Between patronage and good governance: organizational arrangements in (local) public appointment processes

This article investigates whether certain organizational arrangements in (local) public appointment processes could encourage the use of appointments as a tool of good governance rather than as a tool of patronage. Specifically, we studied the role of six organizational arrangements in 10 case studies of intra- and inter-organizational public appointment processes held in Italian local government. We found that good governance (in terms of perception of overall integrity and fairness) was found in processes of public appointments where there was independent scrutiny, and when the process involved local councillors and/or external stakeholders – that is, actors beyond those with the formal power to appoint. In these cases, making appointments was seen as a tool of good governance rather than of patronage. These organizational arrangements were more relevant than other ones such as the transparency of public advertisements, job descriptions and educational/professional requirements, and media and public awareness. The article describes the relevant literature and the research study, and discusses implications for research, policy and management

The introduction of mandatory inter-municipal cooperation in small municipalities: preliminary lessons from Italy

PurposeThis article studies effects of mandatory inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) in small Italian municipalities. Data from 280 small Italian municipalities on effects of IMC in terms of higher efficiency, better effectiveness of local public services, and greater institutional legitimacy of the small municipalities participating in IMC have been investigated against four variables: size; geographical area; type of inter-municipal integration and IMC membership (the presence in the IMC of a bigger municipality, the so-called big brother).Design/methodology/approachData were gathered from a mail survey that was sent to a random sample of 1,360 chief financial officers acting in municipalities of under 5,000 inhabitants, stratified by size (0–1,000 and 1,001–5,000) and geographic area (North, Center, and South) criteria. To analyze dependency relationships between the three potential effects of participating in IMC and possible explanatory variables, we used a logistic regression model as the benefits were binarily categorized (presence or absence of benefits).FindingsFindings show that in more than two-thirds of the municipalities participating in IMC there were benefits in terms of costs reduction and better public services, whereas greater institutional legitimacy was detected in about half of the cases. Our statistical analysis with logistic regression highlighted that IMC type is particularly critical for explaining successful IMC. In particular, positive effects of IMC were mainly detected in those small municipalities that promoted a service delivery organization rather than participating in service delivery agreements or opting for mixed arrangements of joint public services delivery.Originality/valueThe paper focuses on small municipalities where studies are usually scant. Our analysis highlighted that the organizational setting is particularly critical for explaining successful IMC

Leadership in, of, and for Smart Cities – Case Studies from Europe, America and Australia

This paper analyses leadership in, of and for smart cities. Using a multi-case study research design and Mode 2 research (based upon collaboration between a scholar and a practitioner) we explore smart cities initiatives in Europe (Amsterdam, Bristol & Milton Keynes), North and South America (Chicago & Curitiba) and Australia (Melbourne). We undertake a comparative analysis which looks at leadership through six lenses: place, purpose, person, position, process, performance. From our analysis four modes of smart city leadership emerge: smart cities as digital government; smart cities as digital driver for economic growth; smart cities as an open platform for digital socio-political innovation; and smart cities as an open platform for digital economy

City Leadership and Social Regeneration: The Potential of Community Leadership and the New Roles for Public Managers and Politicians

In this chapter, we aim to give a contribution discussing what types of city leadership can contribute towards promoting social regeneration of communities focusing in particular on the roles of public managers and politicians. The structure of the chapter is as follows: the second section sets out a fold-four classification of city leadership; the third section analyses the applicability of this framework in regard to social regeneration; the fourth section discusses the new functions for local governments and the new roles for public managers and politicians to enhance social regeneration of communities; the fifth section concludes with a summary of our main arguments

Towards a multi-actor theory of public value co-creation

This essay suggests changes to the theory of public value and, in particular, the strategic triangle framework, in order to adapt it to an emerging world where policy makers and managers in the public, private, voluntary and informal community sectors have to somehow separately and jointly create public value. One set of possible changes concerns what might be in the centre of the strategic triangle besides the public manager. Additional suggestions are made concerning how multiple actors, levels, arenas and/or spheres of action, and logics might be accommodated. Finally, possibilities are outlined for how the strategic triangle might be adapted to complex policy fields in which there are multiple, often conflicting organizations, interests and agendas. In other words, how might politics be more explicitly accommodated. The essay concludes with a number of research suggestions

Essential, complex and multi-form: the local leadership of civil society from an Anglo-Italian perspective

Individuals and organisations within civil society play a crucial role in our cities, but little direct research has been carried out on their leadership role. By employing a place-based leadership approach, this article aims to identify the leaders of civil society in two cities, one in Italy (Padua) and one in the UK (Peterborough). We draw our results from 34 interviews with city leaders. Our findings highlight important similarities between the two cities, such as the fundamental function of umbrella organisations and the influence of faith leaders. We discuss the multi-form character of the leaders of civil society as acting within three main spheres of city leadership ‐ the third/voluntary sector, community and faith ‐ as highlighted by the participants in this study. We also find that civil society exercises the key leadership role of intermediary between citizens and government in public services delivery and in enabling community voice from different publics

La relazione tra politica e management negli enti locali

Il presente lavoro analizza la relazione tra politica e management negli enti locali attraverso lo svolgimento di tre ricerche empiriche. Nella parte iniziale viene esplicitato il paradigma di riferimento, definito il quadro teorico e la strategia di ricerca. Viene inoltre introdotta la “definizione di lavoro” di institutional governance al fine di inquadrare l’ambito concettuale entro cui viene collocata l’analisi della relazione tra politica e management. La prima ricerca riguarda la figura del Direttore Generale (DG) dei Comuni. Essa è di tipo descrittivo ed è stata effettuata con un questionario strutturato. Vengono analizzate le caratteristiche personali, il percorso di carriera, il contenuto di lavoro, il ruolo e la relazione con la componente politica. I risultati evidenziano il profilo di un DG proveniente in larga parte dagli enti locali, immerso prevalentemente all’interno dell’organizzazione, con il ruolo di un manager con funzioni direzionali e di consulenza su aspetti amministrativi, con un lavoro dalla forte componente relazionale sia verso i dirigenti, sia verso i politici. La seconda ricerca riguarda il ruolo dello spoils system nell’institutional governance degli enti locali e si basa su uno studio multiplo di quattro casi. I risultati rivelano la crescente rilevanza dell’applicazione dello spoils system all’esterno dell’ente locale; la spiccata politicizzazione del processo decisionale; un’interpretazione frammentata dello spoils system e lo scarso utilizzo dello stesso come sistema per modificare all’interno dell’ente locale gli equilibri organizzativi in ottica premiante e responsabilizzante. Viene inoltre proposta una matrice interpretativa che sintetizza i modelli di applicazione dello spoils system. La terza ricerca analizza il ruolo e le interazioni tra politici e manager in alcuni processi di institutional governance degli enti locali. Vengono studiati tre differenti casi: l’introduzione di un’innovazione manageriale; la creazione di un’azienda partecipata; la gestione di un processo di partecipazione dei cittadini. I risultati mostrano come i politici interpretino le innovazioni manageriali prevalentemente a fini di visibilità politica; come la creazione di un’azienda partecipata venga interpretata dai manager come occasione di ristrutturazione organizzativa e da parte dei politici come aumento delle possibilità di political patronage; come né i politici, né i manager, abbiano interiorizzato le implicazioni gestionali insite nei processi partecipativi. Il lavoro prosegue con la presentazione di un confronto internazionale sui sistemi di institutional governance tra l’Italia e quattro Paesi Europei: Regno Unito, Olanda, Spagna e Svezia. La comparazione riguarda quattro aspetti: la dimensione del sistema degli enti locali; le caratteristiche del sistema istituzionale; la cultura amministrativa dominante; il contesto socio-culturale. Nell’ultima parte vengono identificate alcune ipotesi per ripensare la relazione tra politica e management degli enti locali. La prima concerne lo sviluppo di una funzione di city management caratterizzata da una leadership tridimensionale; la seconda è relativa ad un modello di applicazione dello spoils system denominato spoils system competitivo; la terza fa riferimento al modello della nuova complementarietà, caratterizzato da politici, manager e cittadini che collaborano per la creazione di valore pubblico per la comunità.The doctoral thesis investigates the relationship between politics and management in local authorities. It is based on three essays that empirically investigate several aspects of the main theme. The structure of the thesis is logically divided in three part. The first part of the thesis illustrates the theoretical framework and the research strategy. In the second part, the essays are presented. The first paper explores the role of Italian city manager and is based on a descriptive research on the entire population of Italian city managers. According to the results, city managers spend most time within the organization, tend to play a managerial and advisor role, and their work is characterized by brevity, fragmentation and a high number of contacts with different players, both politicians and department's heads. The second paper aims at analyse the use of political appointments in local authorities with a multiple case study approach. Results show the growing application of political appointments outside local authorities (in the municipal corporations and local quangos); the important influence of political parties in the appointment process; how the executive political body appears generally incapable of using the spoils system as an organizational and managerial tool. The third paper explores the role and interactions of politicians and managers in three different cases: the introduction of a managerial innovation; the creation of a local quango; the governance of a process of stakeholder engagement. Results highlight the use of managerial innovation by politicians for gaining consensus; how managers create local quangos for managerial restructuring, while politicians for widening the possibilities for more political patronage; the artificial proactive role played by politicians in the process of stakeholder engagement and the bureaucratic role played by the managers. The last part illustrates a comparative analysis on some aspects of the governance of local authorities in UK, The Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. The units of analysis of the comparisons are the dimension of the local government system, the institutional system, the administrative culture and the socio-cultural context. Finally, some hypotheses for rethinking the relationship between politics and management in local authorities are discussed. The first one is based on a conception of city management characterized by a tridimensional leadership; the second one is a model for using political appointments, labelled as competitive spoils system; the third one is characterized by the model of the new complementarity, based on politicians, managers and citizens being co-responsible for pursuing public value for the community

Place leadership and regional economic development: a framework for cross-regional analysis

This paper examines the leadership of places – cities, regions, communities – in Australia, Finland, Germany, Italy, the United States and the United Kingdom and explores the capacity of vignettes to generate new, theoretical and empirical insights. It uses vignettes to identify the features of place leadership evident in 12 case studies across six nations. The research finds significant commonalities in place leadership with respect to the importance attached to boundary spanning, the role of government officials in responding to the prospect of regional decline or growth and how the nature of the challenge confronting a locality determines the adequacy of the response

The search of a new logic of public administration reforms: the case of metropolitan areas in Italy

The aim of this paper is to formulate some recommendations for the currently undergoing reform of Italian metropolitan areas. This case is particularly relevant since it clearly represents how, even if expected by law, reforms might not happen on the implementation side. We draw the recommendations from some basic assumptions of the collaborative governance model. Recommendations deal with the development of a systemic, collaborative and leadership oriented view of reforms. Indeed, reforms should be intended not only as a legislative process, but also as a complex change management process characterized by the decisive role of the human factor