Coping with Change, Managing Uncertainty Essay -- essays research pape

lintel with Change, Managing Uncertainty Introduction Thirty years ago most people supposition that change would mean to a greater extent of the same, only better. That was incremental change and to be welcomed. Today we know that in many areas of life we cannot guarantee more of the same...we cannot even predict with confidence what will be happening in our own lives. (Handy, 1991) He differentiates between incremental and discontinuous change, suggesting that the combination of economics and engineering science form a potent blend in this. We can gather up that Higher Education (HE) Library and Information Services (LIS), are leave-taking of an environment which is subject to both incremental and discontinuous change policy-making - increased control from central government Sociological - the information period Educational - the mass HE system Technological - networking, computing and telecommunications Organisational - unsanded structures Economic - increased demand for va lue for money Cultural - changed norms and value In LIS the move from holdings of information sources in-house to electronic access to remote sources, on with the pressure to provide more services with fewer human and financial resources brings its own kind of change New structures such as team-working collaboration with a range of different groups and individuals Additional skills for staff and users Increased heed and decision-making Heavier workloads LIS managers and their staff need to adopt positive strategies to cope with these changes Library administrators must function facilitators. They must understand how the world is changing and how the subroutine library must change. And they must also learn to be masters at persuasion, since wherever on that point is change there will be resistance. (Moore, 1995) Coping with change rests on two struts concord change and managing change. Coping with change understanding pragmatic steps can be taken to increase knowledge and und erstanding SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis TQM (Total Quality Management) exercises Group planning exercises Programmes of visiting speakers rearing needs analysis Environmental scanning Electronic discussion lists user surveys Internal staff surveys Away days External seminars, conferences and workshops Shared perplex sessions Understanding uncertainty Information technology is ve... .... Mowat (eds). Networking and the future of libraries managing the intellectual record. UKOLN and LA. Corrall, S. (1995 b) Academic libraries in the information society. New Library World, 96 (1120), 35-42. Garvin, D.A. (1994) Building a knowledge organisation. Business Credit New York, 96 (1), 19. Handy, C. (1991) The Age of Unreason. In Henry, Jane (ed) seminal Management. Sage Publications, 269-282. Majaro, S. (1988) The Creative Gap. London, Longman. Moore, M. (1995) Impact of the changing environment on schoolman library administration conflicts, incongru ities, contradictions and dichotomies. Journal of Library Administration, 22 (1), 13-36. Morgan, G. (1991) Emerging waves and challenges. In Henry, Jane (ed). Creative Management. Sage Publications, 283-293. Riggs, D. (1997) Whats in store for academic libraries? Leadership and worry issues. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 23 (1). 3-8. Walton, G. and Edwards, C. (1997) Strategic management of the electronic library in the UK higher education sector implications of eLibs IMPEL2 project at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. In Raitt, D. (ed) Libraries for the New Millennium, 169-198.