Local Political Leadership and the Modernisation of Local Government

Bochel, Hugh; Bochel, Catherine

doi:10.1080/03003930.2010.523199

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(9 reference statements)

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“…The research was conducted using a qualitative design involving semi‐structured interviews with 16 participants (seven women and 11 men). Previous researchers have successfully used interviews as an effective means of researching careers (Sullivan and Mainiero ) and for studying leadership in local government more generally (Bochel and Bochel, ; Martin and Aulich, ). A purposive sampling technique (Patton ) was used to identify participants.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slow Change at the Top: ‘Old Hands’ and ‘Accidental Executives’ in New South Wales Local Government

Smith-Ruig¹,

Grant

Sheridan³

2015

Aust J Public Adm

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Scholars and practitioners alike have recognised that an increased role for women leaders in Australian local government would strengthen the sector, yet little research to date has examined the career paths of non-elected officials. This article combines the gender in organisations literature with career theory to examine the career paths of 16 general managers (GMs) in New South Wales. We found that half the participants had linear career paths based entirely within local government and half had boundaryless careers originating outside the sector. This second cohort consisted overwhelmingly of women. Nevertheless, a high incidence of happenstance characterised both career types. Several participants saw themselves pitted against a gendered (i.e. male) group of 'old hands' who were resistant to change being driven by 'accidental executives', a high proportion of whom were women. The findings have implications for a sector attempting to attract and retain skilled staff, particularly women.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slow Change at the Top: ‘Old Hands’ and ‘Accidental Executives’ in New South Wales Local Government

Smith-Ruig¹,

Grant

Sheridan³

2015

Aust J Public Adm

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“…Political leadership is crucial in the modernization of local governance [4]. In this respect, higher level officials of a younger age, just like regular citizens, may be less willing to follow transparency practices [24].…”

Section: Profile Of the Head Of The Executivementioning

confidence: 99%

The determinants of local government transparency

Tavares

Cruz

2014

Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance

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In this paper we contribute to the literature on government transparency by attempting to provide an answer to the question of what drives in local government transparency levels. Our main objective is to discern whether transparency is mainly driven by the leadership, capacity and other political traits of the local governments themselves ("supply-side determinants") or, on the other hand, is contingent upon social, cultural and/or other exogenous factors ("demand-side" determinants). We test the hypotheses derived from this theoretical framework using the results of the newly developed Municipal Transparency Index (MTI) which was applied to all Portuguese municipalities for the first time in 2013. Preliminary findings indicate that municipalities run by male mayors, with a larger number of consecutive terms in office, and larger margins of victory in local elections display lower levels of transparency. On the demandside, the unemployment rate and the average age of the municipal population emerge as the best predictors and are both negatively associated with transparency.

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“…Other studies have adopted a broadly qualitative approach to the study of local authorities and local power, conducting in-depth interviews with a range of participants from the local level (see, for example, Hutchinson et al 2014;Smith-Ruig et al 2016;Martin and Aulich 2012;Bochel and Bochel 2010;Ryan et al 2000). However, to date little attention has been given to how the intended directions of Australian reforms 1 -especially the pursuit of efficiency, effectiveness and community engagement through strategic and corporate planning -interact with frameworks for political and community governance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mind the gap: Australian local government reform and councillors’ understandings of their roles

Tan¹,

Morris²,

Grant³

2017

CJLG

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Over the last two decades a feature of local government reforms globally has been the introduction of New Public Management (NPM). Under this broad approach to public administration there is an expectation that councillors play a greater strategic role and move away from involvement in day-to-day management. This research, carried out in the state of Victoria, Australia, examines councillors’ understandings of their roles. Based on 17 in-depth interviews and two focus groups, we found that despite the evolving legislative requirements framing councillors as policymakers not managers, most councillors continued to seek involvement in the day-to-day management of councils. We argue that this gap may be linked to the diversity of views concerning the role of the councillor and the idea of representation and how both play out at the local level. It may also signal a lack of awareness as to how the legislatively inscribed role for councillors has changed over time.

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Local Political Leadership and the Modernisation of Local Government

Cited by 29 publications

References 18 publications

Slow Change at the Top: ‘Old Hands’ and ‘Accidental Executives’ in New South Wales Local Government

Slow Change at the Top: ‘Old Hands’ and ‘Accidental Executives’ in New South Wales Local Government

The determinants of local government transparency

Mind the gap: Australian local government reform and councillors’ understandings of their roles

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