Role preferences and conflict between city managers and city councils

Abstract

A typology of city manager policy role selection was developed containing five roles and two contingency variables. Combining low and high extremes of the two contingency variables defined four situation types. Political activist and non-actor roles were proposed for situations with high political competition and low task analyzability and the expert advisor and non-actor roles for the high political competition and high task analyzability situations. When political competition is low, city manager policy roles in the typology varied from administrative craftsman and technician roles as task analyzability varies from low to high respectively. Theoretical and empirical literature supports the typology. A contingency model of city managers was developed from concepts in the role and contingency literature. Empirical studies supported the model. Five hypotheses were examined to text the existence of the city manager role typology and model and to examine the city manager conflict management. These were: Hypothesis One: The Role Effective City Managers Prefer to Perform in Policy Making in Any Given Situation Will be Determined by the Contingency Variables of Political Competitiveness and Task Analyzability. Hypothesis Two: Council Members Will Differ From City Managers in the Roles They Would Prefer the City Manager to Perform in Policy Making. Hypothesis Three: Role Preferences of Effective City Managers Should be Different from Those of a Representative Sample of City Managers. Hypothesis Four: Selected Socioeconomic Variables, Such as the City Size or the Education of the Managers, Will be Associated with the Managers' Role Preferences. Hypothesis Five: City Managers Faced with Potential Conflict with City Council Members Will Use An Avoidance Strategy. The five hypotheses were tested with two paper and pencil instruments and in depth interviews on three sample groups. A Role Preference Instrument was created to find city manager role preferences in different types of situations...