Polky Studies Journal, Vol. 21, No. 1,1993 (82-93}

From Tradltionai Management to the NewManagement in British Local Government

Michael Clarke and John Stewart

The article outlines the assumptions on which traditiemal management inBritish locai authorities was based. It argues the those assumptions weregrounded in the conditions cfthe postwar period, but outlines developingcritiques. In recent years societal changes and econcmic and financialpressures have challenged the basis cf traditional management and rein-forced the critiques. The legislative program ofthe Conservative Govem-ment on local government is presented as one response to the need to bttilda new management, with its own strengths and weaknesses.

Local govCTnment in Britain is f^ing a new crisis. The failure of thecommunity charge and the cumulative impact of tiie legislation of the currentParliament to which we refer below, has led to a review of its structure and operation.In December 1990 tiiere was announced a tiioroughgoing review of finance, functions,and role and structure. The demands of short-term politics led tiie MaJOT Govemmentto proceed with a number of the strands separately. Legislation was enacted fOT tiieintroductiOTi of a new local "council tax" (with a property rather tiian tiie head countbase); the govanment established a Commission later in the year to review the countryarea by area with a remit to consider the establishment of unitary autiiorities to replacethe p'esent two-tier stmcture; experiments were proposed for new pattems of internalmanagement but no statement has been, or shows signs of being, forthcoming aboutrole and functions.

Although there has been no statement about role and functions, a slow butinexorable process of centralization of control is taking place in many areas of localgovernment service, with central govemment assuming direct responsibility fordirection. This is matched by a process of fragmentation at the local level, as newresponsibilities are given or transferred to special purpose agencies, power is trans-ferred to institutional arrangements involving the consumer or other communityrepresentative (e.g., tenants, school govemors), or responsibilities are discharged viathird party's contracting.

Put togetiier, these two trends do not look good for local govemment and itremains to be seen where tiie future lies. We believe that, despite the threats, theopportunities to strike and develop new roles is there. In writing this article we try tostand back from the immediate debate. We look at what we believe to have beendevelopments over recent years, and chart tiie implications of these for tiie future.Profound changes have taken place, and are still taking place. Their fruits are still onlybecoming evident but their potential and significance are great

Symposium on Local Government Policymaking and Management: ClarkelStewart

Change from the Government of Certainty

LocalgovonmentinBritainischanging under thepressur^ofachangingsocie^,ofchangingpuUicattkudes,andcf thegovoTimem'Sresponsetothosechanges. Orgad-z^ion and management, and the pdicymaking pocesses built iq) to meet the rde c^localauthorities in theperiod since the secondWOTldWar,arechallaigedbythosedianges. LocalauthOTities are reviewing those [xocesses and buikling a new management and a newOTganization.

The wOTking of local authorities in the postwar period was built for an£q)parent certainty of task inastable society with goals that were wictely accepted acrosstiie poUtical spectrum. The development of the welfare state, a commitment to fullemployment, and tiie Keynesian management of the economy set tiie politicalparameters witiiin which local authorities acted.

The local authorities lost significant functions particularly in the immediatepostwar period as the Labor govemment laid the foundations fOT the politicalsettianent that lasted for over 30 years.

Localauthorities remained responsible fora widerangeof the services whichWCTe critical to the new settiement Their task inrelation to those services seemedclear.There were clear needs—for new schools, for a growing number of teachers, for newhousing. The task of tiie local authorities was to meet those needs. In meeting tiioseneeds they relied upon established expertise based on the accepted p'ofessionalsolution. There was little disagreement between central and local government OTbetween the political parties at eitiier local or national level. There was agreement ontiie needs to be met and on the approaches to be adopted. The only issues were theresources that could be made available.

Resources grew each year, although inevitably they were never enough tomeet the needs identified. The only resourees available directiy to local autiiorities,apart from fees and charges, derived from the rates (a property tax), and localauthorities were limited in the extent to which they felt able to raise the level of whatwas seen as an unpopular tax. Additional resourees had to come from centralgovernment, and central govemment responded by inaeasing grant, in botii relativeand absolute terms, in support of expenditure on programs which were seen as nationalprograms to meet the needs ofthe welfare state and tiie postwar settiement

In many ways the task of local authorities had become local administrationrather than local govemment. As expenditure on services grew and large scale capitalprograms developed in support of the services, the scale and size of local authoritydepartments grew. Councillors and officers naturally focussed their attention on theorganizational problems. The need for tiie services was not in dispute. The needs wereclear. The means to meet the needs were equally clear. They rested upon tiie acceptedexpertise of the professionals who constituted the officer stmcture.

The Organizational Assumptions of Traditional Management

Any organization is built on a series of assumptions, as discussed betow.They are rarely made explicit and, indeed, in that lies their importance—tiiey are somuch accepted as part of tiie way of working that they do not have to be stated.

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The assumption of self-sufGciency meant that if local mithorities wets givenresponsibili^ for a service, tiiey would jHovide that service directiy and wouldthemselves employ all the staff required fOT that service.

The assumptiOTi of uniformity meant tiiat the local authority provided aunifOTm standard of service throughout its area. The assumption of uniformity wasasax;iated with two further assumptions. The nrstwas the assumption of direct COTttrol.LcHig hierarchies separ^ed freld workers from the chief officer responsible tocommittees. The length ofthe hierarehies was justified by the need to control, andcontrol directiy, tiie working of the autiiority. The assumption of direct control can besera in the wOTking of the traditional ccnnmittee system whose regular meetingsfocussed on agendas based on "control as it happens." The assumption of functionalexpertise was expressed in the professional principle as the altemative basis foruniformity. Where uniformity could not be thieved through direct control, reliancewas placed on professionalism as the expression of accepted expertise.

The assumption of formal accountability meant that the accountability oftiiose who woric in tiie local authority was achieved through the council being subjectto periodic elections, and tiiat such accountability was all tiiat was required.

The Organizational Building Blocks of Traditional Management

The organization ofthe local authority was based on a series of committeeseach of which focussed on a particular service—education, social services, housing—with other committees focusing on certain central functions such as finance. Theattention of councillors on committees focused on the organization of services and theroutines of administration. The committees attempted to exereise control "as ithappened" with agendas tiiat were concemed with a long succession of decisions thathad to be made in tiie day-to-day running of the organization. The councillors becameabsOTbed into the woridng of tiie organization.

The departments of the local autiiority also focussed on particular services,with ea:h department having a dominant profession whose functional expertise wasseoi as essential to the operation of tiiat service. The department was structured arounda hierarchy of control, witii bureaucratic authority reenforeing professional autiiorityand ensuring continuity of practice. Although the authority had a Clerk drawn fromthe legal profession as tiie senior officer of the authOTity and a Treasurer responsiblefor the fuiances of the autiiority, it was through the departmental organization tiiat thelocal authority dealt with the administration of a series of separate services.

A Critique of Traditional Management

Over time a critique has developed of tiie traditional management oradministration of local authorities. That critique has tiiree main aspects, each of whichchallenges an aspect of tiie working of the local authorities built around tiie adminis-tration of services on a well-established pattem, and sustained by the organizationalassumptions set out earlier.

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The Govemmental CritiqueThe govemmental critique starts from the basis tii^ a local authority's role

is local govemment rather than the administration of services. It starts from tiie basisthat "Local gov^nment is not, in our view, limited to the narrow provision of a scriesof services to tiie local community. It has witiiin its purview the overall economic,cultural, and physical well-being of that community, and for tiiis reason its d^isionsimpinge with increasing frequency upon the individual lives of its citizens" (The BainsReport, 1972, p. 6).

The Public Service CritiqueThe public service critique starts from the basis that a local authOTity exists

to provide services fOT tiie public and tiiat the value of the services can only be judgedby the public they are designed to serve. The critique contended that traditionalmanagement provided services "to" the pubiic, ratiier than "for" the public. Servicesprovided on a unifOTm basis reflected accepted expCTtise legitimated by tiie electedrepresentatives. The authority knew what was required because the professional wastrained to know or the councillor was elected to know. It did not therefore seek to leamwhat those who received and those who did not receive tiie services, required fromtiiose SCTvices.

The Value for Money CritiqueThe value for money critique questioned the belief that improved services

depended on expenditure growth—a belief built by years of continuing growth. Itquestioned tiie extent to which traditional management ensured the best use ofresources. It was argued that such management or administration of local authoritiestook for granted tiie existing use of resources. The attention of managCTs was focusedon the increments of growtii. Strict budgetary control, which restricted virementbetween budget heads, gave managers no incentive to manage their resources better.Additional resources could only be obtained from bidding for more resources, not fromreallocating resources within managers' responsibilities.

The Development ofthe CritiquesThese critiques were developed over a period of time. The Maud Report on

the Management of Local Govemment was published in 1967; and tiie Bains andPattCTSon reports on the OTganization and management stmctures of the new localauthorities in England and Scotland published in 1972 and 1973 also gave expressionto the critiques—at least as a starting point The Maud Report recommended a neworganizational stmcture based on the following principles: (a) effective and efficientmanagement under the direction and control of the members; (b) clear leadership andresponsibility among both members and officers; (c) an organization which presentsto the pubiic an intelligible system of govemment; and (d) responsiveness to the needsof the public (The Maud Report, 1967, para. 132).

The Bains and Patterson reports were to be the main influences on tiiedevelopment of a corporate approach in local govemment looking beyond theindividual SCTvices:

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Within the bounds of law and limitations imposed by the proposed fonn andfunctions, the new authorities mttst be wide-ranging in Eheii cx)nsid«aticm ofconunimity needs and mtjst look beyond at immediate confines of anindividual service or a single year's estimates.... We regard as establishedbeyond all question the need in principle for the corporate ap^oach—not justwithin a single authority but between authorities and with central govem-moit (TTie Patterson Report, 1973, paras. 4.3 and 4.4).

These reports were to have tiieir main impact on structure in strengtheningthe cqiacity of the local authority as a corporate OT^nization. They led, by the timeof reorgianization, to the creation in almost every autiiority of a Policy and ResourcesCommitteetoprovide the council with guidance on theovCTall policies of tiie authOTity,achief executive to be the head ofthe council'spaid services, and a management teamof chief officers to give expression to a corporate approach (Greenwood, Lomer,Hinings, & Ranson, 1975).

Although tiiese reports had tiieir impact on tiie structure of local authorities,not OTiIy in creating these integrative mechanisms but also in reducing to some extentthe number of committees and structures, they had only a limited impact on traditionalmanagement Altiiough stmcture was changed, there was little change in the way ofworking. The building blocks of committees and departments remained tiie same—all that happened was that tiie building blocks were assembled in a different way. Theassumptions underlying traditional management remained largely unchanged andunchallenged.

The Challenge to Past Certainties

The period since the mid- 1970s has seen a growing challenge of tiie politicalsettiement of the postwar period, and to tiie certainties on which it rested. With tiiatchallenge came a challenge to the role of local autiiorities, and to the way of workingbased on that role. Five main sources for tiiat challenge can be identified.

The first source is the perceived failure of the accepted solutions based onprofessional expertise tiiat supported the established pattem of service. The "high rise"developmentwhichwasafeatureofhousingpoUciesinthe 1950sand 1960s wasfoundin many cases to be flawed in technical and social design (Dunleavy, 1981; Power,1987). Planning policies were seen as having restricted economic growth (Hall,Thomas, Gracey, & Drewett, 1973). The growth in educational expenditure had notled to the improvement in standards of education, and it was a Labor I'rime Minister,James Callaghan, who initiated "the great debate" that was the start of the challengeto educational practice continued and intensified under the Conservative Govemmentthat succeededhim. The certainties of accepted expertisegave way to the uncertaintiesof challenge.

Secondly, public acceptance ofthe services provided by local authorities wasundermined by the perceived failure of past policies, but also by the growingresentment of services increasingly perceived as unresponsive to user needs. Thepublic still sought public services, but did not accept so readily the form in which the

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SCTvices were delivered. The welfare state was perceived as having been deliveredthrough the centralized bureaucracies (Donnison, 1983). There was no longo- acertainty of public acceptance of what was done on tiieir behalf, but rather publicuncertainty.

A third source was that, at the same time the polity in which local autiioritiesw a e set was changing not on one dimension, when the certainties of past pr^^ce canbe carried forward by trend prediction into tiie future, but on many dimensions. Theeconomy faced major crises following the rise in oil prices. Unemployment grew.Major restmcttiring was seen in the decline at majOT industries with hcpefully thegrowth ofnew industry and services requiring very different modes of prodtKtion andemployment pattems. Demographic structure changed with the growtii in tiie numbCTof vulnerable elderly and the decline in tiie number of children. Social norms WCTBchanging with the growtii in divorce and/or die one-parent family. Environmentalp-oblems grew both in reality and perception. Thae was a growing recognition of themulti-cultural soci^y.

The fourth factor is that when change is taking place on many dimensions, itbecomes difficult to predict the direction of change, since it is in the interaction ofchange that the simplicities of trend projection are lost The continuity of change is nolonger a stabilizing element in the woridng of local authorities. Charles Handy hasargued that "Change is not what it used to be" (Handy, 1989, p. 5). He highlights thediscontinuity of change, arguing that "it is the combination of a changing technologyand economics, in particular of information technology and biotechnology and theeconomies associated with them, which causes this discontinuity. Between them theywill make the world a different place" (Handy, 1989, p. 14).

Finally, local authorities had, in any event lost tiie main instrument fOTmanaging change. As we have said, local authorities had relied on the increment ofexpenditure growth as a means of responding to change witiiout disturbing theorganization. An assured increment of growth meant tiiat existing pattems of servicecould remain relatively unchallenged by change. Local govemment expenditure hadincreased continuously over tiie period since 1945 up to 1975. That increase inexpenditure had been largely fuelled by increasing govemmentgrant as govemmentsof both political persuasions sought to meet public aspirations for growing services.The economic crisis generated by the rise in world oil prices meant that the era ofgrowth was replaced by an era of constraint in which first Uie Labor govemment of1974 to 1979 through consultation, and subsequentiy the ConsCTvative Govemmenttiirough legislative change, sought—even though they did not always obtain—cutbackinlocalgovenimentexpenditure(Travers, 1986). Therestiltingconstraintremovedtheexpenditure growth which had both sustained the established pattem of services andmade it possible for local autiiorities to cope witii change without disttirbing thatpattem. It is not surpnising that these changes were associated with an intensificationof local politics. The previous settlement had been associated with a politicalconsensus fuelled by growth and based on the acceptance of authoritative professionalexpertise. Undermining that basis was the perceived failure of past policies witii theresulting public reaction, and the emergence ofnew problems and issues for which pastexpertise had no ready solutions. The era of constraint confronted local authorities witiihard choices. An active politics replaced tiie passive politics of the previous period.

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These changes botii singly and togethCT challCTige the basis of the (xevioussettiement on which the traditiOTiai management of local government rested. As weha>% seal, that settlement reflected the role of the local autiiOTities in the welfare stateas the iKlniinistrators of the established pattCTn of services resting upon authoritativeexpCTtise and siqjported by growtii in local govemment expenditure. The describedchanges challenged tiiat established pattCTn of servke and the autiioritative expCTtiseOTi which they rested, as well as removing tiie continuity of expendiOire growth. ThepCTCeived failure of past policies and the growing public dissatisfaction, expressed ina mOTe assertive politics, challenged existing pattems of services and the claim toexpCTtise on which they rested. Out of tiie raiewed arength of the critiques a newmanagement began to replace the traditional management

Towards A New Management

That new managCTnent has been described as maiked out by tiie attributes ofaneffectivelocaiautiiOTity whichwoul± (a)beclosetothecitizenandcloseaspossibleto its objectives; (b) be able to leam from a changing environment and apply thatlearning to determine strategy and pohcy direction; (c) wOTk through politicalprocesses which steer management action; (d) be guided by organizational capacity torecc^nize and deploy a wide range of powers, influence, and resources in manydifferent ways; (e) continually review performance; (f) fully develop and use its humanresource recognizing tiie importance of equal of^xM-ftinities; and (g) pursue new waysof working tiirough organizational innovation (Clarke & Stewart, 1990, Chapter 2).

Many of these attributes were also to be found in the recommendations of tiieAudit Commission on the managementof local autiiorities(AuditCommission, 1988).These attributes reflect a concept of local authorities as local govemment with itsempdiasis on leaming from the environment, wOTldng in a variety of ways, and beingguided by political processes. They reflect and start from the need of a local authorityto be close to its public as customer and as citizen, while concemed to ensure theeffective deployment of resources. The new management challenges tiie OTganiza-tional assumptions tiiat supported traditional management

The Legislative Pressure for Change

TheConservative Govemment elected in 1979,andreelectedin 1983 and in1987, pureued policies which were widely seen as an attack on local govemment TheThatcher govemment was committed to roll back the power of the state, eitiiCT bydirectly ranoving responsibilities frtan govemment or by introducing competitiOTi andmarket forces into its working. Local autiiorities, many of which were controlled bythe exposition, were seen as obstacles to the realization of these policies. This led toincreased centralization as the govCTnment took powers to control local authorities'expendiuire or to detCTmine their way of working. The govCTnment argued that theywere centralizing in order to decen tralize—to give powCT to tenants to buy their houses,to give parents the right to choose not to be under local authority control—but theovCTall effect was a massive increase in the power of central govemment over local

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authorities, accompanied by what were seen by local govCTiimentas C(»itinited attacksupon it by ministries. It seemed as if local authorities were "the enemy within."

The ThatehCT Govemment introduced about 60 majOT pieces of legiskttiOTiati local govemment and its sCTvices. In the &st two Parliaments, legislatiOTi wasmainlyconcentratedon local govCTnment finance.as the government sought the meanstoCOTitrollocalgovCTnmentexpenditure. Thatlegislation wasbasedatfirston attemptsto influence local autiiorities' decisions by penalizing tiiem tiuDugh reductions in grantif tiiey exceeded levels spa;ified by the Govemment LatCT the Government Mxk.powers to control directiy the expenditure decisions of particular authOTities. Eventu-ally tiie GovCTnment introduced, in place of the previous ptopsny tax on dranesticproperty, the community charge (commonly known as the poll tax)—a flat rate pCTc^i ta tax, which was argued to be necessary to ensure local accountability, since itmeant tiiat all who benefited and could vote for expenditure h ^ to contribute to itthrough local taxatiOTi (Travers, 1989). The tax proved to be very unpopular becauseit was a tax unrelated to ability to pay (Gibson, 1991); and in 1991 the Govemmentannounced its replacCTnent by apropCTty tax (Department of the Environment 1991).

There was other legislation in the first two Parliaments. Tenants of localauthority houses were given the right to buy tiiat property. The GovCTnment abolishedtiie u i ^ r tiCT authOTities in tiie metropolitan areas or in Greater LondOTi, distributingtiteir responsibilities among new Joint Boards, central government departments, andtiie lower tier authorities. The main legislative program affecting the working of localautiiorities was during the 1987 Parliament Legislation included a requirement thatlocal autiiorities put out a specified range of activities (e.g., refuse collection, streetcleansing, grounds maintenance) to compulsory competitive tendering. The localauthority could itself tender fOT the wOTk, but the decision on which tender to accqjthad to be taken on commereial grounds. The Govemment took powers to extend therequirement for compulsOTy competitive tendering to any other activities of localauthorities. The Education Reform Act introduced a national curriculum andrequiredlocal authoritiestodevolve management responsibilities and budgetary control(witiiinan overall budget to be determined on a fomiula basis by tiie autiiority, subject toapproval of central govemment) to schools' goveming bodies. It also gave school theright to opt out of local authority control through aballot of parents (Ranson & Thomas,1989). Housing legislation contained provision fOT tenants tooptout of local authoritycontrol in favOT of another landlord tiirough ballots on estates. It also [xovided fOThousing accounts to be ring-fenced, limiting transfers from and to local autiiOTitygeneral accounts (Spencer, 1989). Legislation on community care for the elderly andtiie mentally handicapped was designed to emphasize tiie role of the local autiiority asa purehaser of services from a variety of sourees ratiier than as a provider. Legislationwas introduced on a number of other issues, such as a requirement tiiat the in^)ectoraterole in waste disposal be separated from provision, fOT which local authorities had toset up companies and a number of provisions to change tiie operation of the politicalprocesses in local authorities.

The Thatcher GovCTnment's approach contrasted witii tiie approach of otiiCTgovemments, such as tiie Reagan administration, with an apparentiy similar ideology.The explanation probably lies in the centralist political culture in Britain, reflecting ina rhetoric used by tiie govemment which emphasized and emphasizes tiie unitary state.

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The growth in central govemment power weakened tiie position of localgovernment and, in ttte view of the authors, could have harmfril effects on the capacityofthe whole system of govemment to respond to the COTnpIex changes taking place thatdemand leaming and ad^tabilty that will not be possible in the emerging centralizedstrucbire.

The Impact of Legislative Change

The effectoftii^echanges on the intCTnal working of local authorities is moredifficult to assess. We have argued tiiat change was required. The changes brcaightabout by govemment legislation are one responsetotiiatneedfOTchange, with theever-present danger that it imposes a uniform pattem where diversity may be required.

The first issue tiiat must be considered is whether change has actually takCTiplace. The rhetoric has certainly changed. The language of management now useswords and phrases such as "businessplans,""marketing,"and"customers." But wordscan change mOTe easily tiian management attitudes. Organizational asstimptions arenot easily remade. Organizational culture is not easily changed.

Clearly, however, the legislation has led to actual change. The greatestimpact, both direct and indirect, has been of the legislation on compulsory competitivetendering and on devolved management of schools. Organizational change has takenplace and that change has created new motivations and brought new actors into dieworking of local autiiorities.

Local authorities have had to submit a series of services to competitivetendering. TTiey have won about 80% of the contracts, but that has only been achievedthrough major changes in tiieir organization and management They have separateddie client role from the contractor role in the organization. In order to submit the workfor tendCT they have had to specify the work required and relationship even when tiiework is awarded internally, and it has been govemed by a service contract The newapfffoaches to management which these changes have required have spread beyond theareas of statutory impact and have influenced most areas of local govemment work(Walsh, 1991).

This has led to the development of service-level agreements between suchunits and other parts ofthe authority such as tiie Treasurers or Itersonnel Departments.A number of autiiorities began to set up such departments on a trading basis. InLincolnshire, fOT example, tiiae will be "separated contractor organizations coveringlegal, financial and property and personnel services. These organizations would COVCTsuch services and activities in both central and service departments so that tiiey are allcarried out in a separated clienl/contractor role" (Lincolnshire, 1989).

In the same way the legislation on devolved management has requiredfundamental changes in the relationship between local authorities and schools. Thelocal authority no longer has direct control over the allocation of a school's budget orits management With respect to the role of tiie education authority, in the wOTds of tiieAudit Commission, "clearly again organizational assumptions have been challengedand the effects have been felt throughout the local authority."

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In baling with die effect of legistation, one is dealing with more than changesin rhetoric. Actual changes have taken place. The legislation has had a very significanteffect OTi local authorities, botii directiy and indirectly. It has challCTiged two keyassumptions of traditional management—tiie assumptions of self-sufficiency and ofdirect control. Many but not all these developments stq3ported the changes identifiedas necessary fOT a new management to suppOTt the role of local government

These changes led to a clarification of policy by local authorities. If servicesare subject to contract, then management has to specify its requirements. Localauthorities faced with the legislation on compulsory competitive tendering soondiscovered tiiatinmanycases, becausethey had relied on directcontrol, theyhadnevCTspecified tiieir requirements OT clarified their policy. Now tiiey had to do so.

Once a sCTvice is contracted out or contracted in, the autiiority can no longerrely on direct control, but must rely on control over the cont i^ t This has led to anemphasis on monitoring perfonnance and quality, which has a value in its own right

The changes have also led to tiie devolution of management responsibilitywitiiin the authority. Contracting-in, the developmentof local managementof school,and tiie proposals for community care have led to changes giving management greatCTfreedom to achieve tiie requirements ofthe council. These developments have led toan extension of intCTnal contracting, as they have led to a wider devolution ofmanagement responsibility, going beyond legislative requirements.

The deepest change brought about by tiie govemment legislation is throughtiie challenge to the assumption of self-sufficiency. It shows the possibility that thereare other ways of working tiian direct provision, altiiough with tiie danger that theuniformity of the delivery of services by thatmethod will be replaced by the unifOTmityof govemment by contract

Danger Signals in the Changes, and the Need to MaintainBalance

The changes brought about by govemment legislation have encouraged thedevelopment of the new management for local government, but there are dangers thatthe legislation is leading to particular kinds of emphasis at tiie expense of otiiers.

In many respects the changes brought about by govemment legislation areseen as encouraging the development of management based on private sector models.Thus, fOT example, tiie Audit Commission's main recommendations fOT managementin local govemment are published under the titie "The Competitive Council" (TheAudit Commission, 1988). And again, many local authorities are adopting statementsof organizational values, based on models drawn from such woiks as In Search ofExcellence (Peters & Waterman, 1980) developed for the private sectOT rather tiianworked through to reflect the distinctive values and purposes of local govemment

There is a danger of management in the public domain in general and in localgovemment in particular which becomes based on private sectOT models, rather thanreflecting the distinctive purposes and values, conditions, and tasks of local govem-ment If the aim is to run services as if they were in the private sector, then they should

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be placed in the [xivate sector. But activities are in tiie public sector to be run in adifferent way from the market

The firstdiutgCTof theConsCTvativeGovCTnment'schangesis thatthey donotemjdiasize the role of local govCTnment and with it the primacy of tiie political pxx%ss,and tiie importance of being close not merely to the public as customer but to the publicas citizen.

The OthCT main danger of the effect of the govemment changes is that it isleading to local authOTities becoming in effect a series of separate units which conducttiieir relationship with each otiiCT through contractual OT semicontractual arrange-ments. While this brings strengths, as we have seen, in clarifying tiie tasks to beundCTtaken by such units, tiiere are difficulties if such changes are carried too far.

This new structure is in danger of imposing an organizational certainty on thegrowing uncertainties, which require a high capacity fOT leaming, frar responding, andfor involving. Yet tiie new suiictures could mean tiiat leaming is fragmented and keptwitiiin tiie units into which the local authorities are becoming divided. The capadiyfor responding to change could be restricted to tiie cs^acity of particular units and tothe tCTms of their contracts, which can build rigidity ratiier than the required flexibility.Involving the public is not easily achieved within the fragmented, contractually boundstmctures. In the fragments, local government can be lost

TTiis require of local authority the need to create countervailing forces tobuild the capacity for leaming beyond tiie boundaries of the separate units, and fOTusing that leaming in strategic management under political guidance. There is the needto get the balance right if tocal autiiorities are to respond, as local government, to thegovemment of uncertainty, and to build a new management for that task.

Michael Clarke is Chief Executive of the Local Govemment ManagementBoard.

John Stewart is ProfessOT of Local Govemment and Administration in tiieInstitute of Local Govemment Studies at Birmingham University.

References

Tlie AiKlit Commission. (1988). The Competitive Council. London: Author.The Bains Report. (1972). The newlocalauthorities: Managementandstruclwe. London: Her Majesty's

Sutioncry Office.Clarke, M.,& Stewart, J. (1990). The general management of local government. Harlow: Longmans.Departmentof the Environment. (1991). Local government review: A new tax for local government.

London: Author.Donnison, D. (1983). Urban policies. London: The Fabian Society.Dunleavy, P. (1981). The politics cf mass housing in Britain: Corporate power and professional

infiuence in the welfare state. Oxford: The Qarend<»i Press.Gibson, J. (1991). The politics and economics of the poll tax. Warley: Emas.Greenwood, R., Lomer, M., Hinings, C.R.,& Ranson, S. (1975). The organization of local authorities

in England and Wales. Birmingham: Institute of Local Govemment Studies.Hall, P., ThOTias, R., Gnioey.H.,& Drewett, R. (1973). The containment cf urban England. London:

Political and Ec<»iomic Planning.

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