The Road to Success

Do MANAGEMENT COURSES in schools of library and information studies provide the necessary knowledge for born leaders to become great managers? What makes a good leader has recently been a hot topic in the literature. The conclusions reached have been that change is inevitable and how a leader responds to this change is the mark of how effective he or she will become. The focus of writings in this area is that knowledge about creativity, risk-taking, innovation, and intuition-key elements in the makeup of a successful manageris being successfully transferred to potential managers through the management courses being offered today in schools of library and information studies. The authors refute the conclusion that this transfer is happening successfully and infer that some curriculum changes are necessary to achieve this goal. It is suggested that an analytical model of leadership should be implemented in the curriculum to emphasize creativity, risk-taking, innovation, and intuition. The model would also include a discussion of these elements, their interdependence, the background of these elements, and their uses in the workplace. INTRODUCTION The “Road to Success” in becoming a director in the field of library and information science is not unlike that of many other fields and professions. It is the element of self-knowledge that will Herman L. Totten, School of Library and Information Sciences, University of North Texas, P.O. Box 5188, N T Station, Denton, TX 76203-6796 Ronald L. Keys, Melvin B. Tolson Black Heritage Center, Langston University, Langston, OK 73050 LIBRARY TRENDS, Vol. 43, No. 1, Summer 1994, pp. 34-46 @ 1994 The Board of Trustees, University of Illinois TOTTEN & KEYS/THE ROAD TO SUCCESS 35 lead one to understand the nature of the road upon which one chooses to travel. Thus, one must know, or at least have seriously thought about, where one wants to go and the obstacles likely tobe encountered along the way before one starts the journey. All too often this is not the case. Part of knowing where one wants to go comes from the knowledge attained in the educational process. For those seeking success, a beginning point will be based in management courses. Library management courses traditionally include the concept of management by objectives, that is, managing by setting and accomplishing goals and objectives. The goals and objectives of the library, the larger organizational structure of which it is a part, and the individual must be consistent to achieve any level of success. As an individual in a library who aspires to become director, it is essential to understand the nature of both the library and the parent organization. Three key questions should be asked i n seeking this understanding: 1. Is the organization rigid or flexible? 2. Will my leadership or management skills be more conducive to upward mobility? 3. Are there opportunities available internally and externally to the organization that will assist me in developing the necessary skills to be a successful director? The issue of the perceived and actual differences between leadership and managerial skills is important because this can influence how an individual is perceived. In looking at the differences in leadership and management skills, several questions readily come to mind with respect to these differences: 1. Are there, indeed, any differences between leadership and managerial skills? If so, what are they? 2. Are leaders born and are managers trained/educated? 3. Can management courses transform natural leaders into efficient managers who can both lead and manage? The thrust of this article deals with the operative question, Do library management courses provide the necessary knowledge for natural leaders to become efficient managers? The perceived and actual differences between leadership and managerial skills have been unclear at times. Indeed, in some instances careers have been destroyed when managerial skills were perceived as leadership and vice versa. These differences will be discussed briefly and then related to how the pertinent information can be incorporated into library management courses. 36 LIBRARY TRENDS/SUMMER 1994 Paraphrasing George Santayana (1905) in his book Reason in Society, many people do live in this world without any practical interest in life, and one wonders if i t is because their goals are too far in the distance to be perceived, or if they allow the proximity of the others to pass unnoticed. Recent systematic studies of library leadership and the characteristics of library leaders have been fully discussed within the profession in several articles (Gertzog, 1992; Kilgour, 1992; Sheldon, 1992; and Spitzberg, 1992). Unfortunately, i t appears that there is little awareness of the practical and profound implications of this information to the profession. Thus, one wonders if many in the profession do indeed, as Santayana suggests, wander the professional landscape unaware of the needs of the organization without well-defined personal goals or without a practical means of achieving the goals they do have. While our professional library education programs have attempted to provide the skills we need to manage libraries, leadership has been viewed primarily as an innate personality characteristic (Sheldon, 1992, p. 391) which is not incorporated into the curriculum. One view perceives librarians as being gateways to sources of information for those in other disciplines who are studying the concept of leadership. In fact, librarians are “uniquely qualified to help the student or scholar efficiently seek the guidance of earlier thinkers as he or she addresses questions about leadership” (Spitzberg, 1992, p. 382). Perhaps the concept has been mostly omitted from the curriculum in part due to such attitudes as, “leadership, much as we admire it in the abstract, is something we suspect in the specific” (Sheldon, 1992, p. 391). An examination of the differences in leaders and managers should precede the development of a model of a library management course which is more relevant to the needs of current library managers and directors. Leaders and managers have been mistaken at times to be one and the same, but often a good leader is not necessarily a good manager. If leaders are born and managers are created, perhaps i t is as Shakespeare has said, “some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em.” While some people become directors due to a combination of education and natural ability, others do so simply by determining what is required to get there and then doing it. This is called the “just do it” approach, and these individuals are doers. Others just happen to be at the “right place at the right time.” However, the “road to success” should involve more than having a just do it attitude or being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. What is required is an understanding of the need to have a vision based on a critical mass of original thinking and supported by TOTTEN & KEYS/THE ROAD T O SUCCESS 37 experience. This critical mass must be present if the individual is to have any chance of achieving and sustaining an impact in any field of endeavor. Potential leaders must possess a unique and perhaps radical vision of a future i f they are to offer guidance to others in the field of librarianship or any other discipline. On the other hand, i t is the nature of management courses to stress only those topics that tend to maximize efficiency in an organization. Nevertheless, intrinsic in the concept of maximum efficiency is the seed of change and the means of attaining it even though there is the inevitable resistance to change which might enhance efficiency. Some library leaders are aware of this need to change. Sheldon