Organizational Governance & Design: Service Culture of Feedback & Renewal

1. Organizational Governance & Design for a Service Culture of Continuous Feedback and RenewalOct. 23, 2006 today’s topics: • governance & design: values, missions, plans, structures, service delivery • service research & evaluation for effectiveness, innovation, renewal, and accountability – from outputs to outcomes • risk management • governance, structures, and processes in academic libraries – with Karen Adams

2. Leadership in a nutshell… • Know thyself. • Know others. • Communicate. – Listen! • Consult. • Cooperate. • Collaborate. • Compromise. – Negotiate. Mediate. • Cultivate. • Celebrate!

3. strategy – structure – systems and purpose – process – people Lead people. Manage work. Understand both.

4. chain line hub web four philosophies of organizational design:(from Mintzberg and Heyden 1999)

6. ALA organizational structure http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/governingdocs/aheadto2010/memorgchart.htm http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/governingdocs/aheadto2010/stafforgchart.htm

7. organizational model – five basic components:(adapted from Mintzberg, 1983) mid-level managers strategic staff apex technostructure staff support staff functions operating core staff

8. paying attention to how library/archives work gets done… … a social system to achieve service goals … of interdependent tasks & processes – sequenced activities … performed by people making decisions & doing things … organized into lines of authority – responsibility … to transform resources (inputs) into results (outputs & outcomes) for clients … with formal – positional – relationships & informal – social & influence or power – relationships … within a larger environment – system – of politics, economics, society (culture), & technologies

9. Toronto Public Library Participation on City Initiatives for Services to Children and Youth http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/pdfs/board/06apr18/13_1.pdf

10. conceptualizing the service organization as… • a means to an end – providing services & adding value for individuals & groups – making a difference in people’s lives & work – viewing service outcomes through client eyes & client input – listen hard all the time! • a sequencing of key processes & tasks performed by people & technologies to produce key results – key concepts are: strategic planning, strategic budgeting, resources, workflow, division of labour, lines of authority (chain of supervisory control), span of control, delegation, influence relations, stable processes, unpredictable variation, feedback systems for continuous monitoring, accountability, & improvement • simultaneous, interrelated, collaborative

11. organizational design: the intellectual task of structuring key activities for key service results… 1. identify key goals & activities for key service results – strategic visioning, planning, budgeting 2. organize key activities into a feedback system of relations, accountabilities, & authority – simple, “good enough,” consultative, collaborative – poor quality = poor design, not a people problem 3. assign key activities to positions & people, and coordinate, integrate, & monitor 4. identify & manage key risks to the organization 5. develop & live a culture of curiosity, research, application & testing, & innovation

12. Key questions: • In what area or areas is excellence required to achieve the organization’s objectives? (What “business” are we in?) • In what areas would lack of performance, i.e., lack of success, endanger the organization’s results? endanger its very survival? • How would we know?

13. “reading” images & metaphors of organization:(Morgan 1997) • machines • organisms – open systems • brains – learning, creating, communicating, decisioning • cultures • political systems of interests, conflict, power • psychic prisons of thought and action • ideology – power-based reality construction • flux and transformation – chaos, complexity, emergence – paradox of using small changes to create large effects • instruments of domination, exploitation, and control

14. North Vancouver Public Library

15. team tasks: • mid-term feedback: what’s working, what needs clarification this year, suggestions for next year • take turns being a job interview panel & the candidate, as they initially meet & greet each other • Groups 1: 3-01; 2: 3-17; 3: 3-22; 4: carrel rm 2nd; 5: 117-B; 6: 117-C

16. for next week: • speaker introduction for Della Paradis: surnames e-h, p • “Making the Business Case” by Maggie Weaver, sponsored by CASLIS Edmonton – Nov. 7, 12.30-2.00 p.m. students $15 (including lunch!) • reminders – leadership paper due Oct. 31 – video practice in groups of 3 or 4 – daylight time ends Sat. night!