Analyzing E-Government as a Paradigm Shift

This paper analyses e-government and attempts to show that it is a major paradigm shift in the way that government and public administration are to function. To shed light on this major breach, an analysis is performed regarding the types of information that have been produced and used by the state through time, as well as the methods employed for information processing and dissemination of information in three stages, tribal, massive and configurational. The paper reviews the effects of information technology on general organization by structuring these effects in four stages: islands of automation, automated process chains, business reengineering through IT and total reinvention. It then analyses the fourth stage as it applies to government and public administration in particular. The major changes brought upon government and public administration through IT in this fourth phase appear to have profound effects forcing even a reconsideration of what public administrations should produce and why. For this new era, an organizational, information systems and political paradigm for public administration is proposed.

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