Collaborative leadership and financial sustainability in local government

This research examines whether collaborative leadership significantly influences the financial sustainability of local government. Unlike other studies on financial sustainability, ours examined collaborative leadership’s effect on both subjective and objective financial sustainability by controlling for socio-demographic and economic factors (i.e., population size, population density, population aged over 65 years, unemployment rate, and gross domestic regional product) that influence the financial sustainability of local government. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis of data collected from local revenue officers as well as secondary data from local governments in South Korea revealed that collaborative leadership has a positive effect on the subjective perception of financial sustainability and a negative effect on the objective financial sustainability (net debt) of local government. These findings underscore the necessity of collaborative leadership for financial sustainability as well as the strategies needed for its development in local government.     

Europe and local government

The Care in the Community initiative has resulted in a renewed interest in collaboration between local and health authorities. The focus of such collaboration is commonly on the transfer of long‐stay patients from psychiatric and mental handicap hospitals that are due to close, though the extent of local authority involvement in closure programmes varies considerably.

Joint planning typically involves a number of local authority departments: social services, housing, chief executives’ offices and legal services. It sometimes also involves education, recreation and leisure departments. Joint planning can be very time‐consuming and can call for considerable effort. It frequently gives rise to a good deal of conflict between the participating agencies. The pay‐offs, on the other hand, often appear to be small. Such plans as are finally implemented tend to be small‐scale: attempts at broader strategic planning almost invariably come to grief. The question then has to be asked, whether joint planning is worth all the effort. In the end, the primary justification for such planning has to lie in its ability to produce more appropriate services for service‐users.

This paper examines one local authority's experience of joint planning in relation to the closure of a large psychiatric hospital. Despite several setbacks, joint plans were eventually agreed and a number of former long‐stay patients were able to move into the community. The paper considers both the achievements and the shortcomings of the authority's collaboration with the health service.     

Creativity in local government: Definition and determinants

In current thinking about public service improvement, civil servant creativity plays an important role. Using the results of 43 semi‐structured interviews, we assessed the degree to which our theoretical knowledge about creativity—based primarily on business research—matches the insights of managers in local government. Respondents considered employee creativity to be important, but—in contrast to the literature—understood creativity as the act of trying out new things to better deal with specific problems at hand instead of developing new ideas potentially applicable to a wider context. As such, respondents did not see creativity as the main precondition for innovation. In line with the literature, there is little consistency across respondents about individual‐ and context‐level determinants of creativity. Lastly, respondents put forward several factors that have received little attention in the literature but are particularly relevant in understanding differences in work‐related creativity in the context of local government.     

Renewal of local government in Scandinavia: Effects for local politicians

During the last decade, numerous local government reforms influenced by New Public Management (NPM) ideology have taken place throughout Scandinavia. Based on case studies in three Scandinavian municipalities, the article discusses the effects of introducing strategic political management on the role of councillors. We observe a conflict between NPM‐inspired management ideas and a deeply institutionalised, traditional view of councillors as representatives of the citizens, advocating peoples’ interest, defining needs, setting priorities and controlling implementation. Across national and local contexts, councillors find that the reforms challenge their traditional role and have strengthened administrative influence. Historical institutionalism seems to be a fruitful concept to understand resistance towards taking on new role models.     

Administrators and professionals in local government

This article evaluates the shift to an executive and scrutiny model in local government by assessing the changes at Devon County Council. Interviews were used to evaluate support for the changes and identify the key issues and problems. Most members had little enthusiasm for the reforms, support for the changes was dependent on the loyalty of Liberal Democrat backbenchers towards the leadership and central government's legislative agenda. The analysis revealed substantial problems with the operation of the reformed structure and suggested that the changes might fail to deliver the benefits expected by central government.     

Improved budgeting and financial management as a tool for enhancing the performance of local government in developing countries

Rapid economic and social changes in developing countries are impacting on their governments' ability to manage those changes, and local governments in these countries are becoming the core of decentralization experiments. This article examines the problems local governments face in meeting the challenges of rapid transformation and change. This paper suggests that budgeting be used as a means for strengthening local governments' abilities to deal with such changes. Until now, budgeting has not been used as a key intervention tool for strengthening local governments. A working model to assess the state of financial and related management conditions of local governments is provided. This model can serve as a useful point of reference for change agents involved in the strengthening of local governments.     

French local government reform and urban planning

Early Retirement, Ann E. McGoldrick and Cary L. Cooper, Gower, 1988, £30.00.

The Reform of Local Government Finance in Britain, edited by Stephen J. Bailey and Ronan Paddison, pp. 223, Routledge, 1988, £27.50 (hardback).

Britain's Industrial Renaissance: The Development, Manufacture and Use of Information Technology, edited by Philip Blackburn and Richard Sharpe, Comedia, pp. 180, Routledge, £7.95.

Local Business Taxes in Britain and Germany, edited by Robert J. Bennett and Günter Krebs, pp. 344, Nomos Verlags Gesellschaft, Baden‐Baden, 1988, 87.00 DM.

Marketing in Local Government, Kieron Walsh, Longman, 1989, pp. 128, £8.95 (paperback).

Remaking Planning, The Politics of Urban Change in the Thatcher Years, Tim Brindley, Yvonne Rydin and Gerry Stoker, Unwin Hyman, 1989, pp. 197, £25.00 (hardback), £8.95 (paperback).

Needs Assessment in Post‐16 Education, Tim Packwood and Tim Whitaker, The Falmer Press, 1988, Basingstoke, pp. 233, £18.95 (hardback), £9.95 (paperback).

The State and the City, Ted Robert Gurr and Desmond King, Macmillan, 1987, pp. 242, £30 (hardback), £8.95 (paperback).

Faith in the City and Local Politics, R. Farnell, General Synod Office of the Church of England, 1988, available from Church House Bookshop, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3NZ, £1.00 (by post £1.30).

Managing Fire Services (Second edition), R. J. Coleman and J. A. Granito (eds), International City Management Association, 1988, pp. 528, $38.95.

Area Initiatives Evaluation Handbook, prepared by PIEDA Consultants for the Industry Department for Scotland and Scottish Development Agency, IDS Economics and Statistics Research Paper 16, 1988, pp. 61 plus appendices, £5.00.

Local Labour‐Market Policies in Britain and Germany, Anglo‐German Foundation, 17 Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2LP 1988, pp. 134, £4.50 (paperback).

Land and Housing Policies in Europe and the USA: A Comparative Analysis, Graham Hallett (ed.), Routledge, 1988, pp. 215, £27.50 (hardback).

Town and Country Planning in Britain, J. B. Cullingworth, Unwin Hyman, 1988, pp. 408, Tenth edition, £10.95.

Basic Planning Law and Practice 1988, College of Law, 1988, pp. 127, £9.00.

Current Problems in Planning 1988, College of Law, 1988, pp. 94, £6.30.

Effective Planning Appeals, Hilaire McCoubrey, BSP Professional Books, 1988, pp. 147, £17.95 (hardback).

Reviews of United Kingdom Statistical Sources, Vol.XXIV: Local Government, J. M. Gillespie, Chapman &; Hall, 1988, pp. 342, £42.50 (hardback).

Performance Evaluation ‐ An Essential Management Tool, Christine Baker (Ed.), (ICMA), 1987, pp. 20, $21.00     

Community involvement: a function of local government innovation

This paper discusses the implications of community involvement for the delivery of public services. It discusses exemplary case studies of community involvement in government, and provides an in-depth discussion of community participation in the affairs of the Engineering Traffic Division in San Diego, California. It finds a positive relationship between community involvement, and responsiveness, customer satisfaction, efficiency and effectiveness.     

Evaluating performance indicators: Current trends in local government

This article summarises research into a small number of local authorities on the use of performance indicators, carried out for the Local Government Management Board (LGMB) and the Policy and Performance Review Network (PPRN) in 1997, and concludes that home‐grown indicators developed in response to Best Value will overcome some of the inadequacies of the Audit Commission approach.     

The Audit Commission: guiding, steering and regulating local government

How does the non‐executant state ensure that its agents are fulfilling their obligations to deliver nationally determined policies? In the case of elected local government in England and Wales, this function is carried out by the Audit Commission (AC) for Local Authorities and the Health Service for England and Wales. Since being established in 1983, it is the means by which local authorities are held to account by central government, both for its own purposes and on behalf of other interested stakeholders. Although the primary function of the AC is to ensure that local authorities are fulfilling their obligations, it does so by using different methods. By acting as a regulator, an independent expert, an opinion former and a mediator, the AC steers local authorities to ensure that they are compliant with the regulatory regime and are implementing legislation properly.     

Walking the fiscal tightrope: local government budgeting and fiscal stress

This paper discusses the components of local government budget processes and their relationship to fiscal stress. While many cities and counties are suffering from stressful fiscal situations, leading in some cases to bankruptcy filings or other severe measures, their budgets have to be balanced, unlike the federal government and some state governments. Using survey data from a large number of jurisdictions, this paper shows how local governments have developed budget processes which respond to these changing fiscal situations. Governments use computers, collect and analyze many different types of information, and use budgetary information for other management purposes in order to improve productivity. Budget processes are providing good information to local government decision makers which is helping them respond constructively to the fiscal crises of the 1990s.