Leadership effectiveness of the executive directors of local government authorities in Tanzania

In the Tanzanian administrative system, the local government authorities (LGAs) are seen as an important layer of government that is responsible for the provision of social services such as education and health services. In the LGA the executive director is the highest civil servant who is seen as an important figure. This dissertation answers the question ‘what managerial roles and leadership behaviour the executive directors display in LGAs and to what extent and in what ways such roles and leadership behaviour explain the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of the LGAs?’The study concludes that the administrative behaviour of the executive directors is primarily bureaucratic in applying general instructions from the central government with little room for manoeuvring. The main activity is informational, meaning that the director provides instructions to the subordinates and provides reports to the central government. The dominant leadership behaviour is transactional and Ubuntu, meaning that the societal position of the director is very important. The study suggests enhancing the role of the LGA council to improve the role of the executive director. This dissertation is part of the project Capacity Building for the enhancement of Decentralisation by Devolution in Local Government Authorities in Tanzania: a collaboration between Mzumbe University (Tanzania), the University of Groningen and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands) and funded by NUFFIC.

Dissertation: https://hdl.handle.net/11370/b6f56107-9301-4a35-b25b-fe6512e8236c