Scholars and journalists have devoted a wealth of attention to White House organization and management, but have produced only modest conclusions on how presidential staffing is related to performance. This article assesses findings from two schools of staffing studies—personalist and institutionalist—and suggests that re-searchers ultimately need to examine the interactive effects of management style and organizational factors on performance. To this end, a typology is developed based on two dimensions of variation: a president's managerial assertiveness and staff cohesion. The four resulting patterns are discussed in terms of the nine most recent administrations.
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