Organizational Culture in Academic Libraries in Ghana

Abstract

Academic libraries have been in existence for many years and formed their own peculiar cultures in dynamic environments. The objectives and goals of the parent institution under which an academic library serves determines the library’s purpose and function. Academic libraries operate in ways that are largely influenced by their prevailing cultures. Within these cultures are beliefs, values and norms that guide how employees and management behave and do things which lead to attainment of goals and objectives in the libraries. The main objectives of this study of organizational culture in academic libraries in Ghana are to investigate the level of autonomy in university libraries, the type of organizational structure that exist, how supportive supervisors are toward subordinates, the degree to which members of the library share the same values, beliefs and norms, the relationship between organizational performance and reward system, effect of internal conflicts on staff morale and productivity and the extent to which staff are encouraged to take risk and be innovative. The study employed the survey methodology, and the main data collection instrument was a questionnaire administered to library staff in the Balme and Prempeh II libraries at the University of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The data was analyzed descriptively by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Two hundred and ten (210) copies of the questionnaire were administered, and out of that, one hundred and seventeen (117) were returned, thus giving a response rate of 55.71%. The findings showed that library staff in Balme and Prempeh II libraries at the University of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology have freedom to perform their duties without any strict supervision; supervisors foster an organizational culture that promotes learning and creativity among subordinates; some decisions are solely taken by supervisors; values, beliefs and norms are not well communicated to staff; supervisors encourage team work among subordinates; library staff in UG receive regular performance reviews than library staff in KNUST; and unproductive staff are queried while productive staff are commended for good performance. It is recommended that regular performance reviews must be conducted in the libraries as well as communicating values to library staff to know what must be done and how to behave at the workplace.