Changing Structures Structuring Changes

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Changing Structures Structuring Changes
UCR One Day Conference 3 April 2003, Aston
University

• Sheila Corrall
• Director of Academic Services
• University of Southampton
• President
• CILIP

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Presentation outline

• Change
• causes and effects
• models and concepts
• Structure
• design objectives
• converged services
• Management
• current thinking
• process guidelines

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The pace of change . . .

• the world is already changing faster than it has
  ever done before, and the pace of change will
  continue to accelerate
• Charles Clarke
• The future of higher education
• DfES, January 2003 (Cm 5735)

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. . . is faster for libraries

• libraries of colleges and universities are
  changing faster than their respective parent
  institutions. Essentially everything around the
  library is changing services, technologies,
  organizational constructs, ownership and access
  policies, values and most of the rest.
• Donald Riggs
• Whats in store for academic libraries?
• J. Academic Librarianship, 23 (1) 1997, 3-8

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Relevance and importance

• Library services need to anticipate and respond
  to a rapidly-changing environment
• Professionals need to develop and demonstrate the
  capacity to handle change
• Line managers and team leaders are often expected
  to act as change facilitators
• Funding patterns are resulting in more project
  staff with change agent roles
• We all experience change at work and need to
  manage it individually and collectively

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Why is change necessary?

• Pressures and triggers can come from
• outside or within an organisation, eg
• financial budget cuts, journal inflation
• technological eLib, MLEs, e-prints
• market consumerism, globalisation, 24/7
• political widening access, partnerships
• institutional restructuring, repositioning
• performance audit report, user survey
• personnel new boss, retirements

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What does it mean?

• Change initiatives can vary significantly in
• breadth, depth and timescale, eg
• Introduction of new products or services
• Implementation of IT-based systems
• Business process re-engineering
• Physical relocation or new building
• Organisational restructuring
• Different roles and/or ways or working
• Continuous quality improvement

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Models and tools

• SWOT analysis
• Strategic visioning and scenario planning
• Force field analysis (equilibrium analysis)
• Seven S framework
• Unfreezing moving refreezing
• Project management
• Resistance/transition curve (coping cycle)
• immobilisation denial depression acceptance
  testing understanding - internalisation

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Seven S Framework
Cold triangle (the hard Ss)
Strategy
Structure
Systems
Shared Values
Staff
Style
Skills
Warm square (the soft Ss)
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Restructuring is ubiquitous

• Most businesses undergo a fundamental
  reorganisation at least every three years
• The increasing complexity of business and
  intensity of knowledge flows have put
  organisational design on executive agenda
• Redesign is a high-stake activity with which
  managers must repeatedly engage
• Not only about getting structure right, but about
  managing integrated activity
• Organising for Success in the 21st Century

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Staff involvement is essential

• CIPD survey findings
• One challenge . . . is how to manage three
• streams of integrated activity changes in
• the structure, processes and human
• capability. Doing this successfully requires
• a sophisticated leadership that strikes the
• right balance between project discipline
• and employee involvement.
• Changing rules. People Management,
• 6 February 2003 www.cipd.co.uk/research

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Structural parameters

• Hierarchy of several layers representing
  different levels of responsibility and decision
  making, supervision and control, status and pay,
  experience and competence
• Division into various groups based on shared
  attributes such as staff categories or expertise,
  work processes or functions, product or service
  output, geographical or physical outlet, client
  or customer base
• Selection of other devices to complement or
  compensate for hierarchies and divisions

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Design elements

• Flat structures reduce hierarchical layers
• Mixed structures combine two or more organising
  principles, eg function and market
• Matrix structures overlay two principles for all
  or part of the organisation (or time)
• Specific structures used by libraries include
  organisation-wide committees and meetings,
• co-ordinating roles, self-managing teams,
  diagonal slice groups, cross-service projects
• Informal structures often supplement or
  short-circuit formal communication channels

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Generic design objectives

• Organisational strategy (and culture) will
• determine priority of design objectives, eg
• establishing control
• making connections with the outside world,
  including customers, suppliers and partners
• encouraging creativity and innovation
• building commitment
• achieving co-ordination and teamwork
• Philip Sadler Designing organizations
• 2nd ed. Kogan Page, 1994

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Specific library objectives

• Examples of common design objectives for
• academic library restructuring initiatives
• customer focus liaison and specialist roles
• institutional alignment faculty teams
• technology exploitation e-strategy leaders
• mission orientation LT/R co-ordinators
• collection management integrating sections
• para-professional careers grade overlaps
• devolved responsibility management posts
• holistic planning converged organisations
• seamless service merged operations

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Unified library IT services

• Key trend in higher education institutions
• and other organisations with various motives
• one-stop-shop for all electronic services
• pooling of scarce resources and expertise
• enhancing services through partnerships
• holistic planning and strategic leadership
• embedding IT in core business processes
• taking advantage of e-learning opportunities
• managing information and knowledge assets
• USER FOCUS
  TEAM WORK
• STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT

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Converged structures
Dimensions of converged information services
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A converged information service
Project Teams
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An integrated information service
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An academic services matrix
Functional Roles
Line Management
Line Management
Service Co-ordination
Service Co-ordination
Service Co-ordination
Management Integration
Professional Specialisms
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Current thinking on change

• Managing change as a learning process
• Shift from planned to emergent models
• Use of bottom-up open-ended approaches
• Attention given to stakeholder concerns
• Focus on managing and defining transitions
• Mixed views on holistic packaged methods
• (eg TQM, Business Process Re-engineering)
• Perpetual change seen as a way of life
• Change agent is essential management role

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The four key messages

• Expert views differ in detail, but general
• consensus that successful change needs
• pressure for change
• to ensure priority
• a shared vision
• to sustain momentum
• actionable first steps
• to prevent haphazard efforts
• capacity for change
• evidenced as leadership and learning

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Process guidelines

• 1 Explain the real reason for change and make
  sure that everyone understands
• differentiate triggers and root causes
• create a shared sense of urgency
• eg SWOT, open meetings, QAs
• 2 Develop an inspiring vision and
• engage stakeholders in debate
• use the present tense to make it vivid
• create a shared sense of direction
• eg scenarios, workshops, committees

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Process guidelines

• 3 Involve people at the planning stage and
• ask teams to specify design and actions
• set the destination, not the route
• create a shared sense of ownership
• eg rolling-wave planning, task forces
• 4 Acknowledge that change takes time and
• accept that there are costs involved
• set priorities for projects and services
• create a well-balanced work programme
• eg resource allocation, phased development

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Process guidelines

• 5 Listen to individuals and
• deal with their concerns
• use spokespersons to tap rumours
• create a supportive environment
• eg change advisers, LM training
• 6 Communicate quickly and often
• aiming for openness and honesty
• vary style and media to the situation
• create a climate of mutual trust
• eg meetings, email, newsletter, one-to-one

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Process guidelines

• 7 Promote holistic thinking and
• monitor external developments
• relate changes to wider context
• create an outward-looking service
• eg guest speakers, professional activities
• 8 Provide active leadership and
• promote change as continuous
• enable innovation and risk-taking
• create a change-positive culture
• eg top team involvement, evolving structure

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Critical Success Factors

• In summary, we must have
• a rationale for change urgency
• a vision of the future direction
• involvement of stakeholders ownership
• priorities for action balance
• concern for individuals support
• comprehensive communication trust
• holistic monitoring outward-looking
• leadership at all levels change-positive

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Final thoughts on change

• Time and money
• everything always takes much longer and costs a
  lot more than originally estimated
• Fear of the unknown
• some people will be eager for change, most staff
  will be a bit worried by it and a few individuals
  will be really frightened
• Evolution and revolution
• there is a significant difference between
  incremental and discontinuous change

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Sheila Corrall, CILIP PresidentEmail
S.M.Corrall_at_soton.ac.uk
Chartered Institute of Library and Information
Professionals 7 Ridgmount Street, London WC1E
7AE Telephone [phone] Fax [phone]
0501 Textphone 020 7255 0505 Email info_at_cilip
.org.uk Website www.cilip.org.uk