case study los angeles street services

This case study involved William Robertson, who served as Director of Street Services for the city of Los Angeles from 2003 to 2011. Robertson utilized “multiple tools in his efforts to manage relationships with his stakeholders (Cooper and Bryer 2007).” Robertson never ran from interacting with the community and its citizens always showing them that he had a general concern for their issues and was working to solve their problems. Robertson felt it was important to attend neighborhood council meetings to hear the citizen’s problems and partner with them on a resolution. This practice resulted in increased supporters for his department as well as increased funding. Robertson had the philosophy of leading from the front, a practice he learned in the Marine Corp; this practice as well as empowering his lower level employees resulted in the development of “strong, mutually supportive relationships across all levels of the organization (Cooper and Bryer 2007).” Robertson further maintained positive relationships with other managers collaborating with other agencies citing that this practice “accepting responsibility for the quality of life of all aspects of the city (Cooper and Bryer 2007).” Additionally, he streamlined decisions and processes by embracing technologies available resulting in increased efficiency of his agency.

Robertson brilliantly utilized his skills and tools obtained from life experiences to meet the goals for the agency. Robertson stated that he “can go political behind the scenes”, but never forgetting the people that he was serving. Keeping in mind that he still had to achieve budgetary goals and had to answer to a city council demands; Robertson was still political in his methods of dealing with all of the various factions without losing sight of their respective needs. Robertson maintained open communication, never lying or hiding facts from others. Robertson understood that his agency still had goals, but “cultivated