The significance of organizational development in academic research libraries.

ABSTRACT

MORE AND MORE ACADEMIC RESEARCH LIBRARIES are applying organizational development (OD) concepts in their organizations. The outcomes of focusing on and utilizing this management approach are described, including how OD has made significant differences in these libraries. To assess the current state of OD in academic research libraries, interviews were conducted in July-August 2003 with twelve individuals who have some part of OD in their job responsibilities or are library directors.

The approaches to implementing OD vary. In some organizations, it has been a complete library-wide undertaking, while in others the changes started in one or two units, sometimes with an overarching plan and sometimes with no intent to shift the entire organization. What is evident is that there is not a linear progression of OD from one step to another and it is a continuous process of change. Within the university structure, libraries have been given the leeway to be "different," with the library becoming the focal point for demonstrating new ways to work in the academy. Most of those who have undertaken OD initiatives believe that their organizations would not be responsive or flexible if they had not committed to change.

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As increasing numbers of academic research libraries are implementing organizational development (OD) concepts in their organizations, it is important to assess the results of focusing on and utilizing this management approach, as well as significant changes in these libraries due to OD. Because of the relatively new application of OD in the academic library arena, there is not an abundance of literature from which to draw conclusions on the effects of OD in these organizations. To supplement the literature that is available, I conducted interviews in July through August of 2003 with individuals who have some part of OD in their job responsibilities or are library directors. These individuals were identified through several means: journal articles and books; participation in an OD online discussion group; and presentations at a series of conferences on organizational change in libraries. (1) Thirty-one academic libraries in North America and Europe were identified as having instituted some type of organizational change within the last ten years; of those identified, twelve individuals from nine libraries in the United States agreed to be interviewed.

The resulting list of interviewees is by no means a scientific sample since the total number of academic research libraries that are implementing some form of OD is not known. The interviews were conducted in order to create a sampling of the rationale, activities, and trends that OD represents in these libraries. The questions asked in the interviews appear in Table 1. Responses have been aggregated to form the basis of observations and conclusions in this article. The interviews were supplemented with publications describing libraries' forays into OD, and these are cited accordingly.

DEFINITIONS

There are many textbook definitions of OD, as well as many approaches to implementing OD. Over thirty years ago, Richard Beckhard published Organization Development: Strategies and Models, in which he notes

 
   more organizational leaders have realized that it is not enough to 
   carry out piecemeal efforts to patch up an organization problem 
   here, fix a procedure there, or change a job description. Today 
   there is a need for longer-range, coordinated strategy to develop 
   organization climates, ways of work, relationships, communications 
   systems, and information systems.... It is out of those needs that 
   systematic planned change efforts--organizational development--have 
   emerged." (Beckhard, 1969, p. 8) 

In my research for this article I have found that academic libraries are using the term "organizational development" both in a formal manner, i.e., there are individuals or units in libraries that have OD as part of their titles, and in an informal manner when organizational development is part of an individual's or unit's function but the OD designation is not formally applied. Additionally, the term "organizational effectiveness" is being used in some quarters to connote a broader, ongoing initiative that is beyond the "development" stage. "Effectiveness" could also be viewed as a response to the economic climate, in that organizations have to demonstrate more accountability in order to secure dwindling resources.

The various answers to the question of how the term "organizational development" is used in an organization range from no definition, to systemwide engagement, to plans for the future. In more than one library the definition of OD is embodied in the work of an OD staff person, even if the…