WHAT DO CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS DO - FINDINGS FROM VICTORIA

This study explores the views of Victorian Chief Administrators (CAs) about their jobs. CAs report that the environment of administration ha s changed in three broad areas: greater public expectations, a breakdo wn of the politics-administration dichotomy and difficulties reconcili ng managerial accountability with limited managerial autonomy. In resp onse, CAs describe a distinctive pattern of concerns - with the ''what '', ''why'' and ''how'' of agency operation. First, they attempt to sh ape the ''what'' or the ends and values their agency creates. Second, they act to enhance the ''why'' or their agency's legitimacy and the s upport it attracts from constituencies. Third, CAs are concerned with ''how'' to mobilise organisational resources, particularly by moulding culture towards the agency values they identify. These findings sugge st that CAs have devised understandings of their responsibilities whic h conform more to theoretical conceptions of leadership than either ad ministration or management. The research points to the emergence of a distinctive type of administrative leadership.