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Self-managed work teams (SMWT) are promoted as a means for improving worker participation, decreasing hierarchy, and increasing productivity. This paper discusses SMWT in terms of concept, theory, and benefits. We then report a survey of city managers conducted to learn how extensively and how satisfactorily they have been adopted in American cities. Findings reveal that they are more likely to be adopted under council-manager forms of governance, larger cities are more likely to adopt than smaller cities, and cities in the South and West are more likely to adopt than are cities in the Northeast and Midwest. When adopted, managers report satisfaction. Finally, we offer implications for practice and suggestions for further research. KEYWORDS: city management, organization theory, participative management, self-managed work teams

Many municipal governments adopted performance measurement decades ago. However, the role of elected officials and citizens in the development and usage of performance measures remains limited. We propose a model of 'citizen-initiated performance assessment' in which citizens, elected officials, and city staff collaborate to develop performance measures. We also examine how nine Iowa cities implement the system, and how city officials perceive its impact on departmental procedures, managerial practices, and organizational culture. In addition, we discuss the major challenges in the implementation process, so that future reformers of performance measurement may draw lessons from the Iowa experience. KEYWORDS: citizen participation; performance measurement

Conflicts over Atrisco Well #5 in New Mexico demonstrate the potential failures of technical communication in gaining citizen trust, particularly when significant cultural differences exist. In an era of increasing polarization among cultural groups and demand for purposeful decision-making processes, professional communicators, technical people and policy-makers must be careful in putting forward project applications. The difficulties faced in ethical and cultural assumptions in policy-making situations may present barriers that have little to do with the feasibility and advisability of a project.

Citizens' participation in government is the focus of the Workers Party (PT) in northeastern Brazil. In the towns of Icapui and Quixada, a program called 'Prefeitura Com Voce'(PCV) encourages residents to be involved in municipal projects. The concept of 'participacao popular' or popular participation in governance, which is in contrast with the paternalistic and corrupt politics that has prevailed in the region, underlies the PCV program.

The author suggests that the current popularity of public discussion, or 'civic discovery' of local government issues is a strategy by public managers to allay the public's fear of the power held by public officials. However, he believes that the strategy will succeed in truly constraining public officials.

Although liberal and communitarian interpretations of citizenship differ profoundly, they nevertheless offer essentially similar prescriptions in support of empowered localities. The authors argue, instead, that the rejected alternative of consolidated government better promotes both interpretations of effective citizenship. They develop this argument by more fully specifying the behavioral implications of the two views of citizenship and theoretically linking those behaviors to fragmented and consolidated urban institutions using the Exit, Voice, Loyalty, and Neglect model introduced by Lyons and Lowery in 1986. They then test the central proposition derived from that analysis using a comparison group design.

Citizens care about local government services. Modest attendance figures at public hearings belie that fact, as do complaint and commendation records revealing that the typical citizen refrains from expressing either [...]

Public service providers and elected levels of government around the world are continually being encouraged to involve citizens in decision-making. Various means of achieving this have been employed by local authorities in different countries. These include local referenda, customer surveys, online discussion forums and citizens' juries. This article draws on the example of new participative committee structures within Irish local government. These seek to involve identified stakeholders (including business, trade unions, the community/voluntary sector and environmental interests) in local government decision-making. These structures were inspired both by international trends towards participatory democracy and Ireland's experience of neo-corporatist 'social partnership' at the national level. This article considers the new committee structures and their composition and examines some of the problems encountered. It demonstrates that recent research into these new structures supports many of the concerns that have been raised in the literature on varying participative mechanisms practiced in other countries.

A critique is presented of New Labour's initiatives for revitalizing political participation at the local level in the United Kingdom. It is posited that local initiatives are limited exercises for small changes, whereas more independent and effective avenues of public participation, such as community councils, have been marginalized.

This research provides empirical evidence about public participation in U.S. municipalities. Using data from a national survey, public participation was measured, and its possible causes and impacts were examined. It was found that although a variety of participation mechanisms are used, participation in administrative decision making is limited. It was also found that size of government and political divisiveness may be reasons for public participation in decision making. Finally, it is demonstrated that participation may identify public needs and build consensus and that public attitude toward government may not change as a result of participation.

An examination is presented on consolidation of municipalities in Toronto, Canada, and its impact on levels of political power of local citizens. Topics include the event's contrast to the growing trend of decentralization, and its role in creating public awareness of the importance of self-governance.

I am not sure that we have ever really been able to explain why collaboration works. Many of us who are practitioners and believers in collaboration explain the consequences of [...]

The migration of retirees to the Sunbelt states is causing significant transformation of the social and economic character in this region. Florida, the choice of one out of every two retirees to the Sunbelt, is the state that can reveal the most about the consequences of this trend. To investigate the political impact of the growing retired population, surveys were conducted with local government officials in Florida cities and counties. The survey data were collected by questionnaire and telephone interviews in 1986 and 1987. The responses characterized retirees as much less active and less organized regarding local political issues than suggested by those warning of 'gray power' and worse, of the 'gray peril'. Any advocacy efforts made by older residents on their own behalf were fragmented, inconsistent, and were not always effective. Some have suggested that retirees represent a growing subculture that is opposed to taxes and growth, but the survey results gave little credence to this notion. Even though most retired persons were actively voting in local elections, local officials showed no evidence of taking the older population's concerns seriously. It appears that the elderly are not perceived as organized, and so their opinions receive little attention. Retirees rarely participated in efforts to oppose candidates and policies that would serve interests other than their own. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)