The Korea Local Administration Review

This study is aims to measure a workload of four metropolitan local councils
using local council’s functions which are derived from analyzing work schedule
of local council secretariat. For ding so, this study conducts interview analysis
using document production volume and self-administered questionnaires targeting
public officials belonging to local council’s secretariats. Analytical results are
followings. First, functions of local councils are classified into 4 major functions,
14 medium functions, and 37 small functions. Second, the proportion of
non-electronic document work is approximately 60%, which means functions of
local councils are uncertain and unstructured. Third, it reveals that there are large
differences among local councils in terms of the proportion of detailed functions
and confirms that local council’s secretariats handle simple executive works rather
than advanced planning works. Therefore, building on the above analytical results,
this study suggests that it is necessary to expand functions of local council’s secretariat
with regard to enforcing independence and professionalism. Also, this study suggests
that it is necessary to develop work support system and improve organizational
culture of local council’s secretariats.