Distance Facilitation

This week our group facilitated discussion for the class. At the end of the week we need to provide a summary of the weeks discussion. To help with the summary we all posted the similar questions. One group member had canned responses to questions. At the beginning that seemed like a fine plan. But in reality it didn't allow for the natural morphing of questions. I found that I held back responses more in distance mode than I would have in class. This isn't necessarily negative. Sometimes I talk without thinking. But I talk my way through a thought sometimes and sometimes those thoughts are very fruitful.

Fundamentals of Organizing

The obvious part of organizing an organizations' structure is determining who reports to who. What I didn't realize is that you can divide up work into departments in different ways. You can divide it according to functions or self-contained units.
Functional Departmentalization groups activities around functions like circulation, reference, or children's services.
Product Departmentalization groups around the company's products or services.
The more I look at all these different approaches the more they all look the same. I don't think I'd be able to differentiate them unless I had to use them and examine their differences.

The organization chapter introduced the idea of power vs. authority. I can see how this simple concept of organizing who reports to who can become very complex when seen through the perspective of power vs. authority. This is where Union organizing comes in. "Experts often argue that getting employees' acceptance is increasingly important today, given the emphasis on empowered workers and team-based organizations." Dessler p.169

Power vs. Authority
You can have power without authority. Authority is based on job title. Whatever is at the center of the organization holds the most power. Some examples would be design, engineering, finance, marketing, or in the case of libraries - information. In a conical power model where power is the center, one can move horizontally towards the power core without moving vertically upward with authority.

Types of Power
Legitimate- power based on one's position in the formal hierarchy
Coercive- power based on fear and intimidation
Reward- power based on the ability to distribute something that others value, for ex: recognition or bonuses
Expert- power based on one's expertise, special skill, or knowledge
Referent- power based on identification with a person who has resources or traits

Delegation: The act of passing down authority from supervisor to subordinate.
"Organizing would be impossible without delegation."
"Managers are people who get thing done through others, so knowing how to delegate is a crucial management skill."

• The manager can delegate authority but cannot delegate responsibility
• Clarify the assignment
• Delegate, don't abdicate
• Know what to delegate
• Specify the subordinate's range of discretion
• Authority should equal responsibility
• Make the person accountable for results
• Beware of backward delegation

How would these delegation skills apply to coordinating volunteers for an organization? Would the volunteers be accountable for results? Is that where volunteerism is different from a job?

Strategic Planning

While reading the chapter about strategic planning I realized that the Future Services Committee that I am on is a strategic planning tool. It is very complex and I wasn't able to directly relate all of the concepts in the Dessler's Chapter 5 on Strategic Planning, but I took some time to see some connections:

Strategic Planning Components of the Future Services Committee

Future Services Committee is involved in Strategic Planning: identifying the current business of the library and the business it wants for the future, and the course of action or strategy it will pursue. “What is our business and what should it be?”

Step 1 Define the Business and its Mission

We have a mission statement and a vision statement and in addition we have a values statement. Library services have been changing for over a decade and they will continue to change. This committee is examining what may be coming in the future.

Discussion in the committee meetings talks about

1.) Product scope – the range and diversity of the services the library wants to offer. We can’t be all things to everyone.

2.) Vertical integration – should we use our own information search products or use better and faster products that other companies offer?

3.) Geographic scope – defined as King County. What about Seattle and Renton?

4.) How will we compete – with other information service providers.

Step 2 Perform External and Internal Audits

Step 3 Translate the Mission into Strategic Goals

Step 4 Formulate a Strategy to Achieve Strategic Goals

Step 5 Execute the Strategy

Step 6 Evaluate Performance

Right now the Future Services Committee is working on a “Corporate-level strategy”. If the libraries portfolio of businesses are children’s services, teen services, cataloging, reference services, etc. than a corporate-level strategy is the way these businesses (or departments) fit together.

The corporate-level strategy will spill over to the competitive strategy: a plan to establish a sustainable competitive position against the forces that drive industry competition. Who is the library competing against? One theory is that the advent of the internet and web browsers like Google have infringed on the libraries search business. Patrons no longer need to come to the library for an answer – they just go to Google. This hasn’t been fatal to public libraries, it’s just changed our business. Google is a substitute product.

Eventually the recommendations from the Future Services Committee will translate into Functional Strategies which will specify the basic actions and policies each department must adhere to in order for the company to execute its competitive strategy.

In the committee meetings we are performing a SWOT analysis – identifying our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Environmental scans:

Economic trends: funding is based on property tax values

Competitive trends: Google

Political trends: I-747 puts a cap on financing

Technological trends: Web 2.0

Social trends: demographic trends with teens, baby boomers, and ethnic communities

Geographic trends: location decisions for library construction and renovation

BCG Matrix: a strategic planning tool that helps a manager assess a business unit’s attractiveness, based on its growth rate and market share.

Star: There is a new effort to promote early literacy for children. Children’s services are also historically strong in the public library.

Cash Cow: Circulation of popular fiction, non-fiction, movies, and other media

Question Mark – Teen services are a fast growing market for libraries. They are seen as the future of library services. Resources are now being earmarked for this historically low use group.

Dog – General reference has a low market share and low growth. Physical reference books are now obsolete and reference does its business using databases and the internet.

Scenario planning:

What’s the worst case funding scenario if we don’t pass the next library bond?

The Planning Process

"Nobody has planned to fail, but many have failed to plan." (old management maxim)

It is important to use plans as a frame of reference; not slavishly adhered to, but rather used as a frame of orientation.

Planning is the process of setting goals and courses of action, developing rules and procedures, and forecasting future outcomes. The creative part of planning is the process itself. Planning is a way of looking ahead without being there, yet making sense of where one desires to go.

I think the intimidating part of planning for me is the (false) impression that once I make a plan I have to stick to it. And if one part of the plan is altered than the whole plan needs to be thrown out. But if a plan is a frame of reference, or a way to make sense of where one desires to go, planning has an entirely different feel to it. Planning: exploring what might happen, thinking about what you would like to have happen. That's not so intimidating. Maybe the trick to effective planning is expecting the plans to change. You plan the best you can with the information you have, then as you get more information you adjust the plan.

Something to think about: Failure may breed success. Failure gives the opportunity to analyze why there was a failure which leads to a different approach and success.