Corporate culture in libraries and information centers to promote “knowledge‐based business” in IT era
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120610702431 |
| Date | 01 July 2006 |
| Published date | 01 July 2006 |
| Pages | 446-459 |
| Author | K.C. Panda,Manik Mandal |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Corporate culture in libraries
and information centers to
promote “knowledge-based
business” in IT era
K.C. Panda
UGC-SAP-DRS PG Department of Library and Information Science,
Sambalpur University, Jyoti Vihar, India, and
Manik Mandal
National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, India
Abstract
Purpose – The phrase, “corporate culture”, refers to a company’s values, beliefs, business principles,
traditions, ways of operating, and internal work environment. In the perspective of corporate culture,
the paper attempts to trace the changes in some libraries round the world.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a conjectural approach to corporate culture
and how the same could be applied to contemporary libraries and information centers and to show
how the five laws of Library Science coupled with the evolution of IT have not only made the library
services more competitive, but also profoundly influenced the ethics of twenty-first century
librarianship.
Findings – The paper finds that contemporary libraries will have to adapt corporate culture to
promote knowledge-based business so as to make their services customer-friendly.
Originality/value – The paper portrays the different aspects of corporate culture and cites the
contributions of well-known authors on “organization culture”.
Keywords Organizationalculture, Libraries, Knowledge economy
Paper type Conceptual paper
Corporate culture: the concept
The phrase, “corporate culture” refers to a company’s values, beliefs, business
principles, traditions, ways of operating, and internal work environment (www.
highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072443715/student_view0/glossary.html). It is the
basic assumptions and beliefs held by employees about the enterprise they work for
(www.ucs.mun.ca/,rsexty/business1000/glossary/C.htm). At its most basic, it is
described as the personality of an organization, or simply as “how things are done
around here” (CB Business Coaching, 2005). It guides how employees think, act, and
feel. Corporate culture is a broad phrase used to define the unique personality or
character of a particular organization and includes such elements as core values and
beliefs, corporate ethics, and rules of behavior. According to Blackwell Encyclopedia of
Management (McNett, 2005), it is defined as “the set of common values, attitudes, and
behaviors which are perceived as being those of the organization”. As with other
cultures, corporate culture is taught to employees both explicitly and by example.
Corporate values and attitudes include ethical standards, flexibility of management,
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
LM
27,6/7
446
Received 19 April 2006
Revised 23 May 2006
Accepted 7 June 2006
Library Management
Vol. 27 No. 6/7, 2006
pp. 446-459
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/01435120610702431
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