ClimateQUAL™: Organizational Climate and Diversity Assessment Sue Baughman Texas Library Association April 2009

 ClimateQUAL™ - Organizational Climate and Diversity Assessment  Project History and Goals  Project Phases and Results  Healthy Organization  LibQual+  Next Steps Presentation Outline

 Assesses whether the policies, procedures and practices of the library are effectively supporting its mission.  Examines aspects of the library’s climate, e.g., fairness, diversity and teamwork as they relate to customer service.  Examines employees’ perceptions of what behaviors are rewarded, supported and expected in your library. ClimateQUAL  - Organizational Climate and Diversity

 1999 UMD Libraries identified need to offer training on diversity issues  2000 Partnered with UMD Industrial/Organizational Psychology to administer first Survey  Goals: examine current management practices and gather baseline data  2004 Repeated Survey  Expanded goals: address team development and climate issues  2008 Repeated Survey  First electronic administration of survey UM Libraries Survey History

Role of UMD Industrial/Organizational Psychology  Conducted literature review (2000)  Conducted focus groups  Developed survey instrument  Administered survey and analyzed results  Produced final reports  Facilitated all-staff meetings UM Libraries Survey History

 % participation rate ◦ Selected Improvement Strategies  Monthly all-staff meetings  Developed of the Learning Curriculum  Created support for professional development  Created Coordinator of Personnel Programs position  % participation rate ◦ Selected Improvement Strategies  Conducted focus groups and groups and teams identifying strategies  Developed supervisor core competencies  Incorporated Organizational Citizenship Expectations into work plans  Began workforce planning  % participation rate ◦ Activities underway UM Libraries - Results

 Develop a tool that assesses the “health” of the library  Develop a large database of norms to help libraries interpret their results  Develop an active community of libraries that share experience and strategies  Track changes in libraries over time  Build empirical validation of the “healthy organization” theory Project Goals

Requires anticipating environmental changes Formal survey of customers Assessment of broader societal trends Internal feedback Requires an organization that can change Workforce diversity  Surface diversity  Deep diversity Requires an organization that can maintain a diverse workforce Employees feel empowered. Employees believe that management values them and treats them fairly. Policies, practices, and procedures are administered consistently

Justice Climate o Distributive Justice o Procedural Justice o Interpersonal Justice o Informational Justice Leadership Climate o Leader-member Relationship Quality o Authentic Transformational Leadership Climate for Deep Diversity o Standardization of Procedures o Valuing Diversity Climate for Demographic Diversity o Race o Gender o Rank o Sexual Orientation Climate for Innovation: Team Level Climate for Continual Learning Climate for Teamwork o Benefits of Teams o Structural Facilitation of Teamwork Climate for Customer Service

Job Satisfaction Organizational Commitment Organizational Citizenship Behaviors Organizational Withdrawal Task Engagement Team Psychological Empowerment Climate for Psychological Safety: Library Level Conflict o Task o Interpersonal CQ-OCDA: Organizational Attitudes

 Phase I  Five institutions tested survey 2007  Return rates ranged from 66.29% to 85.77%  Developed procedural documentation  Evaluated process  Tested the Schneider Model  Phase II  Expanded number of test sites to ten in 2008  Return Rates to date range from 82.48% to 97.62%  Tested reporting mechanisms  Phase III  ARL begins administering survey as part of the Statistics & Measures Program

Phase I oTexas A&M University oUniversity of Arizona oUniversity of Connecticut oUniversity of Iowa oUniversity of Kansas Phase II oArizona State University oCornell University oDuke University oEmory University oKansas State University oNew York University oNorthwestern University Phase II (cont.) oUniversity of Houston oUniversity of MD oUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst Phase III oGeorge Mason University oIllinois State University oJohns Hopkins University oOberlin College oUC Berkeley oUniversity of Hawaii oUniversity of Nebraska oUniversity of Wyoming

 Elements of Climate  “Healthy Organization” - impact of service  Climate for Diversity  LibQUAL+ ® Relationships ◦ Teamwork and communication ◦ Library as place Phase I Research Findings

Policies, practices, and procedures in place Empower employees Emphasize the importance of continual learning and innovation Customer service, employee diversity, and organizational justice – critical imperatives Creating a climate that sends two messages to employees Concern for the employees Concern for customers

Faculty, Undergraduates, Graduate Students  Information Control ◦ Extent to which users can find information in the library in the format of their own choosing  Affect of Service ◦ User interactions with, and the general helpfulness and competence of, library staff  Library as Place ◦ Physical environment of library as a place for individual study, group work, and inspiration. Lib-QUAL+

 Importance of site visits  Reporting mechanisms  Improvement strategies  Community building  Procedural documentation

 Survey and project becomes part of the ARL Statistics & Measurement Program  Create automated reporting process  Continue refinement of scales  Continue development of norms  Build a community of interest and practice Identify strategies and activities to support survey issues Collective sharing of ideas Ongoing communication to support sites Phase III and Beyond

Visit the new website: For more information or to express interest in participating, please contact the ClimateQUAL™ Team at

ClimateQUAL™: Organizational Climate and Diversity Assessment Sue Baughman Texas Library Association April 2009