Top managers in local government: influences on development

This paper describes a study of factors that have influenced the career development of senior managers in local government. It extends earlier work on business chief executives and chief officers of police carried out by Margerison and Kakabadse. It was found that the influences could be categorized into three main groups: two kinds of personal attributes – ability factors, motivational factors – and the third group comprising situational factors. Certain of the individual factors are consistent with the findings from competency research. While there are some differences from the earlier research the extent of the similarity is more striking, suggesting the enduring importance of many influencing factors across both time and employment sector.