Political leaders and public administrators: Interaction patterns and pictures in Finnish local government decision-making processes

Joensuu, Minna; Niiranen, Vuokko

doi:10.1177/0952076716673898

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 40 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The separation between the political and administrative spheres is regarded as a cornerstone of Western democracy (Hansen and Ejersbo, 2002;Joensuu and Niiranen, 2016). Early on, Woodrow Wilson (1887) identified this relationship, and Weber (1922) noted that the separation suggests that politicians make policies and the administration implements them (Cameron, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Keeping politicians at arm’s length’: how managers in a collaborative organization deal with the administration–politics interface

Brorström

Norbäck

2019

International Review of Administrative Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examines the relationship between politicians and managers in a Swedish city. The context is a collaborative organization responsible for drafting and implementing the vision and strategies for a city organization, and for future development of the downtown river area. The article examines the efforts of city managers to manage the relationship with city politicians. We illustrate how the managers strive to manage an appropriate ‘arm’s-length’ relationship with the politicians by navigating in and out of the ‘purple zone’ of the politics–management interface, and how the context of collaborative organizations seems to increase the amount of time public managers spend in this zone. Points for practitioners This article illustrates the relation between managers and politicians in a city organization. We use the concept of the ‘purple zone’ to show how managers’ and politicians’ work is blurred in a collaborative organization, and how this context seems to increase the amount of time public managers spend in this zone. This implies that managers often take on a responsibility for solving complex issues.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Keeping politicians at arm’s length’: how managers in a collaborative organization deal with the administration–politics interface

Brorström

Norbäck

2019

International Review of Administrative Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In an earlier article (Joensuu and Niiranen 2018), two sets of questions from the questionnaire to political leaders were used to form three groups of political leaders according to how much the issues mentioned influenced the decision-making processes in their respective municipalities. These groups are used in the analysis in this article.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The differences between the groups are statistically significant (p < 0.001) on all the grouping variables other than municipal residents. (Joensuu and Niiranen 2018). In this article three more sets of questions and some background data from the questionnaire to political leaders were analyzed using these groupings as the basis for the analysis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political Leaders’ Experiences of Local Council, Board and Committee Work and Its Challenges in Finland

Joensuu

Niiranen

2019

Administrative Sciences

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The relationship between political leaders and public administrators is a layered and multi-dimensional phenomenon influenced by both organizational characteristics and personal qualities and skills. Continuous reforms of local government structures lead to changes in the interaction between these key actors. The purpose of this article is to investigate if different interaction patterns of political leaders influence how they perceive their duties as political leaders. The empirical data was collected by a questionnaire from political leaders in six local government organizations in Finland. The political leaders were then grouped into three using factor analysis and k-means clustering according to their interaction styles in their positions in the strategic level decision-making. The further analysis utilized contingency tables. The results suggest that the three groups among the political leaders think and act in different ways. The differences are not based on political opinions, but on attitudes towards the decision-making process and the political leaders’ modus operandi. There are also differences what the political leaders find most difficult in their duties. These groups form one more layer in modern local government decision-making. Recognizing the different patterns of interaction may help us to better understand the dynamics of strategic management in the local government.

show abstract

“…Pormestarien lisäksi huomio on alkanut vähitellen kohdistua myös muihin kuntien johtaviin luottamushenkilötehtäviin ja niissä toimiviin hen kilöihin (Kyösti & Paananen, 2020. Poliittisia johtajia on tutkittu poliittishallinnollista yhteistyötä jäsentävällä kyselytutkimusasetelmalla, jolla on tyypitelty poliittisia johtajia heidän luottamushenkilötyöhön suhtautumisensa mukaan (Joensuu & Niiranen, 2019) sekä tuotettu jäsennys luottamushenkilöjohtajien käsityksistä päätöksenteosta ja viranhaltijoiden kanssa käytävästä vuorovaikutuksesta (Joensuu & Niiranen, 2016).…”

Section: Johdantounclassified

Poliittinen johtaminen ja kuntien vuorovaikutteinen hallinta

Paananen¹

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Political leadership and interactive governance in finnish local government context This study investigates political leadership as embodiment of interactive governance in Finnish local government context. The article focuses on how local political leadership broadens along with adapting interactive governance ideas at local level. The empirical data consists of 15 interviews of the leading local politicians. Using abductive qualitative content analysis, it is possible to identify how interaction is intertwined throughout the whole political process. This intertwining emphasizes the meaning of interactive and networked dimension of political leadership. It is arguable, that instead of sovereign decision-maker role the focus of local political leadership is shifting towards enabling and utilizing interaction strategically and for boundary-spanning activities, which relates to more interactive governance of municipality.

show abstract

Political leaders and public administrators: Interaction patterns and pictures in Finnish local government decision-making processes

Cited by 16 publications

References 40 publications

‘Keeping politicians at arm’s length’: how managers in a collaborative organization deal with the administration–politics interface

‘Keeping politicians at arm’s length’: how managers in a collaborative organization deal with the administration–politics interface

Political Leaders’ Experiences of Local Council, Board and Committee Work and Its Challenges in Finland

Poliittinen johtaminen ja kuntien vuorovaikutteinen hallinta

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About