La figura del city manager è stata oggetto di ampio dibattito nella letteratura; sono tuttavia più limitati i contributi volti a studiarne il contenuto di lavoro. In questa prospettiva il presente articolo si propone di analizzare le caratteristiche del lavoro dei city manager dei Comuni capoluogo di Provincia. Emerge il profilo di un professionista chiamato ad interpretare contemporaneamente diversi ruoli, prevalentemente immerso all’interno dell’organizzazione, il cui lavoro si connota per la forte componente multidimensionale e relazionale. Se i city manager analizzati paiono quindi maggiormente orientati ad una relazione privilegiata con gli stakeholder interni, nella parte finale del lavoro si accenna al cambiamento del ruolo dell’ente locale, il quale sembra aprire nuove sfide, che probabilmente impatteranno sull’evoluzione del lavoro del city manager.
The role of the city manager has been widely examined by the literature, although less attention has been posed on what city managers really do. In this perspective, the paper aims to analyze the content of the work of Italian city managers. It arises a portrait of a manager with a multiple role, spending most of his/her time internally in the organization, whose work is characterized by multidimensional tasks and by a high number of contacts with different players. Italian city mana-gers appear thereby to be most oriented to internal stakeholders; nevertheless the changing role of municipalities in the Italian context claims for new challenges, that probably will infl uence the evolution of the work of city managers.
The role of the city manager has been widely examined by the literature, although less attention has been posed on what city managers really do. In this perspective, the paper aims to analyze the content of the work of Italian city managers. It arises a portrait of a manager with a multiple role, spending most of his/her time internally in the organization, whose work is characterized by multidimensional tasks and by a high number of contacts with different players. Italian city mana-gers appear thereby to be most oriented to internal stakeholders; nevertheless the changing role of municipalities in the Italian context claims for new challenges, that probably will infl uence the evolution of the work of city managers.
