Douglas M Ihrke
Biographic Data
| ID | 4128533 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Douglas M Ihrke |
| GIVEN NAMES | Douglas M |
| FAMILY NAME | Ihrke |
| SIGNATURE | IHRKE D M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 71 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
“Whether they've done anything beyond performance could be argued”
In recent years, local governments have begun to explicitly recognize that racism is a public health crisis that requires policy reforms to address systemic drivers of inequality. In May 2019, Milwaukee County, WI became the first locality in the U.S. to adopt such a resolution. It is not clear to what extent these declarations foster substantive change. We use Milwaukee County, WI as a case study to determine community perceptions of the impacts…
Determinants of Priority Conflict on City School Boards
In this article, the authors use original survey data to test the determinants of priority conflict on urban school boards in the United States. The results indicate that school district demographics, including the percentage of English language learners and education spending per pupil, impact the extent to which urban school board members hold conflicting priorities. In addition, boards whose members indicate they engage in continuous strategic…
Bridging the Charter School Accountability Divide
In this article, we use originally collected survey data to determine how nonprofit charter school board members in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota define accountability. We find that charter board members generally define accountability downward toward student achievement and staff performance, inward toward board performance, or upward toward authorizer compliance. We use the results of the survey to make a series of public pol…
Perceptions are Reality
In this article, we present a theoretical framework for understanding public governance based on human perceptions. We argue that governance is at its core a human enterprise, and concepts such as effectiveness, accountability, and legitimacy cannot be measured without considering the perceptions of both the governed and those involved in governing. The shortcomings of existing governance research are discussed, and five propositions related to t…
The impact of Wisconsin’s Act 10 on municipal management in smaller municipalities
This article examines elected officials’ opinions on Wisconsin’s controversial 2011 collective bargaining reform. Survey results from elected officials serving on city councils and village boards with less than 10,000 residents demonstrate that Act 10 is still viewed through a partisan lens, making its overall impact on municipal governance unsettled. We also find that officials who first came to office prior to Act 10 generally think the law has…
Perceptions of council member-department head interactions in local government
In this article, we use data collected from municipal council members and department heads in Michigan municipalities with over 10 000 residents to determine how, and why, they view the quality of their interactions with one another. Building theories of small group dynamics and political control of bureaucracy, we test several hypotheses and conclude that council members and department heads hold divergent views of their interactions with one an…
Board conflict and public performance on urban and non-urban boards
In this article a national sample of survey data collected from U.S. school board members paired with school-district level data from the National Center for Education Statistics are used to test the relationships between board conflict and school district performance. We add to the existing governance literature through our use of a national data set and specific focus on the impact of conflict on urban school boards. The analysis indicates a ne…
Determinants of conflict on Wisconsin School Boards
In this article, we use original survey data from Wisconsin school board members to determine the extent of conflict present on Wisconsin school boards and the determinants of different types of perceived board conflict. School boards, by virtue of overseeing a public good with readily measurable performance variables, offer an ideal case for testing a relationship between board governance performance and conflict. Using multivariate regression a…
No End to Hierarchy
This article investigates whether authority hierarchy still serves as an important factor influencing employee perceptions toward organizational roles and expected behavior. Results of a study in a federal agency suggest that hierarchy does serve as a significant force influencing employee attitudes toward leadership roles, contrary to the notion that hierarchy will diminish in importance over time. Hierarchy remains a crucial structural force in…
Conflict on City Councils in Wisconsin
Community conflict has been the domain of social science researchers for decades. However, the systematic study of conflict on city councils has received scant attention in this literature. In this study the authors explore the extent to which conflict is present on city councils in Wisconsin communities with populations greater than 10,000. By using the literature on non-profit and local government boards, the authors develop a set of hypotheses…
Council member perceptions regarding representational and service delivery effectiveness in Wisconsin
Local governments are under increasing pressure to effectively represent various political interests within communities. This study attempts to measure and explain city council member perceptions of representational and service delivery effectiveness of local governments for a sample of communities in Wisconsin. The authors hypothesize that variables from several categories are related to representational and service delivery effectiveness, and t…
Mission Change in a Federal Agency and its Link to Employee Transfer Preferences
Little research has been done on employee desire to transfer jobs within public sector organizations. This article explores the factors that explain this behavior for a large sample (N = 1248) of employees in the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). These factors include, for example, mission change, employee burnout, and staffing levels. The findings indicate that radical mission cha…
Understanding Innovation in Municipal Government
Municipal governments have been elevated to a new status in the American federal system due to devolution of federal and state responsibilities to the local level and the widespread recognition that they are the governments most capable of innovative behavior. While we know that local governments are likely to engage in innovation, we do not know what contributes to the perceived success or failure of those innovations. The central focus of this …
Leadership Credibility, Board Relations, and Administrative Innovation at the Local Government Level
This article explores the association between administrative leadership, elected board behavior, and administrative innovation at the municipal level. It is hypothesized that city administrators perceived as credible leaders will generally nurture more regenerative relationships with their respective boardslleading to higher trust, higher openness, lower risk, and higher owning. The resulting cooperative dynamic should facilitate the acceptance a…
Research Note
The argument that suburbs exploit cities has been made so often that it seems incontestable. Adherents to that view, however, rarely produce evidence for exploitation where suburban-generated benefits have been measured and compared with suburban-generated costs. Studies that examine only costs are not convincing evidence that suburbs damage cities. Relatedly, what evidence exists that metropolitan government fragmentation damages cities, while c…
Leadership Credibility, Board Relations, and Administrative Innovation at the Local Government Level
This article explores the association between administrative leadership, elected board behavior, and administrative innovation at the municipal level. It is hypothesized that city administrators perceived as credible leaders will generally nurture more regenerative relationships with their respective boardslleading to higher trust, higher openness, lower risk, and higher owning. The resulting cooperative dynamic should facilitate the acceptance a…
Conflict on City Councils in Wisconsin
Community conflict has been the domain of social science researchers for decades. However, the systematic study of conflict on city councils has received scant attention in this literature. In this study the authors explore the extent to which conflict is present on city councils in Wisconsin communities with populations greater than 10,000. By using the literature on non-profit and local government boards, the authors develop a set of hypotheses…
Board conflict and public performance on urban and non-urban boards
In this article a national sample of survey data collected from U.S. school board members paired with school-district level data from the National Center for Education Statistics are used to test the relationships between board conflict and school district performance. We add to the existing governance literature through our use of a national data set and specific focus on the impact of conflict on urban school boards. The analysis indicates a ne…
Understanding Innovation in Municipal Government
Municipal governments have been elevated to a new status in the American federal system due to devolution of federal and state responsibilities to the local level and the widespread recognition that they are the governments most capable of innovative behavior. While we know that local governments are likely to engage in innovation, we do not know what contributes to the perceived success or failure of those innovations. The central focus of this …
Determinants of Priority Conflict on City School Boards
In this article, the authors use original survey data to test the determinants of priority conflict on urban school boards in the United States. The results indicate that school district demographics, including the percentage of English language learners and education spending per pupil, impact the extent to which urban school board members hold conflicting priorities. In addition, boards whose members indicate they engage in continuous strategic…
Perceptions are Reality
In this article, we present a theoretical framework for understanding public governance based on human perceptions. We argue that governance is at its core a human enterprise, and concepts such as effectiveness, accountability, and legitimacy cannot be measured without considering the perceptions of both the governed and those involved in governing. The shortcomings of existing governance research are discussed, and five propositions related to t…
Bridging the Charter School Accountability Divide
In this article, we use originally collected survey data to determine how nonprofit charter school board members in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota define accountability. We find that charter board members generally define accountability downward toward student achievement and staff performance, inward toward board performance, or upward toward authorizer compliance. We use the results of the survey to make a series of public pol…
Research Note
The argument that suburbs exploit cities has been made so often that it seems incontestable. Adherents to that view, however, rarely produce evidence for exploitation where suburban-generated benefits have been measured and compared with suburban-generated costs. Studies that examine only costs are not convincing evidence that suburbs damage cities. Relatedly, what evidence exists that metropolitan government fragmentation damages cities, while c…
Determinants of conflict on Wisconsin School Boards
In this article, we use original survey data from Wisconsin school board members to determine the extent of conflict present on Wisconsin school boards and the determinants of different types of perceived board conflict. School boards, by virtue of overseeing a public good with readily measurable performance variables, offer an ideal case for testing a relationship between board governance performance and conflict. Using multivariate regression a…
No End to Hierarchy
This article investigates whether authority hierarchy still serves as an important factor influencing employee perceptions toward organizational roles and expected behavior. Results of a study in a federal agency suggest that hierarchy does serve as a significant force influencing employee attitudes toward leadership roles, contrary to the notion that hierarchy will diminish in importance over time. Hierarchy remains a crucial structural force in…
Council member perceptions regarding representational and service delivery effectiveness in Wisconsin
Local governments are under increasing pressure to effectively represent various political interests within communities. This study attempts to measure and explain city council member perceptions of representational and service delivery effectiveness of local governments for a sample of communities in Wisconsin. The authors hypothesize that variables from several categories are related to representational and service delivery effectiveness, and t…
Mission Change in a Federal Agency and its Link to Employee Transfer Preferences
Little research has been done on employee desire to transfer jobs within public sector organizations. This article explores the factors that explain this behavior for a large sample (N = 1248) of employees in the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). These factors include, for example, mission change, employee burnout, and staffing levels. The findings indicate that radical mission cha…
Research Note
The argument that suburbs exploit cities has been made so often that it seems incontestable. Adherents to that view, however, rarely produce evidence for exploitation where suburban-generated benefits have been measured and compared with suburban-generated costs. Studies that examine only costs are not convincing evidence that suburbs damage cities. Relatedly, what evidence exists that metropolitan government fragmentation damages cities, while c…
Leadership Credibility, Board Relations, and Administrative Innovation at the Local Government Level
This article explores the association between administrative leadership, elected board behavior, and administrative innovation at the municipal level. It is hypothesized that city administrators perceived as credible leaders will generally nurture more regenerative relationships with their respective boardslleading to higher trust, higher openness, lower risk, and higher owning. The resulting cooperative dynamic should facilitate the acceptance a…
Understanding Innovation in Municipal Government
Municipal governments have been elevated to a new status in the American federal system due to devolution of federal and state responsibilities to the local level and the widespread recognition that they are the governments most capable of innovative behavior. While we know that local governments are likely to engage in innovation, we do not know what contributes to the perceived success or failure of those innovations. The central focus of this …
Mission Change in a Federal Agency and its Link to Employee Transfer Preferences
Little research has been done on employee desire to transfer jobs within public sector organizations. This article explores the factors that explain this behavior for a large sample (N = 1248) of employees in the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). These factors include, for example, mission change, employee burnout, and staffing levels. The findings indicate that radical mission cha…
Conflict on City Councils in Wisconsin
Community conflict has been the domain of social science researchers for decades. However, the systematic study of conflict on city councils has received scant attention in this literature. In this study the authors explore the extent to which conflict is present on city councils in Wisconsin communities with populations greater than 10,000. By using the literature on non-profit and local government boards, the authors develop a set of hypotheses…
Council member perceptions regarding representational and service delivery effectiveness in Wisconsin
Local governments are under increasing pressure to effectively represent various political interests within communities. This study attempts to measure and explain city council member perceptions of representational and service delivery effectiveness of local governments for a sample of communities in Wisconsin. The authors hypothesize that variables from several categories are related to representational and service delivery effectiveness, and t…
No End to Hierarchy
This article investigates whether authority hierarchy still serves as an important factor influencing employee perceptions toward organizational roles and expected behavior. Results of a study in a federal agency suggest that hierarchy does serve as a significant force influencing employee attitudes toward leadership roles, contrary to the notion that hierarchy will diminish in importance over time. Hierarchy remains a crucial structural force in…
Perceptions of council member-department head interactions in local government
In this article, we use data collected from municipal council members and department heads in Michigan municipalities with over 10 000 residents to determine how, and why, they view the quality of their interactions with one another. Building theories of small group dynamics and political control of bureaucracy, we test several hypotheses and conclude that council members and department heads hold divergent views of their interactions with one an…
Board conflict and public performance on urban and non-urban boards
In this article a national sample of survey data collected from U.S. school board members paired with school-district level data from the National Center for Education Statistics are used to test the relationships between board conflict and school district performance. We add to the existing governance literature through our use of a national data set and specific focus on the impact of conflict on urban school boards. The analysis indicates a ne…
Determinants of conflict on Wisconsin School Boards
In this article, we use original survey data from Wisconsin school board members to determine the extent of conflict present on Wisconsin school boards and the determinants of different types of perceived board conflict. School boards, by virtue of overseeing a public good with readily measurable performance variables, offer an ideal case for testing a relationship between board governance performance and conflict. Using multivariate regression a…
Perceptions are Reality
In this article, we present a theoretical framework for understanding public governance based on human perceptions. We argue that governance is at its core a human enterprise, and concepts such as effectiveness, accountability, and legitimacy cannot be measured without considering the perceptions of both the governed and those involved in governing. The shortcomings of existing governance research are discussed, and five propositions related to t…
The impact of Wisconsin’s Act 10 on municipal management in smaller municipalities
This article examines elected officials’ opinions on Wisconsin’s controversial 2011 collective bargaining reform. Survey results from elected officials serving on city councils and village boards with less than 10,000 residents demonstrate that Act 10 is still viewed through a partisan lens, making its overall impact on municipal governance unsettled. We also find that officials who first came to office prior to Act 10 generally think the law has…
Bridging the Charter School Accountability Divide
In this article, we use originally collected survey data to determine how nonprofit charter school board members in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota define accountability. We find that charter board members generally define accountability downward toward student achievement and staff performance, inward toward board performance, or upward toward authorizer compliance. We use the results of the survey to make a series of public pol…
Determinants of Priority Conflict on City School Boards
In this article, the authors use original survey data to test the determinants of priority conflict on urban school boards in the United States. The results indicate that school district demographics, including the percentage of English language learners and education spending per pupil, impact the extent to which urban school board members hold conflicting priorities. In addition, boards whose members indicate they engage in continuous strategic…
“Whether they've done anything beyond performance could be argued”
In recent years, local governments have begun to explicitly recognize that racism is a public health crisis that requires policy reforms to address systemic drivers of inequality. In May 2019, Milwaukee County, WI became the first locality in the U.S. to adopt such a resolution. It is not clear to what extent these declarations foster substantive change. We use Milwaukee County, WI as a case study to determine community perceptions of the impacts…
Political science (15 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Public relations (10 works) · Public Policy and Administration Research (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Business (7 works) · Public Administration (7 works) · Corporate governance (6 works)