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(such as standards) that leads to the confinement of discretionary space, but the
limitation in actors' resources to implement the technological solutions that lead to
this. Even if staff members were willing to seek personal discretions for their work,
the constraints in resources (and capacity) prevent them from doing so. Unlimited
resource opportunities might lead to personal discretions.
The third factor concerns the degree to which the staff would be able to person-
ally envision or create multiple courses of action. A possible reason why operational
staff may not have discretions is when they would prefer to work under routinized
procedures rather than to have freedom to interpret procedures for themselves.
Quane, Su, and Joshi (2009) find that operational staff at the front end of service
delivery were “more comfortable with a rigid approach to service delivery when it
relieved them of having to make difficult judgment calls.” Indeed, Lens (2006)
found that even if operational staff have the opportunity for more discretionary
space, they would prefer to rely on routine processes.
In sum, discretions arising out of contextual networks are dependent on the
degree to which staff members:
1. Pertain a cognitive filter of the environment
2. Have personal access to resources
3. Carry the ability to personally envision courses of action
9.4 types of Public Sector iCt-Related Discretions
In addition to the previous types of discretions arising directly in response to
coordination and contextual constraints and opportunities, professional staff
members may also have personal reasons to reach to discretions. In this case,
personal satisfaction executing work plays a dominant role. This may be indi-
rectly connected to coordination requirements, yet it seems less dependent on the
specific ICT coordination details or on the regular contextual networks in which
the staff members operate.
Van de Donk (1997) notes that many public sector staff members find them-
selves increasingly constrained in executing the tasks that they perceived as their
personal domains and contributions. The increase in ICT seems to reduce their
discretions when executing their daily tasks. Similarly, Jorna and Wagenaar (2007)
argue that the relationship with the role of ICT tends to delete discretions at opera-
tional levels. Jorna (2009) remarks that, despite this apparent decrease, the uptake
and adoption of ICT in a number of Dutch cases did not destroy operational dis-
cretion but instead obscured operational discretion. Additionally, because opera-
tional staff is often not aware of the norms underlying the ICT systems, they have
to define their own norms. These are reflected in their personal discretions.
Maynard-Moody and Musheno (2000) differentiate two contrasting per-
spectives on how frontline officers may have discretions and how they would
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