The Library’s organizational development and design commitments brought about outstanding results, among them:
Organizational change occurred fluidly, with an effective structure designed for each period of organizational growth, evolving readily to the next stage.
Utilization of marketing principles developed patron-centered services and col- lections with speed, creating an upward spiral of continuous growth.
Quality emphases resulted in extremely high patron satisfaction ratings, possibly the highest in Ohio, according to a professional survey consultant and the results of numerous community surveys.
Repeated national recognition occurred for Washington-Centerville Public Li- brary – three times ranked first among libraries of similar size in Hennen’s American Public Library Rating Index, and twice ranked second among all the nation’s libraries. This objective statistical ranking rates efficiency, effectiveness, support and usage.
Following is further information about the intentional commitments to organiza- tional design that brought about these successes. Aspects of this case study may offer illumination to libraries seeking reengineering strategies.
Organizational Design Commitment 1: Structure Retains Horizontal, Team-Based Character
As the Washington-Centerville Public Library grew, deliberate efforts were made to retain a horizontal organization structure, which was essential for several reasons. For effective training and establishment of evolving organizational vision and values within the culture, a flatter organization was more effective. The Library Director constantly did informal needs assessments and then provided immediate coaching as well as small group and individual training to reinforce growth and change.
A strong team basis for the organizational structure became more and more prevalent as the collegial working style of the Director and the many new hires, most of whom were baby boomers, became dominant in the culture. In a fast- growing organization like this, there was less inclination for employees to cling to outdated but comfortable models. A small number of employees accustomed to working in hierarchical settings found some discomfort with the flexibility and
fluidness of the new culture, but additional support and an explicit focus on tasks overcame most of their concerns.
Organizational Design Commitment 2: Job Design Emphasizes Levels of Responsibility Rather than Education
Few employees had library school educations since competition from larger uni- versity and public libraries in the area gave the smaller Washington-Centerville Public Library little edge for hiring MLS/MLIS librarians during the early years of this period. Therefore, a staff of motivated para-professionals was built, and a classification system was put into place that emphasized responsibility levels rather than relying solely on educational credentials; MLS librarians and para- professionals resided in the same classification group according to responsibility assignments and job content. Para-professionals with degrees in early childhood education, recreation programming, and other related disciplines brought their own expertise to the library. With in-house training in library work, these talented para-professionals made significant contributions, and in so doing, confirmed the Library Director’s belief that the skills required to be an outstanding librarian do not come only from an MLS/MLIS education.
Organizational Design Commitment 3: Training Supports Upward Mobility and Reinforces Culture
Training and upward mobility were required to support the growing organiza- tion. Very few new employees had library experience, and all needed substantial amounts of training. Para-professionals were hired in great numbers and trained for library work, and, since there were few staff members available to offer on-the-job training, the Director performed a great deal of that training herself. Self-taught in employee development and in training subjects such as adult learning theory, instructional design and effective transfer of training, the Director used that theo- retical grounding to prepare peer trainers within the library and developed in-house certifications for certain types and levels of trainers and training.
Training provided support to staff and offered consistent values clarification that proved to be another effective way of managing change. In addition, training in small groups or one-on-one resulted in the building of stronger and deeper communications channels, enhanced collegiality, and provided personal support for change and growth. Training conducted by the Director enhanced not only the knowledge of the staff, but also their confidence in themselves, their reliance
on the ease of interaction with the Director in current and future situations, the confidence that they could speak honestly, and the knowledge that their ideas matter.
This organizational attribute also points to several limitations and concerns for a rapidly growing library – the reliance on close relationships that is both comfort- able and effective in the small-sized organization is disrupted as growth continues and new levels of middle management are inserted. Like many other aspects of change, this must be managed carefully and with intentionality to assure ongoing continuity of organizational values and effectiveness. Seemingly paradoxical, mutually exclusive skills are required as new middle managers must learn the ability to guide, control and limit within the focused operational sphere while simultaneously developing vision and an organization-wide purview. Changes in the number of levels as the organization grows require new expectations for the front-line staff, new skills for the Director to work through middle managers, and a great deal of emphasis on building trust and expanding the overall team through controlled, articulated means. Substantial resources must be continuously devoted to maintaining the cultural transfer of this array of unique values, which is not always easy during times of rapid growth.
Organizational Design Commitment 4: Self-Directed Teams Characterize the Culture
At various times during the growth of the organization, self-directed teams were employed. When the manager of one of the library system’s two full-service libraries retired, the strong team at that facility recommended to the Director that no replacement manager be hired. The Director concurred, and for the next two years, the group directed that library until the staff and collection moved into a new building six times larger. The team, composed entirely of para-professionals, effectively designed and improved work processes, orchestrated projects, planned and implemented new services and programs, departmentalized the library, and integrated new personnel into newly created positions. The Director provided weekly communications and a link to the sister library, reinforced values, provided support, validated successes, and affirmed the integration of many of the concepts and values taught in training and employee development activities.
This emphasis on self-directed teams provided within the culture a strong feeling of success, both self- and team-satisfaction, and an underlying knowledge that teams work. This early effort in self-directed teams was pioneered before there was much information in the business or library literature describing this concept.
The model for multi-departmental teams and task groups is now an integral part of the culture of the organization, although it too must be intentionally tended and reinforced as the organization grows.
Organizational Design Commitment 5: Management Team Supports Team Leaders and Front Line Staff
As outstanding patron-centered library services resulted in ever higher usage, the library continued to hire new staff in order to be able to respond to public demand. To provide guidance for the rapidly growing staff, team leaders were promoted from within the ranks and given responsibility for overseeing planning and provision of library services. Simultaneously, a management-by-objective philosophy was introduced in the strategic planning process at the library to assure that the work of the departments was aligned with the goals of the organization.
Team Leaders focused on serving customers, and served as program managers, rather than assuming full supervisory, human resources or administrative duties.
Initially, all Team Leaders reported to the Library Director, but as the organization grew, it became apparent there was a need to begin to develop a middle management level. Consideration was given to assigning additional supervisory, administrative and HR responsibilities to the Team Leaders, thus making them full-fledged department heads, the typical middle managers found in most public libraries. A second option was considered and eventually employed:
Hiring trained managers with supervisory experience to support the Team Leaders.
Positions were created on a Management Team and filled through the years as the organization grew and new positions were funded. The individuals sought for these management positions were experienced, trained supervisors and managers, who were assigned as liaisons to one or more teams – Technical Services, Youth Services, Information Services, and Public Services (often known in public libraries as Circulation). This method had some unique characteristics and a number of benefits:
(a) Administrative work like scheduling was handled centrally for the library by one of the managers and support staff, thus maintaining organization-wide standards, facilitating planning for personnel resources, and freeing each Team Leader to spend more time in public service, planning, and implementing projects.
(b) Team Leaders, the senior practitioners in each department, were still able to do the work they loved – provide top-notch service directly to the public, thus serving as models and maintaining involvement in the important work of direct service because they were not burdened with heavy administrative duties.
(c) Managers were often more suited by both personality and desire to the some- times tough decision making and limit-setting work required in management and supervision, whereas practitioners promoted from service jobs often had difficulty breaking out of the service-oriented modality that appeared contradictory to effective human resource practice. (These new managers were trained internally in library practices, which was often much easier than training librarians to become managers or supervisors.)
(d) Following the lead of business, the Washington-Centerville Library Man- agement Team served as an Executive Committee, operating in lieu of an Assistant Director by providing administration and top management under the leadership of the Library Director. This practice continues to provide more continuity, specialization, and redundancy than employing a single assistant director, a common practice in other public libraries.
Organizational Design Commitment 6: Effective Managers Are Hired from Outside the Library Profession
To support the Team Leaders and front line staff, some of the managers who were hired possessed experience in supervision and management in bookstores, business, retail, administration of professional service firms, as well as non-profit management. These managers did not have library experience or MLS degrees.
They possessed skills that were not often found in the MLS population – strong skills in supervision, managing performance, and human resources work. They successfully learned the library business as they had learned other businesses, and they brought into the culture such useful skills as process improvement, project management, and employee development. These managers coached the Team Leaders and the library professionals in effective methods of supervi- sion, motivation and performance management as their front line supervision roles expanded.
The enthusiasm for learning that came with these non-library managers was exploited by the Library Director, who actively engineered opportunities for employee development within the entire culture with a happy result: A positive upward spiral of internal promotions occurred as people learned new skills and employed them. New positions were constantly being created due to growth, and these were often filled by internal candidates. (To honor the commitment
to high standards in staffing, the best candidate was selected, whether internal or external.) Then, to provide a pool of candidates for entry level positions, a program to employ substitute customer service workers was implemented to provide backup; substitutes were hired, trained and were soon available for promotions into regular, non-substitute positions.
The resulting organization structure as designed was not unlike that of a hospital, where the administrative staff supports the clinical personnel.