Role players and authority figures: Informal power relationships within local authorities

Abstract

English Little academic research has been carried out into the role of ‘the centre’ in UK local authorities. The literature concentrates on formal management relationships such as coordination, control and political management, but it does not address more informal power dynamics. This article examines the interplay of power relationships in management and policy roles carried out by staff who are located either in the ‘corporate centre’ or in a ‘service department’. It argues that there is a significant degree of unresolved intra-organisational conflict representing different interests and that these have to be ‘managed’ informally, without recourse to the ‘formal’ hierarchical managerial system. It concludes that there are associated management skills that are still relatively unrecognised in local government.