Managing Change in the Hong Kong Library Environment

Anthony W. FergusonUniversity of Hong Kong

Today’s Goals• Relate four case studies re

the dynamics of change• Illustrate why library

management must recognize that

- people react to change differently;

- everyone has needs that must be met;

- change involves loss; - the expectations of those

being changed must be managed carefully; and

- fears, however irrational, must be dealt with.

Changes Undertaken at HKU• To save $, combined

Chinese and Western technical services units.

• To improve access, changed classification systems for Asian language materials.

• To improve collection quality, hired full time collection developers.

• To heighten staff skills, turned the staff development program over to the staff.

Change Factor 1: Different People React to Change

Differently• Combination of technical services units:

Some staff saw their jobs disappearing, others saw new job opportunities.

• Classification change: Old cataloguers required to learn a new system; new staff wondered what the fuss was about.

• Full time CD librarians: Senior staff felt loss of status; younger staff moved up.

• Staff development: Some wanted to be directed by management; some wanted a say. Managers not all willing to allow time off and feared loss of productivity.

Change Factors 2 & 3: Needs and Fears

• People want to feel that they are in control of their lives. But large changes push people into denial, they are upset, they are afraid of the possible consequences, e.g., they will fail to perform, loose jobs, etc.

• In such a condition they don’t always avail themselves of the opportunity to take part in the change process – they perceive or do in fact become victims.

• Victims can be depressed or angry or both.• Of course, some people were excited with

the changes and saw new opportunities with the new ways of acting.

• With 240+ staff, we had some of each.

Classification Change Needs and Fears Examples

• Higher level staff had been part of committee that had studied the different types of classification systems, met with the consultant and other experts than lower level staff.

• Not all could feel that they had been part of the change.

Full Time Collection Development & Professional

Development Examples• Top management had made the

decision – staff had not• Staff were unsure what was

happening.• Didn’t have a lot of feeling that they

had been involved in the decision.• Management didn’t doubt the

benefits of the changes, staff lacked evidence to give them confidence.

How To Get Staff To Catch the Vision: A later consultant

suggested• Ask staff about their

work and why they think they are doing whatever it is that they are doing.

• If they cannot tie their work to the larger picture, take advantage of the teaching moment.

• If there is not link, stop doing it.

Loss Curve Examples

• Loss curve: Perceptions of what is being lost outweigh information of what they will/ are gaining. (have not made it around the curve far enough to see ahead)

• Where staff got new positions, new job descriptions, and titles – they felt better.

• Collection developers: In the past, number of reports = status. We have added supervision to jobs to help perceptions of loss.

Technical Services and Loss Curve

• Technical services consultants were brought in to help these staff believe that the new ways would work, would result in more productivity.

• For cataloguers, competency test was developed to enable staff to know they knew what they were doing – could work independently.

• Consultants, however, also resulted in more changes.

Staff Development and Loss Curve

• Committee was established and staff development officer began to work on implementing what was decided.

• Gradually more and more people participated in staff relations committee events.

• Staff relations committee held meetings at which management was asked to report on what was happening.

• As staff became more productive, as we all got further around the curve, the value of letting the staff be in charge became more apparent.

Managing Expectations: We should have:

• Made it clearer why full time CD staff would result in better collections

• Helped CD staff understand their status would increase as they did a better job.

• A single cataloguing team would be more productive.

• Use of LC would increase copy cataloguing rates.

• More development would result in more productive staff.

Managing Expectations: We should have:

• Helped staff go through change by giving them realistic visions of what the future holds for them.

• We did lots of the right things, BUT-- we assumed staff would automatically understand the benefits; they didn’t.-- the benefits were mainly things that appealed to management, not the staff, e.g., higher productivity

Conclusion: QuestionsQuestions:• One does have to wonder if we had moved slower,

taken all the steps needed to deal with staff concerns – would we have achieved as much?

• We have benefited greatly from the changes but could we have achieved them less painfully?

Conclusions: Managers need to:

Provide information on what was happening (fulfilling one of the basic needs that we all have).

• Clarify what can be expected in the near and more distant future (helps us develop a positive set of expectations).

• Help staff realize that while they were losing what was familiar, a better day was coming (help them deal with the loss curve).

• Help them fight off irrational fears that they wouldn’t be able to get the jobs done (fight off irrational fears)