Pubblicato online: 28 dic 2020
Pagine: 40 - 52
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/wrlae-2019-0010
Parole chiave
© 2019 Małgorzata Giełda, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
The term Available at < The word ‘smart’ is also translated as ‘shifty’, yet such a moniker should not apply to the public administration in its model (ideal) construction, due to its negative connotations Public administration is the fulfilment of collective and individual needs of the citizens resulting from living in the society, taken up by the state and performed by its dependent organs and the organs of the local government. Jan Boć, ‘Pojęcie administracji’ in Boć (ed),
Smart administration is closely linked to public governance, which, being its background, facilitates its implementation. ‘Governance is the process whereby societies or organizations make important decisions, determine whom they involve and how they render account’. O E Hughes, ‘An Era of Change’ in OE Hughes, E Löffler, ‘Public Governance in a Network Society’ in T Bovaird and E Löffler (eds), S Dawnson and C Dargie, ‘New Public Management: An Assessment and Evaluation with Special Reference to Health’ (1999) 1 Public Management Review
Public governance seen as a political concept is based on the basic dualism of the government and the society, treating the former as subordinate to the requirements of the latter. H. Izdebski, ‘Approaches to Public Administration in the Past and in the Present Time’ in H Izdebski (ed), R. Rhodes according to ‘for some academics, public governance refers to “self-organizing, inter-organizational networks”’ (R Rhodes,
In the field of public governance, there are five distinct directions: administrative governance (implementation of strategy and provision of public goods), public policy governance (reliance of the position of public governance on the resources being under control of different entities), contract governance (institutional conditioning of contractual relationship), network governance (the management of network that are self-organizing interdependent and in a way independent from the government) Jan Kooiman, cf in that regard <
The first association regarding
The public administration uses the latest technological solutions to carry out the public tasks imposed on it and uses them to satisfy social needs directly in order to streamline and improve the quality of its activities or indirectly to make dealing with a matter easier for the benefit of the entities it operates for.
The technological aspect consists of the following elements: Digitisation of the works of art and elements of environmental heritage allows for its broader dissemination and popularisation due to the possibility of sightseeing and viewing them without leaving one's home. digitization (treated as a process of implementing IT solutions within the public administration units, the purpose of which is to increase efficiency in the information processing and provision of services in an electronic form); digitalization (introducing electronic form, i.e., the digital form of documents and subjects, objects and places, enables creation of digital and information-spatial objects); Basic examples of introducing digital solutions to the functioning of public administration in Poland are found in: Electronic Management of Documentation, the e-PUAP platform, the digital signature, the system of the Electronic Mail Desk. Of note are also the solutions applied in Switzerland: eg, smart-voting bettering the level of public participation, and the SimpA tool used for modelling administrative procedures. Cf in that regard: Robert Chrabąszcz, ‘Doświadczenia administracji w Szwajcarii’ in Stanisław Mazur and Adam Płoszaj (eds), e-office (concerns the introduction of advanced IT technologies that enable the provision of public administration services by electronic means and contribute to improving the operation of public administration entities, optimizing management processes, shortening the distance between the office and its clients, and facilitating access to all data and records kept in the electronic form, what in turn increases the efficiency and effectiveness of offices); Social networking sites and applications allow for direct communication and creating a network of contacts, creation of societies and communities, active participation in local initiatives and influencing the development of the neighbourhood. The CivilHub — a platform for citizen collaboration is an example of a smart tool allowing for the development of local participation. participation (participation, co-participation in a decision-making process or performance of activities, which have become possible due to the modern information and communication solutions that increase the intensity of communication processes and interaction between people and communities); The subjective aspect is understood as the recipients of the public administration's actions (nationals, citizens) and as cadres of public administration. meta data (also referred to as ‘data on the data’ or ‘information about information’, which are of key importance in the databases administering; they are related to indexing and cataloguing of all information in electronic form and their archiving as well as dissemination within the network); networking (the process of exchanging information, contacts, knowledge, services and resources aiming to increase the potential and effectiveness of a given group and community, and it may also be treated as a tool to solve specific problems because it links the potential of human resources regardless of their spatial dispersion); electronic services, including the possibility of settling matters via the Internet.
In practice, these elements facilitate the activities of the public administration and the access of inhabitants and citizens to the services it provides. This in turn increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the administration as well as the quality of services and tasks performed by the administration. It also contributes to the satisfaction of citizens using its activities.
However, the technological aspect is not the only one and it is not the most important in terms of smart administration.
Digital competences that relate to the subjective aspect Available at < Ramowy katalog kompetencji cyfrowych (Framework Catalogue of Digital Competences) < Well-selected human resources included in the human capital of public administration is the cadre of that administration, which also has, apart from digital competences, a highly specialised knowledge in the field of tasks carried out by it, and requisite personal prerequisites (eg, accountability, integrity, calmness, empathy, social sensibility, sense of purpose, objectivism). Apart from that, the cadres should constantly improve their competences.
The subjective aspect consists of two basic elements. The first one amounts to the human resources of the public administration treated as its human capital, which constitutes its most important element. The second one consists of individuals forming the community for the benefit of whom the public administration operates.
This includes citizens and residents, that is, the most important subjects within the external environment of the public administration, who should be characterized by high social capital associated with the trust towards the public administration as well as towards the local communities.
High digital competences combined with well-composed human resources constituting human capital within the public administration, On the link between social networks and social trust see: Katarzyna Growiec, ‘Związek między sieciami społecznymi a zaufaniem społecznym — mechanizm wzajemnego wzmacniania?’ (2009) 4 Psychologia Społeczna 55–66
The result of such a combination should be respect for, building and consolidation of the civil society, proper application of the subsidiarity principle, effective participation in decision-making, co-responsibility and cooperation.
Another aspect of the smart administration, that is, the participatory aspect concerns a continuous reciprocal action in the information exchange process between the public administration and the recipients of its activities as well as their cooperation and co-decision making in the common matters. By assumption, participation excludes the passivity of individuals, their egoism and concentration only on their own needs and particular interests.
It also counteracts against alienation and isolation of the individual and works for the benefit of community building and mutual understanding.
Participation allows for proper and effective operation of the public administration thanks to the proper selection of tasks and the order of their execution according to the needs of a specific community (e.g., local, communal, regional, state).
A very important element of the participation is awareness of the shared responsibility of citizens and residents for the projects and decisions taken together with the public administration. Another issue resulting from the participation that positively affects a given community is the increase in social capital and, consequently, the increase of trust towards the public administration as well as a network building of social links that have a positive impact on the implementation of public tasks and meeting the needs of the community. The Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997, Journals of Laws of 1997, item 483 as amended
The public administration always operates pursuant to law and within its limits. In its activities, in a democratic state of law, it may not exceed the line drawn and confirmed by the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. Precariat is currently one of the most important challenges for the public administration, especially in the social context. Precariat is characterised by the insecurity of tomorrow. That insecurity is multifaceted, but three appear to be most important: economic insecurity, communal insecurity, insecurity as to the social position. That character is very strongly felt by the people who have been forced to take up jobs whose requirements do not fit them (a job in a different place than family is, the need of self-employment, employment on ‘zero-hour’ terms), or who have to take up several jobs in order to fulfil their most basic needs. Lack of certainty for the tomorrow leads in a long-term frustration, which in its societal capacity is a grave challenge for the public administration from the point of view of, above all, maintenance of public security and order.
The question arises as to what characteristics should the law that enables the creation and operation of the smart administration consists of? As the answer to this question would exceed the scope of this study, only some of the aspects will be mentioned herein.
Speaking of the smart administration, we mean the public administration friendly to the recipients of its activities (citizens and residents), which manages and administers in such a way that things or situations needed or required by the community are always in the right place and time. The law should allow for such flexibility in the operation of the public administration and should allow or even impose an obligation to anticipate and build strategies or scenarios of possible events wherein the public administration will have to take actions.
The desired law for building the smart administration is one that allows the public administration to respond to social and economic changes taking place in its environment and connected with it – the change in the catalogue of citizens’ and residents’ needs or the degree of the intensification thereof or change in the quality of services or tasks. Currently, the changes occur much more often and faster, they are more turbulent and more diverse, affect each of us and involve a greater number of diverse social groups than 50 years ago.
Evolutions currently taking place in the public administration environment give rise very often not only to new needs, but become the causes of crisis situations within the society (e.g., economic recession, drought, acts of terrorism), which cannot be remedied quickly and appropriately to prevent their negative effects without systemically and properly laid down law.
A good example in this respect is the phenomenon of precariat, diagnosed in Europe by sociologists already in the 1980s, Each and every human during their life performs a lot of various roles, be they professional, personal or societal. Proceduralisation in the performance of the occupation of, eg, an academic, a teacher or an MD often causes the activities of a person to focus on the professional role in a fragmentary aspect, as it allows for day-to-day functioning due to the pecuniary gain for the work performed. It means that other societal roles (parent, neighbour, member of a community, citizen, etc.) are neglected and, as a consequence, may cause further negative effects felt by the community (orphanhood, exclusion, depression, stress, addictions, etc.). It may so happen especially where a procedure burdens an individual, in particular, a worker, with an excessive amount of tasks, paying no heed to the time limits of work and the requirement of performing various roles and societal functions by an individual, said roles and functions being indispensable for public good due to living in a society (parenthood, care over elderly family members). Frustration and dissatisfaction borne out of such a foundation affect the quality of professional activities as well. An example of such a situation may be found in a profession of an academic — teaching fellow, where more often than not procedural considerations are dominating, followed by teaching and, third only, by academic knowledge and its improvement.
Another example includes the issue of excessive proceduralization, which today constitutes an unresolved problem in terms of the proper development and functioning as well as the performance of specific tasks for the benefit of the society, such as: education, science, health care, social assistance. On public administration in a networked structure see: Agnieszka Chrisidu-Budnik, ‘Administracja publiczna w strukturze sieciowej’ in Jerzy Supernat (ed),
A negative result of ‘proceduralization’ may appear as an excessive focus of persons that possess extensive specialist knowledge in their fields (MDs, teachers, academia) on filling in documents or handling a large amount of computer programs. It also contributes to an instrumental treatment of an individual. This has a dual meaning in regard to public administration. On one hand, in concerns an attitude towards a person (or an organisational unit) who attempts to take their matter up with an office and is then seen only through the lens of legal provisions, without understanding a broader context of their personal circumstances. On the other hand, its second meaning refers to the cadre of public administration, who, having been put under excessive administrative procedural burden, do not fulfil their basic substantive tasks. Those two meanings are intertwined, as an overburdened administrative official usually treats nationals and citizens, who want to obtain help or have their problem solved by an office, in an instrumental manner. Such a situation does not create smart administration but stands in opposition thereto.
The structural aspect of smart administration is related to the need to construe it as a network, and not as a centralist (governmental administration) or a classically decentralised (local governmental administration) structure. Agnieszka Brzosko-Sermak, ‘Polityka lokalna i współpraca transgraniczna miast nadgranicznych — przykład miast bliźniaczych Guben i Gubin’ in Piotr Trzepacz, Joanna Więcław-Michniewska, Agnieszka Brzosko-Sermak and Arkadiusz Kołoś (eds), Available at < On networks of such links in which public administration participates, cf Dagmara Mazur, ‘Współpraca sektora nauki, biznesu i administracji publicznej jako główne wyzwanie współczesnej polityki rozwoju miasta na przykładzie Krakowa’ (2015) 1 Zarządzanie Publiczne 1–10 According to the classic approach, ‘with the politics of administration, one has to do in all those situations in which public administration (or, more precisely, administrative organs) actively and creatively participates, and in all those situations where alterations of administration are resolved’. Jan Jeżewski, ‘Polityka administracyjna: Zagadnienia podstawowe’ in Adam Błaś, Jan Boć and Jan Jeżewski,
Smart administration is also determined by politics, which often has substantive influence over the effectiveness and efficiency of the administration's actions. As to that aspect, there are two classic approaches to that issue within the scope of administrative politics: politics in regard to the administration itself and the politics of the administration. Renata Walczak,
Due to the influence of politics over the shape and functioning of public administration, the said influence often being characterized by subjectivism and lack of both particularism and accountability, the instances of smart administration in its political aspect are to be primarily sought under the second approach, that is, the politics of administration. Administrative organs are placed in the closest proximity to the citizens and their given matters and they know of the circumstances that occur within their venue, and due to that, they are best suited to assess the appropriate manner in which respective tasks are to be performed, and to foresee potential events. Unfortunately, there are also maladies and no understanding of the concept and the objective of smart administration that occur in that area. For that, great importance is found in the subjective aspect of smart administration, and the appropriate cadre placement within it.
Putting public administration within the ontological scope of the ‘smart’ concept makes it inevitable to address the SMART method that has been grounded in the administration and management sciences. The method thus mentioned relates to the setting of objectives while observing certain rules, whose first letters in English correspond to an acronym of its name. It is a tool that supports correct setting of objectives in an organisation, the application of which is to improve chances of fulfilling set objectives. Wiesław Maria Grudzewski, Specific – understandable, unequivocally defined and leaving no room for creative interpretation, Measurable – defined in such a manner that it would be capable of being monitored and measured, and to check its degree of completion, Achievable – realistic, that is, capable of being achieved, which means that it must correspond to the resources available to the organisation, Relevant – it must be an important step ahead and it must also constitute a defined value for the person who would perform it, Time-bound – it must be precisely set in time, with a time-limit for its completion. Conclusions of the session on the topic: the road to the city with sustainable development. Innovative technologies in making the idea of intelligent cities a reality (in:) International Conference: Science, Business and the Environment, ‘The GEO-6 Report for the Pan-European Region’ (Event Report, Warsaw 2016) 17
One should not confuse smart administration with the SMART method, the latter of which is an expression of, and one of many tools for administration. Smart administration is a wider concept that covers methods, ideas and actions. It is oriented by a list of principles attributable to a modern model of public administration (e.g., integrity, transparency, efficiency, purposefulness, integrated management, cooperation, collaboration, civil society, subsidiarity, etc.). Application of the SMART method is an instance of smart administration's functioning.
Viewing smart administration only through the prism of IT technology utilized by it and principally in regard to cities causes an incorrect narrowing of its importance. It is also constituted by other indispensable elements: social capital of the environment of public authorities, cadres of public administration, its structure, the law, current politics, the possibilities of participation and the actual participation in administration. All of them are interlinked and form the public administration, which in turn should be intelligent. Smart administration is a ‘state of mind (…), a change of attitude from consumerist and individual needs-oriented to participatory and sustainable in regard to the environment. Which challenges are posed before modern cities? Effective communication between authorities, citizens and businesses in regard to the strategy of development. Education, collaboration of the academia, local communities and businesses – openness to integration of efforts related to managing the city, with the application of current technology’. On intelligence within the administration, see J Boć, ‘Administracja publiczna jako administracja inteligentna’ in Błaś, Boć and Jeżewski (n 27). On intelligent public administration in a smart context see Dorota Sikora-Fernandez, ‘Inteligentna administracja publiczna jako element smart cities w Polsce’ (2013) 285 Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wrocławiu 93–111
One should only refer to ‘smart administration’ where it is intelligent. Małgorzata Giełda, ‘Wyzwania i oczekiwania wobec administracji publicznej — wybrane zagadnienia’ in Małgorzata Giełda and Renata Raszewska-Skałecka (eds), Conclusions of the European Economic Congress in Katowice, 18–20 May 2016 < Summary of the European Economic Congress in Katowice, 18–20 maj 2016. <