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To monitor or intervene? City managers and the implementation of strategic initiatives
Author(s) -
Mitchell David
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.313
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-9299
pISSN - 0033-3298
DOI - 10.1111/padm.12381
Subject(s) - dilemma , business , stakeholder , government (linguistics) , public relations , local government , perspective (graphical) , face (sociological concept) , strategic leadership , strategic planning , public administration , marketing , political science , sociology , social science , philosophy , linguistics , epistemology , artificial intelligence , computer science
Strategic initiatives represent a government's response to constituent and organizational needs, but are only effective if properly implemented. In local governments with a council‐manager form of government, city managers face a unique dilemma as compounding challenges of implementation often require them to step into leadership roles typically reserved for elected officials. For this qualitative study, 16 city managers and project leaders from US local governments were interviewed regarding the implementation of nine varied strategic initiatives. The responses indicate that city managers play an important dual role in implementation—first, monitoring the progress of the implementation team and the satisfaction of the stakeholder coalition; and second, choosing to intervene directly in implementation decision‐making when they observe missteps by the implementers or discontent from the stakeholders. These conclusions contribute to the practice perspective of strategic management theory and a better understanding of the institutional leadership role of city managers.