FSD1185 Finnish Municipal Manager Survey 1996

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Study title

Finnish Municipal Manager Survey 1996

Alternative Title

UDITE Leadership Study

Dataset ID Number

FSD1185

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD1185

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

  • Ståhlberg, Krister (Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration)
  • Sandberg, Siv (Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration)
  • Pikkala, Sari (Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration)

Abstract

The survey charted municipal managers' perceptions of their own jobs. The data were collected as part of the European UDITE Leadership Study aimed at local government Chief Executive Officers. The project includes fifteen countries: the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, France, Sweden, Denmark and the United States.

The respondents were asked about experiences of stress in the job and the importance of different aspects in daily work. These aspects included creating ideas and visions, guiding employees in daily duties and providing the chairman of municipal executive board with political advice. It was also canvassed which sources have contributed to their development as managers, for example, other municipal managers, magazines and publications in their field or interaction with the Association of Finnish Local Authorities. The respondents also assessed the importance of different factors in the organisational change process. These factors were, for example, wide participation of employees, the speed of reorganisation and securing the support of trade unions. The respondents evaluated how the attractiveness of municipal manager's job has changed during past ten years.

Opinions on the activities of the chairman of municipal executive board and leading local politicians as well as the interrelationship between the chairman and politicians and division of duties between them were probed. The respondents were asked about the time that the chairman had held the chair continuously, his/her membership in municipal council and chance of being re-elected. They also rated the status of the chairman within his/her own political party and answered to different attitudinal statements about the chairman's activities. These statements included his/her participation in managing administrative duties, relations with residents and ways of policy making. They evaluated how the important leading politicians should consider some of their tasks, for example, by following citizen views, consolidating administration and obtaining and distributing State grants. Perceptions of negative factors (conflicts between certain groups, economic and social problems and pressure from different quarters) that had affected municipal manager's job were charted.

The municipal managers assessed the development of municipal organisation and of the relationship between local authorities and the State during the past ten years. They were asked whether their municipality had privatised or contracted out its operations and how important that had been in terms of reducing the number of municipal employees. They evaluated whether municipal organisation had become more centralised or decentralised during the past ten years, how the delegation of tasks from local politicians to officials had developed and how the relationship between the State and local authorities had altered. The municipal managers also answered to attitudinal statements which focused on the strategies of making municipal operations more efficient. These strategies included municipal mergers, privatisation and competitive tendering. In addition, the respondents were asked about how different actors (e.g. chairman of municipal executive board, municipal managers, the media and the State authorities) influenced the budget and economic development of the municipality. They also assessed how often they communicated with certain actors (e.g. chairman of municipal executive board, leaders of political opposition, residents and the media), and how important, conflicting and co-operative the relations with them were. Finally, the respondents were presented with questions on the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities and the importance of certain personal qualities.

Background variables included degree of urbanisation of the municipality, region, the respondent's year of birth (categorised), gender, length and level of education, membership in a party or a trade union, and occupations of parents when the respondent was 15 years old. The respondents were also asked how many years they had held their position.

Keywords

competitive tendering; decentralization; intergroup conflict; leadership; local government; local government officers; management; municipal mergers; political parties; priorization; privatization; public administration; public officials; social influence; subcontracting

Topic Classification

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

  • Åbo Akademi University. Department of Public Administration

Time Period Covered

1996

Collection Dates

1996-03 – 1996-04

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Managers of Finnish municipalities (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

70

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

3.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

In the data file delivered to FSD, response alternatives in variables q24, q26, q35, q43 and q44 had been coded into three categories, even though there were five alternatives in the questionnaire.

Due to data security reasons, information regarding individual municipalities or municipal managers cannot be reported. Variables q1_1 and q1_2 including information on the municipality were removed from the data during archiving and recoded into new variables including information on the region (maakunta) and degree of urbanisation (kuntaryh) based on the 2008 classification of Statistics Finland. For privacy reasons, the following variables were also removed from the data: variables q7_2 and q7_3 charting work history, variables q12_1, q12_2 and q12_3 surveying membership in organisations, open-ended variables q18_1 and q19_1 charting parents' occupations, and open-ended variable q29_2 enquiring the leading politician in the municipality. In addition, year of birth was categorised during the archiving process.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Ståhlberg, Krister (Åbo Akademi University) & Sandberg, Siv (Åbo Akademi University) & Pikkala, Sari (Åbo Akademi University): Finnish Municipal Manager Survey 1996 [dataset]. Version 3.0 (2019-01-14). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD1185

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Materials

Anderson, Lene & Mouritzen, Poul Erik (1998). Techinical appendix. - In the publication: The Anonymous Leader : Appointed CEOs in Western Local Government (ed. Kurt Klaudi Klausen & Annick Magnier), p. 285-311. Odense : Odense University Press.

List of participants (1998). - In the publication: The Anonymous Leader : Appointed CEOs in Western Local Government (ed. Kurt Klaudi Klausen & Annick Magnier), p. 312. Odense : Odense University Press.

Related Publications Tooltip

Ståhlberg, Krister (1999). Suomalainen kunnallishallinto kansainvälisessä vertailussa/Finländsk kommunalförvaltning i jämförande belysning. Helsinki: Helsingin kaupungin tietokeskus. Kvartti: Helsingin kaupungin tietokeskuksen neljännesvuosijulkaisu; 1999:4, 5-11.

Sandberg, Siv (1999). The Finnish Local Government Chief Executive Officer. Finnish Local Government Studies (Kunnallistieteellinen aikakauskirja) 27(3), 295-306.

Sandberg, Siv (1998). The Strong CEOs of Finland. In: The Anonymous Leader: Appointed CEOs in Western Local Government (toim. Kurt Klaudi Klausen & Annick Magnier), 113-127. Odense: Odense University Press.

Anderson, Lene & Mouritzen, Poul Erik (1998). Technical appendix. Julkaisussa: The Anonymous Leader : Appointed CEOs in Western Local Government (toim. Kurt Klaudi Klausen & Annick Magnier), s. 285-311. Odense: Odense University Press.

List of participants (1998). - Julkaisussa: The Anonymous Leader : Appointed CEOs in Western Local Government (toim. Kurt Klaudi Klausen & Annick Magnier), s. 312. Odense : Odense University Press.

Study description in machine readable DDI-C 2.5 format

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