Page 36 - DLIS003_LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

Unit 2: Library Authority and Communities

Line and Staff personnel must work together closely to maintain the efficiency and effectiveness Notes
of the organization. To ensure that line and staff personnel do work together productively,
management must make sure both groups understand the organizational mission, have specific
objectives, and realize that they are partners in helping the organization reach its objectives.
Size is perhaps the most significant factor in determining whether or not an organization will
have staff personnel. The larger the organization, the greater the need and ability to employ
staff personnel is.
As an organization expands, it usually needs employees with expertise in diversified areas.
Although small organizations may also require this kind of diverse expertise, they often find it
more practical to hire part time consultants to provide it is as needed rather than to hire full time
staff personnel, who may not always be kept busy.

Example: A plant manager has line authority over each immediate subordinate, human
resource manager, the production manager and the sales manager.

However, the human resource manager has staff authority in relation to the plant manager,
meaning the human resource manager possesses the right to advise the plant manager on
human resource matters.
Still final decisions concerning human resource matters are in the hands of the plant manager,
the person holding the line authority.

Role of Staff Personnel

Harold Stieglitz has pinpointed three roles that staff personnel typically perform to assist line
personnel:

Advisory or Counselling Role: In this role, staff personnel use their professional expertise
to solve organizational problems. The staff personnel are, in effect, internal consultants
whose relationship with line personnel is similar to that of a professional and a client.

Service Role: Staff personnel in this role provide services that can more efficiently and
effectively be provided by a single centralized staff group than by many individuals
scattered throughout the organization. This role can probably best be understood if staff
personnel are viewed as suppliers and line personnel as customers.
Control Role: Staff personnel help establish a mechanism for evaluating the effectiveness
of organizational plans.
The role of staff in any organization should be specifically designed to best meet the needs of
that organization.

Conflict in Line – Staff Relationship

From the viewpoint of line personnel, conflict is created because staff personnel tend to:
Assume Line Authority
Do not give Sound Advice

Steal Credit for Success
Fail to Keep line personnel informed of their activities
Do not see the whole picture.
From the viewpoint of Staff Personnel, conflict is created because line personnel do not make
proper use of staff personnel, resist new ideas and refuse to give staff personnel enough authority
to do their jobs.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 31