Page 342 - Cultures and Organizations

Pyramids, Machines, Markets, and Families: Organizing Across Nations 307

local government was organized, dividing roles between elected political
leaders and appointed civil servants:

1. The strong-mayor form, in which an elected mayor controls the major-
ity of the city council and is in charge of all executive functions. The
top civil servant serves at the mayor’s will. This form was found in
France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, as well as in major cities in the
United States.
2. The council-manager form, in which all executive functions are in the
hands of the top civil servant, who is appointed by an elected council
that has responsibility for setting policies but not for their execution.
This form was found in Australia, Finland, Ireland, and Norway and
in the smaller municipalities in the United States.
3. The committee-leader form, in which the executive functions are
shared by standing committees composed of elected politicians, the
political leader (with or without the title of mayor), and the top civil
servant. This form was found in Denmark, Sweden, and the United
Kingdom.
4. The collective form, in which all executive functions are in the hands
of an executive committee of elected politicians presided over by an
appointed mayor, to whom the top civil servant reports. This form
was found in Belgium and the Netherlands. 5

The researchers relate these forms to the national cultural dimensions of
power distance and uncertainty avoidance, as measured by the top civil ser-
vant’s answers on the culture survey. These measures were signifi cantly cor-
related with, but not identical with, those found in the IBM studies. On this
basis and within this group of fourteen countries, the strong-mayor form
was found where uncertainty avoidance was relatively strong. The council-

manager form was found where uncertainty avoidance was relatively weak
and power distance medium. The committee-leader form was found where
uncertainty avoidance was relatively weak and power distance small. 6

Management Professors Are Human

Not only organizations are culture bound; theories about organizations are
equally culture bound. The professors who wrote the theories are children