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Dissertation Information for Kenneth Harry Plate

NAME:
- Kenneth Harry Plate

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- Rutgers University (USA) (1969)

ADVISORS:
- Ernest Deprospo

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Neal Harlow
- Ralph Blasingame
- James R. Watson

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: MIDDLE MANAGEMENT IN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A THEORETICAL MODEL FOR ANALYSIS

Abstract: Objectives
1) To develop a methodology for the description of middle management personnel in university libraries
2) To identify the backgrounds, mobility, role perceptions, and attitudes prevalent among middle managers using a model construct as an analytical tool
Definition: Middle management was defined as those personnel who directly supervise four or more professional librarians. Department heads and section chiefs are the core of middle management.
Methodology: The study was conceived as being exploratory and tentative since no base of known data on the middle management group in libraries exists. A theoretical model construct developed by Robert Presthus served as a basis for obtaining and analyzing data. In this model, Presthus posits three patterns of accommodation to the bureaucratic milieu which he states are common to all large organizations. The three patterns or types are: 1) upward-mobile, 2) indifferent, and 3) ambivalent. In order to apply this model to the study of middle management, the following variables were selected for use in the construction of a questionnaire and interview schedule: cosmopolitan/local, reaction to controversial issues, view of authority, degree of conformity, job satisfaction, career aspirations, attitudes toward change, and attitudes toward subordinates. The population for study was selected from 15 university libraries in the Northeastern United States belonging to the Association of Research Libraries. A total of 77 subjects completed questionnaires and were subsequently interviewed. Findings: Within the limitations of the model and the methodology, the ideal-type middle manager in university libraries exhibits characteristics consonant with upward-mobility. He is a local, tends to avoid the controversial, prefers subordinates who conform, is highly satisfied with his position, has high career aspirations, is basically conservative with regard to change, and views subordinates in detached terms. A new model consisting of three new ideal-types was constructed based on the following principles: 1) construction of types was limited to data generated in this study, and 2) construction of types proceeded with the variables selected from the Presthus model, one variable at a time. The three new ideal-types – the Specialist, the Executive, and the Technocrat – provide for categorization among sub-groups or upward-mobile middle managers; this model must be regarded as theoretical since it has not yet been tested.



MPACT Scores for Kenneth Harry Plate

A = 0
C = 1
A+C = 1
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-06-27 21:00:56

Advisors and Advisees Graph