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Presentation of Draft Thesis Proposal

“Challenges in Implementing e-Government in Korea:

Lessons for Bangladesh”

AKM Moniruzzaman4 December 2012

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Background1. Korean e-government Miracle

2. The Bigger Picture (E-Governance is Good Governance)

3. My Little Experience on E-

government

4. Most of the E-government Projects have failed

5. Digital Bangladesh & Why Bangladesh Should Learn from Korea?

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Research Question

1. What are the challenges faced by Korea in implementing e-government?

2. How did the government overcome the challenges?

3. What are the lessons Bangladesh can learn from Korea?

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Review of the Literature

1. E-government faces several Challenges (Heeks, 1999; GAO 2001a).2. “A shortage of IT Skills and Financial resources are

two main barriers to e-government” (Chen and Perry 2003).3. “Some scholars anticipated resistance and failure in

e-government (West 2004).4. ‘Re-engineering of the internal structures and

processes of the administration’ (UN 2008).

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Summary & Review of the Literature …cont…

5. “Many diverse assessments, solution and processes of e-government are propagated by different scholars” (Mishra and Mishra 2011).

6. “Some scholars reported that e-government can create significant benefits for citizens, businesses, and governments around the world” (Jaeger and Thompson 2003, Dawes 2008).

7. “The biggest challenge of introducing IT in government is how the government deals with lower-level bureaucrats” (Im 2011).

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Summary & Review of the Literature …cont…

8. “Exploitation of IT in government can be very expensive and before its application its impacts need to be explored” (Goldfinch 2007; Jho 2005)

9. “Civil societies in Korea have also showed their worries over technological innovation in government” (Jho 2005).

10. “The history of the relationship between technology and administration is to be understood along with the integration of IT with the core activities of government (Yildiz 2007)

10. “Novel experiments on electronic-government have been conducted by the Korean government and Korea has established itself as a good model of technology innovation” (Lee 2003, Ahn and Bretschneider 2011).

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Summary

• “ E-government challenges are:(1) Sustaining committed executive leadership, (2) Building effective E-government business cases,(3) Maintaining a citizen focus, (4) Protecting personal privacy, (5) implementing appropriate security controls, (6) maintaining electronic records, (7) maintaining a robust technical infrastructure, (8) addressing IT human capital concerns, and (9) ensuring uniform service to the people” (U.S. General Accountability Office 2003)

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Summary of the Challenges

1. (Organizational Challenge) A Paradigm Shift 2. (Challenge of Equity) Slower Informatizaton than the private sector3. (Challenge of thinking Innovatively)

Lack of information sharing and interoperability4. (HRD Challenges)Officials have been slow to adapt

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Summary of the Challenges…cont…

5. Adaptability Challenges Structural, managerial and leadership.6. (Cultural Challenges)Hesitant to Open Administration to general Public7. (Take off Challenges)Lack of E-readiness/transition challenges8. (Security Challenges)Cyber Security

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Lessons for Bangladesh

Korean government is highly criticized as rigid, burdened with rules, regulations, and procrastination (Im 2011)

Corruption, bureaucratic inefficiency, lack of competence and competitiveness of the public officials are the major challenges for implementation of e-government (Bhuiyan 2011)

1. Bangladesh adopted a Model called “Incremental Model of Technology Diffusion”

2. Whether it is worthy to learn e-government lessons from a developed country by a developing country?

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Methodology

• Secondary Sources• Interviews with Open ended questions

(written notes or a tape recorder) (Purposeful sampling of the Interviewee )• Official Documents Analysis

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Technology Adoption Models

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Models

1. Technology Diffusion ModelInformation Communication

TransactionTransformation

Challenges

Challenges

Challenges Strategies

Strategy

Challenges

Strategy

Strategy

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Hypothesis

This is an explorative research, no hypothesis is drawn rather the paper will attempt to develop a theory /theories

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Potential Sources of Information

• Journals (Journal Articles)• United Nations publications, Survey, Index on e-

government• World Bank/IMF publications and Survey• Government Websites of Korea• Government websites of Bangladesh (A2I

National Project)• Books• Official records

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Visiting Key Personnel of the Ministry

• Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC)• Ministry of Government Administration and Home

Affairs (MOGAHA)• Ministry of Planning and Budget (MPB)• Informatizaton Promotion Committee (Responsible

for sketching out the e-government implementation plan)

• Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs (MOGAHA)

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Method of Analysis

• It is an exploratory research.

• Paper shall follow descriptive and qualitative method of analysis.

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Problems and Limitations

1. Interviewing the high profile personnel would be a challenge (Who to Interview)

2. Determining the Core Strategy (As other countries tried but failed)

3. It may be difficult to draw lessons for Bangladesh (Too much dissimilarities)

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Possible Pitfalls

Process 30%

Technology 30%

What is Important?Technology/Process/Man

Man 40%

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References

• Ahn, Michael J., and Stuart Bretschneider. 2011.“Politics of E-Government: E-Government and the Political Control of Bureaucracy” Public Administration Review 71(3): 414-424.

• Bhuiyan, Shahjahan H. 2011.“Modernizing Bangladesh public administration through e- governance: Benefits and challenges.” Government Information Quarterly 28 (1): 54-65.

• Dawes, Sharon S. 2008.“The Evolution and Continuing Challenges of E-Governance.” Public Administration Review 68 (S): 86-102.

• Im, Tobin. 2011.“Information Technology and Organizational Morphology: The Case of the Korean Central Government.” Public administration Review 71 (3) : 435-443.

• Jaeger, Paul T., and Kim M. 2003.“E-government around the world: Lessons, challenges, and future directions Thompson.” Government Information Quarterly 20 (4): 389–394.

• Jho, Whasun. 2005.“Challenges for e-governance: protests from civil society on the protection of privacy in e-government in Korea.” International Review of Administrative Sciences 71(1):151–166.

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References

• Jho, Whasun, and Kyong-jae Song. 2007.“Governance in the Information Age: A Comparative Analysis of e-Governance in Major Asian Countries.” Korea Observer; 38 (1): 127-161.

• Kim, Hyun Jeong, Gary Pan, and Shan Ling Pan. 2007.“Managing IT-enabled transformation in the public sector: A case study on e-government in South Korea.” Government Information Quarterly 24 (2): 338–352.

• Park, Chun-Oh, and Jaehyun Joo. 2010.“Control Over the Korean Bureaucracy: A Review of the NPM Civil Service Reforms Under the Roh Moo-Hyun Government.” Review of Public Personnel Administration 30 (2): 189-210.

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References

• Seongcheol, Kim, Hyun Jeong Kim, and Heejin Lee. 2009.“An institutional analysis of an e- government system for anti-corruption: The case of OPEN.” Government Information Quarterly 26 (1): 42–50.

• Yildiz, Mete. 2007. “E-government research: Reviewing the literature, limitations, and ways forward.” Government Information Quarterly 24 (3): 646–665.

• Moon, Sinyong. 2009. Managing IT and e-Government: the Korean Case, Seoul: Chongmok Publishing Co.

• United Nations (2008). e-Government Survey 2008: From e-Government to Connected Governance. New York, NY: United Nations.

• OECD. 2001. The Hidden Threats to E-government. OECD PUMA Policy Brief No.8.

• Song, Heejun. 2004. Building E-governance through Reform. Seoul: Ewha Womans University Press.