Views about Informatics in the Public Sector
| Author | R. Dethier |
| Published date | 01 March 1979 |
| Date | 01 March 1979 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002085237904500112 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
iii
-
the
principle
of
consistency
between
the
means
and
objectives
of
administrative
act-
ivity,
which
raises
delicate
questions
that
might
generally
be
solved
through
the
no-
tion
of
&dquo;
misapplication
of
power
&dquo;
(des-
viaci6n
de
poder);
-
the
complementary
nature
of
objectives,
which
particularly
applies
in
connection
with
subsidies;
-
certainty
in the
law,
ensured,
among
other
,
things,
by
a
regular
planning
of
promotion;
- steps
taken
by
individuals.
Promotion
is
often
described
as
an
instrument
of
co-
operation
between
the
administration
and
the
citizen:
this
should
be
made
effective
by
participation
procedures
in
decision-
making ;
.and--
.- the
coordination
of
measures.
Views
about
Informatics
in
the
Public
Sector
R. DETHIER
The
following
indications
are
based
on
a
survey
conducted
in
Belgium
by
the
Institute
of
Sociology,
University
of
Liege.
How , in f ormatics
in
the
public
sector
is
perceived
Citizens
have
no
decided
opinions,
particu-
I
larly
as
they
generally
do
not
know
what
in-
’,
formatics
is
about.
Ignorance
is
widespread
and,
of
course,
extends
to
the
uses,
prospects,
and
dangers
of
informatics.
But
people
imag-
ine
that
they
know
what
computers
are,
take
a
general
view,
and
are
only
slightly
interested
but
more
often
than
not &dquo;
against &dquo;.
Public
ignorance
of
the
work
of
government
services
is
equally
great
and
people
hardly
inquire
into
administrative
matters.
They
show
consider-
able
unconcerned
passivity
towards
the
author-
ities.
Politicians
not
actively
involved
in
the
Exec-
utive
are
about
as
uninformed
as
their
electors.
An
increasing
number
of
the
more
prominent
among
them
are
watching
computerization
clo-
sely
and
focusing
their
inquiries
on
power
rela-
tionships.
They
adopt
various
attitudes.
There
are
sceptics
in
favour
of
informatics
but
with
reservations,
realists
who
are
mostly
in
the
Opposition
and
disapprove
of
the
way
in
which
it
is
being
used
in
the
public
service,
cynics
in
high
office
as
ministers
or
party
leaders
who
know
what
benefits
they
could
obtain
from
a
suitable
use
of
informatics.,
neutrals
who
per-
sist
in
thinking
that
the
change
is
only
minor,
&dquo;
economists &dquo;
who
view
the
use
and
develop-
ment
of
informatics
favourably,
and
believers
in
its
importance
and
the need
to
harness
it
for
the
common
good.
Those
attitudes
may
vary
and
are ~ often
disguised.
&dquo;
-
Administrators
vary
similarly
in
their
opin-
ions
but
are
much
more
frequently
aware
of
the
importance
of
informatics
than
the
politicians.
Their
ideas
are
more
realistic
and
they
are
less
concerned
with
possible
changes
in
power
relationships.
They
te.nd rto
over-
estimate
the
role
of the
computer
in
performing
routine
and
repetitive
tasks
and
to
under-
estimate
its
economic
and
,overall
implications.
’
In
the
state
police. force,
for
example; com-
puterization
ways
carefully
prepared,
and-
is
rated
by
officers
of
all ranks
as
having
been
highly
successful:
only
a
small
percentage
of
them
express
scepticism
or
anxiety.
The
pub-
lic
knows
nothing
about
the
problem.
A
few
initiates,
however,
have
some
misgivings
be-
cause
a
strengthening
of the
state
police
might
be
a
threat
to
democracy.
This
idea is
shared
by
the
politicians,
most
of
whom
take
little
interest
in
the
matter... :
..
How
in f ormatics -
affects
the
quality
&dquo;
of
public
service
:
..
Citizens
.are,
as
a
rule,
uninformed.
Their
views
are
vague
or
limited,
but
tend
to
be
negative
or
positive.
They
do
not
spontaneous-
ly
grasp
the
connection
between
the
quality
of
service
and
informatics.
’
.
Politicians
nearly
all
have
different
opinions,
according
to
party
and
position..
Quality
is
appraised
in
various
ways
and
sometimes
with
vote-catching
in
mind.
They
essentially
look
upon
administration
as
the
performance
of
tasks
and
the
quality
of
service
as,
primarily,
their
own
concern.
They
rarely
realize
the
com-
puter-service
relationship
when
first
questioned.
When
pressed
for
an
answer,
they
are
generally
of
the
opinion
that
the
relationship
is
favour-
able,
for
a
variety
of
reasons.
’
,
’
Administrators
are,
of
course,
all &dquo;
-commit-
ted &dquo;.
Ideas
about
quality
are
chiefly
based
on
the
efficiency
of
the
civil
servant
or
peer-
formance
in
general.
None
of
the
opinions
expressed,
however,
was
technocratic,
‘and
re-
lations
between
the
administration
and
the
citi-
zen
were
only
mentioned :
incidentally.
On
the
other
hand,
most
of
the
respondents
were
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