7 Organisational structure of the library

I.  Objectives

The objectives of the unit/ module are to:

• Discuss the process and principles of library structure and related aspects;
• Apply the principles and procedures for creating an organisational structure for a library;
• Describe the meaning, elements, and functions of organisational structure;
• Elaborate the working of organisational structures along with their models; and
• Establish the basis for departmentalisation.

II. Learning Outcomes

After going this unit/ module you would learn the meaning, elements, and functions of organisational structure and working of organisational structures along with their models. You would also learn the bases for departmentalization, the process and principles of library structure and related aspects. The principles are: Principle of unity of objective, Principle of efficiency, Principle of specialisation, Principle of flexibility, Scalar principle, Principle of balance, Principle of personal ability, Unity of command, Span of control (span of management), Principle of unity of direction, Delegation of authority and responsibility, Line vs. Staff positions, Coordination and integration.

III. Structure

1. Introduction

2. Meaning and Scope of Organising 2.1 Organising as a Process

3.  Basic Forms of Organisational Structures

4. Organisation Structures

5. Principles of Organising

5.1 Principle of Unity of Objective

5.2 Principle of Efficiency

5.3 Principle of Specialisation

5.4 Principle of Flexibility

5.5 Scalar Principle

5.6 Principle of Balance

5.7 Principle of Personal Ability

5.8 Unity of Command

5.9 Span of Control (Span of Management)

5.10 Principle of Unity of Direction

5.11 Delegation of Authority and Responsibility

5.12 Line vs. Staff positions

5.13  Coordination and Integration

6. Prerequisites for Organising

7. Characteristics of Organising

8. Elements of Organisational Structures

9. Models of Organisational Structure

9.1 Departmentalisation based structure

9.2 Bureaucratic Structure

9.3 Project Based Structure

9.4 Matrix Based Structure

9.5 Network Based Structure

10. Features of a Good Organisational Structure

11. Organisational Charts

12. Summary

13. References

1. Introduction

All the organisations including libraries are considered as a system of functional elements which are interrelated and interdependent. The term ‘organising’ relates to the process of defining formal relationships among employees (personnel) and resources like raw materials, equipments, and capital etc. to accomplish set goals. For doing this, an organization has to be structured in order to achieve the goals and objectives. While library planning in terms of providing the necessary framework for achieving a set goal is required, it is the human effort which translates the plan into action. Organising is the process of devising the mechanism through which the efforts of people are directed and coordinated towards goal achievement. So, the term organising can be defined as the cooperative effort of human beings to achieve set goals and objectives through a formal relationship. The structure also defines the role of the functionaries, their relationships, authority and responsibilities. In this module, the various principles, characteristics, elements as guidelines and models of organizing structures in libraries have been described. A few features of good organising have also been enumerated.

2. Meaning and Scope of Organising

The various steps falling under the scope of the word ‘Organising’ include analysis of all the activities of an organization in to homogeneous types of works and jobs resulting in to a logical structure. Further steps are to assign the activities to specific positions and employees, and finally to provide certain means for coordinating the efforts of individual employees and groups.

On the micro level, the term ‘organising’ refers to the process itself as well as the result of that process of organising. It is ultimately reduced to a structure which results from combining the necessary resources for fulfilling the organisation’s objectives. It also includes the processes of identifying and grouping work, defining and delegating responsibility and authority, and establishing activity-authority relationships. In other words, organising differentiates and integrates the activities necessary to achieve the objectives. Activities are grouped into working divisions, departments, or other identifiable units mainly by clubbing similar and related duties and tasks. The resulting structures of the organization take the shape of various divisions, departments, sections, units or cells obtained on the basis of division of works and jobs. These structural patterns reflect horizontal and vertical positions, indicating distribution of work, authority and responsibility, span of control, nature of duties, work flow, means for evaluation of work output, staff discipline mechanism, smooth flow, functional points and coordination points, etc.

2.1Organising as a process

As mentioned above, the process of organizing involves differentiation and integration of all the activities in the organization. The various step of this process are given below:

• To determine the various activities based on their performance and objectives of the organization. This also includes type of activity.
• To group the identified activities into closely related and similar activities as departments and division and further into sections, if necessary.
• To decide about the key departments which require more attention and their relative importance.
• To determine the various levels for which major and minor decisions are to be taken including centralisation vs. decentralisation .(see sec 7.12.2)
• To determine the number of subordinates who should report directly to each executive or officer.
• To set up a coordination mechanism so that various departments/divisions/sections work together in        a  synergetic way. This assumes that organising as process should reflect the clear objectives of the organization. For this purpose, there is requirement of good decision analysis, activity analysis, and       relations analysis.

Besides above steps, the process of organising must reflect the authority, environment, and the necessary resources available including the human resources. There are certain identified factors which can affect the organisational structure. These are: Environment, Technology, and Psychological characteristics of employees.

Environment

The organizations work within an environment which comprises of social, economic, and legal systems. Further a change in any system may affect the design of a particular structure of the organization. The libraries operate in a complex and continuously changing external environments which may give rise to new challenges. More responsive or conducive the organization, more favourable will be its impact and image in the public which eventually will lead to its success and survival.

Technology

Libraries have been adopting modern technologies like computers, telecommunication, micrographics, reprography, etc. for library automation, and computerization activities and their impact on the organizational structure is very substantial.

Psychological Characteristics

The changing psycho-social characteristics of the workers, e.g., formal recognition of staff unions and leisure time, etc. are also important in deciding organizational structure.

Other factors

The above three factors are external to the organization with regard to library management. There are certain other factors namely; management attitudes towards centralization vs. decentralization, delegation of authority, role of line and staff employees, scalar principle, and span of control (see section 7).

3.  Basic Forms of Organisational Structures

There are two basic forms of organizational structures (see section 13), viz. a formal, hierarchical or mechanistic form and an informal adaptive or organic model. In the context of libraries, the traditional hierarchical organisational structures are more relevant and in practice. Aspects like delegation, centralization, vertical and horizontal coordination, and departmentalization and their implied principles including the relationship between organisational structure and technology, formal and informal organization are also the main concern for librarians as managers.

4. Organisation Structures

An organisation structure is built around the analysis of activities, responsibility for decisions, and relationships which enable fulfilment of objectives. Activity analysis leads to departmentalisation, decision making to evolution of the pattern of flow of authority, and relationships to leading, staffing and communication. The structure defines the pattern of vertical flow of authority, i.e., ‘level’, and the area over which the authority runs is known as the ‘span’ of an organisation. As an illustration the Figure 1 and 2 reflect the level and span of an organisation.

Level-1- Librarian

Level-2- Deputy Librarian

Level-3-Assistant Librarian

Level-4- Senior Professional assistant

Fig.1: Organisational Level

5.  Principles of Organising

Studies have been conducted to develop techniques for activity and workload analysis, work and job analysis, job definitions and descriptions, models of organizational structure and similar others. Organizational charts, block diagrams, work flow charts, etc., portray the functions of an organization very clearly, indicating its managerial strength. Some general but basic principles of organizing are listed below:

• The key activities should be clearly defined and grouped on some logical’ basis;
• The responsibilities of each division, department, unit and job should be clearly defined;
• Responsibility and authority should be made equal;
• Authority should be delegated as far down in the organization as possible;
• The number of employees reporting to each officer/manager should be reasonable;
• The organization should be designed to provide stability, flexibility, perpetuation and self-renewal; and
• The organization structure should be evaluated and may be restructured, if needed on the basis of its contribution to the organization’s objectives.

In addition to the above, a few well known principles of organizing which are interrelated and may help in creating an efficient organisational structure are described below:

5.1 Principle of unity of objective

This states that the organisational structure should facilitate the contribution of individuals to the achievement of organisation’s objectives. This is possible only when the organisation has clearly defined objectives.

5.2 Principle of efficiency

According to this principle the objectives of the enterprise must be accomplished with minimum unsought consequences or cost. The organisational structure should enable the enterprise to function in an efficient way.

5.3  Principle of specialisation

This principle states that effective organization must promote specialization. As per this principle, the officers/executives at higher levels should be approached only in case of exceptionally complex problems and routine matters should be dealt with by the subordinates at subsequent lower levels. This is due to the limited time available with them.

5.4 Principle of flexibility

The organisation should be adaptable to changing circumstances and should permit growth, expansion and replacement without dislocation and disruption of the basic design.

5.5  Scalar principle

There should be a clearly defined ultimate authority in every organization. This will ensure more effective organisational performance and communication. The responsibility should flow from the top management downwards in a clear unbroken line of authority. The chain of command is the line along which authority flows from the top of the organisation to any individual.

5.6  Principle of balance

There should be a reasonable balance in the size of various departments, between centralisation-and decentralisation, between the span of control and the number of levels and among all type of factors, viz. human, technical and financial.

5.7  Principle of personal ability

The organisational structure must ensure optimum use of human resources.

5.8 Unity of command

Each person should report to only one immediate superior, i.e., each employee should have only one supervisor. Dual subordination must be avoided.

     5.9 Span of control (span of management)

There should be a limit of number of direct subordinates reporting to a manager. The span of control should minimum and should depend on the nature and variety of activities, the time required for each activity and the person.

5.10 Principle of unity of direction

There should be one objective and one plan for a group of activities having the same objective. Unity of direction facilities unification and coordination of activities at various levels.

5.11 Delegation of authority and responsibility

In this process of delegation of authority, there s hould be a consideration of the results expected, the tasks assigned, the degree of delegation required to accomplish, and the tasks and there possibility to be fixed. The authority delegated should be equal to their possibility. Further, there are three sub-principles relating to delegation. These are:

a. rinciple of delegation: This states that the authority delegated to an individual officer/manager should be adequate to ensure his ability to accomplish their results expected from him/her.

b. Principle of absoluteness of responsibility: This principle says that the responsibility of the subordinate to his superior for performance is absolute, and no superior can escape responsibility for the organisational activities of his/her subordinates.

c. The authority-level principle: This relates to the maintenance of intended delegation which requires that decisions within the authority and competence of an individual officer/manager be made by him and not be referred upward in the organisational structure.

Responsibility pertains to what one must do and accountability is the process by which individuals can be called upon to justify their actions. Accountability is the process of enforcing responsibility. In general , one is administratively accountable to one’s supervisor. It may be noted that the delegation not only helps to create an organisational structure but also relieves an officer/manager of his heavy workload, leads to speedy and better decisions and boosts morale in the organisation. However, there are some hurdles to effective delegation e.g. fear of loss of power, lack of confidence in subordinates, fear of being exposed, inability and difficulty in briefing and the feeling that one can do it better itself.

5.12 Line vs. staff positions

Line refers to the command authority of supervisors over their subordinates .Line positions are directly responsible and accountable for the tasks assigned. Line activities are activities that are directly involved in the fulfilment of the primary mission of the organisation. On the other hand, staff activities are those which provide advice, support and service to the line positions and do not carry command authority and responsibility. Staff positions do not fall into the hierarchical structure of the organisation. They are usually in the form of assistant or advisory, specialised and corporate staff. The staff authority varies from consultation (voluntary and compulsory) to concurring to the extreme case of functional authority where staff specialist has a direct common authority in a functional area over line manager. The relationship between line and staff in any organisation should be direct, cordial, and vertical at different levels.

There may be some occasions when a conflict may arise due to difference in perceptions between them, thee a caucusing the other and feeling that the other is slowly reducing one’s authority or interfering or is non-cooperative. The line-staff conflict should be reduced to minimum. The specialised knowledge, the sophisticated system developed, the image consciousness of staff experts, and the importance due to the responsibility for implementation of advice and authority of the line staff cause these conflicts. Resolving line-staff conflicts often difficult. The only way is better understanding of the nature of the relationship and empathy.

Functional Authority

The functional organisation is a modification and exception of the line and staff organisation where by staff departments are give an authority over line personnel in narrow areas of specialisation. Functional authority is the right of staff specialists to issue orders in the own names in designated areas. Functional authority is the supervisory power exercised by a person outside the unit i.e., staff specialist on unit. Functional authority violates the principle of unity of command. In the case of functions like safety and labour relations, which are of crucial importance, this kind of functional authority sin prac tic e. In large libraries, important projects like library automation may require functional authority. Enough care should be taken in handling such situations.

Centralisation vs. Decentralisation

This is a major issue in organizing libraries. Centralisation is the degree which authority is retained by higher-level managers within an organisation rather than being delegated, There are many arguments in favour of both centralisation and decentralisation. A manager has to take note of some important factors before deciding on the degree of centralisation.

Among positive points which centralization ensures is the human behaviour itself. The fact that the same is likely to produce uniformity of policy and action, have fewer risks of errors by subordinates, and can utilise skills of central specialised experts and enable closer control of operations are to be noted.

On the other hand, decentralisation has advantages, e.g., it produces speeder decisions and actions on the spot, decisions that are more likely to be adapted to local’ conditions, greater interest and enthusiasm of subordinates and saves the time of the top management for other activities like planning, policies, etc. The other factors to be taken note of include the cost of decentralisation, the size and complexity of the organisation since larger, diverse and complex activities require more decentralisation, institutional history, managerial philosophy, the ability of available personnel, the geographical dispersal of the organisation, e.g., more the dispersion more decentralisation, competence of available personnel, adequacy of the communication system; and the fact that new technologies like ICT have made it possible to go for decentralisation. In large libraries, house- keeping operations like acquisition, technical processing, printing, reprography, etc. can be effectively centralised. But user services and operations have to be decentralised. A judicious combination of both should be adopted for best results based on the factors mentioned above.

Delegation vs. Decentralisation

It may be noted here that delegations process, where as decentralisation is the end result of delegation and dispersal of authority. In delegation, a superior continues to be responsible for the work delegated to his subordinates, where as in decentralisation the supervisor is relieved of his responsibility for that. Delegation is essential, but decentralization is optional.

Coordination and Integration

Coordination is also a part of library management and is the process of ensuring that persons and units who perform interdependent activities work together in a way that contributes to overall goal attainment. It is the process of linking various activities to achieve a functional whole. On the other hand, integration is the unified control of a number of successive or similar operations. An effective organisation structure not only requires vertical and horizontal coordination but also perfect integration of functions. Vertical coordination is concerned with linking of superiors and subordinates and of units at different levels of the organisation. Horizontal coordination is concerned with linking of peers and units at similar organisational levels.

Libraries as service organisations should lay emphasis on efficient and personalised services as well as friendly and courteous behaviour. As such integration is essential in libraries where differentiated units work toward common objectives. Them or differentiated and specialised are the activities, the greater the need for coordination and integration. In this context, three elements, namely, (i) authority delegated through hierarchical relationships, (ii) administrative procedures and systems, and (iii)  communication network in the organisation help the integration of various units in the organisation.

6. Prerequisites for Organising

In addition to the above principles of organising, there are some points which are important for ensuring a good organisational structure. These are:

i. An excellent communication system both within an organisations well as to authorities and the users/public at large,

ii. Extensive designing of library rules, regulations, policies and procedures and manuals,

iii.Systematic, periodical collection and processing of statistical data which is most crucial for establishing a good communication system with stake-holders, and

iv. The  complex structure created  requires  rules  and  regulations  to  guide customers and bring  in equality and discipline and  avoid misuse, inconsistency among duties and discrimination.

7.  Characteristics of Organising

It is a general and common practice to distribute and club the activities of an organisation into desirable units to get best management results. But the characteristics chosen for division should, however, be relevant the purpose and should produce the expected and desired results. The process of grouping related work activities in to manageable units is known as departmentation. The purpose of departmentation is to contribute to the more efficient and effective use of organisational resources. Functional similarity is the main basis and criteria for grouping similar work activities. But some of the factors which affect the objective of grouping functionally similar work share:

–       Inadequate volume of work to allow specialisation

–       traditions

–       work rules

–       personal preferences

–       Similarity of functions like inventory control to others in the organisation.

Some similar functions may have to be separated to prevent conflicts of interest and, sometimes, dissimilar functions may have to be combined to achieve coordination.

8. Elements of Organisational Structures

Various conflicting situations arise due to multiple objectives which are expected to be served by organizational structures. To keep the same to the minimum level, a set of key elements of organizational structures are suggested as below:

• Job description and making ‘organizational charts’ by the network of formal relationships and duties;
• Tasks and duties should be assigned to different people and departments to be known as ‘differentiation’;
• Separate activities and tasks should be coordinated viz. ‘integration’;
• Maintaining the power, status and hierarchical relationships within the organization, i.e., ‘authority system’;
• The planned and formalized policies, procedures and controls that guide the activities and relationships known as ‘administrative system’; and
• The flow of the information and communication network

9. Models of Organisational Structure

There are five major types or forms of formal organisational structures. These are:

–       Departmentalisation based structure

–       Bureaucratic structure

–       Project organization based structure

–       Matrix based structure, and

–       Network based structure

9.1  Departmentalisation based structure

This structure involves a logical grouping of activities into departments, divisions, groups and sections with the authority which is reduced hierarchically downwards the line. The various criteria to be used for organising structures are discussed. Normally, the following basis is used to establish departments: ( i) subjects (ii) functions (iii) territory iv) products and v) customers. Each of these methods of division for organizing is discussed as under:

Subjects

Public and academic libraries use this method of organising extensively. It provides for more in – depth reference and information services, requiring a higher degree of subject specialisation on the part of the staff.

There is, however, no set pattern that determines the subjects to be included in a subject department or no set number of subjects. In academic libraries, subject departments are usually broad in scope to include all related subjects, such as humanities, social sciences and sciences. In large public libraries, subject departments such as business, fine arts, and local history are common. There are definite advantages in subject organisation. All material dealing with a group of subjects may be brought together and services organised to meet the interests of users. The only disadvantage is perhaps the high cost, both in terms of money spent induplication of materials and the quality of staff required. But the advantages certainly over whelming to invest in this type of subject organisation.

Function

This is the most common criteria for divisions/departments. Practically all libraries use this form which divides a library into functional departments such as acquisition, technical processing, reference services, bibliography, maintenance, circulation, information, documentation and user’s services, etc.

Division based on functions, is a simple, logical and time-proved method, and has the advantages of allowing occupational specialisation, helping the easy assessment of the contribution of each subunit, simplifying training, allowing for defining the power and prestige as well as tight control of each activity by top management and ensuring convoy in resource utilisation. However, this method also has some disadvantages such as unhealthy competition for resources, disagreements on common works, separating house-keeping operations from customers, creation of friction around departments, difficulties in achieving coordination and responsibilities resting only with chief executives. It may be noted that wide geographical distribution, heterogeneous customer groups and dissimilar services come in the way of functional departmentation. Yet, most libraries use this method for organising their work and service.

Territory

Public libraries use this method of division to serve different branches, bookmobiles and other service units. In a national library system, regional libraries are organized on the basis of their geographical contiguity. But this method may not suit other types of libraries, as there is little scope for such a division. The advantages of territorial design are encouragement for local participation in decision making and recruitment, economy and emphasis on local custom, style and preferences. Among the disadvantages, duplication of activities, short-run competition among themselves, poor communication facilities, and slow decision making and action are noticed.

Products

Large industrial undertakings use this method of organisation as they specialise in manufacturing different products. Libraries and information units’ attached to such industrial houses may have to follow the practice of their parent organisations. If we can consider secondary publications brought out by libraries such as abstracting journals, current awareness bulletins, and indexing journals, etc. as information products, the publication department of the library may organise its work in this way. This method of organising has the advantage of keeping time schedules, ensuring use of their products and saleability, comparing performance of different products, and allowing scope for stimulating improved performance and deriving satisfaction. The demerits included duplications of staff, facilities, equipment and extra expenditure.

Customers

This method of organisation in libraries is observed in public libraries. Business operates its services totally based on customer interests and groups. Separate services for children, students, physically handicapped, blind, etc. are based on this principle of division. The obvious advantage of this type of organisation is that it allows the library to meet the special and widely varying needs of different users and earns the goodwill of customers. The disadvantages are similar to those of territorial divisions, particularly duplication off abilities and under utilisation of resources and facilities. Often coordination among different units becomes difficult because of varying interests.

Combined methods

Libraries have al soused these methods, as well as a few more, but interpret them differently to their own contexts. Libraries have used the subject or form of documents as a useful criterion for division. It may be noted that, no single criterion has been found workable for a situations and hence libraries have been using varying combinations of these basis to produce a hybrid structure. There is no unique or single method of dividing the activities of library to create a structure. There are positive as well as negative points associated with each of them. As a result, a library uses combination of several of these methods keeping in view the purpose of creating a structure, i.e., an effective service. As an example, a public library generally may have a subject unit by combining several subjects, circulation unit, i.e., function, service to business or children(customer), branch libraries(territory), etc. An academic library may organise the house keeping operations function wise while the services may be on the basis of subjects or customer irrespective of their type, such an exercise of creating an appropriate organisational structure becomes necessary in large libraries. However, for smaller libraries, function wise division may normally meet most of their requirements. With the applications of ICT, i.e., computerisation of library operations and services, the organisational setup of libraries are undergoing changes. Consequently, all housekeeping operations may invariably be centralised while the service points, maybe decentralised. However, irrespective of the organisational structure of library, the organising processes and principles would still be valid.

9.2         Bureaucratic structure

This is the oldest form of organisation to develop, and is hierarchical, formal, and mechanistic in nature. The main features of bureaucratic structure are:

• Controlling and supervising through the creation of a hierarchy of positions having authority and responsibility.
• Systematic division of labour on the basis of competency and specialization.
• Framing of rules and regulations to ensure uniformity, continuity, coordination of efforts, and stability.
• Impersonal relationship to ensure and achieve unbiased execution.

Besides the above plus points of bureaucratic structure, there are some pitfalls also as dysfunctional aspects of the same. These are:

• Specialisation, leads to conflict between different bureaucratic units which may be detrimental to the overall objective;
• Formation of status-conscious groups;
• Rigid and religious application of rules, and procedures often by incapable hands leading to red-tapism;
• Impersonal approach to problems and individuals which may result in inhuman, narrow-minded and negative attitudes;
• The structure is neither conducive to attract technical talent nor to the initiative taking attitude; and
• Unnecessary delay and notional accountability.

Despite the above drawbacks, the bureaucratic structure of some of its fundamental features like limited span of control, unity of command, equal authority and responsibility, and delegation of routine matters still form the foundation of most management structures.

9.3 Project based structure

The scope of the work involved in project mode and its management includes complexity of operations, fixed time schedules of delivery, numerous components and agencies to be dealt with. Also the need for a great deal of planning, research, coordination and control are features common to large projects. The bureaucratic and departmentalization structures have not been able to cope with project managements, so, a different type of organisation structure that is ‘organic’ in nature has gradually developed which is termed as the project organization. This type of structure is opposite to the vertical organisation structure which has horizontal and diagonal relationships. Here the project manager holds the sole authority and responsibility for planning, organising and completing a project which may many variations of this basic pattern. In libraries the common example is the library Automation which is conducted in the project mode involving staff with different specializations, e.g., library science, computer science, administrative and financial aspects, etc. This structure violates the vertical formal and mechanistic structure and belongs to organic structure as mentioned above.

9.4 Matrix based structure

This is an organizational structure which facilitates the horizontal flow of information. It is used mainly in the management of large projects or development processes, drawing employees from different functional disciplines for assignment to a team without removing them from their respective positions. In other words, it means that the institution deals with multiple products and/or projects, organising on the basis of products or projects is an appropriate method of division of work and responsibility. This type of division when integrated with the functional organisation constitutes a type of matrix based structure. Employees in a matrix organization report on day-to-day performance to the project or product manager whose authority flows sideways (horizontally) across departmental boundaries. They also continue to report on their overall performance to the head of their department whose authority flows downwards (vertically) within his or her department. In addition to a multiple command and control structure, a matrix organization necessitates new support mechanisms, organizational culture, and behaviour patterns. Developed at the US National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) in association with its suppliers, this structure gets its name from its resemblance to a table (matrix) where every element is included in a row as well as a column. The success of the matrix structure is dependent on the roles, expectations and understanding of various members of the matrix system. This implies a great deal of sharing of information and creating mutual confidence.

The matrix structure blends the functional and divisional structures, gaining the advantages of both. Each person belongs to a functional department such as production, reporting to a supervisor above. Each person also answers to a project team or business unit. Teams benefit from the functional expertise of members, while the functional hierarchy exerts a measure of control and accountability for business activities. The downside is, of course, that whenever one who has two supervisors with possible conflicting interests and loyalties, divisional and functional power struggles can erupt.

9.5 Network based structure

A network based structure is formed when two or more geographically separated organisational units with common functions are joined together through channels of communication. For example, hotel chains, and airlines follow this type of network structure. Libraries also work on this concept of resources utilisation and sharing. In this type of structure, the enterprise relies on outside agencies/companies rather than hiring workers for all of its business functions. The networking company can employ few workers, while enjoying the reach, capacity and functionality of a larger business. It may, for example, hire an outside manufacturer to produce its products. The network structure lowers costs and gains flexibility because it uses outside help according to need. However, creating a network-based company means losing control over whatever processes the company delegates to others.

10. Features of a Good Organisational Structure

Some of the salient features of a good organisation structure are:

• It should ensure the achievement of objectives in an efficient and effective way.
• Organisational levels (as the scalar relationship) and span of management should be balanced to achieve optimum results. It should also be seen that the number of levels should match the number of functions and the complexity of the organisation. For example, too many levels lead to confusion, a diffused exercise of authority, an increase in overhead costs, blocking of communication channels, and a lack of consistency and cohesiveness in decision making in a few hands.
• The span of management depends on the level and may vary from organisation to organisation. A span with 3 to 5 subordinates at higher level and 5 to 8 at lower level, where subordinates have to work out only specific tasks, seems to be most conducive for obtaining the best results in library organisations. In this way, such a structure maintains correct and effective superior-subordinate relationships and saves time. Further, this structure can cope with the continuously evolving nature of the organisation and hence allows flexibility and an ability to respond to external and internal changes in environment.

11. Organisational Charts

An organisational chart is simply a graphic presentation of organisational structure which indicates hierarchical and vertical positions, span of management, relationships between line and staff positions, flow of authority, responsibility, and communication. It gives an overall picture of the structure. So it is easier to identify the weak links in the chain, conflicting situations, friction, and imbalances, if any. This exercise helps in restructuring the whole organization also. However, with the passage of time, an organizational structure becomes inflexible, and may not cope with the uncontrolled changes in external environment, which may create uncertainty in the minds of employees. On the other hand, too many changes in short time may give rise to the condition of instability and confusion among the staff. In such a situation, a balanced approach keeping in view the basic elements of organizing may be fruitful.

12. Summary

The various aspects of organisational structures for the library have been described. Besides the basic points like meaning, scope, elements as guidelines, this module has covered the process of organizing, principles, characteristics, models and various points for good organising. The major type of the model i.e. Departmentalisation describes the criteria and basis for the same which include subject, function, customer, product, and territory as the most common and practiced method in libraries, though the combination of more than two methods under departmentalization is not uncommon. Among good features of organizational structure, the issue of balancing span of management with levels is important. Whatever be the organizational structure, it should be able to cope with the continuously evolving nature of the organization and hence should allow flexibility and ability to respond to the external and internal changes in the environment

  13. References

1. Evans G et. al. Beyond the basics: The management guide for library and informationprofessions Public librarian’s human resources handbook: employer rights and responsibilities. Neal Schuman Publishers, New York, 2003
2. Grifftin, Ricky: Principles of management. 4th ed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2005
3. Ghosh, M. “The Public Library System in India: Challenges and Opportunities.”Library Review54, no. 3(2005), 180-91.
4. Luthans, Fred. Organisational behaviour, 3rd ed. McGraw Hill Kogakusha, Tokyo, 1981
5. Mondy,R Wayne et. al. Management: Concept and practices, 4th ed. Allyn and Bacon Inc., Boston, 1988
6. Tripathi PC and Reddy P N. Principles of Management. 2nd ed., Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi, 1991.

Learn More:

A. DID YOU KNOW

1. The application of Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) is one of the most crucial factors to have an impact on organizational structure of a library2.
2. . It has also been observed that in general, Information Technology (IT) department/section is not a part of the organizational structure of the library, though there is a continuous requirement of the same to maintain and upgrade the library automation and related IT activities of the library

Web links

http://www.edrawsoft.com/Organizational-chart.php

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/meaning-organizational-structure-3803.html

http://lib.ku.edu/organizational-structure