Leadership (6%) Flashcards
What is Planning Authority?
Planning staff make recommendations; the governing body has the authority to make decisions.
In most communities, who makes land-use and development decisions?
Planning commissions.
City and county boards give final approval.
How do planning commissioners obtain their leadership role?
Planning commissioners are either elected or are appointed by a governing body (mayor/council).
What are the 4 different types of organizational structures in planning agencies?
- Flat
- Hierarchical
- Matrix
- Line
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the flat organizational structure?
Pros: (few or no levels of management)
-more employee responsibility
-removes excess mgmt.
-easier decision-making
Cons:
-can create confusion
-generalists but no specialists
-limits long-term organization growth
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the hierarchical organizational structure?
Pros:
-defined leadership
-opportunities for promotion
- produces specialists
-loyalty to department
Cons:
-communication is more effective with Flat structure
-departmental rivalry
-more bureaucracy
-increased organizational costs
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the matrix organizational structure?
Pros:
-Vertical and horizontal chain of command
-Fewer formal rules and levels of hierarchy
Cons:
-Slow decision-making due to info sharing
-Possible confusion/frustration due to dual authority
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the line organizational structure?
Pros:
-bureaucratic
-authority and responsibility clearly defined
-efficiency and simplicity of relationships
Cons:
-monotony possible
-worker alienation
-difficult to make adjustments in response to new circumstances
What is the disadvantage of having a matrix organizational structure?
Slower decision-making and possible confusion resulting from dual authority.
When it comes to local planning agencies, would the APA like to see a formalized accreditation program for planning departments/agencies?
YES.
Public health agencies do. Schools do. Why not planning?
What are the 3 C’s of a good staff report?
Compliance
Consistency
Compatibility
What are the three typical organizational models used in planning?
- Management (HR, Board, Staffing, IT)
- Current planning (permitting, environmental assessment, project management)
- Advanced/long-range planning (strategic plans, comprehensive or general plans)
What are 3 examples of other organizational themes?
Organizing by:
- Specialities, subdisciplines, skillsets (eg. having housing, transportation, and economic development)
- Functional approaches (eg. planning in one group, IT in another group, investment in another)
- Vertical integration by subject
What are the 3 potential organizational structures or ways of organizing for sustainability?
- Incorporate sustainability into the planning department
- Have sustainability be a part of an Executive Office
- Sustainability could be a stand-alone department (eg. City of Boston)
BONUS 4th: a combination of the above - eg Mayor’s office of Energy and Sustainability reports to the Mayor but is physically located and shares staff with the Planning & Development Department
What is an example of a functional approach to organizational structure?
Organizing based on the different functions of an organization - for example, legal, IT, financial investments, planning would all be different departments.
What is Loss Exposure?
The possibility of loss from an accident or business risk, or financial loss an entity faces due to loss of value for example. Loss exposure could be in one of 5 categories.
Local governments need to plan for this.
What are the 5 different categories of Loss Exposure?
- Casualty risk
- Liquidity risk
- Market risk
- Political/litigation risk
- Technological risk
What is Casualty Risk as a form of loss exposure?
accidents involving property or personnel or income
What is Liquidity Risk as a form of loss exposure?
Liquidity risk is when you don’t have enough cash to cover operations.
What is Market Risk as a form of loss exposure?
Market risk is where you have an inability to provide services.
What is Political/Litigation Risk as a form of loss exposure?
Brought by private entities in response to government actions.
For local governments, these are the primary threats of all different types of loss exposure. For example:
-political leadership changing their views on planning
-community’s views on planning and engagement
-budgetary consequences of actions and inactions
-inability to fulfill planning missions.
The above are all political/litigation risks.