19th November, The way ahead, international vs. African Librarianship

Due to unforeseeable circumstance I could not attend the 17th and 18th lessons.

African librarianship is intertwined in the international librarianship. We as Africans should realise that there is a big space for us in the international arena where we can contribute, learn and create new knowledge. It is therefore our responsibility to put Africa in the global map.

16th November, Multiculturalism in the workplace

South Africa is still in its transitional phase of cultural transformations. We have identified the differences and similarities. We are aware of the fact that South Africa a needs a united workforce.

The visit to Constitutional Hill reminded us of the bitter painful past; we need to nurture and protect this democracy because never again should we as South African citizens should we destroy human dignity.



"Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another…"
Nelson Mandela, Inaugural Address, Pretoria 9 May 1994.

15th November, Dynamic organisation

For organisations to survive and to operate effectively and efficiently they need to plan strategically. The first step to strategic planning process is to understand the internal and external factors as they will affect the business and to continually evaluate these factors, this process is also called PENST analysis.
P = Political environment
E= Economical
N = Natural environment
S = Social Demographics
T = Technological Developments.

Conduct a SWOT analysis, know your competitors and analyse the expectations of the stakeholders. By doing this critical exercise you then have a clear understanding of your target market, their needs and expectations.

This is the stage where you have enough information to come up with a suitable Vision, Mission, Values, Organisation’s overall objectives, Division’s Objectives, Departmental Objectives, Team and individual KPA’s which includes performance and personal development.

12th, Knowledge Management, Web 2.0. social media and other tools

Knowledge management is critical to South African organisations as is to international organisations, organization should invest in facilitating and managing innovation and
organizational learning. Organisations should aim at leveraging the expertise of people across the organization. Managing business environments and allowing employees to obtain relevant ideas appropriate to their work solving problems. Managing intellectual capital and intellectual assets in the workforce such as the know-how possessed by key individuals. The government should begin increasing network connectivity. Rewards can be used as motivation for knowledge sharing.
Storytelling could also use as a method of transferring tacit knowledge. Communities of practice, best practice, competence management and coaching, mentoring relationships should be encouraged. Bjarke Gotfredsen demonstrated how Web 2.0 tools that are (wikis, social bookmarking, blogs, etc.) can be used to better incorporate knowledge management in companies.

11th,Strategic Organisation in Practice

I enjoyed the visit to the University of Pretoria’s Library Services and National Library of South Africa. It is very important to know where you are and where you intend to go, so strategies are used as living documents. However management should get their staff members involved in the crafting of this important document. Because at the end the staff should action the documented DREAM. The National library of South Africa is well positioned locally and internationally. NLSA plays a very unique role of preserving the South African literature, and digitizing rare and special material. What fascinated me is the fact that the community as the clients of NLSA are well catered and catered for, through access to Information Technology, books, study space etc. and I have recognized how the NLSA staff is knowledgeable, skilled and talented to a point where I would say these man and women are expects in what they do. The question is, is their management aware of this talent or even so are these people self aware of their strength and is their knowledge well managed for future and young librarians?

10th, Maximising Human Capital

The laws of the country need be considered in business dealings as this might cause the organization a lot of damage and money that is the constitution, Labour Relations Act, basic condition of employment Act, contract of Employment and common Law. The following are human capital critical in managing self brand, which is social capital, emotional capital, relationship capital and knowledge capital. During these competitive times each and every organization should strive to become an employer of choice. A lot of organizations have performance management systems in place but these systems are not managed properly, constructive conflict is necessary in organizations as it fore people to communicate and engage, however conflict should be managed.

9th, Organisational Leadership

1. leadership is a very complex phenomenon, that is why we turn to confuse it with management, however through this lesson the presenter managed to demonstrate different aspects of leadership in very simple and practical manner. I know that rather than say he is a born leader, I would say he was born with qualities that attracted people’s attention, because of those qualities people trusted and respected him, without considering the skills he possesses.

Leadership styles varies from situation to situation, normally early stage of organisation would be autocratic style (Telling), from 6-20 years persuasive style (Selling), 25-45 years consultative style (Consulting) and 45-60 years democratic (Joining) often we thought the style is related by a leader’s personality. As South Africans we should shape our leadership around the concept of Ubuntu as this defines us as nation. It is important to realise that at times it is required that one put on a leadership cap, that is where he pay attention to new trends, and craft visions.

They lead by principles rather than policies. In case where he puts on a management cap, then operation process have to be actioned in order to achieve the organization goals as prescribed by the strategic plan. I have mastered the art of coaching and mentoring and I am going to practice at my workplace. Self awareness is important in ones career and personal growth. It is crucial that Human capital is maximized.

8th, South African LIS context. Group Dynamics Simulation Games

the National library is the foundation of other library so its leadership should be strategically and carefully appointed. Library Information Associations South Africa’s humble beginnings, challenges, achievements and structures and management.

The president of LIASA Naomi Haasbroek unpacked the vision and mission of LIASA and its role in the South Africa in the 21st century. Since LIASA’s inception in 1997 the objective was to unify librarians from all different spheres to speak in one voice, this is still relevant today. Librarians should support and nurture their profession especially because there is a decline of the profession and shortage of qualified librarians. Therefore it is important that each and every librarian should begin to answer the following question:
what are you doing to the profession?

Rene Schoombee what a passionate and innovative librarian. She is living the act of advocacy by educating the community which is the essentials of information society. According to Rene no circumstances, resources and lack of rewards should stop us from becoming true library advocates. By doing so we will be living for a purpose and that is more fulfilling than any reward, and door will open in an amazing ways.

It is very clear that librarianship is evolving. If we stay where we are surrounded by books, we will definitely face out as a profession. We have to go out there and find the future products and find clients because neither the products nor the clients are in the library.

PAMOJA, Learning through play, without realising we have acquired the importance of roles of positions. Knowing and understanding the purpose, policies and procedures that govern your industry is important. Negotiation skills, communication skills, value system and the culture of ones organization because we remain ambassadors’ of our organizations so we must represent our organizations with pride and dignity.

7th, HBDI Personal and group profiling and CAMPBELL Leadership descriptor Tool

I have enjoyed the journey to self discovery with Prof. Ann, de Boer. This has given me an understanding of why I do things different from others and that there is nothing wrong with that, And that I should always remember to accommodate others and communicate and engage with them in a way that will make sense to them as a leader. Our differences does not make us any lesser or greater, it simply means we are unique and special in our own way.

Reflecting on exercises of learning about self from Campbell leadership descriptor tool, it helped me to discover my areas of development and how I should draw self plan on how to practically work on these areas systematically. I was also able to indentify my strength and how to sustain these areas. It was also interesting to discover that the is no perfect leader and that we need to complement each other, because even bad leaders are excelled in other areas. Lastly I have learned that self retrospective is crucially important increasing ones self knowledge and emotional intelligence. What was interesting is that as much as work is important having FUN (personal energy) is equally important and necessary.

6th, WEB 2.0 Technology in the workplace

I have realized how fellow librarians are concerned about keep track of new technological trends, that is, web 2.0. They take time and efforts to and explore these tools in order to develop other. These colleagues also took time to analyse, their daily duties and investigated how these tools can change and improve the way they work. For example Johan van Wyk and Antoinette Lourens presented a clear distinction among web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. And how we could practically apply to our works situation. And this is something that they have tried and tested so we could their blogs and wikis as reference. I was also impressed with the way they prepared their training program.

• My intention is to critically analyse the content of my existing Blogs, i.e. MPhil entrepreneurship and EMPS.
• I am going to embark into marketing my blogs to the targeted clientele.
• I am going to encourage and train the web 2.0/ 3.0 tools other information specialist in the EMS faculty library.
• I will frequently visit and post on my Blogs
  To reinforce my management and leadership skills
• I am going to be involved in the management performance systems as tool that will manage talent in EMS faculty library.
• Since I am passionate about coaching and mentorship I am going to develop and structure my programs.
• I am going to draw a personal goal plan and manage my career development.

Reflecting on exercises from Campbell leadership descriptor tool, it helped me to discover my areas of development and how I should draw self goal plan on how to practically work on these areas systematically. I was also able to indentify my strength and how to sustain these areas. It was also interesting to discover that the is no perfect leader and that we need to complement each other, because even bad leaders excelled in other areas. Lastly I have learned that self retrospective is crucially important increasing ones self knowledge and emotional intelligence. What was interesting is that as much as work is important having FUN (personal energy) is equally important and necessary.

Day 1, 5th November 2010

I was missing my kids already, the fact that the Leadership program commenced on a Friday made it worse. I thought we were going to settle down and then the program will unfold the following day oh boy was I mistaken.

My EXPECTATIONS:

• I would like to learn new practical ways that I could apply to my everyday job, ways that will help me to work efficiently and effectively.
• I would also want to reflect to my management and leadership style, with the intention of developing where necessary.

This is because:

From January 2010 my tasks were to manage the EMS library. I had to administer and review library programs, look into policies, procedures and resolving issues regarding library operations and staff. I had to work very closely with the office that looks into the library quality surveys and audits to identify library issues and customers’ needs, and plan for responding to the identified needs.

I managed staff responsible for function of a library. Make sure that the staff is well trained to perform their job e.g. shelving, researching, and preservation etc.

I motivate, develop and direct EMS library staff as they work. I had to identify the best people for the job. As well as identifying problems and review related information and evaluate options and implement solutions

I am also responsible for Business Management Department, which is also regarded to be the best in South Africa especially in their MPHIL and DPHIL in ENTREPRENEURSHIP programs. The lecturers are very busy and they expect their student to produce colloquiums, dissertations and thesis of high standard. To support these students one need to be well equipped around research techniques, marketing, integrating web 2.0 tools and negotiation.

I have also taken a role of mentoring junior information specialist in the EMS faculty library. For me this is crucially important as it takes time to master the art of becoming a refined information specialist whose responsibilities are to adapt within the ever changing information environment and to develop training programs that will meet this dynamic environment. For example more and more as information specialist we are faced with the e-teaching and learning dynamics so our training programs should be designed in such a way that it integrates with the curriculum and it also demonstrate the objectives/outcomes of your training program.