Information and communication technologies are being used by various countries to provide faster and transparent services to their citizens through e-government initiatives. A large population in developing countries remain deprived of these services due to lack of skills, training and infrastructure. Local community intermediaries with necessary skills are employed to provide these services to beneficiaries. The purpose of this study was to identify and prioritise the challenges faced by

more »

... ediaries in adopting e-government technology. Quality management tools of list reduction, affinity diagram and Pareto chart were used for this purpose. Utilising quality management tools is an unconventional approach to problem solving in public administration sector. The six identified priority areas were lack of infrastructure, device hardware design, process design, sales people errors, government support and software design. This research will help policy makers and government agencies to improve technology dissemination for easier adoption of existing as well as new e-government initiatives. Abstract: Information and communication technologies are increasingly being used by various countries to provide faster and transparent services to their citizens through e-government initiatives. A large population in developing countries remain deprived of these services due to lack of skills, training and infrastructure. Local community intermediaries who have the necessary skills to use e-government technology are employed to provide services to beneficiaries. Purpose of this study was to identify and prioritize the challenges faced by intermediaries in adopting new e-government technology by studying technology adoption of point-of-sale devices introduced in the public distribution system of Chhattisgarh. Quality management tools of list reduction and affinity diagram were used to organize the data and categorize the challenges into various areas to be addressed by government. Pareto chart was used to prioritize and identify the areas that required immediate attention. Utilization of quality management tools is an unconventional approach to problem solving in public administration sector. The six identified priority areas, in order of their importance, were lack of infrastructure, design of device hardware, process design, salespeople' errors, government support and software design. This research will help policy makers and government agencies to improve technology dissemination for easier adoption of existing as well as new e-government initiatives.