Strategic Managemen for UWS Library - Assignment Example

Strategic Management Report Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Discussion 5 Response to Section 2A 5 Response to Section 2B 8 Response to Section 2C 10 Conclusion 12 Recommendations 14 Appendices 19 Figure 1: UWS’ Presence in the Social Networking Website 19 Figure 2: UWS’ Virtual Library 19 Figure 3: SWOT 20 Executive Summary Strategic planning is a pivotal requirement for any organisation. To maintain sustainable development in the long run, organisations thus need to conduct its strategic planning in an efficient and all-inclusive manner. It is for the same reason that the diversified requirements of the present day service organisations should be maintained strategically to develop corporate excellence on par with international competitiveness. The same notion can be found relevant for academic libraries, which are facing severe challenges to meet the diversified requirements of the present day researchers. With the development of the virtual libraries, universities have been trying to cater to the needs of the students and professionals scattered around the world. Subsequently, the University of Western Sydney (UWS) library, which is an internationally reputed and recognised online research source, has been emphasising the overall development of its client base through extensive involvement of information technology. Another major challenge faced by the present day academic libraries, including UWS, is the need to maintain its information technology (IT) in such a way that they can make data available at any point of time to its intended recipients. Thus, the library has been maintaining its database effectively to make the information available as and when required by its students and worldwide users. Simultaneously, UWS has also been focused on developing a strong employee base to meet the elated needs of the present day researchers. The university even needs to plan its developments effectively so that they can advance its service quality. Strategic Management Report Introduction Strategic management is the process by which an organisation intends to manage its ongoing activities to systematically coordinate and align the available resources with its mission and vision. It has often been argued that strategic management helps in transforming organisational activities into a systematic planning. Hence, through proper strategic management a firm can ensure adequate management of the organisation, making it easier and systematic to manage the daily operations. Through appropriate strategic management an organisation can integrate its operations and implement the same to ensure a better development in the long run. Proper strategic management within any organisation, irrespective of the mode of operation, is also found to enhance its competitive advantages at a substantial level. Apparently, it is owing to these advantages that strategic management approaches have become popular in the recent times as a tool to enhance the organisational operations. Effective strategic planning also contributes to the overall improvement in corporate governance practices applied by organisations, as the complexity of the organisational operations could easily be identified through this mechanism, making it easier and more efficient to be operated (Byrne, A. 2008). The UWS Library is a part of UWS, which is catering to the needs of around 40,000 students through its seven branches, both nationally and internationally. With its contribution in the international knowledge base and in the creation of a domain for better knowledge sharing, the organisation has developed in a more sustainable and competent manner. The organisation is named properly with its vision and mission defined well. The traditional system of the library has evolved with the changing times. Every library has to maintain its excellence through upholding a physical and a virtual presence among its consumers. Through the continuous development of the services, UWS library has been able to develop its on-going pursuits in the global world. Moreover, with the mission to facilitate inspirational learning at national, communal and international levels the organisation has been improving its client base. The organisation has also been aligning its vision statement with the services to enhance its information-sharing domain for its users. The UWS library has also facilitated its virtual library to make it user friendly and help the users’ access information in a better way. Discussion Academic libraries have also played crucial roles for centuries and have supported the researchers by providing them with required information. Correspondingly, academic libraries such as the UWS Library are mainly related to service deliveries. Customer satisfaction, or rather the satisfaction of its users, is by far observed to be the major requirement of these libraries. It is in this context that the diversified requirements of today’s dynamic world need to be met by the UWS Library to enhance the level of consumer satisfaction in the long run. Response to Section 2A The UWS Library has a huge pool of academic library sources, through which they have been providing the required technical and informational support to fellow researchers. With the commitment to enhance consumer satisfaction, the library has been providing effective support to the researchers to fulfil its needs. However, the UWS like all other libraries were facing the challenge of virtualisation. The traditional system of the libraries could not meet the changed and elated needs of the information savvy generation. The challenges that were faced by the library could be broadly classified under the three heads: Figure 1: Major Challenges Faced by the UWS library (Note: The chart has been developed for this specific study) The dynamic requirement of the present day world has been specified the continuous development of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to meet with changing needs of the clients. This has also pose a challenge before the management of the UWS library to maintain its information technology that would help the organisation meet with the elated needs of the clients. In addition to the above, the continuous development in the field of technology has made it difficult for the libraries to maintain its ICT updated with the dynamic environment. Furthermore, with the developments in the virtual world, a series of changes in the ICT has been incorporated in mostly all the sections of society. To meet with such changes has even made it difficult for the university to develop and maintain its information technology. Similarly, the change in It has also been challenged the UWS library to meet to continuously monitor and develop its technological tools to enhance the information sharing. The library has also developed a “mobile device” support to enhance the accessibility to the information at any point of time anywhere (University of Western Sydney Library, 2014; Bryson, 2012; Attis, 2011). The virtualisation of the present day has also pose considerable challenge before the libraries to meet its staffing needs that would be capable enough to provide quality services to the consumers. Unlike the yester years, the availability of information in bulk has made it even difficult for the librarians to develop its knowledge and keep themselves updated with the changing times. Hence, it has become mandatory for the UWS library to develop its staff in such a way that they can meet with the dynamic needs of the consumers. The technical soundness of the researchers has imposed a huge challenge on the traditionally trained librarians to develop its knowledge base and meet with the elated needs of the researchers. The training of the staff to meet with the changing demands of the developed information based society is one of the prime needs of the libraries to develop a better acceptability. Additionally, it has also been noted that owing to the huge access to the data the researchers has become more specific about its needs. This specificity has made it a huge challenge for the librarians to meet with the elated needs of the present day researchers. This challenge has made it quite difficult for the library to maintain its staffs that would be sound enough to meet with the elated needs of the researchers (University of Western Sydney Library, 2011; University of Western Sydney, 2004). With the technical development of the organisation, the UWS library needs to develop its ICT to meet with the developed requirements of the researchers of the present era of the information based society. The dynamic changes in the environment have been observed to be quiet cost effective. The UWS library needs to plan its budgetary needs to develop and sustain in the future. With the development of technology, it has been observed that the university needs to develop its ICT. This phenomenon also affects the budgetary needs of the library and imposes an unpredictable cost that can affect the budgetary needs of the library. The financial challenges that are faced at the organisational level could be observed from the ever changing ICT needs of the researchers. The continuous monitoring of ICT to incorporate the changes has also been affecting the budgetary needs of the UWS library (Lippincott, 2010; University of Western Sydney Library, 2011; University of Western Sydney, 2004). Response to Section 2B The major challenges for the UWS to maintain its competencies in the 21st century can be identified with consideration for its strategic focus on the involvement of technology development, raising dynamism and diversification issues. This has even made the university vulnerable to the changing world. Subsequently, it has become imperative for the university to meet the need for continuous changes and developments. It is thus suggested that in order to create and support the changing needs of the globalised world, the university has to update its information system on a continuous basis (Researcher Information Network, 2007). The technological development has been very diverse in the modern world and has made it difficult for the libraries to meet with the changing demands of the researchers. It has also been noted that the technical development at the global level has made it crucial for the university to meet with the changing needs of the present times. The changes in software are apparently an impending challenge before the libraries to update themselves continuously and meet the elated needs of its users. For instance, the library can develop a mobile accessibility programme to allow better information sharing that would enhance the acceptability of the researchers. This would also help the clients to access information as and when required. With this development in information technology, the traditional landscape of library services has become obsolete. The possession of different electronic resources has made it difficult for the service providers to update themselves with the changing needs of information-based societies. Additionally, this evolving information and knowledge based economy has resulted in the development of a new climate of transition. This transition has made it difficult for the UWS libraries to meet with the changing needs of the ever-changing times. Furthermore, the dynamic development of ICT has made it difficult for the library to update them continuously and maintain its quality services simultaneously (Kaliammal & Selvi, 2004). On the contrary, development of ICT could only be incorporated with proper staffing. These developmental measures initiated can only be accomplished through proper staff, who can efficiently implement change management to develop a better future of the library. Owing to the traditional training of the librarians the elated soundness among the researchers has made it difficult for the library to continuously develop its knowledge base. Additionally, the virtualisation has also imposed a challenge to develop its knowledge management strategy to meet the elated need of information sharing of the fellow researchers (Bryson, 2012). The phase of transition has also made it evident that the academic libraries need to redevelop its managerial structure to reposition themselves and meet the needs of modern society. Since, the academic library is based on information sharing as its sole requirement to enhance its competitive advantage, continuous modifications of its source of information sharing has made it quite difficult to manage its leadership abilities. To meet this vigorous challenges the library needs to develop its staffing needs and continuously upgrade them to meet the elated needs of the present day researchers (Liu, 2008; Foo, Chaudhry, Majid, & Logan 2002). Another major challenge that is likely to affect the operations of UWS library in the future is the budgetary needs of the university. It has been abruptly noted that the funding needs of the libraries has to develop in order to meet with the diversified needs of the virtualised world. With the continuous developments in new technologies, the UWS Library has to implement several changes into its organisational system. This requires huge amount of cash involvement that is likely to affect the financial needs of the library. The continuous development of ICT has even affected the need of the development of the software at the organisational level. This has affected the costs involved at the operational level of the library. Correspondingly, with the development of the knowledge-based societies the university needs to develop its software support. This development of ICT is highly changeable and dynamic that makes the university vulnerable to unpredictable funding needs. This can hugely affect the funding strategies planned by the university previously developing several instances of financial risks. Budgetary planning would also help in meeting the changed needs of the library and would help the library to minimise discrepancies if any. Moreover, to develop the needs of the ICT, the UWS library should be managing its other budgetary needs in order to meet the expenses of the development of ICT in long run. In addition, the UWS library should plan its budget accordingly, so that it can maintain a better adaptability with the changing needs of pricing for ICT (Foo, Chaudhry, Majid & Logan 2002). Response to Section 2C The UWS library needs to develop its strategy and change organisational landscape in order to meet the current demands of technology. The influence of rapid virtualisation taking place today, the reading strategies among people have been changing substantially. Consequently, this has made it difficult for the libraries to understand readers’ needs. It is with the motive to mitigate this particular challenge that UWS Library has been developing its strategies extensively to understand the readers’ needs in a better way and serve them accordingly. Correspondingly, the use of the social networking websites has also become a source of information sharing among the readers that has made it eventually more complex for the library to continuously monitor the changes of technology, making it also impossible to meet with the ever changing demands of the modern users. Additionally, the library needs to expand its present day global presence to enhance the acceptability in todays virtualised world (Lewis, 2007). To meet with the dynamic needs of the virtualised world UWS Library has to enhance its 24/7 virtual access to the information sources. This would make it easier and customised for the researchers to avail the required information as and when needed (Joint, 2009). With the proliferation of the newly developed environment of information sharing, it has been very difficult for the UWS Library and other similar libraries to provide intended information at the right time to the desired destination. Moreover, to develop a successful strategy and meet the changing needs of researchers, the UWS Library has to design open access to a pool of peer-reviewed journals, making it easier for them to collect information online. This new strategy would develop its credibility, as the access to the peer reviewed journals would aid the researchers with quality information (Lewis, 2007). Besides these requisites, UWS also need to ensure effective retention of skilled manpower in order to confirm its long-run sustainability. This particular objective can be achieved with due significance to staff development strategies. With reference to Bryson (2012), it is suggestive that UWS focuses to conduct a gap analysis that would help it identify the friction between employee needs and requirements and organisational demands. Correspondingly, the organisational structure can be made flexible enough to help employees align with the determined organisational goal. Likewise, it will also assist in building up a fresh culture to further promote employee satisfaction, which is supposed to be the key to skilled employee satisfaction (Brown & Yoshioka, 2003). For the purpose of centralisation of the libraries and sufficing the global needs of researchers, the UWS Library must emphasise better flexibility of its information sharing protocols. Contextually, the UWS Library must also extend its employee base to meet the flexibility need of these academic libraries. Furthermore, the employees need to be trained to be well equipped with the need of the 21st century and be motivated too, to instigate a culture of innovation within the organisation. To be mentioned in this regard, the change in information technology has made it quite difficult for the academic libraries to meet with the unstable demand of the current era. Suggestively, it has become quintessential for the library to develop its organisational leadership to coordinate with the employees. Innovation is also important for the library to differentiate itself from other knowledge service providers and ensure better participation of its users (University of Western Sydney Library, 2011). To be more precise in order to enhance its sustainable domain the university needs to provide an updated catalogue to the users. Provide a well-developed service desk for both physical as well as its virtual peripheral. The organisation even needs to develop its leadership abilities to meet with the challenges promptly and accurately. Another major requirement of the UWS library is to maintain the confidentiality of its information and provide quality guidance to its clients to lead to maximum satisfaction (Byrne, 2008). Parallel to the above in order to meet with financial needs the UWS needs to plan its budgeting needs to maintain a sustainable domain. To maintain its social responsibility the library need to develop its financial planning system. The UWS libraries should be able to develop a foresight the requirement of its funding. Moreover, to meet with the dynamic environment of ICT the UWS library must be maintaining a reserved fund to meet with the uncertain financial needs (Lakos, 2007). Conclusion The library has even developed its online information sharing method to meet with the needs of fellow researchers across the globe. With the vision of catering services to the regional, national and international clients, the university has also been successfully developing its information sources to offer information that is more reliable to its users. Subsequently, the university has successfully updated its virtual libraries to meet with the enhanced tastes and preferences of global clients. Moreover, UWS has also developed its technical knowhow to meet the present day need of data availability as and when required, irrespective of demographic or geographic limitations. To enhance its acceptance and popularity amid the readers, UWS has developed its presence in the social networking websites too, to meet the changing preferences of the researchers and likewise, generate awareness amid its users. Furthermore, UWS has also opened access to a pool of peer-reviewed journals that has made it easier for the fellow researchers to access information easily as required. This has also helped the library to better utilise its social networking tools to share information with the larger mass. Furthermore, the development of the software that would enhance information sharing among the users has made it easy for the university to update its knowledge as well as increase the relevance of the information substantially. The staffing needs of the UWS libraries needs to update at a continuous basis in order to enhance the efficiency of the library in the long run. Moreover, by developing a proper leadership strategy in the library management the cultural development at the library level could easily be developed. The library should also be developing the proper skill sets of the employees, which is also identifiable in the case of UWS. This would help the library to manage the diverse changes skilfully so that they can meet with the elated needs of the researchers effectively. Furthermore, in order to develop a proper management of the library the UWS library needs to effectively manage its development plans in order to handle a long-term development of the services. In addition to the above, the library should also be implicating a continuous education system for the librarians so that they can effectively manage the elated and developed needs of the information based society. Accordingly, the development of leadership abilities of the middle managers as well as the customer relationship department is quite essential to enhance the quality services provided to the consumers. The UWS library also follows a detailed line of command that ensures that the employees are trained properly to meet with the dynamic needs of the researchers. The continuous monitoring of the staff and development of its knowledge base also ensures that they could meet the needs of the information-based society efficiently. Recommendations To maintain a sustainable domain in the long run the library needs to develop its presence at the various service areas that are mostly accessed by the researchers. Having developed a critical understanding of the UWS Library, it becomes apparent that the entity has been strengthening its competitive domain in an efficient manner to accomplish its vision and mission. Notably, the academic library has to develop several web links to share information to a larger mass. It is worth mentioning in this regard that with proper maintenance of the physical libraries at all the campuses, the university is maintaining proper virtual libraries to meet the need of the international researchers (Tripathi & Kumar, 2010). However, to develop better governance for transparent information sharing, the library needs to develop its staffing mechanism more efficiently. With major focus on user satisfaction and the development of personalisation, the library has incorporated various strategies that would enable better user involvement at a wider scale. The flexibility of operation that is required among the employees to work for virtual libraries also needs to be developed to meet the user demands in the current scenario. In addition, a major development in the process of information distribution needs to be largely maintained in order to develop a better process of knowledge sharing (Byrne, 2008; Liu, 2008). Moreover, the academic library must maintain its financial requirements more efficiently in order to meet with the changes of technology as observable in the current phenomenon. UWS should also develop its technical knowhow to meet the elated demands of the technology savvy generation of the 21st century. Furthermore, the library must be motivating its employees to enhance leadership abilities and meet the demands of the changing times (Boateng & Liu, 2014). With the development of the online communities, the library can develop its information sharing environment at a better extent and develop likewise, enhance its acceptability among its clients in the long run. UWS must also be continuously monitoring the effective changes in the technology making it adept to meet the needs of its versatile range of users. Through effective motivational strategies, the library must also emphasise developing its employee efficiency and retain employees to sustain better in the long run (Byrne, 2008, Liu 2008). References Attis, D. (2011). Redefining the academic library. The Advisory Board Company, 1-95. Boateng, F., & Liu, Y. Q. (2014). Web 2.0 applications’ usage and trends in top US academic libraries. Library Hi Tech, 32(1), 120-138. Brown, W. A. & Yoshioka, C. F. (2003). Mission Attachment and Satisfaction as Factors in Employee Retention. Non-profit Management & Leadership, 14(1), 5-18. Bryson, J. (2012). Managing information services: A sustainable approach. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Byrne, A. (2008). Web 2.0 strategy in libraries and information services. The Australian Library Journal, 57(4), 365-376. Foo, S., Chaudhry, A.S., Majid, S.M., & Logan, E. (2002). Academic libraries in transition – Challenges ahead. Academic Library Seminar, 1-10. Grant, R. M. (2003). Strategic planning in a turbulent environment: evidence from the oil majors. Strategic Management Journal, 24(6), 491-517. Joint, N. (2009). The Web 2.0 challenge to libraries. Library Review, 58(3), 167 - 175. Kaliammal, A., & Selvi, G. T. (2004). The virtual library: Changing roles and ethical challenges for librarians. Retrieved from http://eprints.rclis.org/15232/1/04cali_24.pdf. Lakos, A. (2007). Evidence-Based library management: The leadership challenge. Libraries and the Academy, 7(4), 431–450. Lewis, D. W. (2007). A strategy for academic libraries in the first quarter of the 21st century. College & Research Libraries, 1-17. Liu, S. (2008). Engaging users: The future of academic library web sites. Colorado State University, 1-22. Lippincott, J. K. (2010). A mobile future for academic libraries. Reference Services Review, 38(2), 205-213. Researcher Information Network. (2007). Researchers’ use of academic libraries and its services. Research Information Network and the Consortium of Research Libraries, 1-74. Shupe, C., & Behling, R. (2006). Developing and Implementing a strategy for technology deployment. The Information Management Journal, 1-5. Tripathi, M. & Kumar, S. (2010). Use of Web 2.0 tools in academic libraries: A reconnaissance of the international landscape. The International Information & Library Review, 20, 195-207. University of Western Sydney Library. (2014). UWS library strategic plan. Preamble, 1-8. University of Western Sydney Library. (2011). UWS Library Annual Report 2011. Retrieved from http://library.uws.edu.au/FILES/report/2011AnnualReport.pdf. University of Western Sydney. (2004). The vision, mission and strategic plan of the University of Western Sydney. Retrieved from http://www.uws.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/7299/SP_VS.pdf Appendices Figure 1: UWS’ Presence in the Social Networking Website Figure 2: UWS’ Virtual Library Figure 3: SWOT Strengths Weaknesses UWS library is a part of the UWS university that gives it a vast exposure in the global paradigm The huge resource capability of the organisation helps it to develop in the global world The staff strength of the library also provides it with a competitive edge Its major weakness is the lack of proper planning scope of the funds Improper and traditional approach to deliver services to the clients also accounts as a major weakness of the organisation Opportunities Threats Development of the technology has introduced the library to the world The growing open source initiatives taken by the library also enhances its level of acceptance amid the researchers globally Dynamic technological developments have made the library vulnerable to meet up with the changing world demands The alternative sources of information providers have also created a huge threat for the library to sustain Read More