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Unit 8: Leadership

With cell phones, e-mail, text messaging, if that same study were done today, it would yield Notes
even higher percentages. The sheer amount of time managers spend communicating underscores
how important strong communication skills can be for the manager desiring to advance to
leadership positions; thus, mastering leadership communication should be a priority for managers
wanting their organizations or the broader business community to consider them leaders.
Researchers seldom agree completely on how best to define leadership, but most would agree
that leaders are individuals who guide, direct, motivate, or inspire others. They are the men
and women who influence others in an organization or in a community. They command
others’ attention. They persuade others to follow them or pursue goals they define. They
control situations. They improve the performance of groups and organizations. They get results.
These individuals may not be presidents of countries or the CEOs of companies, but they
could be. They could also be employees who step forward to mentor less experienced or
younger employees, managers who direct successful project teams or vice presidents who lead
divisions and motivate their staff to achieve company goals.

Notes Through effective communication, leaders lead. Good communication skills enable,
foster, and create the understanding and trust necessary to encourage others to
follow a leader. Without effective communication, a manager accomplishes little.
Without effective communication, a manager is not an effective leader.

8.1 Activities and Qualities of Libraries Managers

The increasing expectations of users have challenged libraries to improve their quality of
services. Limited by increasingly tighter budgetary restrictions, library managers feel more
pressure to fully exploit available resources. Therefore, several libraries and information services
have adopted quality management practices in recent years. Among the various initiatives
implemented include ISO 9000 standards (Johannsen 1996), 5S movement (Taipei Municipal
Library 1996), and benchmarking (Zairi and Hutton 1995; Garrod and Kinnell 1996; Garrod
and Kinnell 1997; Buchanan and Marshall 1996). By adopting quality management, the library’s
image and service quality can be improved, and librarians can increase productivity while
focusing on the customer’s needs. Quality management has been extensively applied within
the manufacturing industry for over a decade. More recently, the service industry has increasingly
emphasized this area. The public sector has also put forward major initiatives to improve
quality. Closely examining available quality management techniques in service industries and
the public sector reveals their effectiveness and positive impact on the customers. Quality
management is increasingly integrated into library services, following their perceived success
in manufacturing industries, with particular emphasis on improving service quality.

Libraries have developed numerous programs to fulfill user requirements. In general, libraries
concentrate mainly on maintaining administrative activities, building the collection, and serving
the users. Therefore, the functions of a library can be broadly categorized as administrative
management, technical services and public services. Administrative management defines the
objectives of the library, allocates the resources to achieving such objectives, co-ordinates
related activities, and assesses the performance of related services. Technical services largely
focus on building the collection and making the collection more accessible for users. The
activities of technical services include acquisition, information organisation, and preservation.
While all library activities strive to, public services serve the customers most directly. Related
activities consist of circulation, reference and access service.

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