Suchergebnisse

The professional local elected official as integrative political leader
As increasing numbers of Finnish municipalities have introduced positions for full-time and part- time elected officials, the work of local political leaders has become professionalized. This article advances the understanding of the competence needs of professional local elected officials. The empirical data consist of interviews with local elected officials. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results indicate that the professional local elected officials tend to work as integrative political leaders. These integrative political leaders work adaptively as they aim to advance collaboration between different actors. They need, for example, communication and interaction skills, self- leadership skills, political skills, knowledge management skills, and systemic understanding to be successful in their work.

Local executive leaders' decisions reflecting public governance paradigms and local governance
In this article, we scrutinize how local executive leaders' decisions as part of local governance and management eventually illustrate the prevailing governance paradigms. The article builds on extant literature on the development of governance paradigms and their impact on local governance and management. The empirical qualitative document analysis explores executive leaders' decision-making themes and their emphasis in the city of Helsinki in two different periods of time. The results show a clear shift in the emphasis of themes, revealing different management priorities that reflect different kinds of governance paradigms. Our research shows that the content of local executive leaders' decisions reveals what is considered important in local governance and how these valuations become concrete through the emphasis of certain governance relations and management practices.