Vårt examensarbete har genomförts på företaget Electrolux Laundry Systems (ELS) logistikavdelning, Logistics Center Ljungby (LCL).  Under det senaste året har företaget haft motgångar vid ett IT/IS-projekt inom sin logistikavdelning (LCL). Uppsatsen har således syftat till att beskriva och analysera varför IT/IS-projektet har avstannat, och ej nått implementering. För att uppnå syftet har vi utgått från en, i stort sett, kvalitativ ansats där primärdata har insamlats genom metoder såsom intervjuer och deltagande observationer medan sekundärdata inhämtats i form av dokumentundersökningar och offentliga dokument.   Resultatet av studien har utgjorts av deltagande observationer på fallföretagets logistikavdelning, LCL, samt intervjuer med olika verksamhetsnivåer. Detta har påvisat bristande kommunikation och direktiv samt fallföretagets brister i förstudiens utförande vad gäller förankring av projektet, planering av tid, resurser och kostnader samt formulering av krav. Slutsatser vi kunnat dra av detta är att en fungerande kommunikation mellan olika verksamhetsnivåer samt en noggrant utförd förstudie är essentiella element för att ge ett projekt rätt förutsättningar. / Our thesis has been performed in the company of Electrolux Laundry Systems (ELS) logistics department, Logistics Center Ljungby (LCL). Over the past year, the company has met setbacks during an IT/IS-project in the logistics department (LCL). The essay is thus aimed to describe and analyze why the IT/IS-project have stagnated. To achieve the purpose of the study we have applied a mainly qualitative approach in which the primary data is collected through methods such as interviews and participant observations while the secondary data is obtained by means of litterature and public documents.   The study’s result consisted of participant observation at LCL, and interviews with co-workers at various levels in the organization. These have shown a lack of communication between employees at different levels in the company. Moreover, the result proved the company's shortcomings in designing the pilot study, e.g. deeply root the project, planning time, resources, costs and specify requirements. Our conclusions from this study are that effective communication between different levels of employees, and an accurately performed pilot study, are essential elements to give a project the right conditions.

<p>This study will refer specifically to the reasons why SMEs are not willing to use e-payment as their first-choice method: the reasons hampering e-payment adoption.</p>

Through a case study about the impact of IT adoption in a residential aged care organisation, this thesis examines the increasing pressure for service integration as mainstreamed through reform policies. Specifically, the research investigates the role of IT in facilitating the 1997 aged care reform agenda of 'ageing in place' focusing on the levels of transformation from the policy context to the organisational/management context, and to the context of service provision by care staff. A single embedded case study (Yin, 1993) is used in order to meet the general objective to capture the dynamics of the impact of ageing in place in the three social contexts. The research is informed by social constructionism, a theoretical framework that emphasises the significance and effects of language in shaping social realities (Ainsworth, 2001; Hosking, 1999). The framework, therefore, justifies the qualitative analysis of both written (i.e., policy documents) and spoken (i.e., interviews with staff) texts to address meaning in relation to context. Changing technologies can result in altered societal structures (Betz, 2003) at all levels, from the very complex to the very basic. As such, it is important to understand a few basic premises of technology. First, technology is a human invention to improve the well-being of society (Ayres, 1996). Consequently, technological inventions that improve the quality of life are seen by people as a necessity for modern living. In the case of ageing, modernisation and technological advances effectively resulted in people becoming healthier and living longer (Department of Health and Aged Care [DHAC], 2000). Second, technology is a human means to control nature (Betz, 2003). As such, technological advances can be seen as a modernising process of predicting and regulating the effects of the trends existing in the environment, such as ageing. Ageing in the twenty first century presents a challenge to government's development policies because ageing is depicted as a steady force with a long-term economic impact (Johnson, 1999). Third, a technology becomes powerful when it is sponsored by the market (Betz, 2003; Hughes, 1983). Unless a technology is backed by business, it lacks the influence on a large scale. Fourth, technology is used to enable change. By using IT, governments, business and the community are co-operating through a paradigm similar to the business sector. As a result, the service environment is shifting towards more business-like approaches. To sustain the changes brought by a different paradigm and modes of operation, the rhetoric of technology is employed. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to investigate the use of IT in processes of organisational adaptations to reform, which requires the examination of: a) specific meaning of IT as used in long-term care policies for older people since the last structural reform, b) the rationale behind the introduction of a new IT system into a residential care organisation, and c) the meaning of IT as articulated by care staff who have experienced a change in technology. The first paper represents a rhetorical analysis at the macro or policy level. There is a significant influence of a global political actor in developing proactive strategies on ageing, which results in a new, multi-organisational approach in delivering government-subsidised services, such as residential care. Three key institutional texts were selected to represent international to local policy development since the time ageing became a global concern. Since then, ageing is also viewed as a human rights issue. Using Burke's pentad, an analytic framework to analyse rhetoric in texts (Stillar, 1998), these institutional texts are seen to employ the rhetoric of 'technology for sustainability' to justify changes to policy approaches that seek long-term viability. Technology, in the name of sustainable development ensures support for economic growth, which balances the long-term effects of population ageing. The existence of a global force, such as population ageing, allows the intervening powers of the UN in mainstreaming ageing into development policies. Accordingly, it initiates corresponding actions at national (Australian Commonwealth Government) and state (Queensland Government) levels. IT is a medium of communication, knowledge transfer, and standard practice at these levels of actions. The second paper represents a qualitative analysis at the meso or organisational level. This paper explores the cogent rationale in the introduction of a computer-based, care documentation system in a large residential aged care organisation. Twenty two staff, from every level of the organisation, were interviewed to get an insight into the role of IT in substantive changes to organisational structure and modes of service provision. Responses from staff indicate external and internal influence that pressured the organisation to change. In the bid to sustain the future of aged care, the industry is changing through the introduction of new structure of service delivery. The Aged Care Structural Reform instigated a shift towards sustainable service provision that is consumer-driven, with a fixed cost compliance mechanism and performance criteria that are tied to funding. Facing the requirement for evidence to corroborate funding, a residential care organisation changed its structure of service delivery by introducing a new strategic direction. IT is part of this new strategic direction, planning, and operations of a changed service environment. The third paper represents a qualitative analysis at the micro or individual level to examine the impact of IT at frontline service delivery. This study is also based on interviews with twenty-two staff, across the organisational structure; however, this time the focus is more on staff who are involved in providing direct care to older residents at the organisation. The reason behind this is that IT has always been a management tool which handles management priorities such as financial planning and performance monitoring. The themes arising from the interviews indicate discord at the level of service delivery from the introduction of a new technical system. It also points to the idea that staff generally refer to ethical ideas and future promise of the new system. In summary, these three papers attached to this thesis support the notion that the meaning of technology is socially constructed. First, technology in the aged care sector has particular reference to improving or enhancing the well-being of older people, and in this case, the provision of high quality services that fulfil the needs of older people. Second, IT has an important role in meeting the evidence-based requirement, such as in the use of information in manipulating the use of resources required for the ageing population. Third, the meaning of IT is conceived from the context requiring its use such as the need to use resource efficiently to ensure long-term sustainability, which were emphasised in the last reform. Fourth, IT is used to enable structural changes in organisations to implement generic practices originated from the business sector, requiring the use of strong rhetoric such as balance and future. The limit of this case study is that these dimensions of technology can only be applied to the specific context of aged care and is not generalisable to other political contexts. However, the strength of the study rests on the macro-, meso- and micro-analysis of the meaning of technology. Therefore, future studies should investigate and compare the dimensions of technology in other contexts.

p. 1 - 159 / Submitted by Santiago Fabio (fabio.ssantiago@hotmail.com) on 2013-01-16T19:55:30Z No. of bitstreams: 1 gggggg.pdf: 1451452 bytes, checksum: 8dc3b0023ed9f1932169d07d03967420 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-01-16T19:55:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 gggggg.pdf: 1451452 bytes, checksum: 8dc3b0023ed9f1932169d07d03967420 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / A pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar os efeitos da terceirização para a Gestão do Conhecimento em uma estrutura administrativa de desenvolvimento de sistemas em tecnologia da informação, no setor público. Esta perspectiva abrange o entendimento sobre os mecanismos da gestão do conhecimento e o papel dos profissionais de tecnologia da informação na Organização, na Área e no ciclo de desenvolvimento de sistemas; busca analisar os ativos intangíveis representados pelo capital estrutural, de relacionamento e intelectual e o modelos de terceirização utilizados na Secretaria da Fazenda, Órgão integrante da Administração Pública Direta do Estado da Bahia, para a contratação de desenvolvimento e manutenção de sistemas em tecnologia da informação. O trabalho está fundamentado por um quadro teórico, baseado nos conceitos sobre gestão do conhecimento e seus ativos intangíveis, sobre a terceirização, os modelos e restrições legais no âmbito público e o contexto organizacional da tecnologia da informação, tendo como foco o desenvolvimento de sistemas. Foi realizada uma pesquisa de campo aplicada, na qual se abordou o problema como um estudo de caso exploratório e de cunho quali-quantitativo, privilegiando um entendimento analítico e suportado por observação, pesquisa documental e entrevistas efetuadas com o superintendente, diretor, gerentes, líderes de sistemas e gestores de sistemas da Secretaria da Fazenda do Estado da Bahia (SEFAZ-BA). O instrumento de pesquisa utilizado baseia-se em Rossatto (2003), que propõe três constructos: capital estrutural, capital de relacionamento e capital intelectual. Foram aplicados questionários seguindo o enquadre desses constructos e as respostas foram categorizadas e analisadas. Os resultados encontrados indicam a necessidade de uma efetiva gestão dos ativos intangíveis, apresentam os efeitos gerados pela terceirização nas fases do ciclo de desenvolvimento de sistemas e como o modelo de terceirização atual tem contribuído para o escape do conhecimento da Instituição e entrega de serviços em desacordo com o prazo e qualidade. Traz também contribuições de melhoria tendo em perspectiva o ambiente de desenvolvimento de sistemas e o processo “fim a fim” de gestão das demandas em tecnologia da informação. / Salvador

Submitted by LUCI LONGO (luci.longo@gvmail.br) on 2014-01-27T18:56:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE-2014-Luci Longo.pdf: 4266328 bytes, checksum: b7560e7b65474586eb06e6b91f5bec08 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzinei Teles Garcia Garcia (suzinei.garcia@fgv.br) on 2014-01-27T19:18:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE-2014-Luci Longo.pdf: 4266328 bytes, checksum: b7560e7b65474586eb06e6b91f5bec08 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-01-27T19:22:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE-2014-Luci Longo.pdf: 4266328 bytes, checksum: b7560e7b65474586eb06e6b91f5bec08 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-01-16 / The results obtained enable us to state that the industries that most invested in Information Technology (IT) in the period of 2001-2011 had higher growth in their operating revenue and more effective operating results, compared with industries that invested less in the same period. According to the proposed model for the companies studied, an increase of 7% was found within two years in operating profit for every 1% in IT investments. Noteworthy is the purpose of the research to identify and analyze the impacts of expenditures and investments in information technology on the financial performance of Brazilian industries, and for that, I used a research model that used accounting-financial metrics and indicators of IT use as well as the combination of statistical analysis techniques. Moreover, the investigation deepens and broadens the discussion on the evaluation of IT investments and how to measure its impact on the organizational performance. The study population was composed of Brazilian companies, which were publicly traded, from the industrial sector, with active stocks at BOVESPA, totaling 119 companies. Through a survey, additional data were obtained related to expenditures and investments in IT, the semi-structured questionnaires were sent directly to the Chief Information Officer (CIO). These efforts in collecting primary data, gave the possibility of obtaining a fairly significant sample, with 63 industries, namely 53% of the population. After collection, the data analysis was developed through three steps: (1) Factor Analysis (FA) for selection of performance factors, which at the end of the process resulted in twelve variables for the research model, (2) Cluster Analysis (CA) that showed three distinct groupings of companies for their features and performance, and (3) Multiple Regression Model which adopted the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), a dynamic econometric model, satisfying the requirements of the Arellano-Bond (1991) model. It is noted that the proposed model could address in a methodologically proper way the spurious correlations and allowing the identification of ‘the lag effect', in other words, IT investments in two previous periods, (IGTIt-2) impacted in current Operating Income (ROPt). Furthermore, it was found that other variables of profitability and liquidity impacted in this result, also adopting lag variables. The main variable of IT research, IGTI is calculated through the sum of expenditures and annual IT investments (OPEX/CAPEX), divided by the annual net Operating Revenue. For future research, there is the possibility of seeking evaluation measures by types (categories) of IT investment, aiming at deepening the analysis of performance impacts by sector (in each investment) and the cluster analysis, making use of the analysis model of this research. / Os resultados obtidos possibilitam afirmar que as indústrias que mais investiram em Tecnologia de Informação (TI), no período de 2001 a 2011, obtiveram maior crescimento da sua receita operacional e resultados operacionais mais eficazes, comparadas com as indústrias que investiram menos no período. De acordo com o modelo proposto, para as empresas estudadas foi possível encontrar, no prazo de dois anos, um crescimento de 7% no resultado operacional para cada 1% a mais de investimentos em TI. Destaca-se o objetivo da pesquisa de identificar e analisar os impactos dos gastos e investimentos em tecnologia de informação no desempenho financeiro das indústrias brasileiras, para alcançá-lo, adotou-se um modelo de pesquisa que utilizou métricas contábeis-financeiras e indicadores de uso TI, bem como a combinação de técnicas estatísticas para as análises. O trabalho aprofunda e amplia as discussões existentes sobre a avaliação dos investimentos em TI e como aferir o impacto desta sobre o desempenho organizacional. O universo do estudo foi composto pelas companhias brasileiras, de capital aberto, do ramo industrial, com ações ativas na BOVESPA, totalizando 119 companhias. Por meio de uma survey obteve-se os dados complementares referentes aos gastos e investimentos em TI; os questionários semiestruturados foram encaminhados diretamente ao Gerente de TI (Chief Information Officer). Estes esforços na coleta de dados primários possibilitaram a obtenção de uma amostra bastante significativa, com 63 indústrias, ou seja, 53% da população estudada. Após coleta, a análise dos dados foi desenvolvida em três etapas: (1) Análise Fatorial (AF) para seleção de fatores de desempenho que resultou no final do processo em doze variáveis para o modelo da pesquisa; (2) Análise de Cluster (AC) que evidenciou três agrupamentos distintos de indústrias por suas características e desempenho e (3) Regressão Múltipla que adotou um modelo econométrico dinâmico, estimado pelo Método dos Momentos Generalizado (GMM), satisfazendo as condições do modelo de Arellano-Bond (1991). Salienta-se que o modelo proposto permitiu tratar de forma adequada metodologicamente as correlações espúrias, possibilitando identificar que os gastos e investimentos em TI, (IGTI t-2), de dois períodos anteriores impactaram no Resultado Operacional Atual, (ROPt), evidenciando o efeito tardio, ou lag effect. Além disso, foi constatado que outras variáveis de rentabilidade e liquidez impactam neste resultado, também adotando defasagem das variáveis. A principal variável de TI da pesquisa, o IGTI, é calculada pela soma de gastos e investimentos em TI anuais (OPEX/CAPEX), dividida pela Receita Operacional Líquida anual. Para pesquisas futuras, há a possibilidade de buscar medidas de avaliação por tipos (categorias) de investimento em TI, visando ao aprofundamento da análise destes impactos no desempenho setorizado (ligado a cada investimento) e da análise de clusters, adotando o modelo de análise da pesquisa.

Submitted by Paulo Junior (paulo.jr@fgv.br) on 2011-01-10T17:40:46Z No. of bitstreams: 2 AdonaiTeles-Tese-Final.pdf: 7724890 bytes, checksum: 0453b008c5c4532fe43c660147ea4d99 (MD5) AdonaiTeles-Tese-Final.pdf: 7724890 bytes, checksum: 0453b008c5c4532fe43c660147ea4d99 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Paulo Junior(paulo.jr@fgv.br) on 2011-01-10T17:41:14Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 AdonaiTeles-Tese-Final.pdf: 7724890 bytes, checksum: 0453b008c5c4532fe43c660147ea4d99 (MD5) AdonaiTeles-Tese-Final.pdf: 7724890 bytes, checksum: 0453b008c5c4532fe43c660147ea4d99 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-01-27T10:55:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 AdonaiTeles-Tese-Final.pdf: 7724890 bytes, checksum: 0453b008c5c4532fe43c660147ea4d99 (MD5) AdonaiTeles-Tese-Final.pdf: 7724890 bytes, checksum: 0453b008c5c4532fe43c660147ea4d99 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-04-27 / The city of Piraí, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, hosts the program Piraí Digital, a set of initiatives, in five areas - government, education, health, business and citizenship – aimed to bridge the digital divide in the city and contribute to its development. The program was studied through the association between a heuristic model for analysis of digital inclusion and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). This work presents a description of the evolution of the program according to the actors who have built it. Between 1997 and 2009, Piraí Digital contributed to a number of positive changes in Piraí, especially in the areas of education, which adopted the 1:1 computing in its public system in 2009; health care, which uses the city‘s network structure and Internet access to disseminate its systems; and government, where public administration has increased productivity and taxes revenues through the computerization of the administrative machinery. The study of Piraí Digital allows us to understand the importance of the association of artifacts - a computer network, telecenters, Master Plans and others - and people in their efforts to overcome the digital divide and contribute to local development. Exploring the contrast between the strong reputation of Piraí Digital outside the municipality and the little knowledge about the program by the local population, the author makes an analogy with the work of sanitation, almost unknown and invisible to many people, but essential for the population. In Piraí, digital sanitation is ready, with bits gushing from the taps in schools and the health care system profiting from IT to spread its information flow for the benefit of the citizens. / A cidade de Piraí, no estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, é palco do programa Piraí Digital, um leque de iniciativas, em cinco áreas de atuação – governo, educação, saúde, negócios e cidadania –, com o objetivo de vencer a exclusão digital no município e contribuir para seu desenvolvimento. O programa foi estudado por meio da associação entre um modelo heurístico para análise da inclusão digital e a Teoria Ator-Rede (ANT). O trabalho apresenta a descrição da evolução do programa segundo os atores que o construíram. Entre 1997 e 2009, Piraí Digital contribuiu para uma série de mudanças positivas em Piraí, notadamente nas áreas de educação, a qual adotou a computação 1:1 em toda a rede municipal no ano de 2009; saúde, que utiliza a estrutura de rede de computadores e internet da cidade para disseminar seus sistemas; e governo, onde a administração pública teve ganhos de produtividade e arrecadação por meio da informatização da máquina administrativa. O estudo de Piraí Digital permite compreender a importância da associação de artefatos – rede de computadores, telecentros, Planos Diretores e outros – e das pessoas nos esforços para vencer a exclusão digital e contribuir para o desenvolvimento local. Explorando o contraste entre a grande notoriedade de Piraí Digital fora do município e o baixo conhecimento do programa pela população local, o autor faz a analogia com uma obra de saneamento, pouco conhecida e visível, mas essencial para a população. Em Piraí, o saneamento digital está pronto, com bits jorrando das torneiras nas escolas e a saúde se beneficiando da TI para escoar seu fluxo de informações para benefício dos cidadãos piraienses.

Submitted by Maike Costa (maiksebas@gmail.com) on 2016-02-26T14:23:00Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1608246 bytes, checksum: d413321e8f56ef27fe1d4c30fb99ae01 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Viviane Lima da Cunha (viviane@biblioteca.ufpb.br) on 2016-03-01T10:24:22Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1608246 bytes, checksum: d413321e8f56ef27fe1d4c30fb99ae01 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Viviane Lima da Cunha (viviane@biblioteca.ufpb.br) on 2016-03-01T10:25:41Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1608246 bytes, checksum: d413321e8f56ef27fe1d4c30fb99ae01 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-09T17:39:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1608246 bytes, checksum: d413321e8f56ef27fe1d4c30fb99ae01 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Work teams are seen as flexible structures for collective work organization, with superior ability to improve organizational performance when compared to traditional hierarchical structures. Work teams in information technology (IT) can be perceived as high-performance drives, dynamic and productive, especially important in times of organizational change or leading complex and critics organizational (re)designs. Specifically in the software development field (an IT specialization) these teams performance is a measure of quality, functionality/applicability and reliability of IT artifacts, as their main outcomes. It is also expected that software development teams could be self-managed, so that the main concerns relating to the composition, internal processes, tasks, and performance are of intrinsic nature. This document reports the course of actions for building issues for the thesis demonstration, one that establishes that teams working with intrinsic motivations have better performance than teams that rely solely on extrinsic motivations or controls. Drawing on flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) as a theoretical guidance for explanation of intrinsic motivation, antecedents and consequents of flow on work teams were identified and an instrument was developed for flow measurement in work teams, specifically on IT teams, with also a model proposition for the measurement of flow influence on IT teams performance. Discussions on the findings suggest (1) theoretical implications, especially compilation of empirical evidence linking flow, antecedents and consequences, as a complement and update for classic studies of the same nature, and instrument offering focused on collective perceptions and developed specifically for flow measurement on IT work teams; and (2) practical implications, highlighting the perception of interest in the matter by the practitioners (managers and developers) and rationale offered to subsidize maintaining positive vibe in teams as a way for turnover reduction and widening the appeal to new members, for instance. / Equipes de trabalho podem ser definidas como estruturas flexíveis de organização do trabalho coletivo, com capacidade superior de contribuição para o desempenho organizacional quando comparadas a estruturas hierárquicas tradicionais. Equipes de trabalho em tecnologia da informação (TI) podem ser percebidas como unidades de elevado desempenho, dinâmicas e produtivas, especialmente importantes em tempos de mudança organizacional ou em liderança de projetos organizacionais complexos e críticos. Especificamente em desenvolvimento de software (uma especialidade dos estudos em TI), o desempenho dessas equipes é medido por meio de parâmetros relacionados à qualidade, funcionalidade/aplicabilidade e confiabilidade dos artefatos gerados. Espera-se, ainda, que equipes de desenvolvimento de software sejam autogerenciadas, de modo que as principais preocupações relativas à composição, processos, tarefas e desempenho sejam de natureza intrínseca. O presente documento reporta o percurso de elaboração e provimento de recursos de demonstração da tese de doutoramento que estabelece que equipes que trabalham com motivações intrínsecas apresentam melhor desempenho que equipes que dependem exclusivamente de motivações ou controles extrínsecos. Adotando-se flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) como orientação teórica para explicação de motivação intrínseca, identificaram-se antecedentes que levam ao estado de flow em equipe, e consequentes desse estado, especificamente em equipes de trabalho; e elaborou-se instrumento de mensuração do estado de flow em equipes de trabalho, especificamente em equipes de TI, com proposição de modelo de mensuração da influência de flow sobre o desempenho de equipes de TI. Discussões sobre os resultados sugerem (1) implicações teóricas, especialmente compilação de evidências empíricas relacionando flow, antecedentes e consequentes, e oferta de instrumento focado em percepções coletivas e desenvolvido especificamente para mensuração de flow em equipes de trabalho em TI; e (2) implicações práticas, com destaque para a oferta de base conceitual que subsidie a manutenção de vibração positiva nas equipes como forma de redução de rotatividade (turnover) e ampliação da atração a novos profissionais.

With the increased significance of information technology (IT) in today’s society the term ‘electronic democracy’ (e-democracy) has gained much importance within the democracy theory. Naturally, there are several competing views on how the technology should be used for democratic purpose. One aspect of this is the somewhat revitalized claim for direct democracy in accordance with the hypothetical opportunity to finally realize it as a democratic system. The ideal of direct democracy combined with the almost total credence in the potential of technology constitute the idea of a ‘push-button democracy’. The term has to a large extent been used by critics to the idea. However, it does also figure as a generic term describing this ‘new’ claim for direct democracy. This essay seeks in a qualitative normative and theoretical way, to assess the plausibility of the idea of the push-button democracy in relation to classical democracy theory. In excess of the debate of direct versus representative democracy, the analysis seeks to give a normative approach on how information technology should be applied. The result of the analysis consists of a number of predicted implications with the realization of the push-button democracy, especially concerning the democratic process in regard to decision making. Furthermore, it is reasoned whether this utopian system is desirable, even from a principal view. Finally, the discussion concludes with a stance of policy that information technology should be used as a mean for the existing representative democracy, rather than a goal, in order to create a different political system.

Magister Commercii (Information Management) - MCom(IM) / This study will refer specifically to the reasons why SMEs are not willing to use e-payment as their first-choice method: the reasons hampering e-payment adoption. / South Africa

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / The essence of e-government is to link government activities with the advanced technology that the world is having today. This technology has already shown a remarkable job in bringing efficiency in private sector through e-business, e-banking, e-procurement etc.It is, therefore, recommended by this study that government and its agencies could utilize e-government initiatives to bring service delivery closer to citizens. By so doing government officials and citizens would become much closer and perform their duties well and efficiently.The experience from various countries shows that there are various Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and e-government initiatives even in poor countries. In rural areas of Tanzania where electricity has never been thought to reach where illiteracy rates are increasing and where poverty is high, people are using mobile phones for their activities. This is possible as the prices of mobile phones are low and networks are available in such rural part of the country. Tanzania enacted ICT policy in 2003 which, among other things, emphasizes the need to have success in e-government services. Experience on ground, though, reveals that this policy is often not implemented. What seems in the implementation of ICT policy in Tanzania difficult is the lack of political will and the will to agree to change.On the other hand, Tanzanian citizens have been for a long time ready for change. A good example may be advent of the mobile phone industry in the country. Many respondents in this research expressed the need to adopt ICT to advance ordinary people.These respondents recommended that government officials accept change with regard to ICT, to introduce developmental plans and be innovative and creative enough in establishing service delivery programmes. As borne out by this study, ICT can also be used to link the private sector, public sector and service delivery to citizens.Still though, poor countries, apart from having many priorities to contend with, have to acknowledge that the world is changing rapidly and in order to combat poverty more effectively, technology is useful as it makes people understand the trends and changes that the world is witnessing today. Indeed, Tanzania can use ICT to move ahead in e-government because it has a good telecommunication system, a factor that would allow for the success of online services.