ICT Development and Organizational Change in the Thai Public Sector.

Abstract

Information and communication technology (ICT) has long been central to modernization in the public sector. Socio-political factors within which the technology is developed and used play an important role in informing the design of the technology, and determine how it is used in public sector organizations. Thai bureaucracy has been constrained by long-established bureaucratic culture, strict social status, and hierarchical control, which give rise to distinctive public administration styles, organizational arrangements, and work practices. This dissertation examines how these socio-political characteristics result in distinctive patterns of ICT development and adoption in the Thai public sector.

By analyzing ethnographic fieldnotes, interview transcripts, and government artifacts collected from a 12-month period of fieldwork, this dissertation explores three key aspects of ICT development efforts in the Thai public sector: (1) relations between ICT and managerial control in the public sector; (2) processes of standardization in government information infrastructure development; and (3) the importance and complexities of boundary work in digital government development efforts.

Beyond its effects on public administration and service provision processes, the development of computerized technology is associated with a series of organizational changes that often produce challenges and tensions attending ICT development efforts. The dissertation offers lessons for digital government scholarship and the wider field of information science by specifically exploring changes in power structures, work practices, and the roles and relationships of government officials within and across agencies resulting from the implementation and use of new technologies. Following selected findings extend the understanding of technology development and organizational change in the public sector. First, information systems are used to reinforce existing hierarchical control power and authority, leading to tensions and resistance to the systems and control. Second, infrastructure development and standardization are a politically loaded process provoking conflict among agencies competing for power and autonomy over information resources. Third, the effects of technology adoption on work practices and relationships among officials are concentrated among lower- to middle-ranking officials, with relatively little impact on the practices of higher-ranking officials. Fourth, computerization does not necessarily increase the speed and efficiency of public administration as paper-based practices are still dominantly in effect.