ICT IN ADMINISTRATION 1

ICT IN ADMINISTRATION

ICT IN ADMINISTRATION AND IMPLICATIONS
ANTHONY K MUKUCHE D61/69173/2013
UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

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LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction
The study reviews relevant literature in the area of ICT in government administration. It will discuss the concept of ICT, in the day to day running of activities in government departments and the advantages of using it.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Introduction
This chapter describes the methods that will be used in the collection of data pertinent in answering the research questions. It is divided into research design, population and sampling design, data collection methods and data analysis methods.

Target Population and sample Size
The target population will be all the employees of government. Employees in government are quite a number to get feedback from. The sample size will be 50 – 100 employees of government. Data Collection
Primary data will be gathered directly from respondents and for this study; the researcher used a questionnaire. The questionnaire will consisting of close and open-ended questions. The questionnaire consisted of two sections. Data Processing and Analysis
Data analysis is the whole process, which starts immediately after data collection and ends at the point of interpretation and processing data. The researcher will peruse the completed research instruments and document analysis-recording sheets. ICT IN ADMINISTRATION 3

Quantitative data collected using questionnaires will be analyzed using descriptive statistics using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). Data will be presented using tables, charts, and graphs with respective interpretation.

2.2 Concept of ICT

ICT is the process of using information communication and technology to carry out activities in government by use of telephones, internet and many other gadgets. Information and communication technology (ICT) has been recognized as an important catalyst for national progress and social transformation, an insight that motivated early 20th century telecom regulations ensuring universal access for all citizens.
ICT has been used in the various departments in government institutions for various functionalities.

Research Design

The study will use descriptive study design. This design will utilize descriptive survey approach. Descriptive survey is a process of collecting data from the members of a population in order to determine the current status of the subject under study with respect to one or more variables. The major emphasis of a descriptive study is to determine the frequency of occurrence or the extent to which variables are related. This design is suitable because the study requires an accurate examination of the effects of ICT on the operations of Government. It’s qualitative in nature and brings about all the details with interactions from different people and different departments.

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Research Paradigm
The research paradigm that was used is interpretivism and the theory used is inductive in nature and stands for the principles of social interactions in nature, the goal of the research is to understand the weakness of predictions, focus interest on specific and unique details of ICT in the coordination of government departments. Here we can see that the inductive approach has been used form observing the pattern then hypothesis and finally having the theory to confirm or contrast the effect ICT in administration of government. Also the positivism research paradigm was used to analyses the situation at hand by looking for empirical details with a deductive theory being put in use to get details that are objective and tangible ,goal is explanatory in nature with a story prediction , interest focus is general, average and representative , knowledge is absolute with laws, subject is rigid. In positivism details of analysis can be gotten from graphs, pie charts etc.
EMPIRICAL STUDIES CARRIED OUT
“Small and medium enterprises are an important factor in the East African economies especially with respect to employment. The increasing competition through globalization puts them under considerable pressure. Through the rapid spread of information and communication technologies (ICT) and ever decreasing prices for communication, markets in different parts of the world become more integrated. Therefore, one basic question is whether the use of ICT (as production technology, as information processing technology or as information communication technology) can help them to cope with these new challenges. Information asymmetries are one of the major causes for high transaction costs, uncertainty and therefore market failure. A reduction of the information gap also reduces the ability of the better informed to extract rents from the less informed be it buyers or sellers of goods or factors. A reduction of information asymmetry will also create new opportunities and therefore enhance the efficiency of resource allocation. On a macro level this will then lead to faster growth and diversification of the economy. Our sample of 300 SMEs in East Africa shows that the use of ICT by SMEs in Kenya as well as in Tanzania is increasing over time. The usage of fixed phone lines nearly reaches the saturation point but is still lower in Tanzania than in Kenya. The percentage of firms that uses mobile phones is increasing fast in
ICT IN ADMINISTRATION 5 both countries. Especially in Tanzania, despite its late start only in 1994 it has already outgrown the usage of fax machines. Those enterprises that use different forms of ICT rate their effects mostly positive. On top are computer applications that are assumed by 88 % and 76 % of users to considerably increase management efficiency and competitiveness respectively. Mobile phones are considered to contribute significantly to regional market expansion by most enterprises, followed by fixed phones and faxes. For all sectors in both countries the average size of enterprises is generally bigger for users of more advanced ICTs. The average years of schooling also increase with the use of advanced ICTs with only small differences between sectors. Also with respect to exporting the relation with ICT is positive and similar for all sectors. By regressing a Cobb-Douglas production function on a dataset of Kenyan and Tanzanian enterprises we analyze determinants of productivity. Our main empirical findings are that investment in ICT has a negative sign in different specifications of the regression but is never significant. However, the use of fax machines that gives managers access to formal information has a significant positive relationship with productivity in both countries.” As researched by Wolf, Susanna Issue Date:2001 Series/Report no.:ZEF Discussion Papers on Development Policy 42 ,Title: The role of ICT for the performance of SMEs in East Africa: Empirical evidence from Kenya and Tanzania Authors:Matambalya, Francis
RESAERCH GAP
How will the government deal with the weaknesses of implementing ICT developments and how research and development will assist Kenya get there?
As quoted by
David Gichoya,
Research School of Informatics, Loughborough University, UK. “ Abstract: A government is a huge and complex organisation, whose operations and strategic focus could be greatly enhanced by the well-focussed application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to support improvements in productivity, management effectiveness and ultimately, the quality of services offered to citizens. While the benefits of ICT in government cannot be disputed, there are several concerns about its success as well as the strategies to be adopted in implementation of systems in various countries. In this paper,

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The characteristic challenges that developing nations face, which make ICT implementation in government fail to succeed are identified and synthesised. The paper presents results of literature review of case studies from both developed and developing countries and preliminary studies grounded in the Kenya e-Government reality. The key factors are identified, synthesised and categorised under common broad categories. This results in a rich picture of ICT implementation experience that helps to identify possible solutions. A descriptive framework for categorising key factors in ICT implementation in government illustrated with references to the literature is proposed. The input variables are categorised into factors for success (drivers and enablers), and factors for failure (barriers and inhibitors). The output variables are categorized into organisational and technological benefits. Finally, an action for success is proposed. This action includes suggestions for increasing the impact of factors for success while reducing the impact of factors for failure and use of available good practice.” “With the emergence of information and communication technologies (ICTs), and e-Government, it is possible to improve efficiency and effectiveness of internal administration within government and to re-locate government service from government offices to locations closer to the citizens. Examples of such locations are cyber café’, telecenters or a personal computer at home or office. While the benefits of ICT in government cannot be disputed, there are several concerns about its success as well as the strategies to be adopted in implementation of systems in various countries. This paper therefore presents the findings of a literature review, knowledge acquired from reviewed case studies from developing countries and a preliminary study grounded on Kenyan government. The paper considers the characteristic challenges that developing nations face, which make ICT implementation in government fail to succeed. A descriptive framework for categorising key factors in ICT implementation in government and an action for success are proposed. The action for success is presented as response to situation specific challenges”

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Characteristics that define Kenyan ICT environment:
Most ICT projects are initially donor funded, some donations are made without prior consultation or carrying out a needs analysis by the recipient organization, and Operational/running costs are met by the government. Funding (capital and human resource requirements) ends with the project phase. The budgets for ICT are inadequate but rising. A lack of ICT policies and master plans to guide investment. To the extent that, with a number donors funding ICT, there have been multiple investments for the same product due to lack of coordination. A focus on ICT applications that support traditional administrative and functional transactions rather than on effective information processing and distribution within and without government departments, Unstable ICT resources.

Categorisation of ICT projects failure
“Broadly, the assessment of worth of an ICT venture focus on considerations of the success and failure of IS. The issue of ICT failure can be analysed by assuming that learning from IS failures will provide us with important lessons for formulating successful strategies for the planning, development, implementation and management of information systems. While discussing dimensions of ICT failure, Beynon-Davies (2002, p. 201) considers both the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the informatics model. The horizontal dimension is expressed in terms of the difference between development failure and use failure. The vertical dimension is expressed in terms of failure at the level of ICT systems, IS projects, or organization, or at the level of the external environment. Six types of IS failure is identified as follows: - Technical failure, Project failure, Organizational failure, Environmental failure, Developmental failure, Use failure

Beynon-Davies supports the argument with several case studies and quotes other models for IS failure put forward by Lyytinen & Hirschheim (1987).
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ICT success or failure in developing countries can be categorized into three depending on the degree of success (Heeks 2002). First, is the total failure of an initiative never implemented or in which a new system was implemented but immediately abandoned. Second is partial failure of an initiative, in which major goals are unattained or in which there are significant undesirable outcomes. Associated with partial failure is the sustainability failure where an initiative first succeeds but is then abandoned after a year or so. The last is success of an initiative where most stakeholders attain their major goals and do not experience undesirable outcomes. For the purpose of this paper, Heeks categorisation is more relevant since it can be used to categorise the few projects implemented by the Kenyan government using the above criterion as the case may be
The factors for failure are those occurrences that constraint proper/smooth implementation of ICT projects in government. These can either be barriers or inhibitors as described by (Khaled 2003, Gakunu 2004, Aineruhanga 2004, Heeks 2003a, Ndou 2004, Bhatnagar 2003, Saul and Zulu 1994).
Barriers can be considered as those occurrences that hinder ICT implementation. Some of these factors for failure are: - Infrastructure, Finance, Poor data systems and lack of compatibility, Skilled personnel, Leadership styles, culture, and bureaucracy Attitudes
Far as they help in shaping the process of identifying the areas of weaknesses in ICT implementation in government. In this paper, functionality is considered to depend on ICT systems and usability and utility are crucial in determining stakeholder satisfaction, which increases stakeholder acceptance, and reduces resistance to adoption.”

REFERENCES
Authors: Matambalya, Francis (2006) The role of ICT for the performance of SMEs in East Africa: Empirical evidence from Kenya and Tanzania

(Khaled 2003, Gakunu 2004, Aineruhanga 2004, Heeks 2003a, Ndou 2004, Bhatnagar 2003, Saul and Zulu 1994). Lyytinen & Hirschheim (1987). IS failure put forward?
Vitalari, N. (1988). The Impact of Information Technology on Organizational Design and the Emergence of the Distributed Organization. Irvine, CA, Public Policy Research
Organization, University of California, Irvine.

Norris, D. F. & Moon, M. J. (2005). Advancing E-Government at the Grass Roots: Tortoise or Hare? Public Administration Review, 65(1), 64-75.

Garson, G.D. (2004). The Promise of Digital Government. In Garson (Eds.), Digital
Government Principles and Best Practices (pp. 2-15). Hershey, PA: Idea Group
Publishing.
Bretschneider, S. (1990). Management Information Systems in Public and Private
Organizations: An Empirical Test. Public Administration Review, 50(5), 536-545.

Danziger, J. N. &. Kraemer, K. L. (2006). People and Computers. New York: Columbia
University Press.