How can e-government

support a transformation
agenda?
Patrick Dunleavy

Public Policy Group

London School of Economics

Public Policy
© P. Dunleavy 2005
G
THE ZIG-ZAG PATH TO
GOVERNMENT CHANGE

New Public
Management
push

Web Era
Governance
push

Government transformation
 New Public Management
• NPM = Disaggregation plus Competition plus
Incentivization plus performance measurement
• Disaggregation – splitting up large bureaucracies
via agencification, micro-local agencies, more QGAs,
purchaser-provider separation
• Competition – introducing alternative suppliers via
mandatory competition, outsourcing, strategic review,
quasi-markets, deinstitutionalization, asset sales,
consumer-tagged financing, deregulation
• Incentivization via privatization, PFIs and PPPs,
PRP, charging, public sector dividends, valuing public
sector equity
 DISAGGREGATION THEMES
Component Current status
Purchaser-provider separation X reversing
Agencification X
Decoupling policy systems X
Growth of quasi-government agencies X
Separation out of micro-local agencies X
Chunking up privatised industries X
Corporatization and strong single
organization management X
De-professionalization X
Competition by comparison ~ stable
Improved performance measurement √ growing
League tables of agency performance √
 COMPETITION THEMES
Component Current status
Quasi-markets X reversing
Voucher schemes X
Outsourcing ~ stable
Compulsory market testing ~
Intra-government contracting ~
Public/private sectoral polarization ~
Product market liberalization ~
Deregulation ~
Consumer-tagged financing √ growing
User control √
 INCENTIVIZATION THEMES
Component Current status
Re-specifying property rights X reversing
‘Light touch’ regulation X
Capital market involvement in projects X
Privatizing asset ownership ~ stable
Anti-rent-seeking measures ~
De-privileging professions ~
Performance-related pay ~
PFI (private finance initiative) ~
Public-private partnerships ~
Unified rate of return and discounting √ growing
Development of charging technologies √
Valuing public sector equity √
Mandatory efficiency dividends √
 New Public Management
• Positive short term direct effects, but...
• Impacts reducing citizen competencies
– e.g unfamiliar processes, hollow choices, club
effects, privatization of information, conflict of
users vs citizens control
• Impacts increasing policy complexity
– e.g agencification/fragmentation, corporatization,
charging, PFIs and PPPs introducing private
bankruptcy risks, re-regulation following
catastrophic failures, increased transaction costs
 Key NPM problems
• In the UK
– rollback of NHS quasi-market
– experience of Railtrack, NATS, British Energy
– PFI and PPP instabilities and risk additions, ban
on PFI for IT projects, continuing controversies
• In the USA
– re-governmentalization of airport security post
9/11, and ultra-conventional DHS reorganization
• In both countries
– Awareness of possible over-fragmentation and
adverse siloing effects
 Change of public Level of autonomous
management regime citizen competence

1 + 2 +

Level of institutional 3 Level of social

and policy complexity - problem-solving

Changes in public management regimes normally

contribute to improving social problem-solving
 Change of public Level of autonomous
management regime citizen competence

+ +
4
+ 1
2

Level of institutional 3 Level of social

and policy complexity - problem-solving

One common adverse by-product effect

is increased administrative complexity
 Change of public 5 Level of autonomous
management regime - citizen competence

+ + +
4
+ 1
2

Level of institutional 3 Level of social

and policy complexity - problem-solving

Another common adverse by-product effect

is a reduction in citizen competences
 6

-
Change of public 5 Level of autonomous
management regime - citizen competence

- + + +
6 4
+ 1
2

Level of institutional 3 Level of social

and policy complexity - problem-solving

Cumulative adverse by-product effects can occur

from changes in public management regimes
 Web-era governance
is the next wave of change after NPM and
comprises 3 elements
• Reintegration – rolling back agencification, JUG,
re-governmentalization, new central processes,
process costs squeeze, re-engineering, simplification
• Holism – client/function structures, one-stops, ask-
once processes, end-to-end redesign, agile (not
fragile) government
• Digitalization – ESD, centralized procurement,
ZTT automation, disintermediation, mandated channel
reductions, isocratic administration, open-book
governance
REINTEGRATION THEMES

Rollback of agencification
Joined-up governance (JUG)
Re-governmentalization
Reinstating central processes

Radically squeezing production costs

Re-engineering back-office functions
Procurement concentration and specialization
Network simplification
 HOLISM THEMES

Client-based or needs-based reorganization

One-stop provision
Interactive and ‘ask once’ information-seeking

Data warehousing
End-to-end service re-engineering
Agile government processes
DIGITALIZATION THEMES

Electronic service delivery

New forms of automated processes
– zero touch technologies (ZTT)
Radical disintermediation

Active channel streaming

Facilitating isocratic administration
Moving towards open-book government
London’s Oystercard
- a travel smartcard
 London’s Oystercard

• Smart card with RDF, stores season tickets and

pre-pay cash amounts –purchasable by phone, on
the Web and via local outlet machines
• Initial installation costs were £1.1 billion
• Readers on 6,000 buses, 255 Tube stations, 2300
ticket outlets, 23 national rail stations
• Initially 350,000 season ticket holders, now over
2.2 million users due to adoption incentives
• Time savings for card holders who touch in and
out, plus other passengers still queuing and staff
savings for Transport for London
 6

+
Web-enabling 5 Level of autonomous
government + citizen competence

6
+ + + +
4
- 1
2

Level of institutional 3 Level of social

and policy complexity - problem-solving

The unique potential for positive by-product effects

from Web-era governance
SUGGESTIONS FOR ACHIEVING
KEY GOVERNMENTAL CHANGES
• Use e-gov as part of an overall change
management strategy, not as a stand-alone
• Try for radical, Zero Touch applications
• Aim for quick wins and rapid changes, using
incentives and a thorough build and learn
approach to spur rapid behaviour changeovers
• Treat multi-channel solutions as transitional only
–aim to achieve critical mass displacement to e-
gov
• Look for positive externalities that offset
inequalities and an atrophying of legacy methods
 OTHER SUGGESTIONS
• Prefer brand new applications to remaking legacy
systems and organizations
• Prefer applications that are fault-tolerant
• Look at active competition between e-government
methods and legacy methods
• Prefer low authentication applications – or you’ll
still be waiting five years on
• Foster information-seeking and –giving, especially
from national agencies where users are episodic
• Maintain competitive tension in the contracting
market – better for industry and government
 Achieving a self-reinforcing cycle of
Web-era governance processes
Investment flow

1 Leadership 2

Organization
E-change
change

Responsiveness boost

Customer behaviour changes

Key productivity and cost reduction changes

feedback savings flows