ACQNET v6n014 (May 11, 1996) URL = http://www.infomotions.com/serials/acqnet/acqnet-v6n014 ISSN: 1057-5308 *************** ACQNET, Vol. 6, No. 14, May 11, 1996 ======================================== (1) FROM: J. Montgomery, C. Fairley, & C. Early SUBJECT: RE: Downsizing in Acquisitions (214 lines) [ED. NOTE: Kristina Starkus wrote asking for advice on the above subject in ACQNET 6:12 and I am pleased to have received these 3 thoughtful replies, full of good advice. Most of us are having to grapple with this topic in one form of another. This discussion is an important one for us and ACQNET is your forum for exchanging ideas: please continue to send postings on this topic whenever possible. Testimonials of successful endurance and requests for assistance with troubling proposals and anything else are welcome.] Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 09:05:55 -0600 From: Jack Montgomery (U. of Missouri-Columbia Law) Subject: RE: Downsizing in Acquisition departments Hi Kristina, Our department has also undergone a tremendous amount of change in the past two years with several staff turnovers (in one job, three people in a 12 month period) As the writer William Bridges states in his book _Managing Transitions : Making the Most of Change_: "It isn't the changes that do you in, it's the transitions. Change is not the same as transition. Change is situational: the new site, the new boss, the new team roles, the new policy. Transition is the psychological process people go through to come to terms with the new situation. Change is external, transition is internal." Having quoted Bridges, I would add that aside from getting his book, there are several steps to go through in a transitional situation such as a downsizing: 1. Staff, especially those left behind after a downsize, are in what writers have called a "neutral zone," a form of psychological limbo. It could also be called an "emotional wilderness." You as a manager need to be aware of this period because this is usually when people quit, become subversive, and act in a variety of often bizarre ways in order to escape this limbo. 2. Remember you are working with personalities. Those managers who are afraid or reluctant to deal with the person as an individual are doomed to failure. While some parts of work can be managed bureaucratically, this is not one of them. Each staff member should be analyzed as to how they will and do respond to change so that you can know how to help them transition. You need to figure out what each staff member stands to gain and more importantly lose as a result of the transition. Sometimes, this can be a new set of priorities to a loss of personal expertise and status in the organization. Knowing what the staff member will gain or lose will help you, the manager, structure your interactions with them to minimize their resistance and see their new role as an opportunity. 3. You, as a middle manager, are often charged with selling the idea of the organizational change to the staff as part of the implementation. It is vital that you understand your role clearly and be able to recognize the transition taking place within yourself. Organizations often rush the process, especially when it comes to "ending" the old, as administrators appear with a new idea or plan without taking the time to explain what it is and why the change is being implemented. Then they wonder why people resist change so intensely. So make sure you are clear on what is to happen and what your role in it will be and then begin the slow, but steady process of selling the idea to the staff. Regular staff meetings reviewing where the department is at this point in the process are valuable as a barometer of departmental environment and can be an opportunity for creative thinking. The main point is Communicate, Communicate, Communicate. Let people express their "grief" (yes, people grieve for what was known and comfortable), but also let them come up with solutions. Often those doing the job know the problems and have solutions but are never consulted, leaving them bitter and alienated and a liability to the transition process. As much as you can, let them participate in the creation of their new roles. This is just a portion of successfully managing the process of organizational change. I wish you the best of luck, as this is a challenging process to anyone who manages people. Doing it correctly becomes an task well worth doing when you see the results of a successful transition. I'm going to be talking about this process at a "lively lunch" at the Charleston Conference this year, but will be glad to talk with you and would like to hear how this process is going for you. Sincerely, Jack G. Montgomery Law Library University of Missouri-Columbia (573) 882-7739 montgomery@law.missouri.edu ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 12:38:59 -0400 From: Craig Fairley (Information Dynamics) Subject: RE: Downsizing Acquisitions Depts. In reply to Kristina Starkus (Marquette Univ.), RE: suggestions for coping with downsizing: The first step is to look at current procedures. The elimination of little steps - usually adding little value to the process - often results in significant savings. Look at what you currently do and ask yourself what would be the impact of not doing it. I belong to an association which recently published a book. I am the contact person for receiving the orders (mostly from libraries). I'm amazed at some of the time-consuming things done to these orders before they are sent out. For example, I get sealed envelopes which have also been taped shut and orders taped into place inside envelopes. I question whether this added step of using tape is necessary. It may seem small, but multiply the 10 seconds per order it takes to apply the tape by the number of orders you send out, and you may see significant staff savings. (The tape also makes it harder to open the envelope at the other end.) If you feel eliminating a step results in some errors getting through, consider the cost of letting these slip through versus the cost of added procedures to eliminate them. Another big consumer of time is filing. I worked for a library which decided to stop filing copies of invoices in Acquisitions. (The Accounting Dept. still had them on file, of course.) There was some inconvenience, to be sure, but the savings were significant. Photocopying costs were reduced as well as the staff time. Finally, I would urge you not to think of passing a procedure off to another department as a way of saving *unless* it makes sense in terms of work flow and saves time for the organization as a whole. _________________________________________________________________ Craig Fairley Information Dynamics 2165 Margot Street Oakville, Ontario Canada L6H 3M5 (905) 842-1406 "Services in Information and Process Management" +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 12:44:25 -0400 (EDT) From: Caroline Early (NAL) Subject: RE: Downsizing in Acquisitions Depts. Kristina, I'm glad you asked this question. I'm looking forward to others' responses. Here's a short list of strategies and ideas I can think of. We have not tried all of these on my list. Please pardon any redundant suggestions. 1. Examine what you're doing and determine what are low-yield activities and eliminate them. For example, we have eliminated some steps involved with handling surplus publications. One might analyze which types of gifts are low-yield and steer clear of them. I've heard of one library that has given up serial check-in and claiming. Titles go right to the shelf. If an issue is missing and needed, they buy it, regardless of whether it was ever received or not. 2. Investigate technological alternatives and make requests for them. If you've lost staff, perhaps now the timing may be right to pay for things that will make your remaining staff more productive. In our case it is full-screen editing; it could be networking, software, equipment upgrades, better printers, etc. 3. Cross train staff so they can be re-deployed when needed. There's a seasonal ebb and flow between ordering (heavy in the fall) and receiving (heavy towards the end of the fiscal year). If your institutional climate is right, you could work towards re-deployment on an library-wide basis using people with bibliographic skills from elsewhere in tech services, public services or systems. Some public functions may be slower in the summer. Our Cataloging staff have been very helpful to us -- searching gifts to eliminate duplicates, placing orders, doing searching of some special collection development projects for which Acquisitions didn't have the staff. 4. Look for services you can buy. We're hoping to make use of PromptCat soon. Many libraries are getting shelf-ready books from vendors. Some libraries have eliminated selector review of approval books on the rationale that they are already pre-selected by the profile. Can you use a vendors' on-line ordering service to any advantage? 5. Maximize automatic gathering plans. If you have an approval plan, what's your ratio of books to forms? Ask your vendor what profile changes can optimize the receipts/returns balance. Would a blanket plan be advisable for some publishers (whereby you would get everything, for a more handsome discount)? 6. Conduct staff focus groups to brainstorm about streamlining procedures. Many areas of my library have been very successful with this approach. 7. Get an outsider to review your procedures, someone from Public Services or from another library. They will have suggestions for efficiencies you haven't thought of because of habit, your assumptions of what is sacrosanct, politics, lack of time, etc. 8. Rally staff around some particularly unpleasant task that you'd like to finish and get rid of, like some backlog, or enormous thing near completion that might make your lives happier. Set aside a half day where you all pitch in together, or one day a month, and it will get done. 9. Managers need to get out and network more with colleagues--in public services, collection development, cataloging. Make them aware of your challenges and heroic efforts. There can be a tendency to suffer in silence, and get buried under the increasing deluge. We need to make a conscious effort to lobby and build alliances when we're under pressure. This may also involve setting limits, e.g.: "I will *not* work every weekend." Caroline Early Head, Acquisitions & Serials National Agricultural Library ****** END OF FILE ****** ACQNET, Vol. 6, No. 14 ****** END OF FILE ******