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Concepts for leadership: from cases, readings, real-world participants, etc.
Analysis
practice: from class, small groups, and net-based communications
Applicatio ns to personal interests: from paper and term project.
How should increasingly efficient access to information be used in designing organizational
strategies and structure? How should service design and governance change when interactions
can be conducted over networks under greatly relaxed constraints of distance and time?
Reinventing or reengineering work processes (e.g., for networked services, the procurement
process) and/or entire agencies;
investing in organizational learning re: new technologies and applications (e.g., artificial
intelligence, broadband communications);
establishing cross-organizational and cross-jurisdictional linkages and infrastructure (e.g.,
Internet-integrated services, infrastructure for international trade)
What values are at stake and how might they be measured or assessed?
What options are relevant?
What information or knowledge can be used to estimate the impact of options on values? How
much information is "enough"? How would "lessons" from specific cases or research
need to be
modified to fit situations familiar to you?
Personal and Professional Issues. How and to what extent should public leaders make personal
use of computer-based tools? In addition to exploring this question though cases and readings,
students may choose to pursue a hands-on term project (pending the instructor's approval).
Societal Issues. How will the Information Age influence the structure and functioning of entire
economies and societies? For example, what changes in public policies — e.g., regarding
information security and/or privacy — will be needed for an increasingly global and electronic
world?
The Public Sector Innovation Problem:
Systemic Pressures Favoring Automation and an Internal Orientation
What to Avoid: Over-Cautious Incrementalism at One Extreme, Impulsive Innovation at
the Other
Problem. Truly innovative ideas often need special skills and protection from the status
quo
culture—not just early on, but throughout development and growth to full-scale operation
and delivery.
What to avoid. When new people and skills are part of an innovation, do not allow these
new people—and their unsettling ideas—to go unprotected.
What to do. In many cases, e-government services should be developed and delivered by
newly created organizations. New units are often quicker and more adept than old ones in
responding to the challenges of service development and innovation. These organizations
can be constructed within government, or in partnership with private or non-profit
agents.
It addresses how public leaders can respond to the increasing demands for rapid and significant
innovation that are becoming the sine qua non of the information age.
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