Deborah Harnke LI805XC May 2, 2012 Overview of an Organization and its Organizational Structure 1) Overview Jefferson County Public

Library (JCPL) was established in 1952 and is the third largest public library system in the state of Colorado. JCPL consists of 10 libraries, a Bookmobile, a Traveling Children's Library, eTrain Mobile Computer Training Lab, and offers Homebound Service. The mission of the library is to enrich the quality of life for all people in Jefferson County by providing resources for information, education and recreation. Currently, JCPL consists of 216 staff members; in addition there are about 120 pages and about 70 substitutes. Jefferson County consists of diverse communities with assorted demographics, educational levels, affluence and ages. In 2010 JCPL received over 3 million visits, during that time over 7.5 million materials were checked out from a collection that holds more than 1.3 million books. Operating on a budget of roughly $25 million, JCPL is undergoing serious cuts, reducing expenditures $3.4 million since 2008. 2) Organizational Structure of the Circulation Department The circulation departments within JCPL display a high level of formalization with a bureaucratic rating of a 5. All policies and procedures are written, all job descriptions are posted, training manuals for all positions are also posted, budgets and meeting notes are available and much effort is put into keeping all this documentation current. There is a low level of specialization, which receives a bureaucratic rating of a 4. The primary function of the circulation unit is to keep an efficient and smooth flow of materials in and out of the library. Tasks are the same of all employees within the unit. There is some flexibility in how processes are done, but the end product must be the same. Hierarchy of authority for JCPL is a tall-and-narrow module since each manager controls a relatively small number of sub managers. For example the library manager has three unit heads, one of these is the Head of Circulation. They will oversee about 8 staff members, which make up the circulation department, one of which is the Page Coordinator. The Page Coordinator oversees about 20 pages. This is considered to be a high level of bureaucracy since managers can exercise a higher level of control on their sub-managers. JCPL gets a bureaucratic rating of a 4 in this category. Most decisions are made at higher end of the organizational level, which make JCLP centralized. Upper management conducts important decision-making regarding budgetary and philosophic issues. Operating and basic policy decisions are left for lower management, like the Head of Circulation, to oversee. This is more bureaucratic in structure; therefore a rating of 4 is assigned to them. Overall JCPL exhibits 4.25 on the bureaucratic scale. It is predominantly mechanistic in structure due to the high standardization (since tasks and job descriptions are rigidly defined), high formalization (many written policies and procedures), high centralization (senior managers control most of the decision making), and there is a high specialization (where tasks like making library cards and processing holds are highly specialized within the department.) 3) Strategic Uncertainty The circulation department utilizes low-cost leadership, where the focus is on efficiency and therefore naturally leads itself to a more mechanistic structure. The unit places a high strategic emphasis on efficiency (rating of a 5), and a lower emphasis on flexible learning or innovation (rating of a 2). The materials from the book drop must be checked in within a timely fashion and quickly shelved.

Also, holds must go out to patrons quickly. Although new processes must be developed and evolve with new changes, innovation is second to efficiency. There is a strong effort to not only track efficiency, but to also increase efficiency. Statistics are gathered of how many bins come in through delivery and how many items were in the morning bookdrop. The circulation department creates low strategic uncertainty within its organization. It has been mentioned above that the within the circulation unit tasks are specialized (the processing of materials), tasks are rigidly defined (there is a preferred method of reaching the final product), there is a strict hierarchy of authority and control (managers make decisions and pass information down to staff), knowledge and control of tasks are centralized (upper management conducts important decision making), and communication is usually conducted vertically (managers pass information down to their staff). 4) Environment Uncertainty Circulations level of external environmental uncertainty is a 4, this is based on the following characteristics. There are a high number of external organizations and units that interact with circulation. Other libraries and incoming ILLs or Prospector requests impact Circulation; they are also impacted by other library closures, and their loaning policies. Other departments within their own library like reference and childrens is heavily dependent on the high functionality of circulation. As external factors change circulation must change their procedures in order to effectively deal with external organizations and units. An example of this would be other libraries using RFID and how that can negatively impact their local RFID machines, changes had to be made to be able to differentiate between local and nonlocal materials. Also, the high degree to which the list of organizations and units change show a high level of uncertainty. It is difficult to predict who will join Prospector or withdraw from it. Last year Denver Public Libraries withdrew from Prospector. This had a huge impact on circulation since JCPL started seeing new patrons from Denver. Also, Marmot libraries were added to Prospector, which added dozens of libraries to the consortium and several issues with distributing those materials. The circulation department works in a complex and unstable environment, which creates an unstable environment. Circulation works with many organizations, has different procedures for interacting with those organizations and theses organization can vary from year to year. There are a large number of external elements and these elements can change frequently and are often unpredictable. Changes in budget, technology and patron needs have enormous impacts on all units including the circulation department. 5) Technological Uncertainty There is a low level of variety within the circulation department, with an average rating of a 2. The majority of tasks are the same from day to day (rating of a 2). Staff is schedule to either shelve holds, process holds, work on the circulation desk or have off desk time to work on special projects. This work is very routine, which the schedule being similar from day to day (rating of a 2). For the most part people do the same job in the same way (rating of a 3). There is room for people to complete tasks the way that is easiest for them (since it will be more efficient that way). Staff complete very repetitious work, an example of this would be processing the holds (rating of a 1). A book is removed from the bin, placed on the RFID pad, the staff member moves through a series of key commands on the computer and the item is ready to be shelved, this happens hundreds of times a day for one staff member. The duties within the jobs are also very repetitive (rating of a 2). The primary responsibility of circulation is to move materials in and out of the library; these tasks are done over and over as materials come and then are checked out.

There is a high level of analyzability within the circulation department, with an average rating of a 4.6. For most tasks there is a clearly known way to perform this type of work (rating of a 4). When getting a library card for new patrons there are steps to follow when creating the card and guidelines in what to say to the patron to inform them about their new card. There is a very clear body of knowledge that can guide anyone in the department (rating of a 5). Policies and procedures are written out and posted online for all staff to be able to quickly access them. Much importance is placed in keeping these materials relevant and up to date. There is a definite sequence of steps that can be followed when completing work in circulation (rating of a 4). For instance when renewing an item, you would check to see if there is anyone else on hold for the item, if not you would then see if they have renewed 3 timeswhich is the limit. At this point in time the item can be renewed. There is a sequence that is followed and certain steps to be taken. There are established procedures and policies for the work that circulation completes. All of the work that circulation does can be found online in the policies and procedures section of the staff website (rating of a 5). These steps that need to be carried out are understandable (a rating of a 5). Steps are clearly explained in the procedures sections. The circulation department at JCPL has a low variety of job tasks and a high analyzability of job tasks. This creates a routine technology, which is characterized by little task variety and the use of objective procedures. Tasks are formalized and standardized. This can be seen in the repetitive nature of the tasks that circulation performs, and the importance of written procedures for these tasks. 6) Structural Contingency Theory Mechanistic structures fit best with low cost strategy, high analyzability and low task uncertainty and a simple and stable external environment. This is true for the circulation department with the exception that the external environment is complex and unstable. For the most part there is a close fit between the circulation department contexts and its mechanistic structure. The misfit occurs with the organizations external environment being complex and unstable. When changes occur in the external environment, which is a frequent occurrence, it is difficult for the circulation department to keep abreast the issue. With the constant changes of the economy, the flux of library board members, patron needs, and new technology it would be wise of the circulation department to adapt a slightly more organic structure to be able to meet the needs of their patrons quickly. Ultimately though there is a good fit between the circulation department and its mechanistic structure. The low-cost leadership has the focus on efficiency and therefore naturally leads itself to a more mechanistic structure. There is a high strategic emphasis on efficiency, and a lower emphasis on learning and innovation. There is also a fit for the mechanistic structure and the low level of variety and a high level of analyzability of job tasks. 7) Performance Bureaucracy within libraries has a place. Libraries tend to be more mechanistic structures due to their structural characteristics. Formalization within libraries is very high, much of the in libraries is governed by written rules and regulations(p. 265). Specialization also has a bureaucratic structure where much of the work performed in libraries is divided into specialized tasks (p. 264). Hierarchy of authority can vary from library to library. Max Webers ideal type of organization is a bureaucracy characterized by a hierarchy of office(p. 260). When it comes to centralization of decision-making some will centralize authority in a small cadre of administrators, while others will delegate authority to the lower levels (p. 265). Professionalism and bureaucracy have several elements in common it requires an abstract body of knowledge to support the technical skills (p. 263). Traditionally organizations that hire experts remain organized in a hierarchical fashion (p. 260). Personnel ratios within large libraries often have a high percentage of staff employees relative to total employees.

Within large libraries are often found reference departments in which a high percentage of staff are professionals with expert training and experience (p. 264). There are several contextual characteristics of a bureaucratic structure. Library managers seek maximum organizational efficiency at minimum cost (p. 262). Professionally trained librarians seek work environments, which are flexible, democratic, and completely participatory, it is rare for libraries to be structured that way (p. 266). In general these work environments are inefficient. Lynchs article states, efficiency demands a stable and constant environment (p. 266). Unfortunately, even with the best library manager it is not possible for them to be able to control the external environment. Uncertainty will be present in the external environment. In the article a change in technology is explained. Many libraries changed classification systems based on the need for efficiency. Also, much effort is given to separating the routine tasks from the less routine, and then to designating jobs according to the nature of the tasks (p. 264). The work that is done is highly analyzable since much of the work in libraries is governed by written rules and regulations (p. 265). In Lynchs article she states that the emphasis in most organizations, including libraries, is to make tasks routine, reduce uncertainty, increase predictability, and centralize authority. From this quote there is certainly a good fit between libraries and their general mechanistic structure. The one missing factor from this is the negative impact that uncertainly and the external environment can have on a mechanistic structure. Libraries struggle to adapt to change because of their rigid mechanistic structure. At a microcosm look at libraries and their units one can see a more organic structure within some units like the reference department. In general I believe that libraries need to adapt a more organic and flexible structure in order to be able to adapt to its changing environment. For our library to work effectively we need to have complementary structures and contexts. The circulation department is a highly mechanistic structure and would do very poorly in an organization without bureaucracy. Efficiency would drastically drop with an organic structure. A high emphasis would be placed on flexible learning and not on efficiency. Staff that currently has low professionalism would be expected to have a higher level of professionalism and would be expected to do tasks outside of their capabilities. Removing all bureaucracy would have a very negative impact on libraries and especially the circulation department.

Reference: Lynch, B. P. (1979.) Libraries as Bureaucracies. Library Trends, 27(3), 259-267.