ClimateQUAL: Advancing organizational health, leadership and diversity in the service of libraries -- a preliminary report

Purpose:In many ways, the ClimateQUAL® survey protocol (originally Organizational Climate and Diversity Assessment–OCDA©) provides the ultimate management tool for effective organizational adaptation by employing deep... [ view full abstract ]

Purpose:

In many ways, the ClimateQUAL® survey protocol (originally Organizational Climate and Diversity Assessment–OCDA©) provides the ultimate management tool for effective organizational adaptation by employing deep assessment of a library’s staff opinions to plumb the dimensions of climate and organizational culture important for a healthy organization in a library setting. It tests critical attitudes around 26 empirically validated scales/dimensions the ClimateQUAL survey measures including work attitudes, diversity climate, leadership and several other dimensions of library climate. Respondents indicate the extent to which they agree to items belonging to each of the measures on a scale of 1 to 7. This paper is a preliminary report about the findings of the ClimateQUAL Project that began in 2000 at the University of Maryland. 

The ClimateQUAL experience now spans more than 15 years and has been applied in three countries. Much has been written about the experience in the 54 libraries, detailing how they used the protocol (see http://www.climatequal.org/pub).  These case studies are of great value in understanding the impact of ClimateQUAL and its value to adopters. With one exception, this paper will not discuss any of these case-type experiences. Instead, it will provide the results of the psychometric research for the ClimateQUAL project, results based on approximately 12,000 staff observations.

Design, methodology or approach:

The academic libraries that have applied the ClimateQUAL protocol are of varying sizes though the majority were research libraries that were members of the Association of Research Libraries. In 2000 at the University of Maryland Libraries, we were seeking to improve the organizational climate, particularly focused on diversity issues, not thinking about a multi-institutional and, now, international research project. In time, we came to believe that other academic libraries could benefit from our learning. And as the protocol matured, we began to see that the resultant large data set gave us an opportunity for deeper learning, particularly given the IT platform that was developed to support it at ARL after 2008.

To date over 54 libraries in the US, Canada and the UK have administered the protocol (7 of them at least twice), resulting in nearly 12,000 individual staff observations. The paper will describe the procedure for evaluating the structure and psychometric properties of each of the scales. The survey protocol provides feedback that is grounded in baseline normative data from the libraries that have already participated using robust scales that describe key dimensions of organizational culture and health. By using these normative scales and institutional results effectively, significant improvements can be achieved.

Findings:

The key (and original) findings of ClimateQUAL research add measurably to the psychometric research on organization for management and psychology. They include: 

• Results demonstrated empirically what has been intuitively known for a long time. A healthy organization is better able to fulfill its service mission. In short, the research provides empirical evidence for the connection between these organizational climate dimensions and customer satisfaction in a library setting. 
• The results break new ground by developing a theory of the "healthy organization."
• Results also indicated that conflict that exists within an organization does have a direct negative impact on customers (the reverse is also true). In short, organizational climate (that is health) has a direct and perceived impact on the service experienced by library customers. This is validated by comparing the ClimateQUAL results on service quality with those from the many participating libraries' that had LibQUAL+® results. 
• Another important finding was that the climate for surface diversity improves the way an organization operates—this was the first time that this had been shown empirically. Similarly, findings included a significant correlation between valuing diversity and the extent to which customers say they can get information.

The ClimateQUAL research shows that the most effective techniques for remediation are not top-down, but those that engage the entire staff. Nonetheless, as other research has shown, leadership matters and matters greatly. The paper will discuss the ways in which leadership engages the organization and how it motivates, enables and marshals employees to fulfill organizational objectives. It will point to leadership styles that have a positive impact on the various library climates, including the climate for service.

As a preliminary report, the paper will touch on several key topics briefly: 

• The evolution of ClimateQUAL from its inception through its incorporation as a basic offering of the Association of Research StatsQUAL® Program
• The healthy organization—properties of ClimateQUAL scales
• Leadership matters—The ClimateQUAL case
• Organizational climate and customer service—the ClimateQUAL and LibQUAL+ connection
• Improvement Strategies and organizational change using ClimateQUAL
• A look at how longitudinal change leads to healthy environments
• Differences and equity: a reflective analysis of ClimateQUAL demographics and organizational climate
• ClimateQual in the UK: applying the protocol in a different cultural setting

Conclusions:

It is the hope of the whole ClimateQUAL research team that that this paper and forthcoming publications will advance understanding in the field about the importance of systematic efforts to strengthen the organizational health of libraries, not as an end in itself but because a library’s culture and climate are the foundation for the ultimate purpose of what libraries do—serve the information needs of their publics. Thus far, we have ample evidence from the 54 libraries that have used ClimateQUAL that this goal is strongly supported with such efforts.