divide, the role of the state in promoting digital development, the transferability and adaptability of specific information and communication technologies, the challenges and potential benefits of controlling digital information, and the developmental effects of digitally enabled communities. We argue that the Digital Revolution's ultimate impact on development will depend on several key variables, including the extent to which these technologies foster within-country linkages among different sectors and socioeconomic classes; the degree to which new technological applications may be customized or transformed to advance local development; and the outcome of political contests between organized interests that are promoting different ways of organizing and governing the global digital economy. While it is difficult to fully assess a transformation while living in the midst of it, research on the social, political, and economic implications of the Digital Revolution will constitute an important agenda for development scholars in the years to come.     

Transaction Costs,Information Technologies,and the Choice of Marketplace among Farmers in Northern Ghana

Abstract

Using a transactions costs framework, we examine the impact of information and communication technologies (mobile phones and radios) use on market participation in developing country agricultural markets using a novel transaction-level data set of Ghanaian farmers. Our analysis of the choice of markets by farmers suggests that market information from a broader range of markets may not always induce farmers to sell in more distant markets; instead farmers may use broader market information to enhance their bargaining power in closer markets. Finally, we find weak evidence on the impact of using mobile phones in attracting farm gate buyers.     

Information technology and transitions in the public service: A comparison of scandinavia and the united states

New information technologies have the potential for transforming the ways governments are organized, the activities they perform, how they perform them, and the nature of work itself. Governments in the U.S. and Scandinavia have followed fundamentally different approaches to the introduction of computing and to dealing with its effects. These differences in approach to automation have influenced each country's view of the role of government in anticipating and dealing with the effects of changes in computer technology on the public service workforce.     

ONLINE SERVICE PROVISION: ARE MUNICIPALITIES REALLY INNOVATIVE? THE CASE OF LARGER MUNICIPALITIES IN ITALY

The employment of information and communication technologies for the delivery of information and services has been considered a major objective of the modernization agenda of municipalities. This article contributes to the advances in the e‐government literature by assessing the current status of ICT adoption among larger Italian municipalities and investigating whether the municipalities at a more mature stage of e‐government adoption share any distinctive characteristics. The results show that some organizational factors, rather than environmental ones, show a positive association. However, the analysis also shows that most of the Italian municipalities involved have undertaken a non‐linear e‐government adoption process, which currently results in low diffusion of more mature stages of ICT adoption for the delivery of services to citizens and businesses.     

Financial Sustainability as a Driver for Transparency and E-Democracy: A Comparative Study in Italian and Spanish Local Governments

Today expectations of accountability and trustworthiness in governing entities is greater than ever before. The process of change has been given impetus by new information and communication technologies resulting in e-government and e-democracy. This research aims to analyze transparency and democratic participation in Italian and Spanish LGs. The web pages of Italian and Spanish LGs with more than 100,000 inhabitants are analyzed using twenty determinants of fiscal transparency and eight determinants of e-democracy. Results show considerable similarity between Italian and Spanish LGs with regards to the disclosure of financial information, while the adoption of e-democracy tools requires further development in both countries.     

No staff,no time,no money: Can budget reform work in a rural county?

Budget reforms directed toward providing more information and analysis for management and policy making appear to be most widely used by larger jurisdictions. Reforms such as performance budgeting, program budgeting, and zero based budgeting are associated with professionalism, management information systems, budget staffs, and a lengthy budget preparation and planning phase. This article addresses the question of whether it is possible to implement budget reform without the staff and financial resources that so often goes hand-in-hand with it. The experience of one rural county government in attempting budget reform is examined.     

CAN PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT FOSTER SOCIAL EQUITY? STAKEHOLDER POWER,PROTECTIVE INSTITUTIONS,AND MINORITY REPRESENTATION

Performance management has been criticized for harming or, at best, ignoring social equity outcomes. While there is evidence suggesting that performance management fosters an emphasis on efficiency and effectiveness at the expense of other public values, we are still in search of a theory linking performance management to social equity. The article takes a first step towards the development of such a theory and proposes the importance of contingency factors. It argues that managerial performance information use will benefit disadvantaged groups in the presence of powerful stakeholders, protective institutions, and minority representation in government. Using data on school districts in Texas, the article finds support for the first two contingency factors but not the third one. Performance information use by superintendents increases test scores of disadvantaged students if these students make up a sizeable, powerful group, and if superintendents put emphasis on complying with the No Child Left Behind Act.     

Public administration's underdeveloped core: neglected subjects

Education for public administration at the time of Minnow-brook I neglected several important core subjects, including information management, computing, strategic management, policy implementation, program evaluation, ethics. The hope for a new public administration is dependent on the development of new theories of decision-making and policy-making, and a reinterpretation of the fit between the Constitution and public administration.