(ETL504 Module 2.1)
A good leader must ‘know thyself’ and ‘model best practice’:
We need to be prepared to take on the traits of a leader: to practice and engage in identifying problems, correctly analyse problems, develop solutions using tested theory, tools or techniques, and apply these when needed.
We need to be able to strategically plan for our own practice as well as for the library by knowing ourselves and our staff, effectively organising and managing time, assessing strengths, weaknesses and job roles.
We need to be able to make the library an information resource, not just a source, by enabling continual ‘physical and intellectual access’ for our patrons.
We are part of something much bigger than ourselves:
Remember that the library is part of the greater school context, the greater community, the greater educational context and the greater context of the state and federal government curriculum and funding bodies.
We must understand the nature of information services and information management:
Information services: are contextually designed, satisfy need(s) of specific stakeholders and a range of users, offer support facilities, turn sources into resources, and promote both visible and invisible benefits. Information services are exactly that: services.
Information management: manages information that could be human, intellectual and technical.
(Colvin 2000) Competitive and effective managers / leaders reject the administrative, economic or scientific models of leadership and mechanical organisations and instead embrace and encourage: shared values, recognition, appreciation of judgement, innovation or creativity, and building relationships as the most important aspects of a living and breathing, humanistic organisation’s success.
The big issues are “how to attract and motivate the best knowledge workers, the value of teams, organising by projects, using infotech wisely and the flattening of hierarchies.” (Colvin 2000) … Management versus administration: “Iron authority has its uses but it has serious problems as a way to manage a fast-moving, adaptable, creative enterprise.” (Colvin 2000).
Administration is aligned with the mechanistic model: “functionally organised, many tiered hierarchies”(Colvin 2000). It could also be the economic model / scientific management: “…millions of free agents zoom(ing) around in cyber-space selling their knowledge-worker services hyper efficiently to such organisations as may require them from moment to moment…and in which buyers and sellers of everything connect for near anonymous transactions at that instant’s mutually optimal price” (Colvin 2000).
Organisations are “more like organisms than machines” (Colvin 2000).
People are “complex creatures…most likely (to be) ‘knowledge’ workers rather than physical labourers.” (Colvin 2000).
Managing is the ability to “create, judge, imagine and build relationships” (Colvin 2000). The human centred model views “values as the basis of managing the 21st century corporation…lots of people with aligned values constitute an awesome power…creating, articulating and sustaining the organisations values, thus become(s) one of management’s most important jobs…(Q)uirky humans…still very much need interaction, recognition and relationships…(M)anagement is a human art and getting more so as infotech takes over the inhuman donkey work – the ox work – of the world…Most managers now seem to understand that they will find competitive advantage by (quickly and effectively) tapping employees’ most essential humanity, their ability to create, judge, imagine and build relationships” (Colvin 2000).
Henry Mintzberg (Kokemuller, 2017) classifications for organisations:
- Entrepreneurial: non-elaborated, flexible structures closely controlled by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
- Machine: bureaucratic set-in-their-ways corporations or government departments
- Professional: similar bureaucracy to machine, but with largely professional, competent, specialised, autonomous and knowledgable workers pushing the ‘economic engine.’
- Divisional: large corporations with centralised control with divisions supervised by vice presidents.
- Innovative: cutting-edge leadership in new industries with innovative leaders using de-centralised decision making which allows talented leaders to make judgments efficiently.
Look out for more reflection on these classifications in my next post!
References
Colvin, G. (2000). Managing in the information era. Fortune, 141(5). Retrieved from http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/03/06/275231/index.htm?iid=sr-link1.
Kokemuller, N. (2017). Mintzberg’s five types of organizational structure. In Hearst Newspapers: Small business. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/mintzbergs-five-types-organizational-structure-60119.html
