Local government chief executives officers are presumed to play a meaningful role as their localities undertake the strategic planning process. However, the specifics of that role have not been tested or even well articulated. This research was an initial attempt at defining what role or roles are played by strategic planning managers that are distinct from ordinary routine operations of government.

Five hypothesized roles were defined for strategic planning managers after a review of the literature -- leader, accommodator, informer, integrator, and change master. Next, specific tasks that operationalized each role were described. Then a questionnaire was developed asking local government chief executive officers about their role perceptions using these tasks. It was sent to 168 city managers, town managers, and county administrators (or their equivalent) throughout Virginia.

The results of the survey showed statistically significant support for three of the hypothesized roles: leader, accommodator, and change master. Meanwhile, the role of informer was found to be nearly universal and the role of integrator was found to be more dependent than the other hypothesized roles upon the structural characteristics of the locality. Among the structural characteristics, the size of the locality and its government had a meaningful effect on the role perceptions of strategic planning managers. Characteristics which described the sophistication and standing of the locality’s government had virtually no effect. Also, there was limited support for the concept that the degree to which strategic planning managers perceived themselves playing each role varied depending on the stage of the strategic planning process. Additional research is needed to investigate these relationships further and to define the tasks associated with the roles better.