Participative management in academic library services
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435129910269017 |
| Pages | 213-220 |
| Date | 01 June 1999 |
| Published date | 01 June 1999 |
| Author | Gerrida J. Oosthuizen,Adeline S.A. du Toit |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Participative
management in
academic library
services
Gerrida J. Oosthuizen and
Adeline S.A. du Toit
Introduction
The recent management literature has been
flooded with articles on participative manage-
ment. These articles are based on the
assumption that empowering people through-
out the enterprise will result in a more
responsive, more flexible, and ultimately more
successful enterprise.
The shift to participative management in the
workplace is both inevitable and necessary. It is
inevitable because the capacity for participa-
tion is widespread and becoming more so. It is
necessary because the issues that we face in the
workplace are too complex and interdependent
to be solved by a few people in authority.
According to Andrews and Herschel (1996,
p. 184), the empowering enterprise is one that
encourages concern for accomplishment rather
than for status. Individuals are seen as capable
of initiating action and therefore as worthy
collaborators. Empowerment involves leader-
ship actions such as coaching, negotiating,
sharing and facilitating.
Problem statement
This article addresses the following research
questions:
.What are the characteristics of participa-
tive management?
.To what degree is effective participative
management practised in academic
information services in the Gauteng
province of South Africa?
.How can participative management ef-
fectively be implemented in academic
information services?
The nature of participative management
Faced with changing markets, advanced tech-
nology and increased competition, many
enterprises have come to understand that
corporate success requires not only capital and
technological improvements, but also changes
in the way employees are managed (Ahlbrandt
et al., 1992, p. 91). To understand the nature of
participative management, it is necessary to
compare it with the more familiar authoritarian
management style. According to McLagan and
Nel (1996, p. 16), in an authoritarian system,
managers think and employees do. In contrast,
under participation, people in different
The authors
Gerrida J. Oosthuizen is Senior Lecturer in the
Management of Information Services at the Tlhaba
College of Education, Rustenburg, South Africa.
Adeline S.A. du Toit is Professor in Information
Management at the Department of Information Studies,
Rand Afrikaans University, Auckland Park, South Africa.
.
Keywords
Academic libraries, Empowerment, Information services,
Participative management
Abstract
Participative management is based on the assumption
that empowering people throughout the enterprise will
result in a more responsive, more flexible, and ultimately
more successful enterprise. Participative management is
more than a willingness to share influence ± formal
patterns of participation need to be truly implemented
where employees have a right to contribute on all levels
of decision-making. The empirical survey showed that
participative management is applied at academic in-
formation services in the Gauteng province of South
Africa, but more so in low-level decisions. This indicates
that participation is still limited and controlled by
management and is not yet experienced as a right by
employees.
Electronic access
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The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
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213
Library Management
Volume 20 .Number 4 .1999 .pp. 213±219
#MCB University Press .ISSN 0143-5124
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