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Manning University Library: Change Strategies
Brian S. Whitmer
Emporia State University

Manning University Library: Change Strategies
The intent of this paper is to explore the scenario based on Manning University Library (MUL) and its director, Wilma Smith and determine what problem(s) the director is facing and offer suggestions on how to improve the library’s organizational effectiveness. Based on what can be extrapolated from the scenario in the textbook (Moran, 2013), we can start with some facts and build a case from there. First, we know: Library Director Wilma Smith spends too much time on supervising and responding to problems to the neglect of planning and budgeting. Second, we know: the library has grown rapidly from twenty to one-hundred fifty employees in a few years and that currently the library is divided into twenty diverse departments. 
Beginning my analysis at a personal level, I would suggest performing an observation of Director Smith’s working habits for a week and gathering data to base potential interventions on facts rather than assumptions (Higa et al., 2005). I need to determine if the problems Director Smith is facing may be alleviated through self-improvement or if the data is going to reveal that regardless of how effective Director Smith is in her performance that the current organizational structure is too inefficiently organized to allow even a superior director to succeed.
After observing Director Smith, I’ve identified a reluctance on her part to delegate sufficient authority to her department heads as well as having too many direct reports to be able to efficiently perform her job as well as acting as a “brake” on the ability of department heads to get things done because they are often in limbo waiting on feedback or a decision from Director Smith. Twenty department heads is much too wide a span of control and leads to issues of delays in decision making, communication problems, and policy coordination issues. The span of control is also a potential issue for the department heads. Dividing the number of staff employees by the number of department heads leads to a potential average of at least six employees per department and may be causing many department managers to be unable to effectively supervise their direct reports or provide adequate oversite leading to more problems needing resolution.
It will be likely that an effective intervention for the MUL and its director will begin by addressing problems of the span of control at all levels, potential issues arising from a diffused unity of command (which may be implied from the description of the twenty departments as “diverse” in the scenario), and helping Director Smith better delegate her responsibilities through personal improvement and a restructuring of the existing organizational structure. A departmental analysis is also in order to create a departmental structure that will better align with the goals of the MUL. This is often necessary in the wake of rapid organizational growth which often growing an ad hoc fashion in response to immediate issues. Restructuring at the department level may mean that some departments will need to be merged, some eliminated, and some shrunk or expanded. A more vertical reporting structure may be also be required in some departments to improve the operational efficiency.
Given that the MUL is an academic library, I would suggest that organizing the departments primarily along subject lines may be most effective. Technical services, business office (HR, payroll, etc.), and Director level management can support the subject departments with services common to all. 
Director Smith should also strongly consider adding an assistant library director to allow her to delegate day-to-day operations and problem resolution to that person while leaving Director Smith with more time on higher value-added tasks like planning, budgeting, and promoting the value of library services to other parts of the university community. This would be a good additional step in helping Director Smith better delegate.
By decentralizing the MUL and finding the right balance between the number of departments and the right level of management hierarchy, the MUL should be able to function more effectively and perform its services in better alignment with the larger university communities goals.
Beyond these measures, I would suggest improving the departmental flow of communication (given a large number of employees) by planning for an improved symbolic communication platform to create better coordination of activities as well as helping create a stronger group culture (Martin, 2012) between subject departments that may have little academic overlap. I would work available campus IT resources to design an effective management dashboard to display departmental communications, departmental metrics, and easy access to various department resources including HR information, departmental wikis and guides, as well as data reporting tools to make departmental reporting of numeric data and qualitative data easy to input and readily available to Director Smith for using in planning and budgeting. Graphical analysis of key metrics would also be helpful for department heads and other staff could have greater insight into the management methods and goals of their department and the MUL as a whole. News and other announcements from Director Smith, department heads, and other staff could also be delivered through the dashboard and minimize delivery of announcements through email.
During any organizational restructuring planning, I would also consider rearranging the existing seating and office arrangements to better reinforce the new management hierarchy as well as gaining the benefits that come from enhanced communication based on proximity. Department managers should be seated as close as possible to their staff and primary “customers” whenever possible in keeping with the findings of Thomas Allen who discovered a relationship between the proximity of people and the level of communication which has been labled the Allen Curve. Frequency of communication expands almost exponentially when people are within six meters of each other (Coyle, 2017).
Thus, by decentralizing the existing organizational structure and providing ways for Director Smith to better delegate her authority, MUL should become a more efficient operation and Director Smith an more effective director.





References
Coyle, D. (2017). The culture code. New York, NY: Bantam Books
Higa, M. L., Bunnett, B., Maina, B., Perkins, J., Ramos, T., Thompson, L., & Wayne, R. (2005). Redesigning a library’s organizational structure. College & Research Libraries, 66(1), 41-58.
Martin, J. (2012). Symbols, sagas, rites, and rituals: An overview of organizational culture in libraries. College & Research Libraries News, 73(6), 348-349.
Moran, B. B., & Stueart, R. D., & Morner, C. J. (2013). Library and information center management. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Moran, B. B., & Stueart, R. D., & Morner, C. J. (2013). Library and information center management. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.