Originally published in 1980, this book provides an analysis and assessment of events in local government management during the late 20^th Century set within an overall conceptual framework of organisation theory. The book fills the gap between theoretical prescription and practical management application. The analysis focuses on three areas of organisation design and functioning – the structural, the procedural and the cultural. In each of these areas the interrelationship between broad theoretical prescriptions and the actual management innovations introduced in local authorities is examined. A major portion of the book is devoted to an assessment of the importance of behavioural/cultural factors in the introduction and assimilation (or rejection) of managerial change, an aspect of organisational functioning which was neglected in the literature on local government management.