The Strategic Planning Component in the Policymaking Process for Municipalities in Canada
Canadian municipalities are the products of precedent and the statute law of their respective provinces. Their nonpartisan politics have focussed on the servicing and enhancement of the interests, largely related to property, of a long-dominant commercial elite. Contrary priorities have been subverted by provincial conditional grant programs and other administrative guidance. Even in the largest cities, the realities of fiscal austerity beginning in the 1980s encountered structures and practices unable to manage imaginatively under conditions of stress.
E-Participation and Citizen Relationship Management in Urban Governance: Tools and Methods
Citizen relationship management (CiRM) is a combination of management approaches and information technologies for improving citizen services and citizen participation used at all levels of government. As an adaptation of private sector customer relationship management (CRM), CiRM is experiencing significant public sector adoption rates globally. However, while private sector CRM has demonstrated significant impact in the private sector, CiRM benefits are limited, and particularly lagging in the area of citizen e-participation in urban governance. This chapter provides an overview of the scope of CiRM functionality, with particular regard to the CRM origins and CiRM extensibilities, to develop a broader perspective of CiRM’s capacity for addressing e-participation. Developing this perspective further, theoretical and methodological approaches to e-participation are presented and evaluated in four categories: generic CiRM participation models, e-government CiRM, democratic CiRM, and strategic CiRM. Further research opportunities are highlighted within the context of emerging organizational, technological, and societal trends.
REPORT OF THE PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE.
The report from the Public Relations Committee of the Academy of Management for December 28, 1960 is presented.