Mayoral Leadership in Council-Manager Cities: Preconditions versus Preconceptions

Svara, James H.

doi:10.2307/2131141

Cited by 49 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…The function of public administration, on the other hand, is neutral policy implementation, or, as Goodnow (1900) said in Politics and Administration , “execution of the state will.” This normative division of authority and labor has often been supported on the assumption that “each function works best as an independent variable, capable of being improved in isolation without endangering or interfering with the other side” (Martin 1988, 632). With its formal separation of the policy formulation and implementation roles, the dichotomist view aims to limit interference by one set of officials in the activities of others (Miller 2000; Montjoy and Watson 1995; Svara 1987).…”

Section: Complementarity As An Alternative To the Politics–administramentioning

confidence: 99%

The Complementarity View: Exploring a Continuum in Political—Administrative Relations

Demir

2009

Public Administration Review

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Th e politics-administration dichotomy has drawn criticism from contemporary public administration scholars largely because of its lack of descriptive accuracy and particular normative inclinations. In their search for an alternative model to the dichotomy, some scholars developed what is widely known today as complementarity. Although this emerging view received an enthusiastic welcome from many scholars and practitioners, more research has yet to be done to address its conceptual and empirical shortcomings. Using survey data collected from a nationwide sample of city managers, this study explores empirical foundations of the complementarity view of the politics-administration relationship. Specifi cally, the author fi rst identifi es a politics-management continuum based on a review of public administration literature on the complementarity view and then analyzes survey data to see whether the relationship between elected offi cials and public administrators is characterized by complementarity. Th e results of the analysis generally support the complementarity view, in that the responses of city managers mostly parallel the idea of a continuum in elected offi cial-public administrator relationships, a continuum that moves from politics on one end to management on the other end, with various policy and administration activities in the middle. Th is paper aims to make a conceptual and empirical contribution to an important question in public administration.

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Section: Complementarity As An Alternative To the Politics–administramentioning

confidence: 99%

The Complementarity View: Exploring a Continuum in Political—Administrative Relations

Demir

2009

Public Administration Review

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“…The city manager form of government has city managers working on the day-to-day operations while the city council and mayor take care of politics and policy. The mayor within a city manager form of government usually has far less power than in a mayor-council form of government (Svara 1987). The city manager form of government often has a mayor who is one of and elected by the city council members.…”

Section: Form Of Local Governmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The city manager form of government constitutes about 53 percent of all municipalities and the mayor-council constitutes about 43 percent of all municipalities. Svara (1987) sees the mayor in a city manager form of government as analogous to the chairman of the board-important, but not crucial to the operation of the organization. In general, mayors in the city manager form of government are less experienced and have less influence than those in a mayor council form of government (Mouritzen and Svara 2002).…”

Section: Form Of Local Governmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Democratic Sex: Gender Differences and the Exercise of Power

Weikart

Chen

Williams

et al. 2006

Journal of Women, Politics & Policy

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Few have studied differences between how women and men lead, particularly at the local level. This article addresses this gap by reporting the results of a unique study of 192 female mayors and 192 male mayors in cities with populations of over 30,000 to consider whether the female mayors emphasized different policy issues and whether the women in local leadership created alternative decision-making processes in allocating resources. Overall, the results show similarities on policy issues, the use of power, and budget issues. However, some key gender differences emerge. Female mayors were far more willing to change the budget process, be more inclusive, and seek broader participation. Finally, more women mayors than men were willing to admit fiscal problems and discuss changes in their goals. Women mayors were also more likely than their male counterparts to believe that women face gender-based obstacles in the exercise of leadership.

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“…Council-manager form has long been advocated vis-à-vis mayor-council form on the basis of efficiency and performance, while mayor-council form is expected to serve the value of political responsiveness (e.g., Hayes and Chang 1990;Ebdon and Brucato 2000;Frederickson and Johnson 2001). Since council-manager government doesn't allow for role overlaps on administration and policy, some authors argued that for that reason the relationship between elected officials and public administrators would be less competitive and more cooperative (less power struggle) in council-manager cities which would subsequently have a positive impact on both interaction frequency and quality between the manager and elected officials (e.g., Svara 1987). On the other hand, a different argument has been advanced in the literature.…”

Section: Form Of Governmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interaction Frequency and Quality as Two Dimensions of Complementarity: An Empirical Examination of Some Contingency Variables

Demir

2010

Public Organiz Rev

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Mayoral Leadership in Council-Manager Cities: Preconditions versus Preconceptions

Cited by 49 publications

References 9 publications

The Complementarity View: Exploring a Continuum in Political—Administrative Relations

The Complementarity View: Exploring a Continuum in Political—Administrative Relations

The Democratic Sex: Gender Differences and the Exercise of Power

Interaction Frequency and Quality as Two Dimensions of Complementarity: An Empirical Examination of Some Contingency Variables

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