King County Library System (KCLS)

Report

The Year 2020 Plan

Executive Summary

The current culture of the library system can be described as ineffective, inefficient, and unproductive. The need for corrective measures to be undertaken so as to optimize the system for service delivery cannot be overstated. This will be the subject of the long-range plan. The problem to be addressed is two-fold. To begin with, there are inherent tensions at DAC that effectively get in the way of effective and efficient decision making. Secondly, branch personnel feel that their input is not taken into consideration and that they have no say in a variety of issues affecting their respective branches. In seeking to address these dual components, this document highlights the specific factors that tie to the said components, and offers recommendations backed-up by best practices in organizational behavior and management.

Assessment of Organizational Culture

In basic terms, culture has got to do with the various beliefs as well as attitudes and expectations that bring together a specific community and give it an identity. In that regard, therefore, for purposes of this report, organizational culture will be defined as the behavior of people in an organizational setting as governed by the beliefs and values they share. The organizational culture of the King County Library System (KCLS) is therefore the said systems basic personality. It is on the basis of this culture that employees adapt their behaviors. Towards this end, employees also perform their day-to-day duties and tasks, act, and even dress based on this very culture.

At present, KCLSs culture is not aligned with its mission and your desire to see the library system become the countys main source for reference information as well as your aspiration to expand the types of services offered by the library system to meet the growing needs of a diverse urban and rural community. It is important to note that, in essence, the influence shared values have on the efficient running of an organizations operations is often significant. In the case of KCLS, there is no common network of shared beliefs and values as a consequence of conflict between DAC and branch personnel, as well as conflict amongst DAC members. This effectively gets in the way of efficient and professional service delivery.

At the branch level, staff members feel that the decisions made by DAC are not consultative enough and often times end up impacting upon patrons as well as line staff negatively. A good example of this is the implementation of new policies or programs that affect branches without prior engagements with branch employees, i.e. overnight changes to the Public Access (PAC) Terminals without staff input or some training initiatives for staff members tasked with sensitizing the public on the said changes. Staff members also feel that their concerns are either deliberately ignored or forgotten altogether. For instance, there is one particular instance where a microfiche reader took a whole year to repair due to issues to do with the authorization of the repair work. At the same time, the Service Center team comprising of top management appears too focused on competing at the interdepartmental level. It is important to note that the informal running of DAC meetings provides perfect breeding ground for the said competition. With items being introduced on-the-spot, only those who can either garner the support of their friendly members, and/or can aggressively present and support their agendas hope to see the said agendas through. This effectively means that from time to time, excellent ideas could be disregarded or endlessly postponed not because they are ineffective, but because of sheer resistance founded on organizational politics. It should be noted that, in essence, the current way of doing things defines KCLS organizational culture, which leads to the formation of de facto polices that not only provide guidance to employees and senior officers of KCLS, but also dictate the overall direction of the entire organization. Adaptations ought to be made if the library system you envision is to be achieved.

Issue Based Evaluation and Recommendations

In seeking to highlight the various alternatives that could be embraced in an attempt to formally address the organizational culture of the library system, this report will systematically identify the most critical issues that ought to be taken into consideration and the solutions that would be most viable towards this end. It is only after the organizational culture is fixed that KCLS would succeed in keeping with the systems approach as far as the delivery of services is concerned.

A: Decentralization of Decision Making

To begin with, two of the most prominent issues that this report seeks to evaluate are bureaucracy and centralized decision making. KCLS is a hugely centralized organization. In essence, KCLS provides for a hierarchical structure of decision making where key decisions and deliberations are made by the senior management team which is referred to as the directors Administrative Council (DAC). It comprises of a total of eight individuals and all the decisions made concerning the direction and management of the library system has to be deliberated upon by this group. It is, however, important to note that there are a number of other formations, like the Language committee, within the system that provide DAC with advisory assistance. With the formal decision making body being DAC, lower chain managers such as the 38 managing librarians have limited decision making potential. In that regard, therefore, they cannot implement policies and adopt drastic measures without DACs express approval. In essence, this structure has its advantages and disadvantages. While KCLS benefits from uniformity in decision making, in which case there can be better coordination across all the libraries, the system could lose in terms of delayed authorization of courses of action which negatively affects service delivery. For instance, in what could be attributed to the downsides of centralized decision making, authorization to fix a microfiche reader took over 12 months. Bureaucracy in this case happens to be a consequence of entralized decision making.

Decision making ought to be decentralized, in which case several other individuals (apart from the 8 persons who sit in DAC), can share in the decision making responsibilities. Currently, the organization has an enviable percentage of staff that has professional training. In addition to having access to a graduate program at the University of Washington, KCLS requires that its librarians possess, at a minimum, a Library and Information Science (or equivalent) Masters Degree. These are men and women capable of making rational and appropriate decisions with regard to the day to day management of library processes. I would recommend that the area administrators scope and authority be enhanced to include authorization of specific aspects of branch operations. There are currently three area managers, with each overseeing at least 11 of the 38 branches of the library system. Each of these area managers should be given authority to address service delivery issues that are unique to individual branches. Branch managers, on the other hand, could be given more authority in getting things done at their branch level, or addressing day-to-day concerns like minor repairs. Therefore, in essence, issues unique to a specific branch ought not to find their way into the monthly Public Services Meeting, or to DAC. It is my opinion that the Public Service Meeting ought to include only the three area managers, as opposed to the 38 managing librarians. Discussions and deliberations in this meeting should be limited to i) service delivery problems that affect multiple branches, and ii) policy issues originating from the Service Center. Only concerns or clarifications that cannot be addressed in this forum ought to be passed on to DAC.

Further, in keeping with the spirit of decentralization, there is also need to ensure that the physical offices of the 38 managers are located at branch level. The area supervisors should also have their physical offices relocated from the Service Center, in downtown Seattle. The reasoning behind this is to keep the said administrators and managers closer to branch personnel and for more effective day to day management of the branches. This effectively...

…are best placed to formulate decisions whose impact are felt across all the branches, the branch level personnel have the best knowledge of what patrons need and the actual problems on the ground. As one branch manager points out, most of the decisions made at the Service Center have no input at all from the branches. This effectively complicates service delivery at the branches.

There are various strategies that KSLS could implement in an attempt to further enhance teamwork within its ranks. It is important to note that in basic terms, teamwork cannot succeed without the enhancement of communication and cooperation across the organization. To begin with, there is urgent need to build respect as well as trust. This is more so the case given that without trust, i.e. between the top management and branch personnel, relations are likely to be strained leading to suboptimal performance. The lower cadre employees should feel that their viewpoints are respected and concerns taken into consideration. Also, in an attempt to ease relations across the entire library system, the management could introduce end of year parties to be held in the month of December. Owing to the huge number of staff members and the logistical challenges that would be posed by attempting to have a central location for the party, separate parties could be convened by the area administrators within their areas of jurisdiction. It is important to note that parties and social gatherings of this nature would not only be an effective way of rewarding employees and showing appreciation, but also a great team building tool as employees in this case are likely to interact and get to share ideas.

There is also the need to cultivate and further enhance open communication. The various elements and enhancers of top-down communication, bottom-up communication, and horizontal communication ought to be implemented. This will ensure that decisions and new policy directions originating from the top managers reach their intended recipients and an appropriate mechanism of feedback collection is implemented across all organizational levels. Horizontal communication amongst senior managers also ought to be further strengthened so that issues designated as discussion items can be evaluated by each member before the actual meeting.

Further, it is also important to ensure that all employees have clearly defined responsibilities and roles. Each person working for KSLS should be aware of the role they play towards the overall success of the library system. Also, to ensure that the entire library system team oversees the smooth running of operations as a single unit, conflicts should be resolved swiftly. Conflicts are inevitable - what makes the difference between the success and failure of an organization is their management. Effective conflict management strategies would come in handy in straightening things up among DAC members. In this case, the said members will realize that they are indeed part of the same team working towards the same end. Upon realizing this, they are likely to ditch meaningless competitions, and instead focus on working together to achieve the mission of KSLS.

Implementation Plan, Timeline and Budget

The implementation plan and budget have been included. The budget estimate is indicative of all the items needed to support the various alternatives and recommendations highlighted in this report. The implementation plan, on the other hand, will capture the estimated time period needed to roll out the various recommendations highlighted.

Table 1:

Annual Budget Estimates

Amount (in $)

A: Decentralization of Decision Making

1. Area Managers Scope Enhancement

Fuel Costs

7,200

Telephone Bill

1,000

Office Relocation Costs

10,000

Miscellaneous

4,500

2. Branch Manager Scope Enhancement

Office Relocation Costs

7,500

B: Restructuring of Internal Communication Channels

Design and Implementation of a Dedicated Email Channel

5,500

Mailing Cost Estimates

1,300

C: Change Management

Training and Skills Development

12,000

D: The Need for Teamwork

End of Year Party

22,000

Total

71,300

Table 2:

Implementation Plan

Timelines

Start

End

A: Decentralization of Decision Making

Enhancement of area administrator's authority

Year 4

Ongoing

Enhancement of branch manager authority

Year 8

Ongoing

Relocation of branch manager and area administrator offices

Year 1

Year 1

B: Restructuring of Internal Communication Channels

Implementation of a system of offering regular updates

Year 1

Year 1

Implementation of a feedback system

Year 1

Year 1

C: Change Management

Implementation of a five step change management process

Year 1

Ongoing

D: The Need for Teamwork

Introduction of end of year parties

Year 3

Ongoing

Teamwork…