Login

Publications  •  Project Statistics

Glossary  •  Schools  •  Disciplines
People Search: 
   
Title/Abstract Search: 

Dissertation Information for Martha Hale

NAME:
- Martha Hale
- (Alias) Martha L. Hale
- (Alias) Martha Larsen Hale

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Public Administration

SCHOOL:
- University of South Carolina (USA) (1983)

ADVISORS:
- None

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Complete - Except Indecipherables

Title: A STRUCTURED OBSERVATION STUDY OF THE NATURE OF CITY MANAGERS' WORK

Abstract: In an attempt to test Henry Mintzberg's theory of the nature of managerial work, structured observation and the framework developed by Mintzberg has been applied to a specific type of managerial work. Time utilization is the basic unit of analysis in an investigation of the work of five city managers in Los Angeles County during a five week period between November 1981 and February 1982. Within the framework of time utilization, the city managers' work was analyzed in terms of roles, personal contacts and written material. At the most general level the characteristics articulated by Mintzberg about managerial work were upheld in this study. For example, city managers' activities are brief, verbal and varied. City managers spent 80% of their time talking with a total of close to 1000 people primarily in unscheduled meetings averaging six minutes each. At a more specific level of consideration the nature of city management work varied from the Mintzberg pattern. With respect to roles, city managers were found to overlap with those identified by Mintzberg but were not identical. Although city managers are administrators they are primarily brokers and information transfer agents among a wide variety of participant groups. Within roles the purposes of activities were examined in order to be more specific about what city managers do. The analysis of the activities within the roles indicated that the variety, duration and purposes of the specific activities were unique to city managers. The implications of the findings for the education of city managers are discussed. It is suggested that while city management draws upon general management theory as its base, the specific perspective of the city manager's roles must be incorporated into the theory. For example, public management should add consensus building to decision theory as city managers are not decision makers but decision builders.

MPACT Scores for Martha Hale

A = 7
C = 6
A+C = 13
T = 7
G = 1
W = 7
TD = 7
TA = 0
calculated 2008-07-25 19:21:35

Advisors and Advisees Graph