Managing America's Small Communities (eBook)

People, Politics, and Performance

David H. Folz, Edward P. French (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2005
192 Seiten
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (Verlag)
978-1-4616-6575-5 (ISBN)

Infos

In their book, Managing America's Small Communities, David Folz and P. Edward French examine the relevant trends, executive behavior, service quality, and service performance measurement in small communities. The theme is the value added to small communities that evidence professionalism in administration. Professional managers base service strategies on needs rather than demands, emphasize long-term community interests, promote equality, and advance citizen participation. The findings show that city managers are more extensively engaged than mayors in governmental process decisions and help to advance the level of service quality in small communities.

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Managing America's Small Communities charts several key aspects of the largely unexamined world of small city management. This book describes the democraphic trends, structural features, executive behavior and service quality among small communities. Are small cities growing, declining or have they remained untouched by the force of change? To what extent have the structural changes and reforms that have swept through larger cities touched small communities? What are the characteristics and behaviors of small city chief executives and how involved are different executives in the dimensions of the governmental process? How do chief executives in small cities make decisions about local services and programs? Are there differences in the extent to which appointed managers and elected mayors are responsive to community interests? The book also examines the frequency with which small communities provide various services, the quality of services provided and how small city officials can diagnose problems with service quality and performance.The book's theme is the value added to small communities that evidence professionalism in city administration. The benefits that accrue to having a professional city manager are most apparent in the extent to which city managers are engaged in decisions related to each of the dimensions of the governmental process, the level of service quality provided, and the prospects for measuring service performance.

Autor

David H. Folz is associate professor of political science and MPA coordinator at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He has written dozens of journal articles and conference papers and is the author of Survey Research for Public Administration. P. Edward French is an instructor in the political science department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is the co-author of Understanding American Government.

Inhalt

Chapter 1 IntroductionPart 2 Why Study Small Communities?Part 3 Purpose of the BookPart 4 Data and MethodsPart 5 Plan for the BookChapter 6 Profile of Small Communities and Chief ExecutivesPart 7 Demographic Trends in Small CommunitiesPart 8 Structural Features of Small Town GovernmentsPart 9 The Chief Executives of Small CommunitiesPart 10 The Issues That Concern Small City Chief ExecutivesPart 11 SummaryChapter 12 Executive Behavior and Decision MakingPart 13 Role Emphases and Time Allocation Among Chief ExecutivesPart 14 Executive Involvement in the Governmental ProcessPart 15 Patterns of Consultation in Decision Making by ExecutivesPart 16 The Influence of Local Interest Groups on Executive DecisionsPart 17 SummaryChapter 18 Measuring and Comparing Municipal Service QualityPart 19 The Concept of Service QualityPart 20 The Two Dimensions of Service QualityPart 21 Conceptual Model of Service QualityPart 22 The Service Performance GapPart 23 The Service Delivery GapPart 24 The Knowledge, Service Design and Communication GapsPart 25 The Value of Measuring Input Service QualityPart 26 Indicators of Input Service QualityPart 27 Police ServicesPart 28 Fire Protection ServicesPart 29 Building Code Enforcement ServicesPart 30 Solid Waste RecyclingPart 31 Input Service Quality Levels Among Small CommunitiesPart 32 Explaining Differences in Input Service QualityPart 33 SummaryChapter 34 Measuring and Comparing Municipal Service PerformancePart 35 Approaches to Performance BenchmarkingPart 36 Types of Measures Used in Assessing Service PerformancePart 37 Municipal Benchmarking ProjectsPart 38 The ICMA Benchmarking ProjectPart 39 The Northwest Municipal Conference ProjectsPart 40 The North Carolina Benchmarking ProjectPart 41 The South Carolina Benchmarking ProjectPart 42 The Tennessee Benchmarking ProjectPart 43 Lessons from the Municipal Benchmarking ProjectsPart 44 Implications of Benchmarking Projects for Small CommunitiesPart 45 SummaryChapter 46 ConclusionPart 47 Directions for Future ResearchPart 48 Appendix A: Measures Used for Police, Fire, Solid Waste and Recycling Services in Municipal Benchmarking ProjectsPart 49 Appendix B: Financial Data Collection Forms for the Tennessee Municipal Benchmarking Project

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 25.8.2005
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Pädagogische Psychologie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung
• ISBN-10: 1-4616-6575-2 / 1461665752
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4616-6575-5 / 9781461665755