flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes fourth...
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing
skills attributes
Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for the Library and Information Professions: an IFLA Preconference, Chester, Vermont, 15th - 17th August 2001
Graham WaltonAssistant Director, Information Management
Research Institute and Faculty Librarian (Health, Social Work and Education),
University of Northumbria
![Page 2: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Focus of presentation on ‘Flexible staff….’
• Background to United Kingdom eLib programme and HyLife project
• Literature on flexibility • Methodology to explore flexibility• Flexibility and academic staff/
organisational structures/ users/ librarians
• Model informing flexibility and librarians
![Page 3: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
United Kingdom higher education eLib programme
• Publication of 1993 Follett report
• Phases I and II : 1994 -1998
• Phase III: 1998 - 2000
• 5 Hybrid library projects (including HyLife) and four CLUMPS projects
![Page 4: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Reasons why flexibility has become more important
• Rapid technological change
• Customer expectation
• Increasing globalisation with loss of sense of place
• Decreasing unit of resource
• Shorter product life cycles
![Page 5: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Flexibility within the organisations
• ‘The truly flexible organisation is in constant flux with no essential shape’ (Harvard Business Review, 1999)
• ‘Flexibility is about being able to bend without breaking’ (Scarnatti, 1999)
• ‘Flexible organisations must be able to reconfigure assets and structures to accomplish necessary internal and external transformation’ (Wright and Snell, 1998)
![Page 6: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Flexibility within structures
• ‘Organisations need to balance the stable and fluid states that exist simultaneously’ (Beach, 2000)
• ‘Vertical structures are slow in developing and implementing decisions and less facilitative of innovation’ ( Hitt etal, 1998)
• ‘In order to improve flexibility there is a need to flatten structures and focus on cross-functional integration and employee participation’ (Lau, 1996)
• ‘Loose coupling is crucial to balance the need for strong interdependence among functions with an open responsiveness to environmental changes’ (Lei, 1996)
![Page 7: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Flexibility and management roles
• ‘Having management with right mental models is a condition of success in flexibility’ (Anell, 2000)
• Vision and entrepreneurship• Managers need to build effective
relationships between different stakeholders
• Ability to conceptualise and reconceptualise different and possibly contradictory information
![Page 8: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Flexibility and staff development
• ‘If skills and knowledge are to be present in the firm then the workforce is the key factor’ (Lau, 1996)
• ‘Multiskilled workforce should be cultivated and not treated as a replaceable parts or costs to be controlled’ (Wright and Snell, 1998)
• Staff development should focus on skills that help develop flexibility (mental abilities, adaptability to change)
![Page 9: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Negative aspects of flexibility
• ‘If no structure there needs to be agreed, stable rules that bind it together’ (Mayrhofer, 1997)
• ‘There are strengths that are lost when an organisation has extraordinary agility’ (Harvard Business Review, 1999)
• ‘Flexibility is detrimental to the workforce and may lead to prejudice especially against women’ (Goulding and Kerslake, 1998)
![Page 10: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
• Structures need to change owing to 24/7, home working, more demanding student body
• Traditional departmental boundaries would blur (computing, library, academic, marketing, administration)
• More partnership, collaboration, convergence and multi-disciplinary working
• Barriers are pace of change and threats to traditional roles
Flexibility and organisational structures
![Page 11: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Low High Table 1 Flexibility in LIS
Low
Sp
eed
of C
hang
e
High
1. Inflexible in times of rapid changeService in crisis with:-•Change fatigue and personal stress•Unsatisfied user group and unresponsive staff•Internal barriers to change/ work is not user-focused and innovation perceived as a threat•IT rather than educational need driving change•Piecemeal rather than strategic developments
2. Flexible in times of rapid changeService meeting the needs of the institution:•Focus on developing users’ skills•Conflict perceived as positive and therefore managed•Staff cope with uncertainty•Ongoing training ethos for LIS and academic staff•Flatter management structures and strategic managers•Multi-disciplinary working seizing unexpected opportunities•Increased motivation & job satisfaction but overload danger•Fear of ‘dumbing down’ with fewer experts•Fear of being taken over by other ‘experts’
3. Inflexible in stable times•Rigid professional/non-professional divide•Lack innovation/service promotion•Elitism and fear of change•Innovation perceived as a threat•Hierarchical management structures and complacency•Compartmentalisation of work•Service matches user needs
4. Flexible in stable times
•Frustration•Unfulfilled potential•Low morale•Cultural lag•Delivery of excellent personal services eg SDI•Services being developed ahead of user needs
![Page 12: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Service in crisis with:-• Change fatigue and personal stress• Unsatisfied user group and unresponsive
staff• Internal barriers to change/ work is not user-
focused and innovation perceived as a threat
• IT rather than educational need driving change
• Piecemeal rather than strategic developments
1. Inflexible in times of rapid change
![Page 13: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Service meeting the needs of the institution:• Focus on developing users’ skills• Conflict perceived as positive and therefore managed• Staff cope with uncertainty• Ongoing training ethos for LIS and academic staff• Flatter management structures and strategic managers• Multi-disciplinary working seizing unexpected
opportunities• Increased motivation & job satisfaction but overload
danger• Fear of ‘dumbing down’ with fewer experts• Fear of being taken over by other ‘experts’
2. Flexible in times of rapid change
![Page 14: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Rigid professional/non-professional divide• Lack innovation/service promotion• Elitism and fear of change• Innovation perceived as a threat• Hierarchical management structures and
complacency• Compartmentalisation of work• Service matches user needs
3. Inflexible in stable times
![Page 15: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Frustration• Unfulfilled potential• Low morale• Cultural lag• Delivery of excellent personal services eg
SDI• Services being developed ahead of user
needs
4. Flexible in stable times
![Page 16: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Low High Table 1 Flexibility in LIS
Low
Sp
eed
of C
hang
e
High
1. Inflexible in times of rapid changeService in crisis with:-•Change fatigue and personal stress•Unsatisfied user group and unresponsive staff•Internal barriers to change/ work is not user-focused and innovation perceived as a threat•IT rather than educational need driving change•Piecemeal rather than strategic developments
2. Flexible in times of rapid changeService meeting the needs of the institution:•Focus on developing users’ skills•Conflict perceived as positive and therefore managed•Staff cope with uncertainty•Ongoing training ethos for LIS and academic staff•Flatter management structures and strategic managers•Multi-disciplinary working seizing unexpected opportunities•Increased motivation & job satisfaction but overload danger•Fear of ‘dumbing down’ with fewer experts•Fear of being taken over by other ‘experts’
3. Inflexible in stable times•Rigid professional/non-professional divide•Lack innovation/service promotion•Elitism and fear of change•Innovation perceived as a threat•Hierarchical management structures and complacency•Compartmentalisation of work•Service matches user needs
4. Flexible in stable times
•Frustration•Unfulfilled potential•Low morale•Cultural lag•Delivery of excellent personal services eg SDI•Services being developed ahead of user needs
![Page 17: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Frustration• Unfulfilled potential• Low morale• Cultural lag• Delivery of excellent personal services eg
SDI• Services being developed ahead of user
needs
4. Flexible in stable times
![Page 18: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Strategic Flexibility
A set of capabilities used to respond to A set of capabilities used to respond to various demands and opportunities various demands and opportunities existing in a dynamic and uncertain existing in a dynamic and uncertain competitive environmentcompetitive environment
It involves coping with uncertainty and the It involves coping with uncertainty and the accompanying risksaccompanying risks
![Page 19: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
StrategicFlexibilityStrategic
Flexibility
Strategic Flexibility
StrategicStrategicflexibilityflexibility
StrategicStrategicreorientationreorientation
Capacity toCapacity tolearnlearn
OrganizationalOrganizationalslackslack
![Page 20: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Corporate Governance and “Strategic
Flexibility”Organization’s strategic flexibility is its ability to respond to various demands from dynamic competitive environments
Strategic flexibility depends jointly on the inherent flexibility of resources available to the firm and on the abilities of managers and their incentives to develop effective restructuring strategies in the short and long run.
![Page 21: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
“Flexibility of Resources”
• Product differentiation
• Strategic Business Units (SBUs)
• Portfolio of patents
• Information technology
• Modular production and flexible technology
• Financial resources (“free cash flow”)
• Flexible labour force, etc.
![Page 22: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
“Flexibility of Management”
• Strategic experience
• Broad decision-making horizon
• Flexible organisational hierarchy
• “Stakeholder legitimacy”
• Entrepreneurial orientation and risk-taking
• Incentives to make “frame-breaking” decisions
![Page 23: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
Corporate Governance and ‘Strategic Flexibility’
• Resource and strategy roles of governance
• Boards as a “knowledge pool”
• Board interlocks and organisational legitimacy
• Network support
• From monitoring to corporate venturing and innovation
![Page 24: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
“Strategic Flexibility”: Resources
• Diversified products
• Investment in new technology
• Conglomerate structure
• Large size
![Page 25: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
Corporate Governance has contributed to “strategic flexibility” by:
• Providing strategic expertise
• Facilitating access to financial resources
• Ensuring the “legitimacy” of a (risky) recovery response
• Creating “right” incentives for managers
![Page 26: Flexible staff: implications of the drive for flexibility and changing skills attributes Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for](https://reader030.vdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032607/56649ed05503460f94bde2bc/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
“Strategic Flexibility”: Governance
• Institutional (strategic) investors
• Large and diverse boards
• Board “interlocks” outside the industry
• Leadership change
• Changes in capital structure
• Diverse shareholder base