Diversity and Organizational Culture Survey: Useful Methodological Tool or Pandoras Box

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Diversity and Organizational Culture
SurveyUseful Methodological Tool or Pandoras
Box?

• Laura Lillard
• UW Libraries Diversity Officer
• and Education Librarian
• University of Washington, Seattle

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Diversity and Organizational Culture/Climate
Surveys

• Several other academic libraries have done
  surveys and some have posted results on their
  homepages
• Penn State Duke UVA Tennessee Arizona
  Maryland, others?
• Only a handful have published in the
  literaturewhy?
• If we survey we must be prepared to act upon the
  results

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What is Diversity at the UW?

• The Libraries doesnt have its own definition of
  diversity so we used the Universitys
• Diversity can include attention-sensitivity to
  race, gender, disability, class, sexual
  identity/orientation, religion, national origin,
  age, ethnicity, culture, region/geography,
  indigenousness, language and ideology in
  hiring/retention practices or in service policies.

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University of Washington Libraries

• I-200 State law prohibits the consideration of
  race, color, national origin, ethnicity and sex
  in admissions and employment decisions
• 2004 student population compared to 2000
• Up 15.6 for Asian Americans (6,900 to 8,180)
  16.2 for African Americans (879 to 1,049) 14.1
  for Hispanic Americans (1,168 to 1,361).
• Down 7 for Native Americans (421 to 418)
• 18 of Classified and Professional Staff are
  minorities
• 13 of Librarians are minorities (17 Asian 2
  Black 1 Hispanic)

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The UW Libraries Bumpy Road to Diversity

• Diversity identified as key action area in 2001
  strategic plan
• Diversity and Organizational Culture Task Force
  formed 2001 and reformed 2002
• Task Force reconstituted 2004
• All 3 were charged to conduct a survey and write
  a diversity plan

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The UW Libraries Diversity and Organizational
Culture Survey 2004

• Created a unique survey instrument
• 33 Questions, 7 of which were open-ended
• 3 Sections
• Demographics Diversity Organizational Culture
• 5 point scale
• Excellent Good Average Fair Poor NA
• Participants included
• Classified Staff Professional Staff
• Provisional Librarians and Permanent Librarians
• Anonymity maintained

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Overall response rate was 60.6 with 231 out of
381 responding
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Percentage of respondents self-identified as
from an underrepresented group
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Most Important Diversity Issues

• Question 8 asked users to choose which diversity
  issues within the Libraries are most important to
  them

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Diversity Performance

• 45.5 of respondents rated both the Universitys
  and the Libraries performance in addressing
  diversity as Excellent/Good
• The Libraries performance in recruiting a
  diverse workforce was rated Excellent/Good by
  only 27.6 of respondents
• Only 32.4 of staff think we are doing
  Excellent/Good at retaining a diverse work force

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Comments from staff on the elements of diversity
important to them

• Racial/ethnic/cultural diversity should be given
  remedial attention as a top priority
• Handicapped accessibility could be better
  addressed
• English as a second language - how do we help
  staff work with patrons where language is a
  barrier
• The retention and continual acquisition of
  materials in non-English languages is essential.
  While this is obviously going on at the moment, I
  feel that it may be at risk with declining
  budgets
• Libraries doing a good job creating a welcoming
  atmosphere for GLBT staff
• And that leads to one of my pet peeves - our
  tendency to be intolerant and thus exclusive - of
  views and approaches that are different from our
  own

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Internal Communication

• 70-75 of staff at all levels responded that
• communication within your workplace
• relationships among staff in your work area
• communication with your supervisor
• are Excellent/Good

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External Communication

• Less than half (47.6) of respondents indicated
  Excellent/Good regarding communication between
  different library areas (laterally)
• Even fewer (36.6) gave that high rating to
  communication between library administration and
  your work area
• All communication ratings tended to be higher
  among Professional Staff and Librarians Permanent
  than among Classified Staff or Librarians
  Provisional

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Staff Development and Training

• 57.2 of all respondents rated training and
  development support for promotion and advancement
  as Excellent/Good

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Presentation of Results

• The survey was conducted August 2004 and results
  presented December 2004
• 2 Town Hall Meetings
• Most questions addressed communication and
  organizational culture not diversity
• Dean of Libraries made commitment to address
  those areas

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Diversity Plan 2005

• Diversity and Organizational Culture Task Force
  used results to craft Libraries Diversity Plan
• Goals
• To increase diversity at all levels
• Promote inclusive and supportive workplace
• Incorporate awareness of value and importance of
  diversity
• Connect people of diverse backgrounds and
  ethnicities with knowledge
• Appointment of Diversity Officer and Diversity
  Advisory Committee

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Keys to Success

• Library management must first view diversity as
  a business issue that affects the library
  industrys ability to compete effectively
  second, library management must view diversity as
  a top-down initiative that requires overhauls in
  the librarys traditional culture third, library
  management must create an environment that
  reflects this commitment.
• Reese and Hawkins
• Stop Talking Start Doing

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Diversity Officer and Diversity Advisory
Committee

• January 2006 a Diversity Officer was appointed
  half-time for a 2 year term
• A Diversity Advisory Committee was appointed
  March 2006
• The Officer and Committee will assist in
  realization of the Diversity Plan and its renewal
• Realization of the plan depends on ALL staff!

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Communication and Organizational Culture

• Dean of Libraries and Libraries Cabinet responded
• Communications Consultant brought in to assess
  communication and offer recommendations for
  improvements
• Launched the Communication Enhancement
  Initiative
• Appointment of an Organization and Development
  and Training Officer (and Advisory Committee) to
  oversee the initiative

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Leadership, Community and Values Initiative
(LCVI)

• This was a survey conducted by the University on
  workplace satisfaction
• Some results analyzed and posted online
• Unit specific results have not been shared
• Desire for increased transparency in
  decision-making also a theme in LCVI

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Survey! Share! Act!

• Survey!
• Surveys reveal unexpected information
• If you dont ask, you wont know
• Share your results!
• Share even if they illuminate some unbecoming
  qualities
• Act on the results!