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Property tax administration can be viewed as a political process controlled in varying degrees by state statutes regulating administrative procedures. These statutes form a complex body of property tax law subject to the interpretations of: (1) the numerous state and local tax officials, (2) the courts, and (3) the taxpayers. The interactions of these participants in tax decision making determines the amount of the tax for a particular local governmental unit. In this article, the process is seen as a game where the participants have goals and adopt strategies that affect the outcome of the process. Several illustrative case studies are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the attributes of organizational rules that influence rule following. Rule following fosters organizational effectiveness by aligning individual behaviours with organizational preference. While a range of theoretical explanations have been offered for rule following, the characteristics of rule design and implementation have received less empirical attention. Borrowing from the green tape theory of effective rules, this study examines the influence of two particular characteristics—rule formalization and rule consistency—on rule following. Three studies, which include two vignette experiments and a survey of two local government organizations, provide the data for the research. The results suggest that rule formalization and rule consistency independently increase rule following, with mixed evidence of interaction effects. The broad implication is that public managers must attend to both rule design and implementation to foster organizational rule following. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As discussions about sustainability management in local government evolve, public managers lack clear frameworks prescribing how sustainability should be integrated into the practice of management. Studies in public administration tend to emphasize the policy tools managers use for sustainable outcomes, rather than the management processes that can enhance sustainability through organizational change. Drawing on Laszlo and Zhexembayeva's definition of 'embedded sustainability,' this essay suggests local government managers should focus on integrating sustainability into strategic planning processes in order to advance sustainability as a reform in local government. Public management scholars and local government professionals are urged to develop partnerships to support evidence-based decision-making in local government in order to investigate propositions about sustainability management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Victoria's Regional Management Forums were established in 2005 to facilitate collaboration between Victorian Government departments and local government in each of Victoria's eight administrative regions. At the time they were established, Regional Management Forums were a pioneering experiment in collaborative governance. Seven years after their establishment, this paper examines the Regional Management Forums to consider how they have evolved, what role they now serve, and what lessons can be learned. This paper finds that Victoria's Regional Management Forums have been able to adapt to an evolving policy and governance context. While not without their challenges, Regional Management Forums have given rise to regional-scale thinking and collaborative relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that governance network theory (GNT) has developed into a fully ledged theory that has gained prominence within public administration. The emergence of New Public Governance opens up new challenges, however , and instead of governance networks and network governance replacing the traditional public administration model and New Public Management, hybrid practices will emerge. Addressing this topic, and other new challenges, will require GNT to further develop, and perhaps even reinvent itself. This is not without risks. If GNT evolves into a theory of everything, it will lose its explanatory power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the perceptions of performance between local government and Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT). It explores the relationship of GDOT to general public, in which it aims to improve working relationship with its partners, suppliers and stakeholders. It presents a research of Daley , which finds that performance assessment between collaborative participants can enhance the performance of the agency. It states that local officials of the state as well as transportation administrators see themselves as principals, customers, and partners of the GDOT. It notes that the perception of being treated like a customer is dependent on the communication quality of GDOT. It adds that agencies must look at their partners who function in mulltiple roles.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a "partnership-research" study of effective and ineffective managerial behaviour within the "local government" setting of the Wolverhampton City Council Social Care Department, and to describe how the research supports and challenges the organisation's existing "leadership and management behavioural competency framework". Additionally, it reveals and discusses the extent to which the results are consistent with equivalent and comparable findings from an equivalent study within a "central government" department. Design/methodology/approach - Concrete examples of effective and ineffective managerial behaviour were collected using the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) of Flanagan, and the obtained data were analysed using content and thematic analytic methods. Findings - The paper finds that from a total of 218 usable critical incidents 50 discrete behavioural items were identified, of which 25 were examples of "effective" and 25 of "ineffective" behaviour. A comparison against equivalent findings from the "central government" study revealed high degrees of overlap with 92 per cent of the "effective" and 96 per cent of the "ineffective" behavioural items being the same as, similar to, or containing some congruence of meaning. Research limitations/implications - Although the number of CIT informants (n = 40) falls at the top end of the typical sample range for qualitative research, it is possible that data collection "saturation" has not been reached. Whereas the subject of the present "local government" study was first line and middle managers, the focus of the compared "central government" study also included senior managers. Originality/value - The results of this replica research lend additional empirical support to those who believe in "generic" and "universalistic " explanations of managerial and leadership effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the importance of organizational management of performance measures. The authors use a grounded theory methodology to explore the relationship between strategic planning, accounting and performance measurement systems in local government and higher education. Only by understanding how and why performance management works will it be possible to improve the delivery of our public services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article surveys primary definitions and models of strategic planning used in state and local government. Two models of strategic planning are discussed in length: an eight step agency model, with attention to how managers can use each step to manage change in the organization, and an alternative approach for community-based strategic planning. Finally, comments on made on the development of strategic planning in the 1990s and its integration into broader quality management reforms. We conclude by laying out some of the lessons we are learning from these broader strategic management approaches to managing change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By any measure, the council-manager form of government is the fastest growing model of local government in the United States. Given the unique environment of most council-manager authorities, the city manager becomes the single most important public official in the community. Access to the city manager position by minority administrators could have a substantial impact on citizen perceptions of access to institutions and processes if not equity and representation in service delivery in local government. All of this becomes significant given that the city manager is not elected on popular ballot and thus is not directly accountable to the electorate. This article explores the community factors that are associated with black and Latino success in achieving the position of city manager. The national data reveal that minority political empowerment is the most decisive catalyst predicting black and Latino success in achieving the position of city manager. Implications for representative bureaucracy and local governance are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers practical insights for public managers as they work within interorganizational networks. It is based on the author’s empirical study of 14 networks involving federal, state, and local government managers working with nongovernmental organizations. The findings suggest that networks are hardly crowding out the role of public agencies; though they are limited in their decision scope, they can add collaborative public value when approaching nettlesome policy and program problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the present trends of the modernization process of Germany's public sector in the perspective of the American debate on re-engineering. The German way of reforming public administration calls for a continuous improvement, instead of introducing radical reforms. The country's tradition of federalism and local self-government can be seen as an original variable leaving experimental fields to administrative organizations. The current trends in the modernization of the public administration in Germany are discussed.

The article discusses the compatibility of several approaches to introducing and sustaining radical change in styles of governance and the design of work processes relative to the concepts of 'reinventing government' and 're-engineering the corporation.' The applicability of these concepts to public sector organizations in Great Britain is explored. A case study of Kirklees Metropolitan Council, a British local authority, is presented. A table comparing 'reinventing government' with 're-engineering the corporation' is presented.

Abstract: The authors utilize the two latest ICMA Profile of Local Government Service Delivery Choices surveys to investigate whether the service provision and delivery arrangement information reported in the surveys accurately represents reality and, if not, what factors contribute to generating incorrect or unreliable survey responses. Interviews with practitioners are used to better understand both the accuracy of the survey responses and improvements that could be made to the survey instrument. Results suggest that the ICMA ASD survey data are highly erratic, with more than 70 percent of the cases (N = 70) investigated containing some inaccuracies. A qualitative analysis shows that the majority of the errors appear to be caused by the lack of a clear definition of service provision or by the service titles being too vague or too broad, both of which likely lead to discretion in interpreting survey questions and thus inconsistent answers by individual respondents over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]