College and Research Libraries Academic Library Directors: A Managerial Role Profile Terrence F. Mech Using Mintzberg's managerial role typology, this study examines the managerial profile of 354 academic library directors. Survey results indicate directors are active primarily with in- ternal managerial roles. However, there are significant differences among the managerial pro- files of directors at doctoral, comprehensive, baccalaureate, and two-year institutions. Direc- tors also report their work contacts and rate the importance of human, conceptual, political, and technical skills to their work. any librarians view a library di- rectorship as the pinnacle of a natural career progression. 1 Within the library, the director is at the top of a pyramid and has certain responsibilities toward the library. How- ever, within the larger academic organiza- tion, the library director is only a middle manager having responsibilities toward the larger organization. Because library directors seldom move up or laterally into other administrative positions within the larger academic orga- nization, some view their position as a dead-end job. 2 While organizational and attitudinal barriers may restrict library di- rectors' upward mobility, the managerial roles library directors emphasize may also restrict their ability to obtain the necessary power and required influence for upward mobility within the larger academic orga- nization. A number of phenomena shape a direc- tor's managerial role profile. Like most ac- ademic managers, library directors receive little structured preparation for their man- agerial roles. They "learn the ropes" on their own. Within the library, managerial acculturation is not easy, since it takes place within a professional organizational context in which there are conflicting pro- fessional and managerial views, values, and norms. Successful library directors make the transition from practicing librari- ans to library managers. They learn to make compromises and to tolerate uncer- tainty. Some librarians make that transition successfully and develop a commitment to management and their managerial roles. Others reject their managerial roles in favor of their professional roles, while others are unsure of their managerial commitment and their willingness to perform the roles of managers. 3 Academic institutions are highly decen- tralized organizations that rely on the skill of their professionals to perform the orga- nization's primary functions. 4 Emphasiz- ing professional expertise rather than the power of the office, middle management structures in academic organizations are thin and not very elaborate. Middle man- agers work in parallel administrative structures, one democratic and bottom-up for professionals, and a second, hierarchi- cal and top-down for support staff. Aca- demic middle managers must also work alongside a faculty committee structure. Coordination problems arise frequently among the parallel structures. Because the various administrative structures rely on mutual adjustment for coordination, liai- son functions are important for academic middle managers. Academic middle man- Terrence F. Mech is Library Director at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711. 415 416 College & Research Libraries agers spend much time handling jurisdic- tional disputes and other structural distur- bances.5 · Middle managers serve key roles at the boundaries of their organizations, be- tween professionals on the inside and in- terested parties on the outside. Drawn from the professional ranks, middle man- agers are expected to protect the profes- sionals' autonomy and "buffer" them from external pressure while simultane- ously seeking outside support for the or- ganization. Caught in various tugs-of- war, middle managers (errand runners of the professionals or "lackeys" of the ad- ministration) keep their influence only as long as they are perceived as serving the interests of their various constituencies. 6 "Library directors receive little struc- tured preparation for their manage- rial roles." In examining their managerial roles, li- brary directors must consider the nature of their institution's work, how their insti- tution goes about it, and their institution's external environment. Differences in these elements lead to differences in orga- nizational management systems. Organi- zations and their managers seek manage- ment structures and behaviors that most effectively support their organizations' work. 7 LITERATURE REVIEW Since the mid-1970s, investigators have examined the managerial orientations of academic library directors. Utilizing role theory, Susan Lee postulates that the work of library directors is an arra~ of roles performed in their organizations. Associ- ated with their positions is a set of activi- ties or potential behaviors that constitute the roles to be performed by any individ- ual who occupies that position. Role ex- pectations for library directors also exist in the minds of others. These expectations represent the standard by which others evaluate a director's performance. 9 Nu- merous conflicting expectations shape the September 1990 director's role. While most directors '' ac- · knowledge the importance of their role as ambassador for the library,'' they also feel they are "walking a thin line between the external demands of their positions and the in-house needs of their personnel.' ' 10 While library directors concentrate their energy on internal library matters, they ''realize the importance of their efforts be- yond the walls of their own organizations, but they are not always able to fill this ideal role and simultaneously accommo- date internal pressures. " 11 Paul Metz found that structural and environmental factors shape the director's role. Personal variables (gender, age, and education) have little influence on the director's role performance. "Directors at larger, more complex institutions are more heavily in- volved with environmental issues and deal less extensively with internal library matters than do their counterparts in small college libraries. " 12 Henry Mintz berg's managerial role model is frequently used to describe the managerial roles of library directors. 13 Paul J. Pugliese found that directors of large ac- ademic and public libraries rate their man- agerial roles similarly. Academic directors give their internal and external roles very similar scores. 14 Among middle managers in large academic and public libraries, public library middle managers are more active with their internal roles while aca- demic middle managers are more active with their external roles. 15 Another study finds library directors at medium-sized public libraries favoring their internal roles. 16 "Internal groups (library middle managers) and external groups (dean-level colleagues) tend to evalu- ate the library director's performance differently." Joanne R. Euster' s study of the aca- demic library director's role in influencing the library's external environment gath- ered information on directors, their mid- die managers, and deans. 17 Using Morgan W. McCall and Cheryl A. Segrist' s opera- tional scales of Mintz berg's model, 18 direc- tors report similar average external and in- ternal role scores. 19 Internal groups (library middle managers) and external groups (dean-level colleagues) tend to evaluate the library director's perfor- mance differently. While dean-level col- leagues rate directors' performances of every role higher than do the directors' middle managers, middle managers' rat- ing of their directors closely match direc- tors' perceptions of their own role perfor- mance. Euster speculates 11 dean-level colleagues outside the library evaluate more impressionistically, basing their conclusions on overall perceptions of the effectiveness of the director." Deans, "knowing less about library activities, may have a better understanding of over- all effectiveness or may be influenced more by symbolic outcomes."20 Using Mintz berg's managerial model, Michael Ann Moskowitz found academic library directors involved primarily with their internal managerial roles. 21 Mosko- witz found university directors considera- bly more active than college directors in the external roles of liaison and monitor, and directors at public institutions more active than directors at private institutions in the internal role of disturbance han- dler.22 THE STUDY Using a much larger population, the present descriptive study replicates and builds upon Moskowitz's work by further exploring the influence of the organiza- tion on library directors' managerial roles. This study profiles the managerial charac- teristics of academic library directors within the Midwest (Ohio, Kentucky, In- diana, Iowa, lllinois, Michigan, Minne- sota, Wisconsin, and Missouri). The pop- ulation for this study consists of all library directors in the Midwest at accredited (North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Southern Association of Col- leges and Schools) institutions with stu- dent enrollments over 500. Institutions were identified using The REP 1988 Higher Education Directory. In April 1989, ques- Academic Library Directors 417 tionnaires were sent to 491 library direc- tors. Directorships known to be vacant were excluded from the population. Usa- ble responses were received from 354 di- rectors, for a 70 percent return. The chi-square, Pearson product- moment correlation coefficient, and an analysis of variance from the SAS statisti- cal package were used to analyze the data. The analysis of variance considered the unbalanced number of observations. The level of significance for this study is .05. INSTITUTIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS The academic institutions in the present study are grouped according to the Institu- tional Oassification of the American Asso- ciation of University Professors: Doctoral (1), Comprehensive (IIA), Baccalaureate (liB), and Two-year Institutions with Aca- demic Rank (Ill) (community colleges). 13 While respondents are evenly mixed be- tween public and private institutions, there is a heavy concentration of baccalaureate and community college directors (see table 1). Twenty-two percent of the respondents are doctoral and comprehensive university directors. Given their small numbers within the survey population, directors at doctoral institutions comprise only 4.5% of the respondents. Their low representation limits this study's ability to profile and gen- eralize accurately about doctoral directors. The directors are highly experienced, with a median of twenty years' experience in several different library positions (see table 1). While 40% of the directors are women, 90% of the women directors are found in baccalaureate and community colleges. Of the women directors, 38.4% were appointed from within the library to their present positions compared with 26% of the men directors. These findings collaborate earlier findings that the larger the library, the less likely it is to be di- rected by a woman and that women are more likely than men to be appointed di- rector through internal promotion. 24 Ninety percent of the directors hold an M.L.S., 28.3% hold an additional subject master's. Six percent of the directors, pri- 418 College & Research Libraries September 1990 TABLE 1 CHARACTERISTICS OF DIRECTORS Doctoral Characteristics (n = 16) Public/Private 9/7 Gender Male 12 Female 4 A~ ean 49.6 Median 51.0 Years of library experience Mean 22.2 Median 21.5 Years of administrative ex&t_erience ean 17.8 Median 14.5 Tenure in present position Mean 7.8 Median 7.5 Number of different library positions held Mean 6.0 Median 6.0 Has Assistant Director 87.5% marily in community colleges, hold sub- ject doctorates or master's without an M.L.S. Specialist certificates are held by 2.5% of the directors. Library science doc- torates are held by 6.5% of the directors. Seven percent of the directors hold a sub- ject doctorate in addition to their M.L.S. Another three percent of the directors are pursuing doctoral studies. The credential threshold for library directors in certain types of institutions may be rising. While only 17% of private baccalaureate direc- tors hold doctorates, 26% of private com- prehensive and 42% of public comprehen- sive directors hold doctorates. When they entered the profession, only 46.7% of the directors aspired to be library directors. Only 35.6% of the women, com- pared with 56.1% of the men, aspired to be library directors. However, once they be- came directors, 78.1% of the women and 79.6% of the men would choose to be di- rectors again, if they could start their ca- reers over. These findings support earlier assertions that women librarians are gen- erally unaware of their managerial poten- tial and that their managerial skills exceed their own expectations. 25 Directors are very satisfied with their jobs. On a scale of 1 to 5 (dislike it very Comprehensive Baccalaureate Community (n = 62) (n = 146) (n = 130) 43/19 9/137 116/14 43 81 52 19 65 76 49.9 49.6 46.5 50.5 50.0 45.0 22.7 20.3 18.5 22.5 20.0 17.0 17.7 15.3 13.2 18.0 14.0 11.0 8.4 10.1 10.3 6.0 7.5 9.0 4.9 3.7 3.7 5.0 3.0 3.0 41.9% 30.8% 19.2% much to like very mueh), women ( 4.4) and men (4.3) directors report similar mean scores. Only 7.1% of the directors (8% of the men and 6.1% of the women) dislike their job. -Sometimes, it is not the job but the environment that causes the dissatis- faction. ''I like library administration but changes in the college administration have taken the luster off,'' writes one di- rector. Another director indicates, "I have not always disliked the job. My present at- titude is the result of mild burnout and re- cent changes in the working environment, changes which have produced discomfort on a far broader institutional level than the library." MANAGERIAL PROFILE Defining roles as an organized set of be- haviors belonging to particular managers because of their position in the organiza- tional hierarchy, Mintzberg identified ten managerial roles that all managers per- form. 26 These ten roles can be divided into three groups: interpersonal roles-those concerned primarily with interpersonal relationships (figurehead, liaison, leader); informational roles-those dealing pri- marily with the transfer of information (monitor, disseminator, spokesperson); and decisional roles-those that essen- tially involve decision making ( entrepre- neur, disturbance handler, resource allo- cator, negotiator). Distinctions are also made between a manager's internal and external roles. A manager's internal roles insure that the organization operates smoothly as a single unit. A manager's ex- ternal roles involve the organization's re- lationship to its environment. 27 The present study uses Moskowitz's phrasing of Mintz berg's role definitions to make them relevant to library directors. 28 The external roles of academic library di- rectors are defined as follows: 1. Figurehead-carrying out duties of a ceremonial nature, such as presenting and explaining the library to others 2. Liaison-maintaining contacts out- side the library with college administra- tors and faculty 3. Monitor-receiving information out- side the library through professional asso- ciations and activities and through verbal communication with colleagues 4. Spokesperson-distributing infor- mation to people outside the library and informing outsiders of progress within the system 5. Negotiator-negotiating with organi- zations or individuals outside the library to secure funding and safeguard interests. Academic Library Directors 419 The internal roles of academic library di- rectors are defined as follows: 1. Leader-supervise subordinates' work, including placement, training, mo- tivation, and evaluation of employees 2. Disseminator-sharing and distrib- uting information within the library through staff meetings and personal con- tacts 3. Entrepreneur-introducing change within the library by developing and im- plementing new systems and programs 4. Disturbance Handler-handling con- flicts and crises within the library and tak- ing corrective actions when unexpected disturbances occur 5. Resource Allocator-allocating funds, time, staff, materials, and equipment to specific tasks within the library. Directors spend more time and effort on their internal managerial roles (see table 2). When the top two categories of time and ef- fort spent ("much" and "most") are com- pared with the bottom two categories ("least" and "little") the results are clear. Almost 45% of the directors spent "much and most'' of their time on internal roles compared with 22% who spent ''much and most'' of their time and effort on external roles. Internal roles require the "least and little" time and effort of only 17% of the di- rectors, while external roles received the TABLE2 ExTERNAL AND INTERNAL MANAGERIAL ROLES Least Time a::~~ffort (Fre~~d'ZJ:te Much Most Role (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Mean External Figurehead 104 134 96 16 0 2.1 Liaison 7 33 150 131 30 3.4 Monitor 12 94 168 72 6 2.9 ~oke~person 38 108 145 52 9 2.6 ~otiator 90 96 91 62 13 2.4 otal 251 465 650 333 58 2.7 Percentage 14.3 26.5 37.0 18.9 3.3 Internal Leader 11 55 169 95 20 3.1 Disseminator 11 37 155 116 33 3.3 Entrepreneur 2 24 112 150 63 3.7 Disturbance handler 36 86 119 83 28 2.9 Resource allocator 3 40 111 128 70 3.6 Total 63 242 666 572 214 3.4 Percentage 3.6 13.8 37.9 32.5 12.2 The Chi Square value of 335.68 (4 df at a P value of .001) was statistically significant. *Directors rated their involvement with each of the ten managerial roles on a five-point scale: (1) least time and effort; (2) little time and effort; (3) moderate time and effort; (4) much time and effort; and (5) most time and effort. 420 College & Research Libraries "least and little" time and effort of almost 41% of the directors. The role patterns of academic library directors in this study are very similar to those found by Mosko- witz.29 There are no significant differences in the roles that men and women directors emphasize. There is also no significant correlation between years of administra- tive experience, years in present position, number of different positions held, and directors' internal or external managerial role scores. VARIATIONS IN A DIRECTOR'S MANAGERIAL PROFILE All managers perform the same roles, but individual managers emphasize dif- ferent roles depending on environmental variables (e.g., age, size of the organiza- tion, nature of the organizational enter- prise, mission, and culture), job variables (level in the organization and functions supervised), person variables (manager's personality and style), and situational var- iables (periodic patterns, cycles, and changes in the job over time). The job's or- ganizational level and the functions su- pervised account for most of the variation in a manager's work. The lower the orga- nizational level, the more informal the job and the less time spent in the figurehead role. Lower-level managers are more di- rectly oriented towards maintaining a steady workflow; hence, they spend more time in real-time roles-disturbance han- dler, and negotiator. Managers in service · organizations, like libraries, spend more time in the liaison role than managers in other types of organizations. 30 When the directors' managerial profile is analyzed by institutional type, an analy- sis of variance yields some significant dif- ferences in directors' roles of monitor, ne- gotiator, disturbance handler, and resource allocator (see table 3). While Moskowitz found university directors considerably more active (than are college directors) with their two external roles of liaison and monitor, the present study finds comprehensive university directors perform the role of monitor significantly more than community college directors. 31 September 1990 Comprehensive directors perform the role of negotiator significantly more than bac- calaureate and community college direc- tors. Comprehensive directors also per- form the role of disturbance handler significantly more than other directors. Directors at doctoral institutions perform the role of resource allocator significantly less than other directors. Comprehensive directors spend significantly more time on their internal roles than do doctoral direc- tors, but they spend significantly more time on their external roles than do bacca- laureate and community college directors (see table 3). 11 As managers move further from the day-to-day op.erations, technical skill becomes less important, provided managers have skilled subordinates and can help them solve their own problems.'' While Moskowitz found directors at public institutions more active as distur- bance handlers than directors at private institutions, 32 the present study finds di- rectors at public institutions significantly more active as entrepreneurs than direc- tors at private institutions. However, within specific types of institutions (doc- toral, comprehensive, baccalaureate, and community), no significant differences are found between the entrepreneur roles of public and private directors. Earlier studies examined the internal and external emphasis of library directors, but it is also important to examine the director's managerial roles according to Mintz berg's clusters of interpersonal, informational, and decisional roles. By grouping individ- ual roles together, regardless of their inter- nal or external emphasis, it is possible to develop a better profile of directors in dif- ferent types of institutions. There is no real difference in the empha- sis directors give their interpersonal roles (figurehead, leader and liaison) (see table 4). However, when it comes to receiving and transmitting information, compre- hensive directors spend significantly Academic Library Directors 421 TABLE 3 MANAGERIAL ROLES BY INSTITUTIONAL TYPE Doctoral Comprehensive Baccalaureate Community (n = 16) (n = 62) (n =146) (n = 130) Role M SD M so M SO M so External Figurehead 2.13 .81 2.05 .84 1.96 .84 2.20 .91 Liaison 3.13 .89 3.56 .76 3.46 .87 3.31 .85 Monitor 3.13 .62 3.13 .82* 2.93 .81 2.73 .82t ~oke~person 2.81 .91 2.92 .98 2.62 .92 2.61 .94 ¥cotiator 3.00 1.10 2.89 1.22* 2.34 1.10+ 2.34 1.15+ otal 14.19 2.46 14.55 2.95* 13.03 3.00+ 12.94 3.29+ Internal Leader 2.75 .93 3.05 .76 3.19 .91 3.25 .86 Disseminator 3.31 1.08 3.52 .88 3.38 .90 3.24 .89 Entrepreneur 3.56 .96 3.79 .96 3.64 .76 3.76 .91 Disturbance handler 2.50 .97+ 3.35 1.10* 2.84 1.09+ 2.92 1.08+ Resource allocator 2.81 .75t 3.61 1.03* 3.70 .93* 3.66 .93* Total 14.94 2.49+ 17.32 2.86* 16.73 2.73 16.52 3.59 *+Refers to comparisons within a row where the mean scores of group * are significantly (p s .05) higher than the mean scores of group+. TABLE4 MANAGERIAL ROLE GROUPINGS BY INSTITUTIONAL TYPE Doctoral Comprehensive Baccalaureate Community (n = 16) (n = 62) (n =146) (n = 130) Role Grouping M SD M SD M SO M SO Mintz berg 8.00 1.15 8.66 1.77 8.58 1.74 8.55 1.97 Interpersonal Informational 9.25 1.91 9.56 1.96* 8.92 2.02 8.45 2.18+ Decisional 11.88 2.45 13.65 2.78* 12.52 2.55+ 12.46 3.07+ Alexander Strategic 9.50 1.71 10.53 1.82 10.27 1.60 9.97 2.21 Operational 8.56 1.36 9.92 1.91 9.38 1.97 9.25 2.33 Interface 11.06 2.32 11.42 2.59* 10.37 2.57+ 10.25 2.76+ *+Refers to comparisons within a row where the mean scores of group * are significantly (p s .05) higher than the mean scores of group+. more time and effort in informational roles (monitor, disseminator, and spokesper- son) than do community college directors. This emphasis on informational roles is a function of the separate administrative culture found at larger complex academic institutions. As a result of institutional size, increased administrative account- ability, and the specialization of adminis- trative tasks, administrators feel isolated and ''must spend time building channels of communication and support."33 Man- agers' most crucial roles are their deci- sional roles (entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotia- tor). 34 Among directors, comprehensive directors exercise their decisional roles significantly more than do baccalaureate and community college directors. According to Larry Alexander, Mintz- berg' s ten roles can also be divided into four other role groups: strategic manage- ment, operational management, external interface, and internal interface. 35 Strate- gic management roles (monitor, entrepre- neur, and resource allocator) link the orga- nization with its environment, determine basic goals and policies, identify growth opportunities, and allocate resources. Strategic management roles have broad implications for the organization and are primarily associated with top manage- ment. Operational management roles (leader, disseminator, and disturbance handler) involve the day-to-day directing of functional areas, resolving unexpected problems, disseminating needed informa- tion, and administrating ongoing pro- 422 College & Research Libraries grams and policies. Operational manage- ment roles, concerning the day-to-day op- erations, are primarily associated with middle- and lower-level managers. Inter- face roles (figurehead, liaison, negotiator, and spokesman) are divided into external relationships outside the organization and internal relationships within the organiza- tion.36 For the present study, external and internal interface roles are combined. Directors rank Alexander's managerial role groupings in the same order (see table 4). There is no significant difference in the emphasis directors give their strategic and operational management roles. However, when it comes to external and internal re- lations, comprehensive directors spend significantly more time and effort on their interface roles than do baccalaureate and community college directors. The same structural and environmental forces that require comprehensive directors to em- phasize their informational roles may also require them to emphasize their interface roles. MANAGERIAL TYPES Mintzberg identified eight managerial types: contact manager, political man- ager, entrepreneur, insider, real-time manager, team manager, expert manager, and new manager. 37 In the present study, 72 percent of the academic library direc- tors indicate a preference for a managerial type. Almost 80 percent of the directors' managerial types are of an internal nature. Excluding the new manager and entrepre- neur as transitional managerial types, di- rectors at all institutions cluster in the in- sider, real-time, and team manager categories. Insiders (resource allocator) are con- cerned with maintaining smooth-running internal operations. They spend their time building a structure, developing and training subordinates, and overseeing op- erations. Real-time managers (distur- bance handler) are similar to insiders, de- voting their efforts to ensuring that the organization's daily work continues with- out interruption. These managers always appear exceedingly busy and are prepared to do any job themselves. Real-time man- agers are usually found in one-manager September 1990 organizations, organizations faced with severe crisis, and in any organization in a dynamic, competitive, high-pressure en- vironment. Team managers (leader) are insiders preoccupied with creation of a team that operates as a cohesive whole and functions effectively. Team managers are found where organizational tasks re- quire difficult coordination among ex- perts.38 New managers (liaison, monitor) lack- ing contacts and information, seek infor- mation and a network of contacts. Their decisional roles cannot become fully oper- ative until they have more information. Once they have the required background, new managers stress their entrepreneurial role while they attempt to put their dis- tinct mark on their organization before they settle down into one of the other managerial types. 39 MANAGERIAL SKILLS Robert Katz suggests that effective ad- ministration rests on three basic manage- rial skills (conceptual, technical, and hu- man) and that their relative importance varies with the manager's level of respon- sibility. 40 Conceptual skills involve the ability to think strategically and to see the enterprise as a whole, recognizing how various organizational functions depend on one another, and how changes in any one part affect all others. It also extends to visualizing the organization's relationship to the larger community and external forces. Recognizing these relationships and perceiving the significant elements in any situation, managers should act in ways that advance the overall welfare of the total organization. Because an organi- zation's overall success depends on its manager's conceptual skill in establish- ing, carrying out, and coordinating policy decisions, conceptual skill is of undeni- able importance. 41 Technical skills involve specialized knowledge, analytical ability, and facility in the use of the discipline's tools and techniques. They are indispensable to effi- cient operation. Yet as managers move further from the day-to-day operations, technical skill becomes less important, provided managers have skilled subordi- nates and can help them solve their own problems. At the top, technical skill may be almost nonexistent, and managers may still perform effectively if their human and conceptual skills are highly developed. 42 Human skills-the ability to work with others effectively and to build cooperative effort-are essential to effective manage- ment at every level. These skills are dem- onstrated in the way managers perceive (and recognize the perceptions of) their superiors, equals, and subordinates, and in the way they behave subsequently. Hu- man skills are most important at lower lev- els, where the direct contacts between managers and subordinates are greatest. Higher up the organizational ladder, per- sonal contacts decrease, · and the need for human skills becomes proportionately, al- though probably not absolutely, less. Si- multaneously, conceptual skills become increasingly more important with the need for policy decisions and broad-scale action. Human skills of dealing with peo- ple then become subordinate to the con- ceptual skills of integrating group inter- ests and activities. 43 To Katz's three basic managerial skills (conceptual, technical, and human), Cyn- thia M. Pavett and Alan W. Lau add politi- cal skills. 44 Political skills allow managers to reconcile complex political forces acting on the organization, to negotiate during periods of conflict and bureaucratic in- fighting, and to form coalitions. Directors in this study rated the impor- tance of conceptual, technical, human, and political skills to their job on a scale of 1 to 5 (least important to most important) (see table 5). While other managers indi- cate conceptual skills are required to a Academic Library Directors 423 greater extent at the highest administra- tive level, human skills (listening, verbal communication, patience, understand- ing, and written communication) are rated as most important for successful job per- formance. 45 Academic library directors rank human skills as very important. Bac- calaureate and community college direc- tors rank human skills first followed closely by conceptual skills, while doctoral and comprehensive directors give human and conceptual skills identical top scores. All directors rank political skills more im- portant to their jobs than technical skills. While directors rank the four skills in basically the same order, an analysis of variance yields some significant differ- ences among directors at different institu- tions (see table 5). Comprehensive direc- tors give conceptual skills a significantly higher rating than do community college directors. Comprehensive directors also give political skills a significantly higher rating than do baccalaureate and commu- nity college directors. Directors rate the importance of techni- cal skills very differently. Baccalaureate directors rate technical skills significantly higher than do doctoral directors, while community college directors rate technical skills significantly higher than do compre- hensive directors. Directors with assistant directors rate technical skills significantly lower than do directors without assistant directors. Directors at private institutions rate technical skills significantly higher than do directors at public institutions. However, within specific types of institu- tions (doctoral, comprehensive, baccalau- reate, and community), no significant dif- ferences are found between public and TABLES MANAGERIAL SKILLS BY INSTITUTIONAL TYPE Doctoral Comprehensive Baccalaureate Community (n = 16) (n = 62) (n =146) (n = 130) Skill M SD M SD M SD M SD Human 4.75 .45 4.73 .58 4.63 .61 4.52 .69t Conceptual 4.75 .45 4.73 .48* 4.51 .71 4.45 .72+ Political 4.31 .87 4.47 .76* 4.05 .88+ 3.80 1.00+ Technical 3.13 .72+§ 3.47 .78+ 3.93 .78* 3.78 .93:t: *tRefers to comparisons within a row where the mean scores of group • are significantly (P :S .05) higher than the mean scores of groupt. t§Refers to comparisons within a row where the mean scores of grcup t are significantly (p :S .05) higher than the mean scores of group§ . 424 College & Research Libraries private directors' ratings of technical skills . WORK-CONTACT TIME Directors at public institutions spend significantly more time with campus ad- ministrators other than their supervisors than do directors at private institutions. However, no significant differences exist between public and private directors within specific types of institutions (doc- toral, comprehensive, baccalaureate, and · community). An analysis of variance indi- cates some significant differences in the way directors at different types of institu- tions spend their time (see table 6). Com- prehensive directors spend significantly more time with campus administrators other than their supervisors than do bac- calaureate directors. Baccalaureate and community college directors spend signif- icantly more time with faculty than do doctoral directors. An indication of the directors' internal orientation is the amount of time they spend with their staffs and students. It seems the larger the institution the more time directors spend with their staff and the less time they spend with students (see table 6). Community college directors with smaller staffs spend significantly less time with their staffs and significantly more time with students (other than stu- dent assistants) than do other directors. Emphasizing undergraduate education, baccalaureate directors spend signifi- September 1990 cantly more time with students than do doctoral or comprehensive directors. Di- rectors without assistant directors spend significantly more time with students than do directors with assistants. The directors' internal orientation is similar to that found by Moskowitz where 77% of the directors spent less than 10% of their time with their supervisors and 62% of the directors spent less than 10% of their time with other administrators. Moskowitz's directors also spent more time with faculty than with administra- tors.46 DATA SUMMARY While academic library directors share many managerial commonalities, there are some important distinctions. Aca- demic library directors in the present study are clearly more involved with their internal managerial roles. These findings corroborate similar findings by Metz and Moskowitz. 47 However, there are signifi- cant differences in the managerial profiles of academic library directors. Profile dif- ferences can be accounted for by differ- ences in the type of institution with which the library is affiliated. Variables such as the director's gender and the organiza- tion's sponsorship (public or private) have no significant influence on the director's managerial profile. While Metz and Moskowitz found differences between di- rectors at public and private institutions, the present study suggests that differ- TABLE6 WORK CONTACT TIME BY INSTITUTIONAL TYPE (PERCENTAGES) Doctoral Comprehensive Baccalaureate Community (n = 16) (n = 62) (n =146) (n = 130) Contact M SD M so M SD M so Suhervisor 6.44 4.12 8.32 5.52 6.39 6.40 7.93 7.03 Ot er institutional Administrators 7.56 5.62 9.38 6.56* 6.03 6.89+ 8.06 7.06 Faculty 7.75 5.05+ 13.02 8.23 13.92 8.04* 14.96 8.02* Library staff 57.63 17.79* 45.18 18.17:t: 42.05 17.95t0 35.92 17.10+,§,# Students (excluding 5.90+§ 15.63 student employees) 3.07 1.71+§ 5.89 12.40t:t: 22.58 16.37* Colleagues 8.19 5.31 9.07 7.37 7.19 6.32 6.99 5.56 Other 8.56 10.15 20.28 22.59 21.08 22.76 18.44 21.96 *tRefers to comparisons within a row where the mean scores of group * are significantly (P s .05) higher than the mean scores of group t . t§Refers to comparisons within a row where the mean scores of group :t: are significantly (p :S .05) higher than the mean scores of group§ . 0 #Refers to comparisons within a row where the mean scores of group 0 are significantly (p s .05) higher than the mean scores of group# . ences between directors at public and pri- vate institutions are more the result of in- stitutional type (doctoral, comprehensive, baccalaureate, and community) than the result of institutional sponsorship (public or private). The present study and others suggest that generalizations about differ- ences between public and private sector managers are frequently overstated. 48 There are marked differences between directors at larger comprehensive and doctoral universities and directors at smaller baccalaureate and community col- leges. There are also differences within the separate college and university group- ings. The present study's small number of doctoral directors limits the ability to pro- file them clearly. However, the individual characteristics and career patterns of doc- toral directors are similar to those of com- prehensive directors. Because they dele- gate certain operational functions to assistants, doctoral directors spend less time on internal roles, particularly those of disturbance handler and resource alloca- tor, than do comprehensive directors. Most comprehensive directors, facing many of the same institutional demands as doctoral directors, have no assistant di- rectors to share their managerial roles. Comprehensive institutions not only have missions of graduate education, research, and public service, but are also expected to teach large numbers of undergraduates. This dilemma means that limited institu- tional resources must be spread among these competing demands to satisfy sev- eral different constituencies. Frequently, an institution's compartmentalized bu- reaucratic structure (both inside and out- side the library) and collective bargaining units intrude upon the "collegial" envi- ronment to complicate a director's work. The result is perhaps the most complex managerial role profile. While more inter- nally oriented than doctoral directors, comprehensive directors are more active as disturbance handlers than any of the di- rectors. Comprehensive directors are more active with their external roles, par- ticularly those of monitor and negotiator, than baccalaureate and community col- lege directors. With several diverse con- stituencies comprehensive directors rate Academic Library Directors 425 political skills as being more important to their job than do baccalaureate and com- munity college directors. "Variables such as the director's gen- der and the organization's sponsor- ship have no significant influence on the director's managerial profile.'' Because of similarities in their smaller size and more focused institutional mis- sions, baccalaureate and community col- lege directors share more in common as managers than doctoral and comprehen- sive directors. Less externally oriented than comprehensive directors, baccalau- reate and community college directors spend more time with faculty and stu- dents, spend less time as negotiators and decision makers, and see technical skills more important to their jobs than do other directors. Perhaps their situations de- mand and their constituencies expect these directors to "tend to the library" and perform more as professional librari- ans than as managers. DISCUSSION The managerial profiles identified in the present study are the result of complex in- teractions among individual library direc- tors, their libraries, academic institutions, and external environments. The extent to which organizations and their environ- ments influence managers, or managers influence their organizations and environ- ments, is a subject of considerable debate. Mintzberg believes managerial effective- ness is significantly influenced by man- agers' insight into their work. He also con- tends that managers influence their organizations through the emphasis they place on individual roles and that prefer- ence for a particular role determines man- agers' choice of management strategies. 49 However, Jane Hannaway recognizes that managers' actions are conditioned by the organizational context in which they operate. 50 Under conditions of uncertainty and ambiguity, managers confront a broad range of demands. Responding to 426 College & Research Libraries demands, managers try to make sense of their environment and their actions. How- ever, because the number of demands ex- ceeds their capacity to handle them, man- agers focus on things selectively. What managers can do at any one time is lim- ited. 51 Managers try to do a good job for their organizations, but they also .want to be well thought of, or, perhaps more impor- tantly, not to have things reflect badly on them. However, behavior in the organiza- tion's best interest may not be in the man- ager's best interest. Because connections between managerial actions and out- comes are not always tightly linked, man- agers are not always sure what behavior benefits themselves and their organiza- tions. Managers do, however, receive sig- nals from a number of different constitu- encies about what they should do and how seriously they should attend to vari- ous aspects of their work. 52 The same structure that allows man- agers to receive signals also allows astute managers to send signals about their orga- nization and their own contributions. Be- cause negative information is transmitted more frequently, objective measures of an organization's performance and a man- ager's contribution are not available gen- erally. Successful managers, particularly those in complex organizations, are in- volved actively in managing their own reputation and that of their organization. External relations, especially those that provide organizational resources, deserve managers' serious attention. When han- dled well, these relations enhance man- September 1990 ''Because library directors, like other academic managers, tend to be reac- tive, this article describes what is, rather than what ought to be.'' agers' reputations and influence within their organizations. 53 Because library directors, like other aca- demic managers, tend to be reactive, 54 this article describes what is, rather than what ought to be. By increasing academic li- brary directors' understanding of their managerial roles and environment, they may be better able to cope with the stress and ambiguities endemic to their manage- rial lives. Successful managerial perfor- mance depends on managers' accurate perceptions of their position's role re- quirements. 55 More research needs to be conducted. Managerial roles are influenced substan- tially by managers' hierarchical levels and the organizational areas they manage. 56 The managerial profile of academic library directors needs to be compared with those of other academic managers to under- stand adequately the influence of the par- ent organization and its environment on library directors. Comparing the manage- rial profile of library directors with the managerial profile of other academic man- agers will determine if library directors' managerial profile is organizationally unique or ~imply a common pattern shared with other academic middle man- agers. REFERENCES 1. Anne Woodsworth, "Library Directors as Middle Managers: A Neglected Resource," Library Ad- ministration and Management 3:24 (Winter 1989). 2. Edward D. Garten, "Observations on Why So Few Chief Library Officers Move into Senior Aca- demic Administration," Library Administration and Management 2:95-98 (March 1988). 3. Ruth}. Person, "The Third Culture: Managerial Socialization in the Library Setting," in Gerard B. McCabe and Bernard Kreissrnan, eds. Advances in Library Administration and Organization (Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, 1985), p.2-3. 4. Henry Mintz berg, The Structuring of Organizations: A Synthesis of Research (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1979), p.348-79. 5. Ibid., p.358, 361. 6. Ibid., p.362-63. Academic Library Directors 427 7. Robert Birnbaum, How Colleges Work: The Cybernetics of Academic Organization and Leadership (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1988), p.42. 8. Susan Lee, "Conflict and Ambiguity in the Role of the Academic Library Director," College & Re- search Libraries 38:396-403 (Sept. 1977). 9. Ibid., p .397. 10. Ibid., p.400. 11. Paul Metz, ''The Role of the Academic Library Director,'' Journal of Academic Librarianship 5:149 Ouly 1979). 12. Ibid., p.151. 13. Henry Mintzberg, The Nature of Managerial Work (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1980). 14. Paul J. Pugliese, ''The Nature of Managerial Work: The Extent Mintz berg's Roles Are Required by the Chief Executives in Academic and Public Libraries" (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Pittsburgh, 1985), p.93-99. 15. Ruth J. Person, "Middle Managers in Academic and Public Libraries: Managerial Role Concepts" (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Michigan, 1980), p.124,149-150. 16. Terrence F. Mech, "Public Library Directors: A Career and Managerial Profile," Public Libraries 28:233 Ouly/Aug. 1989). 17. Joanne R. Euster, The Academic Library Director: Management Activities and Effectiveness (New York: Greenwood, 1987). 18. Morgan W. McCall and Cheryl A. Segrist, In Pursuit of the Manager's Job: Building on Mintzberg (Greensboro, N.C.: Center for Creative Leadership, 1980) . 19. Euster, Academic Library Director, p.66. 20. Ibid., p.68. 21. Michael Ann Moskowitz, "The Managerial Roles of Academic Library Directors: The Mintzberg Model," Coll~ge & Research Libraries 47:452-59 (Sept. 1986). 22. Ibid., p.458. 23. "The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession 1988-1989" [Special issue]. ACA- DEME: Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors 75:20 (March-April1989). 24. Paul Metz, "Administrative Succession in the Academic Library," College & Research Libraries 39:361 (Sept. 1978); Barbara Moran, "Career Patterns of Academic Library Administrators," Col- lege & Research Libraries 44:338 (Sept. 1983). 25. Peter Hiatt, "Should Professionals Be Manage,rs?" Journal of Library Administration 4:35 (Spring 1983). 26. Mintzberg, Nature of Managerial Work, p.54-99. 27. Mintzberg, Structuring of Organizations, p.25. 28 . Moskowitz, "Managerial Roles," p.454. 29. Ibid., p.456. 30. Mintzberg, Nature of Managerial Work, p.129-30. 31. Moskowitz, "Managerial Roles," p.458. 32. Ibid., p.458. 33. David D. Dill, "The Nature of Administrative Behavior in Higher Education," Educational Admin- istration Quarterly 20:77 (Summer 1984). 34. Mintzberg, Nature of Managerial Work, p.77. 35. Larry Alexander, "The Effect of Level in the Hierarchy and Functional Area on the Extent to Which Mintzberg's Managerial Roles Are Required by Managerial Jobs" (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 1979). 36. Ibid., p.18, 32-36. 37. Mintzberg, Nature of Managerial Work, p.126. 38. Ibid., p.128-29. 39. Ibid., p.129. 40. Robert L. Katz, "Skills of an Effective Administrator," Harvard Business Review 52:90-102 (Sep- t.-Oct. 1974). 41. Ibid., p.91, 93-94. 42 . Ibid., p.91, 94-95. 43. Ibid., p.91, 95. 44. Cynthia M. Pavett and Alan W. Lau, "Managerial Work: The Influence of Hierarchical Level and Functional Specialty," Academy of Management Journal26:170-77 (March 1983). 45 . Ibid., p.176 . 46. Moskowitz, "Managerial Roles," p.456. 428 College & Research Libraries September 1990 47. Metz, "Role of the Director," p.149; Moskowitz, "Managerial Roles," p.458. 48. Alan W. Lau and Cynthia M. Pavett, "The Nature of Managerial Work: A Comparison of Public- and Private-Sector Managers," Group & Organization Studies 5:453-66 (Dec. 1980); Alan W. Lau, ArthurR. Newman, and Laurie A. Broedling, "The Nature of Managerial Work in the Public Sec- tor," Public Administration Review 40:513-20 (Sept./Oct. 1980). 49. Adeline E. Fain, ''Managerial Role Perceptions of State Chief Executive Officers,'' Community Col- lege Review 15:5 (Winter 1987). -50. Jane Hannaway, Managers Managing: The Workings of an Administrative System (New York: Oxford Univ. Pr., 1989), p.134, 141. 51. Ibid., p.142. 52. Ibid., p.142-43. 53. Ibid., p.143-45. 54. Dill, "Nature of Administrative Behavior," p.75-76. 55. Lyman W. Porter and Edward E. Lawler III, Managerial Attitudes and Performance (Homewood, ill: Dorsey Press, 1968), p.114. 56. Joseph G. P. Paolillo, "Managers' Self Assessments of Managerial Roles: The Influence of Hierar- chical Level," Journal of Management 17:43-54 (Spring 1981); Joseph G. P. 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