PurposeThis article details a qualitative descriptive case study of affective factors of effective decision-making of one local government organization in the United States of America. The specific problem was that many elected American local government representatives lack effective decision-making strategies. This research focus indicated a lack of qualitative research on the real-world experience of factors that were taken into consideration during decision-making within American local government organizations.Design/methodology/approachUsing a local government organization in southwest Illinois, elected representatives were interviewed and observed. The interviews and observations surfaced how the representatives made decisions. Data were analyzed using manual coding and theming to determine themes and patterns.FindingsThe results produced six themes about factors, including emotional intelligence, which impacted decision-making. They are: (1) remembering the past, (2) communication and respect, (3) spurring economic growth and development, (4) fairness, (5) recognizing and removing emotions and bias and (6) accountability.Research limitations/implicationsBeing a single case study, this research is limited in generalization. The research was limited to the identification of current, real-world experience of elected local government representatives.Practical implicationsThe findings of this research can be used to create more effective decision-making practices for local government organizations of similar size.Originality/valueThis is the first study to review, in-depth, the decision-making and emotional intelligence factors of local government organizations in the United States of America. The conceptual background, discussion, implications to local government organizations, limitations and recommendations for future studies are discussed.
This is an opinion-based review of other research work on systems thinking paradigms and the possible application to local governments within the United States of America. Systems thinking is a complex interaction of people to generate thoughts, concepts, and ideas for situations involving organizational processes and changes. Using systems thinking can encourage collaboration, participative leadership, and interpersonal relations, increasing organizational effectiveness. Local government organizations may benefit greatly from creating and using systems thinking, incorporating constituent input before making decisions. Taking current organizational theory and design and recognizing a knowledge gap, this specific opinion-based review of using systems thinking emphasizes the importance of maintaining leadership and effective communication, advantages and disadvantages of system thinking paradigms, and ethical considerations. As communities grow and diversity expands, local government organizations should also grow and expand with the changing demands of constituents and economic needs. My theory is that with the incorporation of systems thinking, local government representatives can increase the overall effectiveness of council meetings and decision-making. Keywords: Systems Thinking; Local Government Organizations; Effective Communication; Effective Decision-Making; Participative Leadership
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