Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations

Part One: Telework and Public Administrations
9
compare Daniels, Kevin et al. (1997), Huws, Ursula (1997).
10
Frissen, Paul (1997), p. 115.

---

runs a program entitled ‘Telematics Applications for Administrations’ that funds the
establishment of electronic networks both within and between administrations in the private and
the public sector. Applications range from computer-aided post in Europe in the year 2000
11
to the
harmonisation of official statistics and data access throughout the network of European public
administrations.
12
This is a development which favours, on the one hand, the concentration and compilation of data
(which seems promising under the aspect of efficiency, but frightening under the aspect of
control
13
), and on the other hand, a decentralisation of services and information production.
Seen from such an angle, telework can emerge in the environment of provisions for external data
exchange. These are exemplified by public electronic services by the Digital City in Amsterdam,
a domain for digital democracy, or by ‘Direct Access Government’ launched in the UK in
November 1997. In the latter case, citizens are able to select, fill out and send forms electronically
to the administration via the Internet. ‘To some extent inter-organisational connections are
outnumbering intra-organisational connections.’
14
Models of integrating external data exchange
with internal work procedures and organisational change towards telework can be found, such as
prominent cases like the network of the Western Isles Council or the Stockholm City Council's
network for healthcare and medical services. The Danish government follows a comprehensive
organisational approach with a four-stage ‘development ladder’ for local authorities to join the
public electronic service network. In stage one, the conventional organisation deals with
workstations with simple office automation, stage two implies electronic mail for internal and
external use, stage three adds incipient use of case processing systems or electronic filing and the
‘dynamic organisation’ in stage four performs both case processing and electronic scanning and
filing of incoming mail.
15
As our case from Denmark in Part Two will show, such a high level of informatisation and
networking favours (still with some difficulties) not only the cyberspace as the space of storage
and exchange of documents, but also a decentralisation of the workers. Current plans in Denmark
are expected to lead to a virtual public administration of email addresses, whereby the public will
interact with an entity beyond the constraints of physical architecture. In such a vision, the ‘real’
location of the bureaucrats which is behind the electronic addresses will be irrelevant.
6