Political complexity or managerial simplicity? Mayoral norms of organisational leadership

Abstract

In the past, public organisations could function as subunits of the national state rather than as autonomous entities. Globalization, and especially Europeanization, has however made it more and more difficult for public organisations to hide behind the state (Meyer 2002: 37). Increasingly they have to shoulder responsibilities independently and directly confront the problems of decision and action. As a consequence, public organisations are undergoing a transformation into autonomous organisations. With the rise of autonomous public organisations comes the rise of management possibilities. According to (2002), any organisation worthy of the name focuses on management as a core element for all forms of structuring. Thus the head of any public organisation is increasingly defined as a manager rather than a doctor (head of hospital) or educator (head of school) and those elected head of a municipality may be seen as managers rather than mayors (Meyer 2002: 34). © VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften | GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden 2006.