Limits to power: a study of the influence of mayors and CAOs on municipal budgets in Ontario, 1977-1990
Article Abstract:
The degree to which leaders can influence organizational outcomes has long been a matter of controversy in the theoretical and empirical literature. This issue is especially complex in government organizations where both political and administrative leaders can influence policy and its implementation. The power of administrators may potentially exceed that of their political "masters," particularly in municipal government in Canada where the typical structure combines a weak mayor, non-partisan elections and a chief administrative officer (CAO). Annual data on municipal budget allocations, turnover of mayors and CAOs in forty-nine Ontario municipalities were examined over a fourteen-year period in order to assess the relative impact of changes in these two leadership positions on variations in expenditures for six categories of services, as well as two income variables. Our methodology replicated and expanded on the analysis of variance approach used by Salanick and Pfeffer (1977) in a study of the influence of mayors on municipal budgets in the United States, and by Lieberson and O'Connor (1972) who studied the impact of presidents and board chairs on financial indicators in 167 U.S. manufacturing corporations. Our analysis, like these two previous studies, shows that leadership turnover has an insignificant influence on variation in municipal income and budget allocations, while the decision-making environment - the city itself and the year - accounts for most of the variation. Although neither mayors nor CAOs have a significant influence on municipal budget allocations in Ontario, the results suggest that the power of CAOs is somewhat greater than that of mayors. Our concluding discussion explores implications of this limited study for debates about the power of leaders in organizations, and about the relative influence of politicians and administrators in local government in Canada. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Canadian Public Administration
Subject: Government
ISSN: 0008-4840
Year: 1995
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Considerations on centralization and decentralization
Article Abstract:
Centralization and decentralization are enduring themes in Canadian political life. But measurement, explanation, prediction and especially assessment of these terms are all deeply problematic. Various modernization theorists once confidently predicted increasing centralization. The confounding of these predictions in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s forces us to consider the sources of Canadian 'exceptionalism' and to see modernization as embracing contrasting tendencies. Similarly, for the future, it is possible to identify a variety of forces, social and economic, which seem to push toward, or to require, a more centralized polity. But these forces too are Janus-headed. And a powerful case can be made that a decentralized system is better placed to meet contemporary challenges than a more centralized one. The alternatives are not either-or; and Canada's experience in responding politically to fragmentation may provide valuable lessons for others. (Reprinted by permission by the publisher.)
Publication Name: Canadian Public Administration
Subject: Government
ISSN: 0008-4840
Year: 1986
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Environment Canada and the pursuit of administrative decentralization
Article Abstract:
The administrative decentralization of government operations has been an area of recent interest in Canada. The problems associated with such decentralization are illustrated through the example of Environment Canada, a decentralized department created in 1971 to protect the resource base and to fight against pollution. A regional board of managers and a Regional Director General were created to provide inter-regional coordination and to ensure the expression of regional opinions in decision-making. Their objectives failed, however, because of problems associated with the environmental mission, and because they could not break the vertical alignment in a management setting with a centralist philosophy for its structures and processes.
Publication Name: Canadian Public Administration
Subject: Government
ISSN: 0008-4840
Year: 1986
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