City manager policy roles as a source of city council/city manager conflict

Fannin, William R.

doi:10.1080/01900698308524454

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Banovetz, among others, notes that no matter how clearly managers see or want a more active policy‐making role, the role will not emerge unless it is compatible with the expectations of elected officials (1994, 317). It has been frequently noted in the literature that a city manager acting on his or her own, without explicit or implicit approval of the elected representatives, will frustrate the council, trigger conflict, and ultimately be fired (Fannin 1983; Renner and DeSantis 1994; Whitaker and DeHoog 1991). In simple terms, there are two possibilities: councils either empower the city manager to espouse an active role with respect to policy making or expect the manager to function in a more advisory capacity to generate expert opinions for informed policy making (Brimeyer 1993; Kammerer 1964; Lee 2001; Pealy 1958; Whitaker and Jenne 1995; Zhang and Feiock 2010).…”

Section: City Manager’s Involvement In Policy Makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Shared Roles in Policy and Administration: An Empirical Study of Council‐Manager Relations

Demir

Reddick

2012

Public Administration Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent literature in public administration emphasizes enhanced collaboration between elected and administrative officials. The complementarity view is presented as an alternative to the traditional politics–administration dichotomy. At the center of this new perspective lies the concept of shared roles between elected officials and public administrators with respect to policy making and administration. This article expands the emerging literature on role sharing by proposing and testing new variables to understand what enhances the policy‐making role of city managers and the administrative role of elected officials. Employing data collected from a nationwide survey of city managers and utilizing structural equation modeling methodology, this research finds that the council’s expectations and the city manager’s role conception significantly influence the city manager’s involvement in policy making, while the context of policy making, the city manager’s support, and the council’s access to resources affect elected officials’ involvement in administration. This article aims to make a cumulative contribution to the literature on role sharing.

show abstract

Section: City Manager’s Involvement In Policy Makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Shared Roles in Policy and Administration: An Empirical Study of Council‐Manager Relations

Demir

Reddick

2012

Public Administration Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In a recent study of county supervisors in the Farmers Home Administration, Sally Coleman Selden (1997) found that the role construct was a crucial intermediary concept in the process of active representation of minority citizens. Perhaps the most intensively studied role in public administration is the city manager (e.g., Ammons & Newell, 1988;Box, 1992;Fannin, 1983;Kammerer, 1963;Nalbandian, 1989;Newell & Ammons, 1987;Newell, Glass, & Ammons, 1989;Svara 1988Svara , 1991Zisk, Eulau, & Prewitt, 1965).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconciling Competing Values in Public Administration

Selden

Brewer²,

Brudney³

1999

Administration & Society

102

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article reports research on the administrative role concept. The authors use the inductive research technique Q-methodology to probe the belief systems of 69 public administrators about their administrative roles and responsibilities. Results show that these administrators perceive five distinct roles. The authors labeled these roles stewards of the public interest, adapted realists, businesslike utilitarians, resigned custodians, and practical idealists. There is slight evidence of a neutral competence role as suggested by the Pendleton Act of 1883, Woodrow Wilson, and others (resigned custodian) but more support of a proactive administrative role (steward of the public interest) that overlaps with the role described by recent scholars such as the Blacksburg group. Another important finding is that three of the role conceptions appear to reject being responsive to the desires of elected officials. The five roles are examined in more detail, and the implications for future research are discussed.

show abstract

“…Kammerer (1964) pointed out that the most expected role of city managers expressed in the public administration literature was policy leader or innovator. Scholars including Booth (1968) and Fannin (1983) have described city managers' activities and behavior patterns in policy-making.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The City Manager’s Role in Policy-Making

Zhang

2012

The American Review of Public Administration

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The city manager's role in policy-making has long been recognized in the public administration literature. However, it remains unclear why city managers participate in policy-making at different levels. Two alternative models have been proposed in the literature: the substitution model and the collaboration model. The present study considers multiple dimensions of political leadership and advances a more comprehensive theoretical framework. It then undertakes an empirical examination, using survey data collected from city managers in Georgia. The results uncover more complicated configurations of political dynamics in local government than described by either the substitution or the collaboration model.

show abstract

City manager policy roles as a source of city council/city manager conflict

Cited by 10 publications

References 2 publications

Understanding Shared Roles in Policy and Administration: An Empirical Study of Council‐Manager Relations

Understanding Shared Roles in Policy and Administration: An Empirical Study of Council‐Manager Relations

Reconciling Competing Values in Public Administration

The City Manager’s Role in Policy-Making

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About