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Physics
Procedia
Physics Procedia
Physics Procedia 24000–000
00 (2011) (2012) 1159 – 1165

www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

2012 International Conference on Applied Physics and Industrial Engineering

Apply TQM to E-Government Outsourcing Management

Jinmei Huai
School of Economics and Management
East China Jiaotong University
Nanchang, China

Abstract

This paper developed an approach to e-government outsourcing quality management. E-government initiatives have
rapidly increased in the last decades and the success of these activities will largely depend on their operation quality.
As an instrument to improve operation quality, outsourcing can be applied to e-government. This paper inspected
process of e-government outsourcing and discussed how to improve the outsourcing performance through total
quality management (TQM). The characteristics and special requirements of e-government outsourcing were
analyzed as the basis for discussion. Then the principles and application of total quality management were interpreted.
Finally the process of improving performance of e-government was analyzed in the context of outsourcing.

Keywords: e-government; outsourcing; performance; total quality management (key words)

1. Introduction

E-government initiatives have rapidly increased in the last decades. These initiatives can be driven by
the modernization and reforms in public administration and the development of the information society
(Centeno, Bavel, Burgelman, 2005). E-government promises to make government more efficient,
responsive, transparent and legitimate and is also creating a rapidly growing market of goods and services,
with a variety of new business opportunities. Through information and communication technology, the
quality and efficiency in public services can be increased greatly and the competitiveness of government
institutions should also be improved.
The application of information and communication technology in an e-government environment is a
complex, multidimensional issue involving people, technology and processes. There has been much study
of the use of technology in public sectors. As we all know that the core task of government is governance
and the job of regulating society and it lacks sufficient technicians to develop and maintain an e-
government service system efficiently. In order to facilitate the growth of information technology and

1875-3892 © 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of ICAPIE Organization Committee.
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. doi:10.1016/j.phpro.2012.02.173
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communication usage, most government institutions outsourced their network services and rely on service
providers to operate and maintain e-government services system (Arshad, Lin, Mohamed, Affandi, 2006).
E-government outsourcing provides many advantages for the states and citizens. The claimed benefit
includes reduced cost, efficiency in application maintenance and support, improved application timeliness,
and access to extensive online help and qualified support (Tebboune, 2003). However, it also provides
many challenges. One of the biggest challenges is keeping control over the outsourcing activities and
maintaining the performance of public service delivery. Some outsourcers were lack of experience in
outsourcing management so that they totally depend on their outsourcing vendors to operate and maintain
their e-government system. If the service provider does not follow the contract, the citizen would not
receive some information correctly and timely. What is worse, the reputation of government would be
ruined.
This paper presents research in process that examines total quality management (TQM) used in e-
government outsourcing management and the necessary adaptations to modify some principles for use in
e-government settings. The influence of TQM practices on performance has been received attention in
some areas (Kaynak, 2003). Implementing a TQM-type program could bring about a positive effect on
performance in human process management, supply chain management and information management
(Shieh, Wu, 2002). Since the public service environment has several significant differences from its
private sector counterpart, the application of TQM in e-government outsourcing should be varied with
outsourcing environments.

2. Aspects of e-government outsourcing

E-government can be defined as the use of information and communication technology to improve the
access to and delivery of government services (Salleh, 2003). E-government promises to transform the
efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of informational and transactional exchanges
between the government and its citizens. E-government is not merely the computerization of a
government system, but a belief in the ability of technology to achieve high levels of improvement in
various areas of government (Dada, 2006). Therefore, e-government is a comprehensive issue involving
people, technology, process and system. When an e-government is implemented by outside service
providers, all the factors mentioned above should be considered by outsourcing managers.

2.1 Human Resource

Outsourcing means the government has to contract with non-permanent staffs to carry out the
organization’s mission. This requirement often results from not having the requisite skills within the
ranks of permanent employees in house. In contrast to permanent employees, these external employees
bring a different set of management problems and risks to the government institutions. For example, the
external employees must often have access to critical organizational assets and information in order to
carry out their assignments. Outsourcing managers should take practical action to better protect these
assets and information from harm. Otherwise, some information might expose the government institution
to threat of loss.
External employees bring some change in e-government management. Common requirements include
flexibility, adaptability and openness. Timely and effective communication and coordination play an
important role in outsourcing management. Outsourcing management teams must have deep knowledge
of the service provider, the citizen, and the in-house staff. Outsourcing service providers may understand
service delivery in technical but lack of sense of government. E-government outsourcing managers should
ensure that all e-government systems operated by external and in-house staff work together without gaps.
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Motivating in-house staff related to e-government systems is crucial because some persons may view
outsourcing as an underestimation of their skills and they are afraid of being transferred to the
outsourcing vendor with lower pay and benefits or being laid off. Outsourcing management team should
take ethical considerations into account. Generally, in-house staff’s role tends to shift from service
delivery to interface with the outsourcing service provider and end users. This shift requires new skills
that can only be acquired through considerable training and ongoing support (Barthelemy, 2003).

.2.2 Technology

E-government system is supported by information and communication technology. The primary aim of
e-government initiatives is to enable constituents to have full access to governmental activities via
electronic means (Conklin, 2007). These accesses come from the application of technology of servers and
workstations, peripherals, networking and communication infrastructure, general computer operation and
communications software, information sharing, data management, and so on. E-government outsourcing
tends to be technology-centric, with additional services such as consultancy, training, systems integration.
After all, outsourcing vendors always focus on technology so that they are often aware of innovations that
can give government a competitive advantage.
Though many e-government outsourcing resulted from in-house staff lacking enough technical
expertise, it ought not to hand the action over to an outsourcing service vendor. In-house staff should
know some new development of technology and assess emerging technologies so that government
institutions could determine which technology can best be applied to the e-government systems. On the
other hand, one of the main objectives of e-government outsourcing is to control cost of operating and
maintaining e-government system. This cost includes maintenance cost and support cost, cost of
modernizing and upgrades. Without necessary technical knowledge, government institutions would fall
into the black hole of hidden cost.

2.3 Process

E-government outsourcing is a complex project which can be divided into four main stages: analysis of
decision to outsource, selection of service vendor, contract management, and ongoing monitoring (Aris,
Mohamed, Arsha, 2007). An analysis of e-government outsourcing decision should emphasis on the
internal due diligence in ensuring that outsourcing is right for the government institutions. Proper
selection of vendor is necessary to mitigate the risks of e-government outsourcing. The alternative
vendors should be evaluated against the government institutions’ needs. Contract is the most important
element of a secure outsourcing plan and it must be recognized as an important risk management tool
(Ramsaran, 2004). Ongoing monitoring and auditing mechanisms will help the government institution get
the expectation of outsourcing.
Establishing appropriate mechanism of measuring outsourcing performance is important to manage
outsourcing process. Well-designed performance measures must be comprehensive and comprised of
measures for multiple services (Stowers, 2004). Measures should focus on the ultimate mission of
government institutions. Results and the measures themselves should be available and visible. Of course,
measures should be balanced and fair.
E-government outsourcing management team must make sure that outsourcing vendors provide the
services they are obligated to provide and that all the citizen’s reasonable needs are satisfied. They must
inspect key process in order to find out any pitfall as early as possible and keep the outsourcing process in
the control.

3. Fundamentals of tqm
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3.1 Principles of TQM

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a managerial approach in which the entire organization is
managed so that it excels in all quality dimensions that are important to customers. TQM provides a
generic concept for continuous improvement in quality and other performance such as profit and market
share. It is a philosophy that stresses a systematic, integrated, and consistent perspective involving
everyone and everything.
TQM can be considered as a business philosophy centered around seven principles: customer focus,
leadership involvement, quality assurance, continuous improvement, employee empowerment, supplier
partnerships, and strategic quality plan (Bozarth, Hanndfield, 2008).
TQM starts with customer’s expectation and every person in the organization would place himself in
the customer’s shoes. Even if an employee might not have direct contact with an external customer, he
must also understand how customers really feel about a product or service.
TQM emphases that top management team must carry the message that quality counts to everyone in
the organization. Each member of Board of Directions should think TQM is essential and it would bring
about increase in profit. Therefore, managers should remove barriers between departments and institute a
program of education and retraining for quality improvement.
Continuous improvement is one of principles of TQM and it assumes that there will always be room
for improvement, no matter how well an organization is doing. The distribution of customer survey
responses will always be reset at a new level once you reach a certain point. Organization ought to
determine customer’s future expectation when they are already satisfied.
TQM considers quality as everyone’s responsibility from the Board of Direction to the entry-level
employees. It proposes employment empowerment which means giving employees the responsibility,
authority, training, and tools necessary to manage quality.
TQM prefers variety tools such as quality function deployment or statistical quality control to assure
quality of product. Quality assurance refers to the specific actions an organization takes to ensure that its
product, service, and process meet the quality requirements of its customers.
Since supply chain management is spreading, supplier partnership becomes important and quality
management includes supply chain partners. If members of the supply chain do not share the same
commitment to quality assurance, quality will suffer because suppliers’ materials and services ultimately
become part of the organization’s product and service.
A well-developed strategic quality plan should drive the quality effort forward the organization’s
course by providing the vision and guidance. Quality improvement could not be achieved without
significant and sustained efforts over time. One of the characteristics of strategic quality plan is that
should be simple so that an organization can focus on only a limited number of quality objectives at once.

3.2 Process of TQM

These seven core principles of TQM make a whole. They take effect when they work together and
should be complementary to each other. TQM aims to achieve an overall effectiveness higher than the
individual outputs from the sub-systems, such as design, planning, production, distribution, customer
focus strategy, quality tools and employee involvement. It emphasizes on systems approach to problem
solving and shared vision and culture.
In terms of the input and output process, TQM is a process of transformation of a set of inputs
including materials, procedures and methods, information and knowledge, people and their skills
(Colurcio, 2009). The outputs include products and services with higher quality. In general, through the
process of TQM, the whole performance of the organization is improved. The essence of it is do
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everything right first time, and to satisfy customer requirements every time, by involving everyone in the
organization.

4. TQM in e-government outsourcing

In today’s highly competitive society, the demand for quality is one of the most critical factors for
government institutions to survive in the global context. As a useful method to improve quality
performance in private sector, government institutions introduced TQM and has explored and
implemented it with reasonable success. When e-government management team resorts to TQM in order
to improve performance of outsourcing, the process of TQM in e-government outsourcing could be
illustrated as an input and output process (Fig.1).
input output

TQM
customer-focused, citizen
leadership, satisfaction
employee outsourcing
continuous management government
empowerment, process efficiency
quality assurance,
supplier
partnerships

Figure 1. TQM process in e-government outsourcing

During the TQM process in e-government outsourcing, people and technology are basic inputs, and
applied information and communication technology guarantee the public service delivered correctly and
timely. TQM process is a cyclic process. Managers monitor the performance of e-government outsourcing
system dynamically. Every reaction from the citizen would make the manager inspect the activity of
outsourcing vendor and modify the public service delivery procedure. The whole TQM process involves
each people and technology related to public service delivery.

4.1 TQM in Outsourcing Team

The emphasis throughout TQM implementation should be involving all employees in decision-making,
problem-solving, and the financial success of the e-government outsourcing. These employees include in-
house persons in government institutions and external persons provided by outsourcing vendor. In most
cases, in-house employees are responsible for auditing and providing service information from
government timely. External employees are responsible for delivering information to the citizen without
distortion.
TQM encourages all levels of people to become more closely related to the outsourcing’s objectives.
Everyone is responsible for delivering quality services to meet the citizen’s requirements. Everyone
should understand that they have their own customers who receive their work. Individuals, government
officials, and outsourcing vendors have common objectives but different tasks. Therefore, they should do
their own work well and know the requirements of each other, which can help to satisfy the citizen.
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4.2 TQM in Technology Adoption

E-government can be seen as the sum of new possibilities for public institutions to communicate with
others electronically. It is a technology-driven reform movement following the potential created by
modern information and communication technology. The main characteristic of e-government is the
change from input to output orientation. Therefore, selecting and adopting new technology to improve the
performance of e-government is one of the main tasks of government institutions. When they rely on the
outsourcing vendor’s technology support, they must know whether the technology is appropriate.
TQM adopts competitive benchmarking to help organization become better. In the TQM process,
people must have the determination to learn from others because competitive benchmarking involves
finding gaps, problem solving, and continuous change. This approach motivates technology department
selecting technology based on industry best practice and should directly contribute to meeting the
citizen’s requirements.

4.3 TQM in Outsourcing Process

E-government outsourcing comprises heterogeneous elements and multiple stages. Decision-making,

business transactions and communication can take place through outsourcing process. Bring electronic
production network and electronic public service into effect is a project need more resources. Teamwork
and communication play an important role in outsourcing management.
The use of teams to implement TQM is becoming increasingly prevalent in practice which enables
teamwork and cross-functional problem solving. Teamwork is central to implementing outsourcing plans
and solving problems. It is good for building up a sense of involvement and improving communications.
Outsourcing is a transaction between two organizations. Performance of outsourcing is determined by
employees coming from two organizations. Teamwork requires the cooperative effort and contribution of
a number of people with a common goal. Then TQM helps to create a synergetic partnership and enable
outsourcing team members to get on well with their continuous improvement.
Since e-government outsourcing is cooperation between government institution and outsourcing
vendor, getting communications right is important to outsourcing action process. Good communication
avoids misunderstandings and reduces the costs of quality by avoiding mistakes. One of TQM successful
factors is creating and maintaining smooth channels of communication. Under the circumstance of TQM,
effective communication of two-way process could be established and managers could select the
appropriate methods for various situations. Both employees from government and outsourcing vendor
should learn to express their idea correctly and must be sensitive to other’s suggestions.

5. Conclusion

Many studies on TQM demonstrated that TQM does have positive impacts on organization
performance and has been adopted as a useful approach in a number of organizations in private sector and
public sector. This paper discussed TQM process in e-government outsourcing project. TQM is an
integrated management approach and relates to a wide range of issues. E-government outsourcing is a
transaction between government institution and outsourcing vendor, which involves employees in
different organizations and relates to many new information and communication technology. Therefore,
managing e-government outsourcing is complex and comprehensive and the main aspects of it including
people, technology and process. Implementation of TQM helps to create and maintain a synergetic
partnership in outsourcing context, which contributes directly to improving performance of e-government.
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