PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

How is technology changing public administration?



How is technology changing public administration?

Abstract

Over the past few decades, the involvement of technology in the Public Administration (PA) has entirely reshaped the processes and activities performed by the public organizations. The development in technology has brought the changes in Public administrations which are both far reaching and job specific for local offices. This advanced technology involvement has undoubtedly made the PA sectors enable to provide more and better quality services to the citizens. In this paper, we discuss some of the major changes in public administration techniques introduced by technology.

Discussion

Research shows that over the past few years, technological developments and Public administration have been influencing each other (Petroni G. and Cloete F., 2005). Technology has brought financial, economical and informative benefits for the public administration. Due to these benefits, the organization have changed their culture as they need to incorporate the technologies for competing in this modern era, and for increasing their efficiency by minimizing the associated cost. Some branches of the PA rely heavily on technology for performing their usual activities; few examples of such departments include defense sector, the space agencies, environmental protection agencies, food control and safety agencies and many others.

The main technologies which influence the PA sectors include Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Space technologies. These technologies are considered as most important in PA sectors both from social and political point of views. In addition to offering more services to the citizens, the organizations can also improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their ongoing processes by deploying effective means of these technologies.

Many organizations get immense benefits by using modern communication and space technologies. One of the interesting applications includes the observations of the earth. This technology helps the defense department in security planning and other monitoring activities. These applications took longer periods (even months) to be completed in the absence of these modern technologies. Also, the completion of objectives required greater number of man power as compared to today. The main components of such systems are made automated relying less on the human.

The air navigation and territorial control systems are improved by the deployment of space technologies. The same is also helpful for urban planning and transportation departments as the responsible officials become able to quickly plan and design the infrastructures. Production departments are also under the influence of this technology, as it helps in fostering the production activities such as agriculture and fishing. There is no need for personnel to actually visit the various locations and then decide the appropriate venues, rather they can just take a broader look of the cities and can decide accordingly, which result in saving time and resources.

Advanced food processing technologies help the departments of food processing and packaging. These departments make use of technologies to ensure delivery of healthy food, as well as to reduce the quantity of waste materials. This results in quick processing and effective utilization of the ...