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Job satisfaction andmotivational strategies

among library directorsNiels Ole Pors and

Carl Gustav Johannsen

Introduction

During the last decades there has been a great

deal of focus on staff policies, development of

competencies, ethics, attractive work and

similar topics. It is evident that it has been a

major concern to create jobs and working

conditions that satisfy employees. In this

paper, we focus on library leaders' satisfaction

with their jobs and their working conditions.

We take a perspective that includes its

significance in relation to recruitment and

motivation of staff. We have found that this

perspective is of great importance, because

many libraries and information centres in the

future will face a shortage of qualified

applicants for positions as information

professionals.There is no doubt that the leaders'

perception of their job situation influences the

staff members' perception of their job

situation.

Background

A new survey of dissatisfaction among

employees demonstrates that up to 25 per cent

of the workforce leave their job before threeyears (Deloitte and Touche, 2001). The main

reason for this behaviour is not connected with

a general high level of mobility. It is connected

with dissatisfaction. It is costly for firms and

institutions to recruit people.

People employed for less than three years

express dissatisfaction with the following nine

topics:

(1) Confidence in leadership and

management 31 per cent.

(2) Identification with objectives and

strategies 28 per cent.

(3) Confidence in line manager 27 per cent.

(4) Need for education 27 per cent.

(5) Helpfulness 27 per cent.

(6) Possibility for career 25 per cent.

(7) Demands from line manager 25 per

cent.

(8) Support objectives and strategies 24 per

cent.

(9) Recognition 21 per cent.

The investigation has been conducted among1,000 employees and it raises some other

pertinent questions about salaries (Deloitte

and Touche, 2001). A total of 46 per cent of

the employees do not know why they get their

The authors

Niels Ole Pors is an Associate Professor and

Carl Gustav Johannsen is Head of Department, both in

the Department of Library and Information Management,

The Royal School of Library and Information Science,

Copenhagen, Denmark.

Keywords

Libraries, Librarianship, Leadership, Job satisfaction,

Recruitment, Motivation

Abstract

In cooperation with the Danish Union of Librarians in

2001 a comprehensive survey of Danish library directors

was conducted. There is a growing societal concern about

management and leadership qualities and it is evident

that leadership attributes are becoming increasingly

important in the information sector. The survey focuses on

a whole array of topics connected with leadership

qualities and perceptions of different future challenges. In

this paper the focus is on job satisfaction among library

directors. Job satisfaction is a central topic for

motivational theories and some of the more major of

these are evaluated in relation to our findings. The

analysis correlates job satisfaction with a number of both

extrinsic and intrinsic factors and the existence of major

differences between these factors and levels of job

satisfaction among the library directors is found. Some of

these factors appear to be connected with the level ofactivity in the library. The context of the paper is the

problems of recruiting the right kind of staff. Included in

the context is the need to create attractive workplaces.

Electronic access

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The current issue and full text archive of this journal is

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http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0307-4803.htm

Refereed article

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actual salary and what they should do to

increase it. People are dissatisfied not with

their actual salary but with the whole

procedure connected with salary negotiation

and transparency.

Another problem faces library directors in

the future. Students perceive the traditional

libraries, that is public and academic, as less

challenging than private companies. Students

also state that they think it is easier to achieve

personal development in information work in

the private sector than in libraries. Students at

library schools, whatever they are named,

prefer jobs in the private sector. At the same

time there is evidence that indicates a

decreasing mobility among the students

according to a recent survey supported by the

Danish National Library Authority, TheUnion of Librarians, The Union of Library

Assistants and the Danish Library Association

(Undersgelse, 2001).

The comprehensive report consisted of

survey results from students, newly graduated

librarians and library directors. The

background for the study was concern about

the size of the future workforce of librarians in

relation to recruitment needs.

The investigation gives a number of rather

interesting results, which should cause someconcern among library directors in the public

libraries. First of all, it is evident that students

and newly graduated librarians have equal

preference for the private sector (45 per cent)

and for a traditional librarian's job in the library

system (45 per cent). A total of 35 per cent of

the newly graduated librarians prefer the

private sector according to the investigation.

It is also interesting that the images the

graduates have of different workplaces in

relation to their expectations to job content

show some very interesting features (see

Table I).

The students' pattern of answering the

same question was very similar to the newly

graduated.

Two factors were significant in relation to the

students' and the newly graduated librarians'

preferences. One was the job content and the

other was the geographical location. The young

people tend to be less mobile than earlier and

they really want to work in, or just around, the

bigger university cities.

It is evident from Table I that young

librarians' mental pictures concerning the

private sector and the public library are very

diversified. We see an idealisation of the

private sector and the opposite of the public

libraries. These mental pictures exist in spite

of the rather strong development and

modernisation the whole public sector has

undergone.

One aspect is the preferences the younger

generation have in relation to the workplace.

Another is how they emphasise different

leadership and management values. Nearly

700 Danish young people, mostly students in

business schools, were confronted with an

(admittedly) hypothetical situation.

They answered the following question: If

you were a manager or leader in a company,

how important would the following issues be

for you? We have ranked the ten issues

according to the preferences of the business

school students:(1) To have an open dialogue with staff.

(2) The basic values of the company and its

strategy are communicated to all staff

members.

(3) To be visible both in and outside the

company.

(4) To implement a plan for continuous staff

development.

(5) To make a profit for the shareholders.

(6) To delegate responsibilities as much as

possible.

(7) To inspire group work and

cross-departmental work.

(8) To increase market penetration.

(9) To demonstrate social responsibility

towards and with staff.

(10) To increase the effort to attract and

recruit (Brsen, 2002).

Admittedly, the sample of business students

was not random but still it gives a very

interesting picture of the perceptions,

attitudes and orientation of the future work-force and leaders. There is a striking emphasis

on people-oriented skills and soft values.

The data from these three investigations

into different aspects of younger people's

Table I The proportion of newly graduated librarians, who think that they

will be able to get the following according to place of employment

Public Private

library (%) sector

Professional challenges and development 39 84

Personal development 39 83

Development of competencies 28 82

Career progression 10 80

An attractive salary 1 85

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attitudes, values and perceptions are of great

interest for today's leaders and managers in

the library and information sector.

Recruitment and establishing attractive

workplaces are, and will continue to be, of

paramount importance in the public sector.

Library leaders need to create both attractive

workplaces and images of institutions with

values and space for both personal and

professional development.

These are some of the problems that leaders

and managers in the library sector have to

face. It is in many respects a question about

increasing the visibility of the library sector.

Increasing the visibility of institutions involves

branding, public relations, political contacts

and other acts that facilitate the change of

mental images.

The focus on leadership

Fortunately, there is an increasing focus on

leadership and management in both the

private and the public sector. The

development of a so-called leadership

barometer in Denmark demonstrates this

interest. There has been a great interest in the

results of the first comprehensive

investigation conducted by the means of this

instrument (Dansk, 2000). The first edition

of the instrument was applied to leaders and

managers in both the private and the public

sector.

At the Royal School of Library and

Information Science in cooperation with the

Union of Librarians, we developed a similar

measurement instrument. We have modified

the questionnaire quite considerably and

directed it towards the information sector;

however, it will still be possible to compare atleast some of the main results with the private

and other sections of the public sector.

The increasing awareness of leadership is a

concern not only in the library sector but also

in the whole of society. This concern is due to

the ever-increasing speed and turbulence of

change processes, and especially to some

pertinent factors like lack of applicants for job

positions in some areas, the need for a

constant development of competencies,

growing pressures from financing bodies,changes in the attitudes in the workforce and

so on.

Leadership is associated with management,

although the emphasis in leadership is on

development, strategy, vision and adapting

the organisation to a changing environment.

Management is about planning, organising

and controlling the resources of the library,

both human and non-human, to achieve the

goals and objectives (Riggs, 1997).

Much of the literature on leadership in

libraries has focused on leadership roles,

leadership styles and personality issues (Evans

et al., 2000). On the other hand, there is

remarkable little evidence on how leaders

perceive their role and future challenges

(Hernon et al., 2001). A new study (Hernon

et al., 2002) asks the same type of questions of

library directors as our study. The US study is

a Delphi-study involving different samples of

20 directors and 29 deputy directors.

In many respects, the library sector does notseem to differ from other public institutions.

However, libraries do have some particular

features:. there is a relatively high proportion of

female leaders;. there are many rather small units;. there are a strong sense of tradition and

professional criteria of quality;. there is a strong sense of service towards a

community;. there are many myths and prejudices;. there are very radical change processes

due to information technology; and. there are growing competition and

increasing awareness from political bodies

with demands about value for money.

The data

The data were collected by means of a

questionnaire sent to 562 managers in the

library sector. We achieved a response rate of

73 per cent.A total of 411 managers

completed a comprehensive questionnaire.

These 411 respondents represent 265

different public and academic libraries.

The questionnaire consisted in total of

approximately 250 variables or questions.

The questions concerned the following

dimensions of leadership:. perception of future challenges;. perception of leadership roles;.

knowledge about management tools;. structure and processes of leadership;. the stakeholders;. definition of the job;. job satisfaction;

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. leadership tools and competences;

. organisation; and

. demographic variables like the number of

employees, type of library, the degree of

digitalisation and use of service quality

tools.

On the basis of this investigation (Johannsen

and Pors, 2001) we will analyse job

satisfaction in relation to different kinds of

variables. We will look at the difference

between the very satisfied and the satisfied

leaders with respect to pertinent and relevant

variables as the first step in providing a model

that can explain some of the features of job

satisfaction and its effects. The empirical link

that is missing in the paper is the possible

relation between recruitment and motivationand the level of job satisfaction among

managers and leaders in the library sector. On

the other hand, we are confident that it is

possible to draw interesting inferences from

our material. The leaders and the staff,

including the newly graduated to be recruited,

share one very important characteristic. They

are all information professionals and

knowledge workers. There is no reason to

believe that they are motivated by very

different factors.

The analysis

We asked the question: How satisfied are you

with your leadership job? The options were:. very satisfied;. satisfied;. less satisfied; or. dissatisfied (see Table II).

We witness a remarkably high degree ofsatisfaction with the job among Danish

library directors and middle managers. A

catch-phrase springs to mind: ``It is hot at the

top not cold''.

The most significant associations and

relationships are given in Table III. The

Table has been formed after we conducted a

multitude of calculations of associations and

relations. The most indicative and significant

will be analysed in greater detail. The Table is

based on different statistical measures of

associations like Spearman's rho, phi and

gamma. The Table gives information about

the relationship between job satisfaction and

related variables from our investigation.

We consider that it is necessary to give a

short explanation of the Table. As a starting-

point we have run calculations of significant

associations between the variable concerned

with job satisfaction and a multitude of other

job-related variables. Some of these variables

are, as a matter of fact, measuring nearly the

same property and we have then selected

those of the most significance. The column

called ``significance'' simply states whether

there exists a statistical meaningful

relationship or association. Instead of giving

statistical value as, for example, rho = 0.21,

we have simply stated in words whether there

is a relationship or not. The column called

``direction'' states the direction of theassociation. We will give an example. If you

look at the variable called ``clear

responsibilities'', it is stated in the Table as

the existence of a positive association. It

simply means that the clearer people feel their

responsibilities are, the more they tend to be

satisfied with their job.

It is important to emphasise that this Table

gives information about associations,

correlations and relations. In itself it does not

give explanations. It is not a causal model. Itwill at this stage of the research be very

difficult to determine how variables interact.

Table II The relation between leadership position a and job satisfaction

Job satisfaction Top leader (%) Leader (%) Middle manager (%) Total (%)

Very satisfied 56 42 27 38

Satisfied 44 50 62 54

Less satisfied 0 7 12 8

Dissatisfied 0 1 0 0.5

Total in per cent 100 100 100 100

n 36 232 138 406Note: a A top leader is a director of an information service with more than 51 staff-members or a director in aninformation service with more than 16 staff members plus extended leadership responsibilities such as leading themunicipality's cultural section, including the library. A leader is the director of the library or the deputy director of alibrary with more than 51 staff-members

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There is, of course, a huge literature

concerned with the relationship between job

satisfaction and its possible causes. Thereseems to be a general agreement that the

relationships are very complex. There is now a

consensus that job content and influence over

one's work situation are important. It is also

evident that personality factors play a

significant role in the same way as a person's

view and ideology concerning work. The

perception of work is different from culture to

culture and it differs also among social groups

and among different professions and

occupations.It is interesting to note that demographic

factors such as gender and age do not play a

role in relation to job satisfaction. Workplace-

related factors play only a role in relation to

the actual position of the manager. Top

managers are the most satisfied. The

perception of salary is not significant.One of the surprising phenomena was that

perception of future challenges did not in any

way correlate with job satisfaction.

The organisation of the work plays a

significant role in relation to leaders' job

satisfaction. It is not surprising that leaders

feel more confident with clear responsibilities

and requirements, because it gives room and

freedom to operate. On the other hand, it is

significant that leaders and managers express

their job satisfaction on a high level in relationto the degree of staff involvement in the

operation of the library. Libraries that use

project organisation and teamwork have more

satisfied leaders than other libraries. It is

Table III The relationship between selected variables and job satisfaction

Significance Direction

Background variables

Gender No

Age No

Workplace-related variables

Type of library No

Size of library No/yes a

Level of leadership position Yes Positive

Salary No

Organisation of work

Project and team organisation Yes Positive

Clear responsibilities Yes Positive

Perception of leadership roles

Follow-up, coordinator, planner Yes Negative

Leadership styles

Values, dialogue, respect and motivation Yes Positive

Job content

Strategic leadership Yes Positive

Time for strategic work Yes Positive

Time to inform and communicate Yes Positive

Delegate work and tasks Yes Positive

Competency questions

Knowledge about 21 tools Yes Positive (all 21)

Future qualifications: empathy Yes Positive

Future qualifications: task orientation Yes PositiveNeed for continuing professional development in different topics Yes Negative

Time for professional development Yes Positive

Influence on own work

Influence on job content Yes Positive

Room for decision making Yes Positive

Have to do what other people decide Yes Negative

Note: a Significant at the alpha 0.10 level, but not the alpha 0.05 level

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evident that it is difficult to judge cause and

effect in this relationship. We emphasise the

obvious, but not unimportant conclusion: to a

certain degree leaders can influence their own

job satisfaction by staff involvement.

We have also asked the managers questions

about their perception of existing and future

leadership roles and the message is very clear.

Leaders who think that leadership is about

personalities, including their own, have a

much higher degree of satisfaction than the

leaders who emphasise the administrative

aspects of the job.

This argument is emphasised in the

questions concerning leadership styles.

Overall, we see an emphasis towards human

and communication-oriented leadership

styles, when leaders describe the situation intheir own libraries. There is a correlation

among satisfaction and the modern human-

oriented leadership styles, focusing on

motivation, respect, dialogue and values.

Herzberg et al. (1959) formulated as early

as 1959 an influential theory about

motivation. Herzberg argued that the content

of the job had a significant influence on

motivation and satisfaction. The theory is the

so-called two-factor theory. Herzberg et al.

make a distinction between maintenance

factors like pay, supervision, working

conditions and structure as base-line

expectations and motivational factors, which

includes the job itself, recognition,

achievement, responsibilities and

opportunities for advancement. The first set

of factors cannot create job satisfaction but

only dissatisfaction through absence. The

second set represents the real motivators.

Our investigation indicates that variables

associated with job content have a significant

influence on leaders' job satisfaction. It isevident that time to think and plan in a

strategic manner has a positive effect. It is not

just the time but also the obligation to do

strategic work that is important. Staff-related

tasks like delegating, informing and

communicating also correlate positively with

job satisfaction. Related to these questions is

also the influence or power the single leader

has on his or her own work situation.

Satisfaction is highly correlated with one's

perception of influence on job content andthe room or freedom one has to make

decisions. This fits nicely together with the

result that leaders such as middle managers,

with a low degree of freedom of decision

making and influence on job content, are the

least satisfied. They are in a situation in

which they often have to follow other

people's decisions.

We also get results which do not seem to

support the theory put forward by Herzberg.

An example is the perception of salary. In the

theory a low salary is a maintenance factor, a

so-called dissatisfier. The library directors as a

whole were not comfortable with their

salaries; however, it did not cause

dissatisfaction as a whole. There is a

difference between a theory formulated in the

late 1950s and the working conditions around

the millennium. The library directors are

knowledge workers or knowledge

professionals and their staff will be the same.

Much research has pointed to the fact that

other factors are important for these groups of

people.

Sveiby (1998) has formulated very

interesting suppositions about what makes

knowledge professionals tick. His work is

probably more relevant for librarians than the

work of Herzberg. It seems that the job

features that create job satisfaction are very

close to the formulations of the young

generation.

Overall, the whole field of relations betweenwork, job satisfaction, organisation,

personality, identity, enrichment and

development in many areas is very complex.

Some studies indicate (Gerhart, 1987) that

job attitudes, including job satisfaction, are

partly associated with underlying

psychological predispositions such as

happiness or dissatisfaction. Job satisfaction is

associated within the underlying personality

structure and socialisation.

We have asked the leaders about their

knowledge of 21 different leadership tools.

The tools include theories, methodologies,

strategies, practices and tools. Examples of

tools are:. MBO;. ethical accountancy;. user-studies;. image and branding;. benchmarking;. new salary schemes;. outsourcing; and. staff assessment methods.

The more knowledge the single leader

perceives he or she has, the higher is the

degree of job satisfaction. We find a positive

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correlation in relation to each of the 21 tools

about which we have asked. It tells us that

the perceived competency has a very deep

impact on the level of job satisfaction. It is

important to emphasise that the validation

of these results is underlined by other

questions concerning qualifications and

competencies. We asked our sample about

their need for continuing professional

development in relation to 14 topics. Five of

these correlated significantly with job

satisfaction. The correlation was negative. It

simply means that leaders with a feeling of a

high educational need are less satisfied in

relation to the job. It is also evident from

Table III that it is important that leaders feel

that they have adequate qualifications in the

classic leadership or management topics.Questions concerning future qualifications

also showed interesting results. Managers

who emphasised empathy and task

orientation as major challenges in the future

job situation were more satisfied than other

managers.

One of the interesting features in relation to

the questions about the need for competency

development and self-assessment of existing

personal knowledge is a rather significant

difference between female and male directors.

Especially, if we look at the perceived need for

professional development, the female leaders

express a much greater average need than

their male colleagues.

We have now looked into some, but not all,

of the variables, which correlate with job

satisfaction. In this paper, we will now utilise

the data to build a conceptual model of

determinants and possible consequences of

job satisfaction.

Here we will restrict ourselves to emphasise

a noteworthy observation. It is unclear inwhich way the variables interact or what are

the exact causal inferences. An important fact

is that leaders possess the power and authority

to change their own job satisfaction. From

Table III it is evident that job satisfaction is

about both behaviour and perceptions.

Education, the organisational setting or

milieu, responsibilities and decision-making

opportunities, human orientation and factors

such as these are all important in relation to

job satisfaction. An average leader or managerin the library sector has, at least to a certain

degree, control over these factors and he or

she will be able to introduce the proper

change processes.

The very satisfied and the satisfiedleaders

In this analysis, we have identified some of the

factors which correlate with job satisfaction.

We will now look at job satisfaction from a

different perspective. We will look more

closely into the differences between the very

satisfied and the satisfied group of leaders.

Consequently, we will not analyse the group

of less satisfied and the group of dissatisfied

leaders. The reason for this is methodological.

The distinction between people who declare

themselves very satisfied or just satisfied is

fluid. If we are able to identify significant

differences in actions and perception, the

analysis gains in credibility.

Above we stated that we were unable todetermine the causal inferences between the

variables. At the same time we focused on

variables we believe have an effect on

satisfaction. We are not excluding a

hypothesis about mutual influence. In the

next paragraph we focus on variables we

believe are caused partly by job satisfaction.

Again, we do not exclude interaction between

variables.

A question often discussed in the literature

is the relationship between satisfaction and

performance. An assumption is that people

with a high degree of job satisfaction perform

better. Even if such an association were

found, the direction of causality would remain

less than clear. Several studies validate the

assumption (Warr, 1996). One must bear in

mind that part of the literature points in

another direction. It is the absence or

reduction of dissatisfaction that causes a

better performance (Crow and Hartman,

1995).

We asked about aspects of performance inthe investigation. The aspects of performance

about which we asked were not the

performance of individuals, but performance

of the single libraries. We find it relevant in

this context, because these actions would be

impossible without consent and direct

support from the library leaders. It is of

course an indirect measure but we judge it to

be relevant in this context. The first set of

variables we investigate is which systematic

tools and analysis in relation to optimising theuser-oriented services the libraries employ.

In the investigation, we asked about the

employment of 15 different management

tools. We know that it is daring to consider

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the use of these tools as an indicator of the

performance of the library director. We also

acknowledge that the use of the tools can just

as well be the cause of the satisfaction, but

from the public's point of view it is evident

that libraries with very satisfied leaders

employ more user-oriented tools.

In Table IV we see 12 tools out of the 15.

There is a statistically significant difference

between the operations conducted by the

libraries headed by the very satisfied leaders

and the satisfied leaders. We are aware of the

problem of possible intervening variables, but

we find the result interesting and provoking.

From a user point of view it demonstrates the

desirability of a library with a high degree of

satisfaction in top management. Pors (2001)

presents the use of the different tool in greaterdetail.

The correlation between satisfaction and

other service-related factors like instruction in

Internet use is also significant and positive.

Let us now take a look at how the leaders

perceive they run their library or information

service. It is a question about leadership style.

We look again at the leaders in two groups:

the very satisfied and the satisfied and we have

confronted them with statements concerning

leadership styles employed at their library (see

Table V).

There are statistically significant differences

between the two groups. It is also interesting

to note that no differences exist in relation to

questions such as leadership conducted by

regulations, giving orders or control. Not

many admit that they lead this way. Another

remarkable difference in the material is that

the middle managers' perception of the

employed leadership styles differs significantly

from that of the leaders. They have, overall, a

slightly less positive interpretation of the

employed leadership style. It is simply another

way of saying that leaders' perceptions of

what they are doing are not totally shared by

all staff members. Again, we would like to

state that it is not necessarily a causal

relationship we are indicating.

Most of the theories about job satisfactionand motivation stress the actual content of the

job. It is interesting, because one of the very

important findings in the literature about

what leaders actually do (Mintzberg, 1975)

demonstrated a rather chaotic working day

among leaders with very varied tasks through

the day. The behavioural picture was very

different from the more traditional image of a

leader and manager as a person who spends

his/her time in rational activities like planning,

thinking and supervising.Table VI shows the leaders' indication of

how much time they spend on different types of

leadership and tasks. The higher the figure, the

more time they perceive to spend on the task.

The perception of how the working time is

utilised differs significantly among the very

satisfied and the satisfied leaders.

It is evident that the very satisfied group of

directors perceive that, on the one side, they

utilise their time in relation to especially

future- and change-oriented tasks and, on the

other, they also seem to utilise their time in

relation to staff issues and organisational tasks

like team building.

It appears that it is important in relation to

directors' job satisfaction that they do have an

image of themselves as being at least to a

certain degree removed from the daily

routine tasks.

Table IV Management tools used during the last three years

Very satisfied Satisfied

Systematic tools leaders (%) leaders

Systematic user survey 45 34

Traffic count 77 66

Queue 18 9

Users' waiting times 25 11

Remote use 62 37

ILL 18 9

Quality indicators 28 13Process speed 39 16

Benchmarking 29 10

Collection/user needs 27 17

Complaints system 18 9

Ethical guidelines for staff 30 16

Note: The figures are the per cent that answered yes to the employmentof the tools

Table V The proportion of leaders that say yes, very much, to the following statements concerning leadership styles

in their library

Very satisfied (%) Satisfied (%)

Leadership is done by attitudes and values 77 67

Leadership is done by dialogue and cooperation 96 84

Leadership is done by motivation and mutual respect 89 77

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Another indicator of job satisfaction is the

propensity to apply for the job again today.

We asked whether the leader would apply for

his or her job today. It is evident that the

group of very satisfied leaders is more inclined

to answer yes to this question than leaders

declaring themselves just satisfied.

Other interesting effects of the satisfaction

level among the library directors emerge. The

relationship between private life and the

professional life has often interested

researchers. This relationship was not a major

topic in our investigation but, nevertheless,

indicators of it can easily be found in thecomprehensive material. Leaders with a high

degree of job satisfaction have the following

eight features in common:

(1) find the leadership less psychologically

hard;

(2) find it easier to balance different interests

at the workplace;

(3) are more oriented towards considering

leadership as a lifestyle;

(4) take work home with them more often;

(5) find it easier to find time for holidays withfamily;

(6) are more often away from the workplace

in relation to meetings and conferences;

(7) do not find that the job is a strain on

family life; and

(8) find the job more meaningful and

enriching.

Again, we emphasise that we have

investigated correlations and not causal

inferences. Still, the results are interesting and

paint a picture of a possibly very complexrelationship between personality and

environment factors. Interpreting the list of

features together with Tables V and VI clearly

gives the impression that the prerequisites for

a high degree of job satisfaction are a

perception of balance in life and a leadership

style that is transformational or people-

oriented more than transactional.

The findings are in accordance with

findings from other studies that emphasise the

importance of personality factors, job content

factors, workplace factors and the like (Warr,

1996).

Sveiby's (1998) very basic and important

work on the professionals gives us reason to

believe that many of these factors that are

tightly interconnected and interwoven with

job satisfaction among library directors and

library managers are also important in relation

to staff satisfaction. One of the correlations we

saw in Table IV was the relationship between

the employed management tools and leaders'job satisfaction. There is a remarkable

co-variation between job satisfaction and

employment of professional tools. It is evident

that many of these tools possess a symbolic

character. The simple employment of them

signals modernity, customer orientation and

accountability. The employment of the tools

in a systematic way requires a high degree of

staff development, staff involvement and

possibly team-orientation and a high degree

of specific qualifications among staff

members. On the whole, the employment of

tools could give the staff more demanding and

complex problem-solving tasks. This is

exactly how Sveiby characterises the expert in

the knowledge company. He or she likes

complex problems, new advances in the

profession, freedom to seek solutions and

public recognition of their work. Experts

dislike bureaucracy, rules delimiting their

freedom, routine work and ignorant leaders.

This is, of course, a caricature Sveiby paints.

On the other hand, it profiles some of thechallenges library directors have to face in

recruiting people and satisfying the existing

experts.

Conclusion

Librarians are professionals and experts in the

sense that Sveiby (1998) analysed. Probably,

they share the same norms, attitudes and

beliefs as leaders. They have identicaleducational backgrounds.

Supported by the research, we have every

reason to believe that librarians' job

satisfaction and the resulting performance are

Table VI The directors' use of time in relation to different types of

leadership tasks

Very satisfied Satisfied

Staff management 4.9 4.4

Staff development 5.2 4.5

Development management 5.6 4.9Strategic management 5.4 4.5

Team management 4.3 3.7

Change management 5.4 4.5

Quality management 4.9 4.4 a

Administration 4.6 4.7

Daily routine management 4.6 5.1

Note: a Significant at alpha 0.10 level. All others significant at alpha 0.05;averages based on a scale from 1-7

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influenced by exactly the same factors that

influence or correlate with the satisfaction

among directors.

The performance of a library and the

performance of professionals cannot be fully

explained by leaders' job satisfaction (Guest,

1996). Still, it is a factor that contributes to

the overall satisfaction and performance in a

library.

Our starting-point was a bleak picture

painted by the investigation conducted by

Deloitte and Touche (2001). From this

research it is evident that the social and

psychological factors in the work environment

play a significant role in recruiting and

keeping professionals. This is of paramount

interest when we focus on knowledge-

intensive work places like libraries.We find it important to emphasise that the

factors correlating with directors' job

satisfaction can be transferred to the whole

organisation.

These factors are, among others, about:. freedom to organise the work;. delegation;. distribution of decision making in the

organisation;. competency development; and. personal development.

We will not state that the findings are

revolutionary but, in the light of the

performance and services directed towards

users, it will be of paramount importance to

be able to recruit or develop leaders that can

make things happen and at the same time

create an attractive environment and an

interesting job content in dialogue with the

professionals. Simply deciding to do it can do

much. This is a very important point. Job

satisfaction is also about self-motivation and

self-assessment. Job satisfaction will probably

increase simply by putting things in motion.

Hernon et al.'s study (2002) reveals in

many ways the same type of attitudes among

US research library directors as we have seen

among the very diversified group of Danish

library directors. Their interviews with library

directors and deputy directors revealed that

leadership among US directors of research

libraries is discussed in exactly the same

language as among Danish library directors.

Library directors have a modern semanticdiscourse. The main problem is, of course, to

transfer this discourse to institutional

reputation.

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and Motivation, Wiley, New York, NY.Johannsen, C.G. and Pors, N.O. (2001), Ledere og ledelse i

danske biblioteker, Kbh. Bibliotekarforbundet.Mintzberg, H. (1975), ``The manager's job: folklore and

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