Work Culture Task Force

• ** Guiding Statement on Work Culture **
• Draft version of work culture statement
• ** Final Recommendations **
• Staff responses to draft documents of Work Culture Task Force
• Information provided by the UM Coordinating Group on Quality of Work Life (QWL)
• Committee charge and description
• Task force members
• Time line
• Email the team: wctf@umail.umd.edu

Time line:

Charge:

1. Develop a statement of the kind of work environment desired for/in the Libraries.
2. Urge adoption of this statement through the Strategic Planning Task Force and other groups and offices in the Libraries or in the university.
3. Develop ways to act on the statement and submit those ideas to other groups or individuals in and out of the Libraries.
4. Submit its products to the Dean of Libraries by December 15, 1998.

The nature of this group is as follows:

1. Functions as an ad hoc, broadly representative body, composed of classified and associate, managerial and non-managerial, non-supervisory and supervisory staff members from throughout the Libraries.
2. Advises the Dean of Libraries and the Library Executive Council.
3. Devises and carries out methods to solicit and represent staff input.
4. Works with the Strategic Planning Task Force and with other individuals and groups for maximum consistency, follow-through and impact of goals and objectives, vision and values.
5. Works within fiscal or other parameters defined by the Dean of Libraries or other individuals or groups.

Task force members:

• Chris Nemil (TSD)
• Evelyn Remaley (PAS)
• Tina Rice (ITD)
• Allan Rough (PSD)
• Cynthia Sorrell (CMSC)
• Mark Wilkerson (PSD)
• Marlene Vikor, chair (TSD)

Guiding Statement on Work Culture:

The primary mission of the Libraries is building, organizing, accessing, maintaining, preserving, interpreting, and educating in the use of scholarly information resources which enable the teaching-learning process and research. In order to fulfill this mission, the Libraries must have a staff that is qualified, informed, well-trained, dedicated, and appreciated. To that end, the libraries are committed to hiring, training, developing, and retaining a diverse staff in a creative and supportive work environment. Desirable work culture includes shared institutional values, priorities, rewards and other practices which foster inclusion, high performance, and commitment, while still allowing diversity in thought and action. The Libraries' work environment relies on flexible guidelines and a team-based system, rather than rigid policies, procedures, and organizational structure. This work culture rewards the initiative of individuals and self-starting teams that identify and solve complex problems on their own. The Libraries staff is responsible for participating in defining the Libraries mission, values and vision within the context of the Libraries role in supporting the mission of the University. The Libraries mission is accomplished as staff take personal responsibility for its realization in their individual job assignments and their groupwork and teamwork.

Background:

The primary charge of our task force is to devise a work culture vision for our institution -- not a description of what is currently in place, but rather a picture of the culture that we desire to exist in the UM Libraries. Voicing this vision is the start of realizing the Vision. On August 20, 1998, an unprecedented --all library staff -- Values and Visioning session was held in the Stamp Student Union. Never in the history of this institution have so many people been given an opportunity to take charge of our own future and the future of the Libraries. This Task Force chose to use the work of August 20 as our baseline for discussion and development rather than holding a new set of "hearings" or focus groups to gather more or different ideas than those identified at that extraordinary session. We believe that it is essential to validate the voices that spoke on that day. We hope that staff recognize their ideas and comments in this Work Culture Statement, and in the Recommendations which follow.

Work Culture - A Definition:

The "work culture" of an organization is a product of its history, traditions, values, and vision. Organizational culture expert, Edgar H. Schein defines culture as

"a pattern of basic group assumptions that has worked well enough to be considered valid, and, therefore, is taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel."

University of Maryland Libraries' Mission

The Libraries' Mission Statement is the first and most important in a series of vision and values statements generated by this organization to support that Mission. Goals statements, and other vision and values statements must be clearly defined, easily accessible, regularly addressed and revised. Every employee must understand and support these goals if the Mission is to succeed.

Key Values:

The following is a list of desirable work values derived from those identified by Libraries staff at the Vision, Values, and Leadership Sessions held August 19-20, 1998.

The Libraries' Most Important Asset is Its Staff:

The Libraries require a qualified, informed, well-trained, dedicated and appreciated staff in order to meet its Mission and Goals. To that end, the Libraries are committed to hiring, training, developing and retaining a diverse staff in a creative and supportive work environment. It is both reasonable and appropriate for the Libraries to acknowledge and repay the dedication and commitment of its staff by providing sufficient opportunities for personal and professional growth in a flexible, fair and financially rewarding framework.

Work skills - Training and Development:

Many Library staff have received, and will continue to receive, training in team building, conflict management, coaching, strategic planning, and other skills. Such training will be extended to more staff. As we collectively learn these new skills and vocabularies, and become proficient with them, we will become a more efficient and cohesive organization. Such learning enhances our capacity to create. Our ultimate progress depends on many factors. Among these is the need to trust ourselves and each other, and to take responsibility for our actions in promoting the work of the Libraries.

Organizational Change - An Evolutionary Process:

Organizationally, the UM Libraries have chosen to move from a strictly hierarchical structure to a flatter structure; from top-down decision making to empowerment at the point of customer contact; from measurement of outputs to measurement of outcomes; and most dramatically, from an exclusionary division of labor to a team-based, inclusionary model. The emphasis is on moving from rigid procedures and policies, to flexible, empowering guidelines for behavior. The organization rewards behaviors conducive to the workplace vision, and confronts/surmounts behaviors which detract from that vision. Changes are always made with the intention of improving services beyond existing high standards to new levels not possible under previous structures. Organizational change is seldom fast, easy, comfortable or even understood. Effective organizational change depends on having a universally informed and supportive staff. Support comes when the staff understands and shares the values and vision of the institution.

return to top