[169] EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP VERSUS BUDGETARY BEHA VIOR

Existing studies underestimate the barriers to using the budgetary process as a mechanism for "steering " public organizations. This analysis describes the appar-ently infinite adaptability of public administrators to changes in executive priori-ties by examining budgeting under two successive, sharply contrasting chief executives in Delaware. The study also looks at how budget examiners respond to changing executive priorities and at how this may, in fact, undermine executive leadership. It also identifies alterations in legislative behavior which follow shifts in executive priorities and agency actions. Two very different patterns of budget-ary behavior are identified and important limitations on "steering " and executive leadership are outlined. Existing studies of budgeting and financial management seri-ously underestimate the obstacles to using the budgetary process as a mechanism for steering, that is, determining the goals and direction of public organizations. On the one hand, prescriptive analyses of budgetary procedures understate the problem by focusing on techniques at the expense of politica