The development of information-based societies worldwide is now impacting public organizations and their delivery of services to citizens. Systems Thinking and E-Participation: ICT in the Governance of Society provides a systemic-based inquiry platform to explore boundaries, limits, and advantages of information and communication technology use in the public decision making processes. With theoretical and practical contributions, this publication examines the impact of governmental technologies useful to those involved with politics, sociology, and information systems.

This book discusses how systems thinking and approaches can aid management consultants in navigating the complexities of client advisory in current realities. It thereby brings to the forefront aspects of holism, flexibility and responsibility - the keys to success in today’s world. Management consultants are called in to offer an independent expert view of an organisation/ a situation and are expected to address some of the most pressing problems businesses face. The client does not exist in a silo, but in a complex environment that lies at the intersection of a range of internal and external factors that are often unseen and unpredictable. The organisation itself presents an alien territory that the consultant is expected to acclimatise to within a very short period of time, and come up with solutions that “insiders” would not have been able to visualise. The book presents a range of ideas, concepts and reference cases that are relevant and topical for consultants in their daily work. It argues that systems thinking allows holism and flexibility in management consulting – while holism is about the ability to encompass the environmental and organisational complexity, flexibility is about the ability to think creatively and adopt different approaches to accommodate this complexity. With commentaries, case studies, conceptual models and perspectives that cut across multiple industries, sectors and countries, this book is a valuable resource for academics and professionals alike. The book’s inner pages and its page on Springer.com contain additional comments providing perspectives of clients, industry experts and academia.

E-government has the potential to improve public services, information transparency, and the engagement of civic participation of the public sector management. This book analyzes the achievement of expectations created by public managers, policy-makers, and stakeholders with regard to the implementation of e-government policies and applications. It also tries to determine whether e-government applications have been introduced as a fad or according to real demands from citizenry and if efforts within e-government have been effective. This book investigates how public managers and policy-makers imagine e-government policies and the impact of those policies on their management and decision-making process through the engagement of citizenry. It is also discusses whether e-government policies are merely procedural improvements that strictly introduce new ways of delivering public services or disclosing public sector information. The book's analysis of the overall expectations on e-government applications makes it of interest to scholars in public administration as well as to policy-makers and stakeholders.

The implementation of effective decision making protocols is crucial in any organizational environment in modern society. Emerging advancements in technology and analytics have optimized uses and applications of decision making systems. Decision Management: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a compendium of the latest academic material on the control, support, usage, and strategies for implementing efficient decision making systems across a variety of industries and fields. Featuring comprehensive coverage on numerous perspectives, such as data visualization, pattern analysis, and predictive analytics, this multi-volume book is an essential reference source for researchers, academics, professionals, managers, students, and practitioners interested in the maintenance and optimization of decision management processes.

"This book focuses on the issues and challenges involving adoption and implementation of online civic engagement initiatives globally and will serve as a valuable guide to governments in their efforts to enable active citizen participation"--Provided by publisher.

The availability of various technological platforms enables individuals to feel a deeper sense of connectivity and contribution to their social circles and the world around them. This growing dependence on social networking platforms has altered the ways in which society functions and communicates. Social Media and the Transformation of Interaction in Society is a definitive reference source for timely scholarly research evaluating the impact of social networking platforms on a variety of relationships, including those between individuals, governments, citizens, businesses, and consumers. Featuring expansive coverage on a range of topics relating to social media applications and uses across industries, this publication is a critical reference source for professionals, educators, students, and academicians seeking current research on the role and impact of new media on modern society. This publication features authoritative, research-based chapters across a range of relevant topics including, but not limited to, computer-mediated communication, nonprofit projects, disaster response management, education, cyberbullying, microblogging, digital paranoia, user interaction augmentation, and viral messaging.

Mankind’s dependence on artificial intelligence and robotics is increasing rapidly as technology becomes more advanced. Finding a way to seamlessly intertwine these two worlds will help boost productivity in society and aid in a variety of ways in modern civilization. Androids, Cyborgs, and Robots in Contemporary Culture and Society is an essential scholarly resource that delves into the current issues, methodologies, and trends relating to advanced robotic technology in the modern world. Featuring relevant topics that include STEM technologies, brain-controlled androids, biped robots, and media perception, this publication is ideal for engineers, academicians, students, and researchers that would like to stay current with the latest developments in the world of evolving robotics.