University of Maryland
iSchool
LBSC 631
Section 0101
Achieving Organizational Excellence
Course Syllabus
Fall, 2013
Michael J. Kurtz, Ph.D.
Class time: Wednesday: 5:30-8:15
p.m.
4117F Hornbake
Classroom: PLS 1117
Telephone: 301-405-7907
E-mail: mkurtz1@umd.edu
Office hours: Wednesday: 4:15-5:15 p.m., and by appointment
Course Overview: This course focuses on providing a sound foundation in the core
competencies needed to lead and manage information-based cultural institutions (i.e. libraries,
archives, museums, historical societies) in the 21st century. The course provides an overview of
the principles, practices, and techniques required for effective leadership and management, and
focuses on innovative strategies, management responsibilities, and the skills needed to achieve
and sustain high organizational performance.
Course Objectives: Upon completing the course students will:




Be familiar with the concepts and methods of principled leadership.
Develop and demonstrate skills in organizational planning; program management
(analysis, implementation, evaluation); and the utilization of technology-based products
and services.
Understand and apply sound principles in developing and utilizing human capital,
financial resources, and facilities.
Develop and apply principles in communications, advocacy, building partnerships and
networks, and customer service.
Course Text: Kurtz, Michael J. Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories [Chicago:
Society of American Archivist, 2004]. Available at the University Book Store.
Course Requirements: Students are expected to attend classes and actively participate in
discussions sharing their own experience and integrating information from lectures and assigned
readings. Students will participate in small teams, and each team member will play an active
role in project presentations in the final class session of the course [see Team Project]. In
addition, there will be written mid-term and final examinations. These will be take home, openbook examinations designed to test the student’s ability to synthesize and present complex
material contained in essay questions.
Grades: Students will be evaluated on the basis of;




Class participation
Team project
Mid-term exam
Final examination
20%
40%
20%
20%
A letter grade for each segment of student performance, and for the course, will be assigned with
University and iSchool guidelines: A= Excellent [90-100]; B=Satisfactory [80-89]; C=Barely
adequate [70-79]; D/F=Failure [<70].
Team Project: The class will be divided into 8 teams. The teams will meet early in the term and
will present their product in the final two class sessions. Each team will present a ten page,
written summary of the topic and proposed solution. In addition, each team will prepare a power
point presentation to be used in the team’s final class presentation. In the oral presentations
[each team member must participate], teams are encouraged to use charts, graphs, and
audiovisual materials to illustrate their proposed solution[s] to the problem[s] posed in the
project. Team presentations will be approximately 45 minutes. Below is listed the team
projects. The projects will be discussed in detail during the first two class sessions.
1. Build on the MLS diversity project from spring 2013 and identify and evaluate other
academic disciplines that succeed in attracting a diverse student body. From this
evaluation develop strategies for iSchool recruitment strategies.
2. Create 2 new continuing education certificate programs to be offered on-line or at the
Shady Grove campus (Certificate in Information Management; Certificate in School
Library Media). Build on the continuing education team project from spring 2013.
3. Identify iSchool courses that can be offered at the Shady Grove campus for advanced
special students. Develop a marketing strategy to attract students for these courses.
4. Develop a strategic planning process for use by management and staff in McKeldin
Library.
5. Develop the framework to create a common media environment that integrates non-print
media with other services offered by the Library.
6. Develop a strategy for implementing and continually updating Library services to support
the STEM disciplines.
7. Develop a performance rubric for librarians to use in reporting their work in collections
management.
8. Analyze potential models for a revised collections allocation process and recommend the
most effective.
Please review these project opportunities prior to the first class as team assignments will be made
at that time.
Attendance: Attendance in class is expected. If you are unable to attend class for reasons of
illness, religious observance, participation In University activities at the request of University
authorities, or compelling absences beyond the student’s control, please let the instructor know
[prior to class for non-emergencies].
Classroom Environment: The classroom environment should be professional and respectful.
Punctual arrival at classes contributes to the smooth operation of the class and the quality of the
learning experience. Late arrivals, early departures, and wandering in and out of the classroom
are disruptive and distracting. If you know you will be unavoidably detained or must leave early,
please let the instructor know in advance. Please turn off or mute all phones and other
communication devices during each class session. If you use your laptop in the classroom, limit
the usage of the computer to course-related reasons [i.e., taking notes].
Academic Integrity: The University of Maryland, College park has a nationally recognized
Code of Academic Integrity, administered by the Student Honor Society. This Code sets
standards for academic integrity at Maryland for all undergraduate and graduate students. As a
student, you are responsible for upholding these standards for this course. The Code of
Academic Integrity prohibits students from cheating on exams, plagiarizing, submitting
fraudulent documents, forging signatures, submitting the same paper for credit in two courses
without authorization, and buying papers. It is very important for you to be aware of the
consequences of academic dishonesty. Instances of any suspected academic dishonesty will be
reported and handled according to University policy and procedures. For more information on
the Code, visit http://www.shc.umd.edu
Plagiarism is of particular concern in the networked digital environment. Students must write
their essays and assignments in their own words. Whenever students take an idea or a passage of
text from another author, they must acknowledge their source both by using quotation marks
where appropriate and by proper referencing using footnotes or in-text citations. For further
information about proper citation of sources, consult the UMD Libraries website at
http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/honesty.html and
http://www.lib.umd.edu/PUBSERV/citations/index.html.
Extensions: Late submissions of written assignments [including the final exam] will carry a
penalty unless prior arrangements are made with the instructor. If an extension is granted, the
work must be submitted within the extension period to avoid grade penalties. Unexcused delays
in submission of the assignment will result in a reduction of the grade by one category for each
day the paper is late; for example, a paper that would have received a B+ if submitted on time
will receive a B if it is submitted a day late, a B- if it is two days late, and so on.
Students with Disabilities: Students with disabilities who require academic accommodations
must inform the instructor of their needs and provide written documentation about the
appropriate academic accommodations from Disability Support Services
[http://www.counseling.umd.edu/DSS] at the beginning of the term.
Course Schedule:
Session
Date
Topic
1
Sept. 4
Introduction/Team Assignments/Leadership Challenges in
Information-based Cultural Organizations
2
Sept. 11
Team project briefings/The Nature of Leaders and Leadership
3
Sept. 18
The Information Professional as Leader and Manager
4
Sept. 25
High Performing Organization diagnostic change model/Lean-Six
Sigma/Management Paradigm-Organizational Complexity
5
Oct. 2
6
Oct. 9
HPO/Lean Case Studies-Expert Presenters
7
Oct. 16
Gender, Cultural, and Ethnic Diversity; mid-term exam distributed
8
Oct. 23
Library Management Issues-Expert Presenter
9
Oct. 30
Planning, Reporting, and Project Management
10
Nov. 6
Museum Management Issues-Expert Presenter; Managing IT/HR
11
Nov. 13
Communications and Public Relations
12
Nov. 20
Financial Management; Facilities.
13
Nov. 27
Course review; final exam distributed
14
Dec. 4
Team Project Presentations
15
Dec. 11
Dec. 18
Team Project Presentations; Final Exam due
Final exam due (via e-mail)
Leading Organizational Change-Expert Presenter
Readings: All items are available through e-reserves on ELMS. For Harvard Business Review
articles go to the Libraries home page, click on “research port,” and then on “Journals.”
Session 1: Camila Alire, “The Library Professional,” in Norman Horrocks, ed. Perspectives,
Insights and Priorities: 17 Leaders Speak Freely of Librarianship. Lanham, MD., Scarecrow
Press, 2005, pp. 7-12; John W. Durel, “Entrepreneurship in Historical Organizations,” The
Journal of the American Association For State and Local History, Spring 2009, pp. 20-25;
Ronald Heifitz, et al, “Leadership in a (Permanent) Crisis,” Harvard Business Review, 87
(July/August 2009), pp. 62-69; Kurtz, chapters 1-2; Ann E. Prentice, Public Libraries in the
21st Century, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011, chapter 4; Carton Rogers, “There is
Always Tomorrow? Libraries on the Edge,” Journal of Library Administration 49 (July 2009)
pp. 545-558; Stephen E. Weil, “From Being About Something to Being for Somebody: The
Ongoing Transformation of the American Museum,” Daedalus: The Proceedings of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1999, 128:3:229.
Session 2: Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader. Revised ed. New York: Basic Books, 2003,
pp. 31-46, 93-132; Daniel Goleman, “What Makes A Leader,” Harvard Business Review,
January 2004, pp. 1-11; Michael Maccoby, “Narcissistic Leaders: The Incredible Pros and
Inevitable Cons,” Harvard Business Review, January 2004, pp. 92-101; Roger Martin, “How
Successful Leaders Think,” Harvard Business Review 85:6 (June 2007): pp. 60-67; David
Snowdon and Mary E. Boone, “ A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making, “ Harvard
Business Review 85:11 (November 2007): pp. 69-76; Ann E. Prentice, Managing the
Information Age, Lanham, MD., Scarecrow Press, 2005, pp. 104-123; John Zenger and Joseph
Folkman, The Extraordinary Leader: Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders, New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2009, chapters 1-2.
Session 3: Kathleen DeLong, “The Engagement of New Library Professionals in Leadership,”
Journal of Academic Librarianship 35 (September 2009), pp. 445-456; George Maritz, et al,
“Leadership Skills for Archivists,” American Archivist 74 (Spring/Summer 2011), pp. 101-122;
John P. Kotter, “What Leaders Really Do,” Harvard Business Review 79 (December 2001), pp.
85-96; Gary Yukl and Richard Lepsinger, “ Why Integrating the Leading and Managing Roles is
Essential for Organizational Effectiveness,: Organizational Dynamics 34 (November 2005) pp.
361-375.
Session 4: Charles Fishman, “No Satisfaction at Toyota:” Fast Company, 111 (December 2006),
pp. 82-90; Ralph Stayer, “ How I Learned to Let My Workers Lead,” Harvard Business Review,
November-December 1990, pp. 66-83; Kurtz, Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories,
chapters 3-4; Gerry Brokaw and John Pickering, chapter 6 in The Trusted Leader: Building
the Relationships that Make Government Work, 2nd edition, 2011, ed. By Terry Newell,
Grant Reeher, Peter Ronayne; David Krings, Dave Levine, Trent Wall, “The Use of ‘Lean’ in
Local Government,” Public Management Magazine, September 2006, 88:8; Pre-Readings for the
Building High-Performance Organizations Seminar.
Sessions 5 (None) and 6: Power Point Presentations: National Declassification Center and LeanSix-Sigma; Continuous Process Improvement; Building the High Performance Organization.
Session 7: Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli., “Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership,”
Harvard Business Review 85:9 (September 2007), pp. 63-71; Rosabeth Moss Kanter, “How
Cosmopolitan Leaders Inspire Confidence: A Profile of the Future,” in Frances Hesselbein and
Marshall Goldsmith, ed. The Leader of the Future 2, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006, pp. 5560; Gail Munde, “Considerations for Managing an Increasingly Intergenerational Workforce in
Libraries,” Library Trends 59 (Summer 2010), pp. 88-108, 378; R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr.,
“Diversity Management: An Essential Craft for Future Leaders,” in The Leader of the Future 2,
pp. 47-54; Jan Masaoka, “ Ten Things I Learned about Leadership from Women Executive
Directors of Color, “ in The Leader of the Future 2, pp. 55-60; Kirk Snyder, The G Quotient:
Why Gay Executives are Winning the Leadership Race…What Every Manager Needs to Know,
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006, pp. xi-xxxiii; Gary Yukl, Leadership in Organizations, 8th
edition, Boston: Pearson, 2013, chapter 14.
Session 8: None
Session 9: Kevin P. Grant et al. “ Delivering Projects on Time,” Research Technology
Management, 49 (November/December 2006), pp. 52-58; Korin Kendra and Laura J. Taplin, “
Project Success: A Cultural Framework,” Project Management Journal 35 (April 2004), pp. 3045; Kurtz, chapters 5-6; Andrew Longman and James Mullins, “Project Management: Key Tool
for Implementing Strategy,” Journal of Business Strategy 25 (2004), pp. 54-61; Tonya M.
Peterson, “Motivation: How to Increase Team Performance,” Project Management Journal 38
(December 2007), pp. 60-69.
Session 10: Power Point Presentation: Managing the Museum Enterprise
Session 11: Kay Cunningham, “The Hidden Costs of Keeping Current: Technologies and
Libraries,” Journal of Library Administration, 50 (April 2010), pp. 217-235; Kurtz, chapters 7-8;
Geoffrey Little, “Managing Technologies: We are All Digital Humanists Now,” Journal of
Academic Librarianship, 37 (July 2011), pp. 352-354; Power Point Presentations: McGregor’s
Theory X vs. Theory Y; The Five Dysfunctions of a Team; Coaching Teams and Groups
(Caillet); Paula Singer and Jean Goodrich, “Retaining and Motivating High-Performing
Employees,” Public Libraries 45 (January/February 2006) pp. 58-63; Patrick Lencione, “The
Five Dysfunctions of a Team.”
Session 12: Kurtz, chapters 9, 11, 12, 13; Ralph G. Nichols and Leonard A. Stevens, “Listening
to People,” Harvard Business Review on Effective Communications, Cambridge: Harvard
Business Review Press, 1999.
Session 13: None
Session 14: None
Session 15: None