Social Science Information Studies (198 l), 1 (257-262) 0 198 1 Butterworths

ESSAY REVIEW

ORGANIZATIONAL LESSONS FOR LIBRARY MANAGERS

Richard N. Osborn and others. Organization theory: an integrated approach. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1980.611 pp. ISBN 0 471 02173 3 E11.75. Robert Golembiewski. Approaches to planned change. Part I Orienting perspectives and micro-level interventions. New York: Marcel Dekker Inc., 1979. 36 pp. ISBN 0 8247 6803 5. Robert Golembiewski. Approaches to planned change. Part 2 Macro-level interventions and change agent strategies. New York: Marcel Dekker Inc., 1979. 502 pp. ISBN 0 8247 6804 3. Clayton P. Alderfer and Cary L. Cooper. Advances in experiential social processes. Volume2. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd., 1980. 329 pp. f13.75.

The first issue of Social Science Information Studies made several references to the value of, and need for qualitative research. Wilson in his thoughtful analysis of the relationships between information science and the social sciences, stated that reports of research in the qualitative mould will be encouraged. Roberts reviewing the Pittsburgh Studies questioned the value of research which produces and manipulates large masses of machine-readable data, stating that it is flawed by its uncritical reliance upon figures unsupported by exploratory studies of the operators and users of library systems.

Investigations into the management of library and information systems in the past twenty years have tended to be dominated by the approaches of the quantitative researcher. The early concentration on quantitative methods arose from the discovery of Bradford’s law which, when verified and used as a planning tool, had considerable influence on the development of national and special library planning. From the point of research methods in general, the 1960s and 1970s represented the era of the statistician and mathematician whose work was greatly aided by the rapid development of computing technology which provided a relatively cheap method of processing large quantities of numerical data. It was considered that research methods from the natural sciences might be employed in the field of library and information science, and that if sufficiently large masses of data were collected and analysed, then perhaps other causal relationships might be adduced from which theories concerning the operation of library and information services could be derived. Given theories, these might then be employed to provide better services. But in practice few additional facts or rules have been discovered apart from the 80/20 rule.

Now the above statement is a sweeping generalization, and there have been exceptions where, for example, operations researchers and librarians have come together to carry out studies which have yielded results which were so convincing that they have influenced library practice in a fundamental manner. The outstanding example is the work carried out at the University of Lancaster library which led to the establishment of short-loan collections in university libraries in order to yield maximum availability of heavily requested items. (Though it is interesting to note recent comment to the effect that short-loan collections may also discourage undergraduates who have limited experience of library use,

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horn making wider use ot’their academic library services.) So perhaps today in the field of management research in library and information services, it may be necessary to turn to studies other than those involving large scale statistical exercises, and concentrate more closely on the environment external and internal to the services, in order to provide an optimal service from both the users’ and librarians’ points of view.

The three titles reviewed in this essay may seem, at first sight, to be unrelated to library and information services. However, closer examination reveals that they may help in providing an understanding of the total service environment and the human side of management. For to carry out studies in LIS management, without examining the literature of management in general, is insular; and one of the major problems in the management of our services is that the approach has been characterized by insularity.

At first sight the text on Organization theory: an integrated approach by Osborn, Hurst and Jauch is a typical textbook from the U.S. intended for use in under- graduate and postgraduate teaching in North American universities. In the note ‘to the instructor’ it states that it will probably ‘be most widely used in business schools’. However, its use of research evidence from outside business, and its inclusion of a wide range of organizations, make it also suitable for areas such as sociology, public administration, and the like.

The authors claim to have taken the term ‘integrated’ seriously, and they employ a systematic top-down organization of the chapters, moving from the environment to the work unit level. In addition they use these variables to predict and explain various aspects of organization and subunit ‘success’. They take a con- tingency approach which moves away from making statements of organizational principles, which is more commonly found in textbooks. For this reason the work is refreshing to read, for the contingency approach discusses relationships that hold for clearly specified conditions. If the conditions change, then it follows that the relationships change. The authors acknowledge that the notion of contingency itself is not profound, and that it has been used by far-sighted managers for years. However, they state that we have only recently learned enough about organizations, to enable us to focus more precisely on the nature of the contingencies. They acknowledge that we still have much to learn about organizational theory.

In each of the first four parts of the text there is a contingency chapter which brings together the material contained in the individual chapters. In addition, each chapter contains a section on measurement. Chapter 1 entitled ‘First things first’ outlines the content of the volume, and discusses the use of the literature of organizational theory.

Part I considers the criteria for evaluating organizational success. Part II analyses the environment of organizations, including the effects of cultural, social, economic, educational, legal and political factors which helps the reader from non-North American countries to become sensitive to the essential environmental factors which naturally lead to the adoption of differing man- agement styles at national and regional levels. Part III considers organizational characteristics, and Part IV reviews sub-systems, groups and leadership. Part V provides cases and exercises.

Hence, at first sight, it appears to be a standard text. However, at the time of first reading the text CLAIM was involved in a major consultancy involving a system operating under considerable stress. In addition to technical problems, severe human relations difficulties had been diagnosed. When coming across the

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following section on the nature of the group and leadership, it seemed that it might have relevance to middle and senior library and information service managers at the present time. For we know that our client was not atypical, and other managers had similar problems within their services.

. . . Earlier analyses suggested that in the unfavourable environment the group may be cohesive but hostile. That is, the group may have a consistent pattern of emergent actions, interactions, and sentiments that are in direct conflict with required actions, interactions, and sentiments. The leader who faces both an unfavourable environment and a cohesive but hostile group is in serious trouble. We doubt such a leader can close the satisfaction gap. Subordinates may look to themselves for support. Attempts to change sentiments may be viewed with suspicion. If the hostility of the group has its seeds in routine, unsophisticated tasks, and if it is large, we see an almost untenable situation. Perhaps the best the leader can do is attempt to work out a relationship with informal leaders and work to improve the group’s environment. While the boss may be the titular head of the group, informal leaders are liable to have the upper hand. We also think that leaders operating in a lean environment should be particularly careful to offset as much interdependence and uncertainty as possible . . .’

Other sections in the text, such as those concerned with goal setting and the measurement of effectiveness, will make interesting reading for the student and the manager, for the text puts many of our current management problems into a wider context: that might provide a new outlook on some long-standing problems.

The text is well organized, and extensive references to the literature of organization theory have been provided. It obviously has been written for the North American market, but in the absence of a similar U.K. text, will be of value in the U.K.

Approaches to planned change looks, in greater depth, at organizational behaviour. It is a second edition of an earlier work entitled Renewed organizations, and the author states that 70 per cent of the new work did not appear in any part of the first edition. Part 1 (and Volume 1) is entitled Orienting perspectives and micro-level interventions. Since the work is based on theories and practice, Golembiewski usefully presents a preliminary mapping of a complex territory which considers the questions of change and choice together with the conceptual framework of organization development. Section 1 reviews the laboratory approaches to learning, choice and change, and OD. Section 2 presents some interventions for individuals including the application of OD values to job and career. Within this section the assessment of the individual’s work is considered, including career planning as a regular concern, and the mid-life transition and mid-career crisis. This may be of special interest to middle and senior management in libraries today. In addition, the section reviews ways of applying laboratory values to work, home and social settings including on-the-job problems such as that of the manager who loved in non-obvious ways! Section 3 provides some group interventions.

In Part 2 (Volume 2) the question of macro-level interventions and change agent strategies are considered. Section 1 reviews some interventions in large organizations. The changing patterns of interpersonal and intergroup relations, shaping jobs and authority relationships, filling the gaps in the networks of authority. In addition a chapter on facilitating coordination and other crucial

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linkages includes a section concerned with the dynamics and hazards of Mb0 applications. Additional chapters are concerned with movement towards separation and ‘smaller is better’, eliminating organizational constraints, and reconstituting the broad work environment. Section 2 is entitled ‘Issues reintervening and interventions’ and is concerned with constraints on OD applications including the crucial issues of’how long an intervention should last, how much is accomplished, what is known about differences in host organizations, the impact of. alternative OD designs, what constraints limit feedback and disclosure, and what is known about the measurement of change. The final chapter presents perspectives on the facilitation of OD applications. As with the previous text reviewed, extensive references to the literature have been provided. In addition, both texts have detailed sub.ject and author indexes.

The value of Golembiewski’s work to the information field ties in its use 1~) managers ~vho have either been previously involved in the use of OD techniques, and who a-e now using them to undertake further diagnosis and change within their services, or bp those about to become involved with OD consultants. Many libraI?- and inf’ormation services operate within local authorities and other public bodies and industrial organizations which have OD units to aid future development. Those \vho have been concerned with the design and implemen- tation of’ Mb0 programmes will read the chapter on this technique with interest. Although it appeared to be a straightforward answer to central needs in organizations, and a form of participative tnanagcment desired by those managing and being managed, there is little empirical evidence to indicate that Mb0 produces improvements to perf’ormancc. The reason fbr this appears to be that it is a human rather than a mechanical process which reinforces hierarchies within organizations. To be successful it would be necessary for the organization to be debureaucratized, and the planning skills of those involved developed over a period of’ time. In many applications it was assumed that planning could be learned overnight.

The third volume reviewed in this essay,is concerned with a more specific field, and is Alderfer and Cooper’s Advance3 zn experiential social processes Volume 2. Here there is a special interest for the U.K. reader since Cooper is on the staff of UMIST, and Australia, West Germany, France and the U.K. are represented amongst the contributions. Chapters in the volume ‘. identify and clarify issues, integrate or differentiate theoretical positions and present technical advances in experimental methods’. III contrast to the approach of’ Osborn et al., the editors of this volume order their analysis by beginning with the individual and interpersonal focus, and end with a community societal orientation. Several of the contributors will already be known to library managers e.g. Argyris and Berg. Among the papers that may be of special interest to library and inf‘ormation service managers is that by Dunphy which describes a personal-growth workshop for those new to human relation problems.

In noting that changes in experiential training have taken place since the beginning of T-groups in the 194Os, Smith states that these changes are likely to be due to the reflections of’ broader changes in society, and then sets down an attributional analysis of’ personal learning. Bradford provides a model of trainer development. Berg considers an apprenticeship model in developing clinical skills. Perhaps moving closer to the urgent problems of managers today, Wells considers the concepts that are central to understanding interpersonal processes and group relations in an organizational context. Steele defines and sets down methods for developing environmental competence. Stein and Kantorexplore the

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extent to which experiential techniques can be used to help people learn about organizational structures.

Advances in experiential social processes will be of interest to those concerned with staff training and development in its widest sense-that of helping the individual to become aware of his role and its potential development within the organizational structure.

To return to the introductory comments made at the start of these reviews, there is a need for a change in the direction of management education and research in the library and information fields. The first difficulty in effecting change lies in the relationship between research and education, and education and research. Starting with the question of education, it is found that much of the content of courses labelled ‘management’ in the library and information schools has, in the past, been almost entirely concerned with administration. The argument for such content revolved around the feeling that management could only be understood when students had gained work experience, and for a time, emphasis had been placed in a number of schools on the recruitment of undergraduate and postgraduate students having very limited work experience. The schools failed to make good this deficit by providing planned continuing education programmes in the held of management. Certain schools have taken an alternative approach in having the teaching of management provided bv staff from the management departments of their institutions. Though this provides a deeper insight into the problems of management they may meet later in their careers, the students complain that the teaching they receive is unrelated to library and information services. For many librarians appropriate courses in management have been provided bv academic and training bodies servicing the sector of employment they are working in e.g. INLOGOV and local government management; Civil Service College. But generally, our profession’s contact with management ideas and theories has been limited, and frequently we have explored and adopted techniques already assimilated and sometimes rqjected by other groups of managers. Theory X and Theory Y, MbO, PPBS have all been examined by the profession, on both sides of the Atlantic, and perhaps rqjected, due to changes in social, economic and political environmental factors.

Those planning management courses have a further difficulty in that there has only been a limited amount of research carried out within LIS that has apparently influenced library practice. Earlier the concentration on quantitative research has been discussed. This concentration may have been further influenced by the natural science and engineering academic backgrounds of the majority of the staff working for the U.K.‘s ma,jor funding agency for research. At times they appear to overlook that scientific research was based on observation, recording, analysis and synthesis i.e. was qualitative, before it became quantitative in approach, in more recent times. In addition the BLR&DD operates a section concerned with dissemination of the findings of the prqject, but the question of implementation is neither the perceived responsibility of the BLR&DD, the research worker nor the practitioner. Hence a gap remains between research being funded, and use being made of its findings. In the field of quantitative research the gap may be wide, since adoption of’new ideas or practices may have an impact on the human side of management which has not been considered during the course of the project.

Hence, a plea is made for a sympathetic view to be taken of the need for qualitative investigations to be carried out into aspects of organizational behaviour. This would require an input of technical skills into studies, an

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appreciation of the value of non-quantitative studies by the funding agency, a commitment on the part of the research worker to rapidly understand the complexities of the operations of systems, and librarians and information managers to have research staff work amongst them, and for them to accept and adopt the findings of their investigations. Unless the investigators can work closely with the practitioners, the work could remain valueless: it is essential that theories are related to practical issues. Conceptual bases of library and information service management must not be estranged from the realities of organizational life.

Whatever the shape of library services may become at the end of the 1980s we can be certain that it will not remain that of the 1970s. The economic crisis has forced managers to closely examine their aims, objectives and priorities for service to the communities they serve. Current debate at a national level must lead to closer integration of service provision, and perhaps some of the boundaries between the different types of services will be removed. In addition, rapid changes in technological development must have a major impact on the speed of change. Unless work is carried out into how this will affect organizational behaviour, services will not emerge with strength and political power into the 1990s.

Patricia Layzell Ward Director CLAIM (Centre for Library and Information Management) Loughborough University