How Is Change Management Practiced In E-government Transformation? A Case Study In Sweden

Theoretical frame of reference

Change initiatives in the e-government performance have become the most very multifaceted issue. In the opinion of Gravesteijn & Wilderom (2018), it can be noted that the e-government service designs are regularly dispersed over diverse IT systems and businesses. There had also been dealings from the external public management that grounds changes, for instance, a public-private partnership, alterations in the government based strategies and legislation, etc., and lastly a massive confrontation to alteration that presents in the public administration recognizable.

According to Aalst (2018), although the correlation between organizational changes and technology in the public sector had turned up to be the matter of enhancing demanding research within the past few decades, yet the concerned sector has not yet developed a clear understanding of the exact changes that required being managed in the e-government performance procedure. It has been identified that researchers dealing with exact relationships tend to scrutinize no more than one or might two facets of changes those occur within the e-government completion method (Cardoso et al. 2018). No such wide-ranging set of alterations found a present that needs to be measured prior to or in the segment of e-government completion. The present project aims to highlight the research question “How is change management practised in e-government transformation?”. Facts and evidence would be gathered to justify the question and arrive at a proper conclusion.  

Theme 1: Concept of change management in the public sector

Theme 2: Digital strategies

Theme 3: E-government strategies Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper

Theme 4: Further changes that need to be managed in e-government incorporation

The concept of change management in the public sector

Social and economic expansion in each nation is profoundly reliant on the growth of its public supervision. In the consideration of Ohemeng et al. (2018), it can be understood that with the purpose of providing superior services to citizens and businesses, within the preceding decade nearly all governments including Sweden invested a considerable amount of capital in the progress of its electronic government activities. Bryson (2018) claimed that e-government is frequently widely definite as encircling the entire usage of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) inside the public sector and administration units and agencies. Even though of consciousness that e-government is ahead of utilizing ICT and placing public based services on top of the e-network the inspiring development of e-government that exists therein framing data and services accessible to citizens (Thennakoon et al. 2018). On the other side back workplace transformations are found quite slow, ad hoc and conducted by pitiable planning, insufficient deliberate supervision and fragile leadership. This has also resulted in the miserable pace of e-government projects, specifically in the developing regions. However, Sweden is considered to be one of the most developed nations in the globe, hence, the e-government practices and changes followed in this region are found in apt shape, which is bringing required benefits for the citizens (Al-Emadi & Anouze, 2018).

Further changes that need to be managed in e-government incorporation

Digital strategies

It has been determined that the people of Sweden prefer using their mobiles for accessing their service lines on the go, from presenting requests that can access information (Melin & Wihlborg, 2018). Through mobile-based services government of Sweden has been able to provide domestic services that tend to add value to its user, for example by sending notification relating to road state updates and by developing a specific application that permits users to plan for individual driver license examination (Maestre et al. 2018).

In the consideration of Rehouma & Hofmann (2018), it can be noted that the people of Sweden are expecting to remain informed in terms of its government’s all service performances. Moreover, they are also demanding to be informed of the standing of their individual permits on the go and applications. Hence, permitting access to the specific information would enhance the scope of transparency and amplify service deliverance (Alrabiah & Drew, 2018). This would simultaneously lessen the rate of citizens’ visits, queries and interferences.

E-government strategies

The Swedish Government has launched a strategy of “Putting the citizen at the centre” for Collaborative Digital Services in Government Administration in December 2012 (Joinup., 2018). This policy defines how the Swedish Government planned to strengthen more the capability of its administrative agencies to perform jointly in conveying its digital services. It has been assessed that the periodical of the public sector data over the web and the usage of the digital platforms are exclusively for promoting both citizen involvement and maintaining perfect transparency (Gil-García et al. 2018). Excellence and competence in regime government would be augmented throughout consistent information administration, improved information defence and digitized procedures (Joinup., 2018). Such interior competence and service in increasing e-services should forever be provisional to the defence of individual confidentiality and the call for privacy. The previously stated objectives would shape the source of the Swedish Government’s synchronization and preferring the progress of interagency over the cross-sartorial works.

Further changes that need to be managed in e-government incorporation

Change management in technology encompasses alterations in strategy, culture, thought process, business structure and the procedure (Wirtz & Daiser, 2018). This declares has been constant in the midst of the socio-technical outlook on the association that considers a business as a socio-technical structure put together from two connected schemes – technical and social (Oni & Okunoye, 2019). The technical method is self-possessed of the procedures, technologies required and tasks to convert the inputs into outputs, while the communal organism is tranquil of people, with their skills, values, believes, needs, and knowledge (Alzahrani et al. 2017). It highlights the connections between them, administrative structures and remuneration systems.

The secondary data has been collected from reliable sources to maintain authenticity. The secondary sources like journals, government websites, books, etc are considered to collect secondary data to evaluate change management practices in e-government.  The deductive approach had been used in this present study to analyze the feasibility of secondary information. As per Woiceshyn & Daellenbach (2018), the inductive approach deals with creating new theories, however, the deductive approach examine the potential of existing theories. Hence, the deductive approach has been chosen over inductive to test the validity of the secondary information used herein.

Moreover, the primary data have been collected through interview format, in which the researcher had framed a questionnaire aligned to research question to interview 4 representatives working in the managerial position in the public sector institutions. The researcher had selected 2 managers from the public sector healthcare institutions and other 2 from the defence corporation. The representatives were requested to allow a specific time from their free schedule to the researcher so that the framed questions can be asked to them. The representatives from each institution have given two different dates to conduct the interview session. The researcher has conducted a personal interview session where each question was asked up front and answers were collected in narrative and descriptive format. The answers were analyzed in the form of a qualitative approach. As per Jay et al. (2018), primary data are raw by nature, thus, the likelihood of its authenticity is less. Moreover, the managers would not prefer speaking the negative aspects of eh e-government policies followed by the institutions. Therefore, a data triangulation process has been conducted where the primary responses of the managers were tallied with the authentic secondary information to maintain the data feasibility. Lastly, a set of ethical consideration has been followed to avoid any unwanted interruptions. The confidentiality of the data and identity of the public sector representatives were kept under strict supervision and the information was solely used from the research purpose and not disclosed in public forum.  

The change initiatives imposed in the e-government process definitely has a wider and positive scope in the upcoming future. The change initiatives can definitely lead to benefit people in terms of accessibilities, time utilization, process maximization, etc. The strategy of notifying the user through their mobile application has been an effective effort, which helped people to comprehend the exact updates of public functions and design their individual time to access their personal governmental services. The objective of the government is to improve their service option and lines for citizens to derive maximum legal benefits. These initiatives taken through e-government actions would definitely stand out to create a better scope in the upcoming future.

Questionnaire	Manager 1 (health care)	Manager 2 (health care)	Manager 1 (defence)	Manager 2 (defence)
1. Did you really find any change in your e-government process?	Yes, I can definitely	Yes, even I do agree	Yes, somewhat	Yes, even I can see relative changes, but very less in number
2. Can you witness the benefits derived from the change management or not?	Yes, absolutely, I can see lots of benefits	Yes, I do agree with him	Somewhat yes	Not very evident to me. Things are almost the same
3. What reactions can you see from citizens against the change actions?	Very positive	People are very happy with the digital initiatives	People are getting satisfied	People are still struggling with their public sector activities
4. Is the government serious with his / her e-government practices or services?	Yes, definitely	Yes, even I do agree	Partially yes	I don’t think so
5. Were the change initiatives necessary to get imposed in the public sector? Please explain	Yes, somewhat it was required	Yes, definitely	Yes, it is really important to meet uprising public demand	Yes, even I do believe that it is necessary

The finding or result underscores the fact that majority of the managers have agreed to the fact that the government has shown relative sincerity in shaping its e-government policies, which has considerably bough positive changes in the public platform. The people are also satisfied with the updated methods imposed in the system, which was required to align with or address the emerging trends of living styles.

1. Did you really find any change in your e-government process?

The managers of both the sectors have agreed to the fact that a change implementation has been implemented in the e-government process to improve the activities and functionalities in the public sector. Hence, it can be determined that the Sweden government is relatively focusing on the demands of the citizens and considering on the aspects that can ease their government-related activities without causing minimum harassments.

1. Can you witness the benefits derived from the change management or not?

Both the managers of the healthcare institution have agreed to be witnessing the benefits imposed after the change management initiatives implemented in the e-government system. It means that the requirements of the healthcare segments were effectively mitigated. On the other hand, mixed responses were received from the defence managers, where one agreed to be witnessing the benefits and the other denied. It implicated that the demands and requirement in terms of defence functions were not precisely met.

1. What reactions can you see from citizens against the change actions?

The managers of healthcare institution have once again given a similar statement and claimed to have seen a positive public reaction against the change management system in e-government. People are somewhat satisfied with the e-government changes implemented in the internal process and the alteration made in the service lines to improve public medical healthcare experiences. However, mixed responses again received from the defence managers, where one defined of people satisfaction and the other pointed at people’s ongoing struggle with defence related services.

1. Is the government serious with his / her e-government practices or services?

Herein, both the managers have reacted positively to the sincerities and efforts made by t government in altering its e-government methods to impose major public benefits. On the other hand, the managers of the defence segment have reacted negatively to the governmental efforts. They cannot find much improvement made in the defence section to derive benefits or better the service lines.

1. Were the change initiatives necessary to get imposed in the public sector? Please explain

The managers of the healthcare institution have clearly agreed to the fact that the change impositions were excessively important to meet the uprising trend and inclination of people towards a digital platform. Moreover, even the managers of the defence institution have stated similar reaction and agreed the need to change management in the e-government process. Yet, they are seeking for further sincere effort in their segment as compared to other public platforms.

Conclusion

The project as arrived at a concluding statement, which highlights the fact that change methods in the e-government process were needed for Sweden to improve their public sector functions. The people are getting more habituated and inclined towards social and digital activities. Therefore, the alterations in the e-government services have been redesigned to notify people with exact public sector work on progress. This would help people to reduce the time from unnecessarily wasting at the queue, repeated visit on ministry office, the unnecessary holding of telephone lines, and other related unwanted harassments. The inference drawn from the qualitative evaluation underscored the fact that the change process designed in the e-government system meets healthcare requirements but still lacks in mitigating the defence related demands.

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