The City Manager in the Community: An Exploratory Study
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Date
1959-06
Authors
Field, Gary R.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
This thesis cannot approach the magnitude of the research project suggested in the preceeding several paragraphs. A more manageable problem, and seemingly a necessary step leading to a more critical examination of city manager government, will be set forth here, however. The starting point of this study is the writer's surmise that the doctrines and concepts of the International City Manager's Association do not serve as an adequate or realistic tool, or model, by which the behavior or activities of city managers can be analyzed or understood. Before presenting what might be termed the occupation's self-conception, or its public image, in Chapter IV, two narratives of a community's experience with city manager government will be related. The first
narrative describes several conflict situations Involving the adoption
of the manager plan and the hiring and dismissal of several managers.
The second narrative directs attention to the process of policy formation
in the community. In this narrative annexation serves as the specific
policy question in which two city managers in the same community were involved. In Chapter V the writer will present material which can be
used as the basis for a more realistic analysis of manager government.
Material from public administration and sociology will be used in this
critique of the public image of city manager government. The two
narrativesĀ« stressing conflict and the process of policy formation,
will be used as the "anchor" for the more theoretical material. Finally,
in the last chapter of the study, the writer will summarize the material
which has been set forth, and make more explicit some critical thoughts
about the possible results of manager government.
Description
286 pages
Keywords
manager government, ideology, policy formation