SLIDA called for a meeting with eGov experts in Sri Lanka to discuss the curiculum of MPM in eGovernment programme; However it became a discussion on why we should have a Master degree in eGov? Though most of the participants agreed that there is a vacum in eLeadership in government which demands for a master programme in Sri Lanka, there was a differnet train of thoughts.
We all agreed that this should be for Class III or II Managerial levels. If you look at Class I people they have got a master degree already and there should be diploma or certificate courses for them.
Dr Kanishka Karunasena who has a PhD on eGov (more importantly being a very proactive supporter, Kanishka sent his observations for this in an email to me), Mr Harin Gunawardana, the most experienced GPR consultant in Sri Lanka and Ms Samanthi Senanyake (SAS-IT in MPA) thought that we should first finalize the aims and objectives of this initiative should be carved out before embarking on to finalize the curriculum.
So lets look at the aims and objectives that were listed down by SLIDA.
=========
Aims and Objectives
Core questions to be addressed by this programme will include inter alia:
- What government functions and practices are changed by
e-Government initiatives?
- What are the socio-political implications of e-Government?
- How are e-Government initiatives designed and evaluated?
- How are public administrators challenged by such initiatives?
and
- What are the consequences for the relationships between
government and citizens?
- An examination of the evolution of information policy in Sri
Lanka
- A look at best practices in e-government.in industrial
countries such as the United Kingdom, South Korea, and China
Kanishka thought
that there should be a Purpose Statement.
Purpose Statement:
You all probably would like to include a purpose statement for the
curriculum by including the specific aim and objectives of the
program, the need of such a program for public sector, expected
learning outcomes, target audience, and potential career advancements
after following this program.
He also thought that
“What are the specific skills and knowledge an e-government
practitioner should have to effectively work in an e-government
environment?”
=====
Harin was more
aggressive to establish the intention of SLIDA in doing this!
Professor
Thilakasiri explained capacity development is the core business of
SLIDA and as there is a vacum and demand among public managers in
knowledge of eGov, SLIDA intends to fulfill its duty by providing
master degrees in eGov.
==
However there was
no common agreement on the aims and objectives. So until the
committee meets on 2015-07-24 at 4 pm to discuss the rest lets try to
thrash out the aims and objecives of this programme pls.
Over to you!
Good Move sir ,keep it up............Buddika
ReplyDeleteThanks for your encouraging words Buddika
DeleteThanks Buddhika! We need your support too.
DeleteAs I mentioned at the end of the meeting, comparing to MBA e-Gov at UoMoratuwa which we followed, following modules we re missing and suggest to discuss and consider for inclusion fully or partly:
ReplyDeleteSupply Chain Management
Team Work adn Negotiation Skills
Marketing
Interoperability
Communication Skills
Some good areas to cover! Thanks Dr Lalith! We swill definitely consider these areas.
DeleteAs Dr. Lalith Liyage has mentioned, the Marketing module is also very important hence this e-Gov services has to be marketed.
ReplyDeleteAlthough many of us don't see the Supply Chain Management as important one, I believe it is also very much important.
Inter-operability is also important for a MPM in e-Gov
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ReplyDeleteAim and Objectives
Delete===============
I refer to the aims and objectives of the program as written above.
I feel that the aim and objectives of the program are too narrowly focused on one particular area of the program: i.e. e-government, which is taught only in two modules. However, if you look at the full curriculum which is given to us, it has many teaching areas which are necessary to build the capacity of a future e-government leader. The aims and objectives as they stand currently do not adequately reflect the value of the program.
To avoid this inconsistency, I would like you to consider revising the objectives of the program to emphasise the importance of the other teaching areas as well. Possible objectives of this program therefore would be, to build the public managers’ (1) management competency, (2) core e-government competency, (3) generic e-government competency, (4) e-competency (ICT competency), and (5) research competency.
Following is just another way of looking at the aims and objectives of the program. **** I’m not too sure whether I’m using the correct terms and wordings here. [****** They may have to be revised anyway, they are too loooong].
Aim
This program aims to build the capability of the public managers to direct, lead and support the ICT based transformational initiatives in the public sector.
Objectives
- Develop the public managers’ management competency through knowledge and understanding of theories and practices of public management, strategic management, public policy management, strategic human resource management and leadership [need to revise with better wording]
- Develop public managers’ core e-government competency through teaching and learning the e-government models, current issues and trends in e-government, transforming public sector services through e-government, nature of the e-government in developed countries, the specific nature of e-government development in Sri Lanka, and e-government performance evaluation methods. [need to revise]
- Develop public managers’ generic e-government competency through teaching and learning project management, IT strategies for public organizations, government process redesign and change management, IT procurement and finance management for e-government projects, and the legal frameworks for e-government. [need to revise]
- Build public managers’ e-competency through teaching and learning fundamentals of ICT and software engineering principles, requirements analysis and designing techniques, internet and information security strategies, information management and integration, and e-commerce tools and principles. [need to revise]
- Develop the research competency of the public sector managers to create an e-government research culture within public sector through teaching various IS theories, research philosophies, data analysis techniques, presentation and publication. [need to revise]
"To avoid this inconsistency, I would like you to consider revising the objectives of the program to emphasise the importance of the other teaching areas as well. Possible objectives of this program therefore would be, to build the public managers’ (1) management competency, (2) core e-government competency, (3) generic e-government competency, (4) e-competency (ICT competency), and (5) research competency. "
DeleteYes. Good way of presenting. I too agree.
"Aim
DeleteThis program aims to build the capability of the public managers to direct, lead and support the ICT based transformational initiatives in the public sector. "
comment: if possible pls replace the "ICT" with "e-Government". because it should be e-Government based transformation within the government. otherwise again people will try to do "ICT" instead of "e-Government".
Kanishka,
DeleteWhat are these generic and core eGov competencies?
Is e-Competency the high ICT skills?
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteKanishka,
DeleteI have another question!
Could we build competencies through this programme?
Competencies are defined as the knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviours that employees use in performing their work.
My only concern is the word "Behaviours".
However I found these learning out comes in http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sog/researchcentres/egovt/publications/SoG-Master-of-e-Government-brochure-2014.pdf
1) Gain the knowledge and competencies to understand, analyse, design and manage transformational e-government initiatives in different institutional environments
2) Translate technical, institutional, organisational and user requirements into a robust e-government design
3) Lead change in public sector organisations and manage the implications apply and transfer e-government knowledge across public sector environments
4) Communicate and collaborate effectively with a variety of internal stakeholders, such as politicians and senior management, and external stakeholders, such as citizens, businesses and non-governmental organisations
So I guess Competency word is OK!
In that sense we should be able to take Kanishka's Aims and Objectives as the text with leaving space for improving.
What I meant by core e-government competencies are the e-government specific skills and knowledge that an e-government practitioner should have. This is basically e-government evolutionary models, best practices, e-government performance evaluation methods, and other e-government theories and practices (things that are covered in module 5).
DeleteWhat I meant by generic e-government competencies are other types skills and knowledge that an e-government practitioner should have to effectively work in an e-government environment. This includes knowledge on project management, change management, process re-engineering, contract management and procurement, legal frameworks for e-government and so forth (This excludes ICT skills).
**** It might be good idea to adapt learning outcomes of Victoria University’s e-government masters program. They look quite comprehensive.
What are the specific skills (or core competencies) and knowledge an e-government practitioner should have to effectively work in an e-government environment?
ReplyDeleteI would like to suggest that you consider including the following modules while they learn fundamentals of public management and general management, e-government theories and practices, ICTs, and e-laws. I think e-government practitioners should have in depth knowledge on following areas.
a. A Full Module on Project Management: Project management skills are essential for e-government practitioners to effectively manage projects. They should be aware of the basics of the structured project management approach as well the un-structured project management approach (agile: many software product suppliers to public sector nowadays seem to adopt this methodology). Structured project management lifecycle, and related knowledge areas such as cost management, time management, scope management, quality management, stakeholder management, communication management, integration management and so forth can be taught briefly in this module. Agile approach for project management and its menologies such as scrum also can be taught briefly in this module.
b. A Module for Business Process Reengineering Techniques and Change Management: E-government practitioner may have to advocate or facilitate process reengineering work in their organizations and therefore, knowledge on such subject would be helpful. BPR theories, principles and processes, re-engineering case studies, existing BPR frameworks, and change management principles can be taught here.
c. A Module for IT Strategy: CIO/e-government leader is responsible for developing a comprehensive plan to guide their organization towards e-government. Therefore, skills for developing such strategic IT plans would be important too. In this regards, IT opportunity analysis, SWOT analysis, prioritizing IT opportunities, ROI in IT, IT project selection and implementation, overall enterprise IT architecture, critical success factors for public sector IT projects, and IT plan development and implementation can be considered.
d. A Full Module for Systems Analysis and Design Techniques: People who are working with e-government projects definitely have to be involved in a requirement gathering process. They should be able to understand and verify various systems analysis and design diagrams used by the developers to model the business requirements. Therefore, knowledge on Structured Systems analysis and designed techniques such as process modeling (ex DFDs, mini-specs), data modeling (ex: ERDs), and event modeling can be taught here. Object orient analysis and design mythologies such as Use Cases, Class diagrams, collaboration diagrams, and sequence and activity diagrams could also be taught here.
e. A Module for Leadership: Leadership models and methods, leadership development, creativity and problem solving, effective communication in leadership, negotiation strategies, creating high performing teams/organizations, ethics of leaderships and so forth.
I know there is no room for all of the following. However, you many consider removing some redundant course content, merging related content, or removing unwanted modules.
Best wishes for this program
Kanishka
Dear Sir,
ReplyDeleteWhile thanking and appreciating Kanishka Karunasena for his contribution I would like to propose the following.
Kanishka Karunasenahas proposed several potential modules to be included in the course. Also Dr. Lalith Liyanage has also proposed some to be included which we studied in UoM and also very important.
It is true that it will be very difficult to include all the areas we proposed. on the other hand in considering the potential customers of the MPM some may have done courses in some modules before such as "Leadership", "Marketing". Therefore if possible pls offer some modules on "Optional" basis to select few from several according to some criteria.
tx
I agree with Ranjan that optional modules can be given but Interoperability' is a must I think.
DeleteI have found this article in relation to e-Gove, it has interesting content of e-Gove initiatives and emerging trends.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/hicss_45/45egov.htm
Manoj Perera
Programme Analyst (SLIDA)
I thought we were supposed only to discuss Aim and Objective yet. I too have my inputs for subjects to be included in the curriculum which i reserve for next meeting on curriculum development. In the mean time objectives presented by Kanishka seem to be legitimate and do justice for this type of course.
ReplyDeleteSamanthi Senanayake (I do not remember my google pw to sign in :)
There seems to be great enthusiasm and productive feedback on this topic. My thoughts on the matter are at a more fundamental level. Let me start with a short discussion on the background prior to moving into the purpose and objectives of the MPM e-Government Program, which is where we stopped our discussion the other day.
ReplyDeleteFirstly I am sure there is unanimous agreement of the need for e-Government, which has been necessitated due to a gap between the expectations of citizens and the current outcomes governments offer their citizen, a primary issue faced by most governments. Therefore any e-Government program will necessitate an organizational change. However, research emerging from all around the world (both in the public and private sectors) continues to claim – the success rate of such organizational change is less than 30%. The information emerging in relation to this failure seems to suggest that the issue for the failure is related to a more fundamental issue of adopting our current industrial age management practices (founded on the principles of scientific management) to resolve issues of the current information age. There is growing evidence to suggest that a new paradigm of management is required to resolve these issues - which needs to be based on critical thinking (or design thinking) and collaborative learning, supported by an holistic and process understanding of the issues based on Systems Theory and providing the space for creative and emergent solutions.
Therefore may I suggest – it is necessary to train our young bureaucrats to effectively operate in this newly emerging information age – and would require the above mentioned competencies to be effective planners and policy makers or to provide leadership to e-Government and organizational change initiatives.
If we decide to adopt these principles discussed above – I am sure deciding on wording of the objective and learning outcomes would be quite simple based on the key words - related to this emerging management paradigm.
Harin Gunawardena
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHarin,
DeleteI fully agree with your explaination on why we should have this programme wiithout trying to introduce just another MPM.
I asssume that we could articulate your ideas in to the "Purpose" of this MPM programme. We will try to have a draft ready in next couple of days.
I got a shock after reading the course modules and resource person list of this eGov master programme.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/hicss_45/45egov.htm
Mr. Harin Gunawardena's document sent on 22July via email:
ReplyDeleteDear all,
My view of the program seems to be slightly different as I have explained below; where I am starting with the foundation, before proceeding to discuss the other parts of the program, such as the modules, curriculum, etc. Please excuse me for expressing this different perspective and discard it should you deem fit to do so. Let me start with the aims and objectives of the program which is mentions is as follows:
Aims and Objectives
Core questions to be addressed by this programme will include inter alia:
- What government functions and practices are changed by e-Government initiatives?
- What are the socio-political implications of e-Government?
- How are e-Government initiatives designed and evaluated?
- How are public administrators challenged by such initiatives?
As I mentioned in my presentation – on e-Governance, we are yet following the principles of Scientific Management that were introduced during the industrial age (to solve complicated problems) – to solve the complex problems we are faced with in the information age. When confronted with a problem – organizations need to transform – to resolve such problems. Therefore we should not be surprised when it is claimed that the success rate of such transformations is less than 30%.
If this is the case – we have a challenging question to address, when training our future generation – are we going to continue teaching the traditional philosophies of scientific management, covered with a coating of e-government or are we going to re-think what we need to do to achieve higher rates of success. Both researchers and practitioners from across the world argue organizational change initiatives in both the private and public sector – record less than 30% success. Based on this empirical evidence, it would be difficult to conclude that the failures of e-Government in Sri Lankan – could be addressed based on the areas identified under aims and objectives of this program. The issue seems to be more fundamental.
Therefore I would like to suggest – this proposed program could be made more beneficial to the participants as well as the nation – if we could develop a group of human resources to move away from the industrial style of management (that is resulting in less than 30% success in relation to e-government initiatives) and move towards a style of management that is more suited for the 21st century and beyond.
Although you may have to cover the standard components of Public Sector Management in the program (to which I have no objection) when moving into e-government - I would prefer the objective and expected outcomes of the e-Government component to be more focused as per the example provided below: (Note: These are only provided as a starting point for further discussion as this too could evolve into something more wholesome with the participation of others).
A word of caution: please to not try to understand how to deliver this program or the curriculum at this stage.
(Possible) Objective
To develop a group of human resources that could effectively confront the emerging complex challenges of the 21st century and beyond
(Possible) Proposed Outcomes of the e-Government component
ReplyDelete1. How do we better understand the problems we are confronted – whether complicated or complex (these should be done as practical exercises).
2. To develop an understanding why the current management style may not be suitable to address the complex problems facing governments today.
3. How to develop a holistic understanding of our problems – verses the current reductionist approach to understanding of problems.
4. Developing the leadership and management skills required to engage all stakeholders in inventing solutions based on constructivism as against developing solutions based on positivism (i.e., design thinking rather than rational or analytical thinking).
5. How to develop evaluation criteria for initiatives that address complex problems, which would be different from the hard measurements of ROI, cost or speed.
6. Developing project management skills – to manage projects that address complex problems.
PROBLEM is deemed to exist “when a living creature has a goal but doesn’t know how this goal is to be reached. Whenever one cannot go from a given situation [current state] to a desired situation [future state] purely by action, then there has to be recourse to thinking” (Dunker, 1945, p.1)
I am emphasizing on complex or ‘wicked’ problems - because it is necessary for e-government initiatives to move away from providing mere e-services into the area of policy and planning – as we had to face when developing the systems such as ‘Title Registration’, ‘e-Motoring’, ‘System for the Commissioner General of Samurdhi’, ‘e-SLIMS’, etc.
This is quote from those who defined ‘wicked’ problems, explains its relevance, to socio-economic issues faced by planners and policy makers in government very clearly (Rittle & Webber, 1973, p.136):
"As distinguished from problems in the natural sciences, which are definable and separable and may have solutions that are findable, the problems of governmental planning -- and especially those of social or policy planning -- are ill-defined; and they rely upon elusive political judgement for resolution.(Not 'solution'. Social problems are never solved. At best they are only re-solved -- over and over again.) Permit us to draw a cartoon that will help certify the distinction we intend."
My intension is to challenge our thinking towards an alternate path, a ‘path less travelled’ in order we could add greater value for the future generations. Yes – designing such a program will take more than just doing a copy and paste – and would need a great deal of leaning, commitment and thought. If we are short of time and unable to commit the resources to tread this path or need to do something urgently – then obviously what I am talking may not be feasible.
I hope my intentions are accepted in the correct spirit (instead of seeing it as an aggressive outburst) as my only intention is to commit myself to add value for the future generations to come – so that the world will be a safer and happier place for all to live tomorrow.
Thank you for the opportunity granted to make this contribution.
Kind regards
Harin
Dear Sir / Madam
ReplyDeleteAs per the instructions by Director General/ SLIDA, the 2nd meeting of MPM E-Government curriculum Development will be held on 29th (Wednesday) July 2015 at 4.30pm (Boardroom) .
Your participation for the meeting is highly appreciated.
Viduth Mendis
Programme Oficer
School of Postgraduate Studies/SLIDA
Dear Friends,
ReplyDeleteWe finalized teh Aims and Objectives of the MPM in eGov Programme as follows.
1. Aims of the programme
(a) This programme aims to build the capability of the public managers to direct, lead and support the eGovernance based transformational initiatives in the public sector.
(b) This programme also aims to build a knowledgeable and capable human resources in the public sector who could actively involve in and support eGovernment initiatives
2. Objectives of the programme
(a) Develop the public managers’ management competency through knowledge and understanding of theories and practices of public management, strategic management, public policy management, strategic human resource management and leadership
(b) Develop public managers’ core eGovernance competency through teaching and learning the eGovernment models, current issues and trends in eGovernment, transforming public sector services through eGovernment, nature of the eGovernment in developed countries, the specific nature of eGovernment development in Sri Lanka, and eGovernment performance evaluation methods.
(c) Develop public managers’ generic eGovernance competency through teaching and learning project management, IT strategies for public organizations, government process redesign and change management, IT procurement and finance management for eGovernment projects, and the legal frameworks for eGovernment.
(d) Build public managers’ e-competency through teaching and learning fundamentals of ICT and software engineering principles, requirements analysis and designing techniques, Internet and information security strategies, information management and integration, and e-commerce tools and principles.
(e) Develop the research competency of the public sector managers to create an eGovernment research culture within public sector through teaching various IS theories, research philosophies, data analysis techniques, presentation and publication.
The next step is to finalize the modules. I hope that we can meet next week for this purpose.
Thanks!
WD