The role of the city manager in policy making : a study of differences in the conception of actual and perception of ideal policy making roles of the city manager by elected mayors and appointed managers in small California council-manager municipalities

Graduation date: 1986In recent years, the role of the City Manager in municipal\ud policy making has been the focus of considerable attention and debate in\ud both the academic and local government arenas. The purpose of this\ud study was to determine the differences in views of elected mayors and\ud appointed managers with regard to the actual and ideal policy making\ud roles of the City Manager.\ud A literature survey provided information about previous related\ud studies and was supplemented by a Likert-type survey developed by a\ud DELPHI panel. The mayors and city managers from 137 small California\ud Council-Manager municipalities participated independent of each other in\ud the survey.\ud The student "T" test statistic was utilized to determine whether\ud a significant difference existed between mayors' and managers' conceived\ud actual and perceived ideal role of the city manager in policy making.\ud All data supported the conclusion that no significant difference\ud existed between the mayors' and managers' views of ideal and actual\ud policy makins roles of the city manager