Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Skills and training requirements of municipal directors: a statistical assessment

  • Published:
Quality & Quantity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A survey has been performed in collaboration with the National Association of the Municipalities of Italy (Veneto region) to study the role of the municipalities with regard to the local area, to reconceptualize the profile of public directors and to study municipal directors as far as requirements in terms of competencies for skills and training are concerned. In the paper the importance of municipal director requirements for skills and training is assessed using composite indicators. The analysis showed that the most important skill requirements refer to internal aspects of the organization, whereas the most important training requirements refer also to external aspects. The analysis has been repeated on the strata of municipal directors obtained by considering municipality population, director sex, length of service, education and opinions about municipal mission. It is shown that the various strata of directors are rather concordant in assessing the importance of skill and training requirements. Municipal directors are aware of Italian public administration now being oriented toward new public management where they are assessed according to the results they produce. The robustness of the results has been addressed using uncertainty analysis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Angell, R.C.: The social integration of selected American cities. Am. J. Sociol. 47, 575–592 (1942)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aiello, F., Attanasio, M.: How to transform a batch of simple indicators to make up a unique one? Atti del Convegno SIS, (2004) 327–338

  • Arboretti, G.R., Bonnini, S., Salmaso, L.: A performance indicator for multivariate data. Quad. di Stat. 9, 1–29 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbieri, E., Di Tommaso, M.R., Bonnini, S.: Industrial development policies and performances in Southern China: beyond the specialised industrial cluster program. China Econ. Rev. 23, 613–625 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blalock, H.M.: Conceptualization and measurement on the social sciences. Sage, Beverly Hills (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolzan, M.: L’identitá professionale del personale dirigente degli enti locali del Veneto: Competenze, gabbisogno formativo in relazione al territorio e missione dell’ente. In: Bolzan, M. (ed.) Competenze e processi formativi per i dirigenti degli enti locali, pp. 13–54. Cleup, Padua (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyatzis, R.E.: The Competent Manager: A Model for Effective Performance. Wiley, New York (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox, D.R., Fitzpatrick, R., Fletcher, A.E., Gore, S.M., Spiegelhalter, D.J., Jones, D.R.: Quality-of-life assessment: can we keep it simple (with discussion)? J. R. Stat. Soc. Ser. A 155, 353–393 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fayers, P.M., Hand, D.J.: Causal variables, composite indicators and measurement scales: an example from quality of life. J. R. Stat. Soc. Ser. A 165, 233–261 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graeff, P., Svendsen, G.T.: Trust and corruption: The influence of positive and negative social capital on the economic development in the European Union. Qual. Quant. 47, 2829–2846 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hagerty, M.R., Land, K.C.: Constructing summary indices of quality of life. Sociol. Methods Res. 35, 455–496 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hochbaum, D.S., Levin, A.: Methodologies and algorithms for group-rankings decision. Manag. Sci. 52, 1394–1408 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hood, C., Lodge, M.: Competency, bureaucracy and public management reform: a comparative analysis. Gov. Int. J. Policy Adm. Inst. 17, 313–333 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  • Isljamovic, S., Jeremic, V., Petrovic, N., Radojicic, Z.: Colouring the socio-economic development into green: I-distance framework for countries’ welfare evaluation. Qual. Quant. (2014). doi:10.1007/s11135-014-0012-0

  • Lago, A., Pesarin, F.: Nonparametric combination of dependent rankings with application to the quality assessment of industrial products. Metron 58, 39–52 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  • Marozzi, M.: A composite indicator dimension reduction procedure with application to university student satisfaction. Stat. Neerl. 63, 258–268 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marozzi, M.: Tertiary student satisfaction with socialization: a statistical assessment. Qual. Quan. 46, 1271–1278 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marozzi, M.: Construction, dimension reduction and uncertainty analysis of an index of trust in public institutions. Qual. Quan. 48, 939–953 (2014a)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marozzi, M.: Measuring trust in European public institutions. Soc. Indic. Res. (2014b). doi:10.1007/s11205-014-0765-9

  • Noordegraaf, M.: Professional sense-makers: managerial competencies amidst ambiguity. Int. J. Public Sect. Manag. 13, 319–332 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • OECD: Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators. OECD, Paris (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD: Citizens as Partners: OECD Handbook of Information, Consultation and Public Participation in Policy Making. OECD, Paris (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  • Osborne, D., Gaebler, T.: Reinventing Government. Addison-Wesley, New York (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollitt, C., Bouckaert, G.: Public Management Reform: A Comparative Analysis, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  • Saisana, M., Saltelli, A., Tarantola, S.: Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis techniques as tools for the quality assessment of composite indicators. J. R. Stat. Soc. Ser. A 168, 307–323 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saisana, M., d’Hombres, B., Saltelli, A.: Rickety numbers: volatility of university rankings and policy implications. Res. Policy 40, 165–177 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Development Programme: Human Development Report (2014) http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-hdi. Cited 7 Jan 2014

  • Uslaner, E.M.: Trust and corruption revisited: how and why trust and corruption shape each other. Qual. Quant. 47, 3603–3608 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Virtanen, T.: Changing competences of public manager: tension in commitment. Int. J. Public Sect. Manag. 13, 333–341 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, R.M., Damanpour, F., Devece, C.A.: Management innovation and organizational performance: the mediating effect of performance management. J. Public Adm. Res. 21, 367–386 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, B.E.: Public sector work motivation: review of current literature and a revised conceptual model. J. Public Adm. Res. 11, 529–586 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, P., Ang, B.W.: Comparing MCDA aggregation methods in constructing composite indicators using the Shannon-Spearman measure. Soc. Indic. Res. 94, 83–96 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marco Marozzi.

Additional information

Sections 2 and 3 have to be attributed to M. Marozzi. Sections 1, 4 and 5 have to be attributed equally to M. Marozzi and M. Bolzan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Marozzi, M., Bolzan, M. Skills and training requirements of municipal directors: a statistical assessment. Qual Quant 50, 1093–1115 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-015-0192-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-015-0192-2

Keywords

Navigation