The Kehler Management System: A Holistic Framework for the Administration of Municipalities

Abstract Research purpose. Especially against the background of a globalised world, municipal managers are confronted with increasingly complex tasks. Furthermore, the range of tasks of a municipality and its stakeholders are very heterogeneous. While repetitive work processes are basically characterised by a clear starting position and objectives and the resources required to achieve these objectives are known and available, these manageable prerequisites are usually not present in complex public administration systems. The transfer of purely management ratio-based approaches from the business management sector is difficult for public administration, since not profit but the common good is the prioritized target. Municipal managers need a holistic approach that addresses the municipal council, the population, companies, administrative organization and budget management in order to be able to control municipalities within a diagnostic framework. Design/Methodology/Approach. First of all, a brief insight into the history of the new municipal budget law in Germany is given. The aim of the budget law is to reform the budget and accounting system, but above all, to strengthen municipal control through goal orientation. After an overview of the current diagnostic frameworks, it becomes clear that a holistic approach is missing. To develop such a framework, success factors for municipal control are identified. These are then combined into success clusters to create a more manageable, holistic structure for implementation – the Kehler Management System (KMS). A survey and two case studies, which were conducted within two years in the municipality of Ottersweier, empirically prove the practical relevance of the KMS approach. Findings. 36 success factors were identified, which were structured into six success clusters. One success cluster addresses the trusting cooperation between politics and administration (in short: politics and administration). A culture of leadership and cooperation within the administration is another cluster of success (in short: culture of leadership and cooperation). Sustainable human resources management forms the third cluster of success factors (in short: human resources management). A further cluster could be identified in the strategic area (in short: strategy). A fifth cluster of success relates to the conversion to a modern budget and accounting system, which considers resource consumption (in short: municipal accrual accounting as a control instrument). The last success cluster addresses changes in the administrative environment (in short: learning organization). The six success clusters are not independent, however, these have a causal order. The municipal accrual accounting as a control instrument and the integration of the strategy are fundamental for the other four success clusters, which address the implementation of the reform process. Originality/Value/Practical implications. In 2015, the framework of the KMS was evaluated in a survey of 115 municipalities with up to 50,000 inhabitants and was considered coherent and helpful by the municipal executives. In individual communities like Ottersweier, detailed diagnostic analyses based on the Kehler Management System were conducted with various internal stakeholders, which led to strategy development, resource-oriented budget management, operational implementation, and a continuous improvement process. However, only the internal view of the municipal administration is currently addressed. In an extension of the KMS, further research aims at integrating the external view of citizens and companies into the framework.