Governance in Digital ERA

In the digital age with the growth and extension of democratic ideas to the online realm, there is a growing need to make governance more participative and bidirectional. Here technology is expected to play a fundamental role in bringing about this paradigm shift. In today‘s world, Digital Governance is the need of the time to minimize bureaucratic delays, redtapism, unaccountability of an organisation and its decision making Authority. Digital governance ensures accountability on the part of decision making Authority, by making its websites, mobile sites, social channels, internet and other web enabled products and services .It enables responsiveness by clarifying roles responsibilities and connections for a collaborative team. It is the basis of our distributed contents and centralised support model. Good governance is defined as an ART where each word has a significant definition such as a stands for Accountability, R for Responsiveness and T for Transparency Technology and innovation are the guiding factors of this entire process to instil efficiency and performance among government staff. Modi Government has initiated, promoted and even lawfully imposed online management of official activities in education and economic sectors to ensure transparency and integrity leading towards corruption free India Digital policies are guidance statements to specify what an organisation must and must not do. They are the guardians of an organisation to put in place its managements and ensuring its day to day operation online and from going off the road. A digital strategy articulates an organization‘s approach to leveraging the capabilities of the Internet and the World Wide Web. A digital strategy has both guiding principles and performance objectives. * Digital Standards articulate the exact nature of an organization‘s digital portfolio. They ensure most possible digital quality and effectiveness.1 A well planned and well implemented digital governance framework creates more productive work environment with higher quality result Role of technology in governance or a digital governance is not bureaucratic and ineffective. A Properly designed, digital governance can make online business machine sing, It, establishes a sort of digital development DNA ensuring digital presence in a manner that is in harmony with organization‘s strategic objectives. It is a core principle of an effective digital channel that includes good governance, strong programme framework and effective communication and engagement. Digital

1 https://digitalgovernance.com/dgblog/what-is-digital-governance/

a. Corporate governance dynamics - Digital governance is considered as compartment of corporate governance .Therefore it is expected to succeed imbibing its dynamics b. External demands -Market-specific and geography-specific regulatory musts and constraints and also social norms in regions, nations, and locales. c. Internet and World Wide Web governance d. Organizational culture e. The existence and presence of Digital team, its constitution and nature, roles and responsibilities f. Social media in governance-Social media is increasingly becoming a fertile ground for new initiatives such as spreading awareness about governance schemes and gauging public reaction through instant feedback. g. Developing innovation and technology requires impetus in three key thrust areas It is generally perceived and acknowledged that advanced education aim at innovative research and development - Government sponsored research activities - Industry-academia collaboration to commercialize the innovations h. Involving people in governance-People involvement in governance can be achieved by three approaches1.Managerial - Vertical flow of information focused on speedy delivery for specific areas or services 2.Consultative – Understanding societal interest and opinions on proposed schemes through portals by citizens 3. Participative – Receiving information and analysis of interests‘ inputs from citizens and creating a cyber-society having social network.

1. The core digital team when needs new technical platform, they do not have authority to bring/effect that change nor the organisation can take time to make the right choice. So it is important to be proactive in designing the framework in advance transformation too hard for being highly political and destabilizing to human resources. Sometimes many organizations refuse to adapt digital technology because of fear of failures and not being familiar with technology. Some other hidden stories are known to all that in digital technology nothing can be hidden so at times organisational leadership also express reluctance to adapt digital process Government employees do not want to point to governmental problems. Public officials have to develop the desire to use the technology efficiently and effectively .It all depends on the strength of government institutions, technology friendly environment and web based official practices. In patronage-based bureaucracies, for example, there is resistance and opposition for implementing e-governance. The automation of official and business processes and activities will monitor their actions and lessen their discretion and opportunities for corruption. This problem also lies with powerful or influential business unit. So, they prefer to be silent in order to be non-confrontational and not blowing whistle to point out adverse practices in the organisation. Too often, all organizations choose to ignore the call for sound governance, even when the state of their digital presence or the organizational risk demands that governance concerns be addressed. 3. Lipstick on pig-Digital governance can be bad too However we cannot deny the truth even if you put a lipstick on a pig, the saying goes, and it is still a pig. Means every government has digital governance problems. Looking good online does not ensure its effective operation and low risk environment. I have come across many organisations having well maintained website and digitally maintained details but there was no real digital strategy nor coordinated digital team and governance was in bad shape.

No doubt, technology promotes effectiveness and promptness but following it blindly becomes counterproductive as children of today are too much dependent on Google search, which is adversely affecting their intelligence. While innovative ideas can be conceived by individuals, they must remember that it is for building their strengths and finding new ways to explore the possibilities of reaching to the masses, to be transparent in their practices Every organisation has different levels of maturity for different-aspects of the organisation such as-for team structure, digital strategy, digital policy and digital the organisation is in chaos. We need to assign responsibility and accountability to the right set of person and resources to lay the foundation of digital team. To realize the substance of organisational strategies, policies, and Objectives we need to create real online value of the organisation Importance of Digital Team for digital governance To determine authority and accountability for strategy, policy and standards, (Digital Governance Design-DGD). We need to identify and design Organisational Digital Team, its structure and growth in a much more planned manner

We have moved from Stone Age to space age, humanity has progressed on the strength of innovations and technology. Our Governance like a living organism has been - constantly adapting and evolving. If we sow the seed of change today, tomorrow we and our future generation will be reaping benefits .We need dynamic and excellent leadership to initiate and promote changes and reforms which can be goal oriented, change oriented and client oriented because after all Governance is all about being People centric.

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