Municipal Clerks: Examining a Model of Job Satisfaction

• DOI: 10.1177/009102601003900403
• Author: Jeremy Phillips,Victoria Gordon,Jeffery L. Osgood
• Date: 01 December 2010
• Published date: 01 December 2010
• Subject Matter: Article

Municipal Clerks:
Examining A Model of
Job Satisfaction
By Victoria Gordon, DPA, Jeffery L. Osgood, Jr., PhD, and Jeremy Phillips
Using data from a survey of municipal clerks in the state of Illinois, this research
tests a model of job satisfaction for municipal employees based on previous
research by Ellickson and Logsdon. Our hypothesis is that the model will not hold
true for this sub-group of municipal employees because municipal clerks are
different from other public sector employees. Clerks are different in part because
their job duties and responsibilities are set out by statute, there is a great deal of
autonomy, and the position is one often held by females. Further, this research
examines whether there are differences in perceptions of job satisfaction between
elected and appointed clerks, and examines the factors that influence the variation
in the overall job satisfaction of municipal clerks.
Key words: Job satisfaction, municipal clerks, public sector employees
The Role of the Clerk: What Do Municipal
Clerks Do?
In the United States, there is approximately one municipal clerk for each of the 19,431
municipalities.1 The range of duties varies greatly across municipalities often based on
size of municipality. In small cities and villages, the clerk is sometimes the sole full-time
employee and has multiple responsibilities.2 Among their duties are keeping the city’s
official records, preparing agendas, taking minutes, processing payroll, paying the bills,
preparing the budget, and collecting taxes and fees.3 In others, the clerk is responsible
for duties that mirror what we would consider appropriate for a city administrator or
city manager—budgeting and finance, personnel, planning, grant administration,
economic development, and public relations. And in other municipalities, the clerk is
the equivalent of a department head and often is responsible for administrative
support, recordkeeping, election administration, and finance.4
In Illinois, the
municipal clerk is by statute (65ILCS 5/3.1-35-90) the keeper of the corporate seal and
all papers belonging to the municipalities—in essence the historian. The clerk is also
charged with attending all meetings and to keep a full record of each.
Even though clerks work independently of each other, they face similar
challenges in the work they do and in the environment in which they do their work.
Two other things all municipal clerks have in common are an intimate knowledge of the
day-to-day operations of their municipality and access to detailed financial
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information.5 Municipal clerks can easily be described as the heart and soul of
municipal governments. Clerks often serve to listen. They empathize and sympathize
with the elderly person who has a lost dog or the young single mother who cannot
quite pay all of the utility bill this month. Sometimes the citizen comes in to city hall to
complain—often about things out of the hands of the city government and the city
clerk.
Why Study Municipal Clerks?
In an assessment of the number of articles about women in the top fifteen political
science journals, Kelly and Fisher6 reported a count of 430 articles from the inception
date of each publication through 1991—approximately over a period of 100 years. One
conclusion of these authors was that more gender-based studies, rather than gender-
difference studies were needed. A study of municipal clerks offers such an opportunity.
The International Institute of Municipal Clerks7 (IIMC) reports a 10,200 total
membership in 2005, of which they report 85% of U.S. members are female. In Illinois
the Municipal Clerks8 (MCI) association reports a membership of 359, comprised
primarily of women.
In addition to the opportunity to conduct a gender-based study, the study of
clerks provides other unique research opportunities. First, the position of clerk is not
wholly political, nor wholly administrative. Municipal clerks in Illinois may be
appointed or elected. Previous research of women who hold political office, i.e. mayors
and city council members, shows that 1) the less desirable and the less important an
office, the more likely that women will hold it; 2) women do better in obtaining the
office when the salary is low.9 These conclusions intuitively seem plausible for the
elected position of municipal clerk.
Second, there is often a hierarchical reporting structure missing for elected clerks
in local government, whereas an appointed clerk reports to the council, mayor or
sometimes to the city administrator or manager. Further, promotion opportunities are
not relevant for the clerk because they are often viewed as being at the “top of their
career ladder.” Third, clerks often hold a long tenure in their position. Finally, women
often find it particularly challenging to balance work and family responsibilities. Many
employees today are part of the sandwich generation—caring for elderly parents or
relatives and small children (sometimes grandchildren)10 and these responsibilities
often fall on women. This domestic constraint has been suggested as a limitation that
working women face that keeps them from advancing, or being willing to relocate or
being unable to simply network with their colleagues.
Why Illinois?
This research is limited to studying clerks in one state for the following reasons. First,
clerks, in one state are more likely to be operating under similar policies, rules and
regulations. Second, to aid in survey response, the association of Municipal Clerks of
Illinois was asked to endorse the survey. The signature of the MCI president was
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included on the cover letter of the survey. Third, Illinois was chosen in particular
because clerks may be either elected or appointed which makes this an even more
unique sub-set of municipal employees to study. Finally, of the fifty states, Illinois has
the greatest number of municipalities—1,291 as of the 2002 census.11
Review of Relevant Literature
What Do We Mean By Job Satisfaction?
Job satisfaction12 is defined as the employee’s reaction to what he or she receives
from the job, i.e. the work environment. By looking at the differences between what
employees want and what they get, public sector employers can make organizational
improvements or changes to the work environment that may motivate employees.13
Ultimately, public organizational effectiveness many be improved by the presence of
dedicated public servants who are motivated not by narrow economic self-interests,
but by organizational loyalty and identification.14 The usual story is that where there is
job satisfaction, there is less absenteeism and an absence of turnover, which in turn
limits the turnover costs to the organization in terms of hiring, and then training a
new employee.15 For clerks with long tenure in the same position, perhaps the
turnover factor is less important, however, other factors such as organizational
commitment, security in the position, and trust in the governing body are deserving
of our attention.
Another definition suggests job satisfaction is how well an employee likes his or
her work.16 Why is this important? The simplistic answer is that organizations are made
up of people, and to improve organizational effectiveness, we must first understand the
people who comprise those organizations. To understand municipal clerks, we must
first understand what makes them a unique sub-set of municipal employees worthy of
study—what motivates them, what inspires them, what satisfies them.
Job Satisfaction and Public Sector/Private Sector
Comparisons
There is no shortage of studies on the topic of job satisfaction—estimates range in the
thousands. Often we find job satisfaction studies that compare private sector and
public sector employees17 based on the assumptions that the public sector employee
differs from his or her private sector counterpart and that the public sector work
environment differs from the private sector work environment. Unfortunately, while
differences in job satisfaction often appear to exist between sectors, there is no
consistency in those differences.18 Blunt and Spring19 reported no differences between
private and public sector employees; Bogg and Cooper20 reported higher
dissatisfaction by public sector employees than private sector employees; and
conversely, Maidani21 reported higher satisfaction levels by public sector employees.
Steel and Warner22 found high satisfaction in both public and private sectors, but
higher levels in the public than private sector. Gabris and Simo23 found high
satisfaction among private, public, and non-profit sector employees, but within these
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three sectors found that the public sector employees had lower levels of job
satisfaction.
Job Satisfaction and Public Sector Studies
Another approach to studying job satisfaction of public sector employees is to look at
comparisons between levels of governments. Durst and De Santis24 compared job
satisfaction differences among federal, state and local government employees. They
found distinct differences in level of job satisfaction and in the determinants of job
satisfaction among the differing levels of government. Overall, the determinants that
Table 1:
Summary of Selected Studies.
Author
Date
Level of Government Studied
Focus of Study
Blackburn and Bruce
1989
Local—city clerks in
Quality of worklife and job
Nebraska
satisfaction (primarily all
women)
Durst and...