Management tools, organisational culture and leadership: an explorative study

A leader’s approaches to fostering a culture of knowledge sharing in an information organization

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to look at organizational culture and knowledge sharing, and to explore how a leader fosters a culture of knowledge sharing in an information organization.

Design/methodology/approach

The literature survey is used. It indicates that little is known about how to foster a culture of knowledge sharing from a leadership perspective in an information organization.

Findings

This study finds that the main approaches that a leader need to use to foster a culture of knowledge sharing are to set the mission, short-term, middle-term and long-term goals and objectives of fostering a culture of knowledge sharing, master as many leadership styles as possible, adjust and choose a leadership style that is appropriate to fostering a culture of knowledge sharing in a given situation, lead by example, develop messaging, make a communication plan, reward and recognize knowledge-sharing behaviors and make knowledge management fun.

Research limitations/implications

The limitation is that this study is solely focused on the literature survey and opinions.

Practical implications

This paper provides a useful overview of the approaches used to foster a culture of knowledge sharing in an information organization.

Originality/value

The views, approaches and suggestions will be useful and valuable to improve the success of knowledge sharing in information organizations in the digital age.

Aligning planning with outcomes

Purpose

This paper aims to describe the process of identifying, applying and assessing the balanced scorecard model on a five‐year, strategic plan in an academic, medical library two years into the five‐year period. The existing strategic plan consisted of eight inter‐connected pathways with multiple goals and objectives, generating a high volume of data, which made it difficult to track the implementation of the plan.

Design/methodology/approach

A research query seeking an alternative to the current strategic plan framework was developed and researched. This process identified the balanced scorecard as a possible successful alternative to the eight inter‐connected pathways in place. After the application of the balanced scorecard, a second query, with assessment criteria, was developed to determine if the balanced scorecard did, in fact, provide a better framework than the original plan.

Findings

The balanced scorecard restructured the eight pathways into four perspectives to create an aligned, cause‐and‐effect strategy. The original plan had too many themes to manage and lacked a cohesive strategy. Performance measures proved more meaningful and manageable in measuring the success of the strategic plan than the high volume of project management data. It was concluded that the balanced scorecard met the assessment criteria as a better framework for the strategic plan.

Practical implications

Aligning goals and objectives to form strategy simplified the implementation of the strategic plan. Performance measures focus on the performance of the organization, creating a process of continuous improvement.

Originality/value

While the balanced scorecard has been applied in academic libraries, this project successfully applied the model on a strategic plan two years after its implementation.

Evaluating Intellectual Assets in University Libraries: A Multi-Site Case Study from Thailand

Intellectual assets are strategic resources that libraries can use to add value to services, but their intangible attributes make them hard to evaluate. An exploratory case study used document analysis, interviews and a questionnaire to develop and test indicators of intellectual assets and related performance measures at three university libraries in Thailand. The study demonstrated the feasibility of applying an intellectual capital perspective and a scorecard process model to design a workable system for evaluating library intangibles, particularly where libraries have a pre-existing interest in knowledge management and a culture of assessment.

Measuring Croatian public and academic library culture

Purpose

This paper aims to present the results of interviews conducted with public library directors and academic Chief Librarians on various topics connected with library quality in order to determine the library culture in those libraries.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with ten library directors.

Findings

These interviews represent some of the findings of the project “Evaluation of library and information services: public and academic libraries”. The project investigates library culture in Croatian public and academic libraries and their preparedness for the introduction performance measurement activities. The interviews reveal that library culture has changed positively over the last few years and that library leaders now have a positive attitude towards quality and evaluation activities.

Research limitations/implications

The findings from the interviews with ten library directors form only a small part of the results of a much larger and comprehensive data gathering exercise (including survey and statistical data).

Originality/value

Library culture in Croatian libraries is a relatively new concept and as such has not been actively developed and/or created. This article brings the newest update on views, opinions and atmosphere in Croatian public and academic libraries.