The Opportunities and Challenges of Transforming Dubai Government Entities - Research Proposal Example

Thesis Proposal The Opportunities and Challenges of Transforming Dubai Government Entities into Smart Organizations By Submitted on Table of ContentsTable of Contents 2 Background 3 Dubai is currently experiencing an extraordinary development phase with high ambitions and opportunities for the future by keeping the welfare of people, tourists, and organizations. Upfront in February 2014, the government of Dubai has launched a new initiative called "Government of the Future" through the announcement of Dubai 2021 strategy; what aims at making a global move from providing faster services to providing instant services by transforming Dubai government entities into smart organizations. A smart government is one that successfully utilizes technological advancement to improve service delivery and stimulate economic growth (Chourabi, 2012). The intention of the government is to increase the government efficiency in developing the economy and in providing the public services (Fakhri, 2010). 3 Preliminary Literature Review 4 Research Problem 7 Research Question 8 Methodology 9 References 12 Background Dubai is currently experiencing an extraordinary development phase with high ambitions and opportunities for the future by keeping the welfare of people, tourists, and organizations. Upfront in February 2014, the government of Dubai has launched a new initiative called "Government of the Future" through the announcement of Dubai 2021 strategy; what aims at making a global move from providing faster services to providing instant services by transforming Dubai government entities into smart organizations. A smart government is one that successfully utilizes technological advancement to improve service delivery and stimulate economic growth (Chourabi, 2012). The intention of the government is to increase the government efficiency in developing the economy and in providing the public services (Fakhri, 2010). In view of that, all organizations associated with the government of Dubai are instructed to support the Smart Government project and to immediately work towards the required transformation through creating a unified platform which delivers integrated services of all government entities (Kim & Mauborgne, 2009). Like any other project, it is undeniable that although Dubai has a wide range of opportunities to transform its government entities into smart organizations, the project may undergo numerous challenges that if not overcome will probably disturb the development plan. A wide range of researches have been conducted on the use of technology to have smarter business operations, smarter organizations, and smarter cities (e.g. Seoul, Singapore, Amsterdam, and Barcelona) (Kim & Mauborgne, 2009). It is clear that over 50% of the cities attempting to develop smart cities have failed in the first initiative. Research shows successful cities have defined effective model to form smart cities by integrating IT, social and physical infrastructures in creating a smart city (Chourabi, 2012). However, there is still a wide literature gap in identifying the various opportunities that any government should take advantage of and the various challenges that should be anticipated in this critical process of inducing innovation within cities. Dubai Smart Government project has received criticism for being one of the most expensive projects with a congested time-frame set by the government for the organizations to deploy the required solutions and integrations. The project is now being carried out, which has formed a base for research to reveal the related opportunities and challenges to establish a Smart Government, and will allow identifying the factors that can influence and assure the success of the project. The government believes that information technology will drive the country into efficiency in service delivery and in becoming an economic hub. By providing a range of practical recommendations and an effective transformation Framework, it will be possible to form a base to assist Dubai government to reach its vision for the benefit of the people, the economy, and the country. Preliminary Literature Review After launching the Dubai’s government plan to become a smart government and city, some researches were launched to investigate the viability of the plan. The controversy that has evolved is that the government of Dubai requires a strong development strategy, with most scholars intending to investigate the potential of the country. A research by the Bank Audi (2014) has revealed a change in the economic sector and revealed new challenges in the business environment. The main purpose of the research was to investigate the economic capacity of the county in deploying the technical development strategies. The findings of the research showed that during 2013, there has been a slight drop in the economic growth rate in the UAE, as it has changed from 4.4% in 2012 to 4.0% in 2013 (Lee, Phaal, & Lee, 2013). The report noted a growth in the tourism industry, housing and business, but a reduction in the oil profits by 3%. This points out that the government of Dubai may face economic challenges in the transformation strategy. The description of a smart city varies from one place to the other. However, there is concession on a number of issues that must be addressed in the formation of a smart city. To begin with, a smart city must be more conscious of its online present. This means that the government should be able to develop websites for its various departments and encourage the public to use them as access points for information. Also, the government should be able to provide adequate internet access points for use by the government and the public. Another important issue in formation of a smart city is the conversion of the all records into electronic form. For instance, the government should be able to convert or land reports into electronic form for easy access by the public. Additionally, the government should be able to roll out computer, mobile and internet technology to the public and public institutions to help the public from acquiring technology. Finally, there is a concession that development of mobile driven automatic government systems, what are called the m-services would help in reaching the dream of the smart city. A research by Denicola (2012) shows launching the smart city project will reduce its dependence on oil products for economic sufficiency. As a result, most of the population in the UAE will experience a rise in social class as the number of medium income earners will continue to increase. Another benefit is that government operations will be run more efficiently to support public service. One opportunity that the government has in implementing this project is the fact that information technology has become cheaper to acquire. The prices of computing equipment are bound to decrease in the near future, providing the government with an opportunity to acquire this technology. Other benefits of establishing of a smart city include the development of an e-government system that is efficient in providing efficient services to the public. Among major achievements of the e-government is to be able to automate payment systems, integrate data for better audit and analysis and provides better access to information in the public domain (Brown, 2012). Access to information in the public domain helps to build accountability and reduce instances of corruption in the government. For a smart government to be established there is need to identify the success outcomes of the framework implementation. The demographic factors in Dubai have threatened to frustrate the UAE’s efforts to develop to become a smart city. The population in Dubai is growing considerably, making it a challenge for the country to satisfy the economic demands (Brown, 2012). As the population rises, the government is supposed to spend more money in providing social services. Therefore, the majority of the public feel that developing a smart city in Dubai would be an expensive operation that may end up failing due to economic shortages. Corruption is another great challenge for the formation of a smart city. Corruption is oppressive to the poor and makes it hard to account for funds allocated to the development of the project. Secondly, corruption demotivates the investors and makes them lack the incentive to invest in such corrupt countries (Brown, 2012). Although many researchers seem to concede that transforming the government entities into smart organizations is necessary, there are others who feel that it is an expensive project which the government entities may fail to deliver. On this note, it is crucial to conduct more researches to identify the foreseen opportunities and challenges that lie in from the transformation strategy. This research seeks to cover the literature gap that exists regarding the opportunities and challenges that face Dubai’s government Smart Government strategic plan. Research Problem The Dubai government has initiated a plan to roll out the smart city project to help improve efficiency in economic development and service delivery. While this is a necessary project, it is evident that there is little information about this urgent project and this makes it difficult to implement the project. The government requires a platform to develop a working plan to accomplish its mission in an efficient manner. Therefore, there is need for intensive research to provide information from which the government can formulate strategies of deploying this project. So far the government has rolled out ICT plans with a number of the organization and has benefited from better service delivery. However, they are yet to integrate ICT in all the government organizations in Dubai to foster economic development The impact of Dubai Smart Government project on the need of immediate transformation is creating a pressure on all entities. The time frame as declared through Dubai Strategy 2021 is approximately 7 years from 2014. The vision, strategy and deadline created a great impact on the strategic plans, the business plans, and the budgeting of the organizations, including the manpower planning. This research aims at identifying the opportunities that the government should grasp to succeed in developing a Smart Government and the challenges that can undermine the project. Therefore, the research will provide a sufficient ground for the government to facilitate their potential to establish smart organizations in Dubai, as the adoption of technology is essential to inject efficiency in service delivery and to transform the entities into Smart Organizations within the shortest time possible creating an integrated service delivery platform. The research will provide Dubai Government with an insight to strategize in deploying technological development within government entities with an ideal transformation business model to create a successful Smart Government. Research Question This research intends to evaluate the potential of Dubai to establish a Smart Government by investigating whether the opportunities available for the government entities are adequate for it to succeed, and whether the challenges that exist within the government entities are possible to overcome for the transformational process. In order to recommend a practical Framework for the Government of Dubai, the main question is: What are the opportunities the government should utilize and challenges that they need to overcome in implementing the Smart Government Projects in Dubai? What are the advantage and the disadvantages of for deploying the smart city project in Dubai? Methodology For the purpose of this research, a mixed approach will be used to support the research which includes a close-ended questionnaire that will be distributed across 50 employees at different levels from different government organizations in order to acquire quantitative data on the staff awareness on Smart Government and the anticipated opportunities and challenges based on their experience. A quantitative research provides reliable findings as it does not suffer from subjectivity like qualitative approach (Balnaves & Caputi, 2010). The research will measure the challenges within and between organizations and the way they are likely to impact the project. The raw data collected will be analyzed using statistical software, where the findings will provide basis for developing conclusions and recommendations for the Smart Government projects. Besides, the research will include interviews with 20 representatives of the Management layer at Dubai Government entities in order to obtain some qualitative data on the strategic plans and initiatives of the different organizations towards becoming Smart Organizations, taking into consideration the expected opportunities, challenges, and integrations between entities. Additionally, literature reviews will be included as part of the research of previous similar research papers and reports to explore the opportunities and challenges of transforming entities into smart organizations as well as cities. Significance of the Research The main purpose of this research is to investigate the anticipated opportunities and the challenges that would face the government of Dubai to transform entities into smart organizations to create a Smart Government, which will be beneficial to the government’s decision makers as well as the public. To the government, the research will help identifying the opportunities they can obtain as a result of becoming Smart Government and the challenges they should anticipate and overcome to create a Smart Government. Thus, the decision makers will have basis to measure the viability of the project and will help them in preparing counter measures against project challenges. The success of a project depends on the ability of the implementers to overcome any challenges that threaten to frustrate the project (Kim & Mauborgne, 2009). To the public, the research will highlight the benefits they will receive through efficient services provided over a unified platform. Therefore, the research is beneficial not only to Dubai Government but also to any other city that intends to deploy the Smart Government project, which aims at improving the economy and the welfare of citizens. From this perspective, this research should be granted to close the gap that exists in the literature supporting the Dubai transformational strategy. References Al-Hader, M., & Rodzi, A. (2009). The Smart City Infrastructure Development & Monitoring. Theoretical & Empirical Researches in Urban Management, 2(11). Balnaves, M. & Caputi, P., (2010). Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods. London: Sage Publications. Bank Audi, (2014). UAE Economic Report; Notable Pick in Consumer Confidence Along With Strengthening Investment Growth Pace. Economic, United Arab Emirates. Brown, L. (2012). Arab Economies in the Twenty-first Century/Arab Human Development Report 2009: Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries/"Waking From Its Sleep: A Special Report on the Arab World.". Foreign Affairs, 88(6), 169. Chourabi, H. et al., (2012). Understanding Smart Cities: An integrative framework. Hawaii International Conferences on Smart sciences. Davis, M. (2006). Fear and money in Dubai. New Left Review, 41, 47. Denicola, C., (2012). Dubai’s Political and Economic Development: An Oasis in the Desert? Retrieved from :< http://www.arab-hdr.org/publications/other/ahdrps/paper01-en.pdf> Fakhri, M. (2010). Images of the Arab World And Middle East - Debates About Development and Regional Integration. Wisconsin International Law Journal, 28391. Kim, W., & Mauborgne, R. (2009). How Strategy Shapes Structure. Harvard Business Review, 87(9), 72-80. Lee, J. H., Phaal, R., & Lee, S. H. (2013). An integrated service-device-technology roadmap for smart city development. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 80(2), 286-306. Read More