Division of labor and coordination, intra‐organizational career and salary fairness

Division of labor andcoordination, intra-organizational

career and salary fairnessStudy in Estonian university libraries

Kate-Riin KontInstitute of Information Studies, Tallinn University, Tallinn,

Estonia and Acquisition Department, Tallinn University of Technology Library,Tallinn, Estonia, and

Signe JantsonInstitute of Information Studies, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia,School of Business and Economics, Tallinn University of Technology,

Tallinn, Estonia and Bibliographic Department,Tallinn University of Technology Library, Tallinn, Estonia

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of the current article is to clarify satisfaction of the staff of Estonian universitylibraries with the division of labor, work organization and coordination, existence ofintra-organizational career opportunities as well as with the fairness of salaries in view of thequalifications and responsibilities of university librarians in Estonia.

Design/methodology/approach – The data used in this paper are based on reviewing andsummarizing of relevant literature to provide an overview of the concepts of performance andefficiency in general and in the context of the library as well as on results of the original study, createdby the paper’s authors, held in 2011/2012 in Estonian university libraries to determine the attitude ofthe libraries’ staff towards division of labor and performance appraisal.

Findings – Although a number of Estonian university librarians were mostly satisfied with thedivision of labor within their departments, the respondents feel that duties in the library as a wholeshould be reorganized and workloads should be divided more equally. Librarians are relativelypessimistic about career opportunities within their libraries. The fact is that in Estonia, thepredominantly women’s jobs, such as teachers, librarians and nurses, are low-paid. Therefore, asexpected, the employees of university libraries are not satisfied with their salaries. However, librariansare capable and willing to work more and/or more intensively than they are currently allowed if thatwould bring about an increase in their salaries.

Originality/value – The majority of the literature in library science has focused – and rightfully so –on the user: what do users and patrons want and/or need, how do they use it, how can librarians bestprovide it to them, do the users feel themselves comfortable in library building etc., etc. Also, a fairly largenumber of studies have focused on finding relations between librarians’ job satisfaction and performanceoutput, but, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no research has been previously carried out in theEstonian library context to determine employees’ attitudes towards their division of labor andcoordination as well as librarians’ intra-organizational career opportunities and fairness of the salary.

Keywords University libraries, Management, Human resource management, Employees’ attitudes,Division of labor, Coordination, Intra-organizational career, Salary, Estonia

Paper type Case study

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Division of laborand coordination

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Received 8 October 2012Accepted 17 December 2012

Library ManagementVol. 34 No. 6/7, 2013

pp. 415-432q Emerald Group Publishing Limited

0143-5124DOI 10.1108/LM-10-2012-0069

IntroductionHistorically, the division of labor has been an accepted principle for organising worksince the seventeenth century and the theories of Adam Smith. By Hoadely and Gordon(1990), Adam Smith begins his study of the wealth of nations (1965) with three chapterson the causes and consequences of the division of labor among workers. His very firstsentence claims that, “The greatest improvement in the productive powers of labor,and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it is anywheredirected or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labor” (Hoadely andCorbin, 1990, p. 676).

Throughout history, work has changed from manual labor to working with ideas,concepts and theories. However, research has been done mostly in productive work sofar. A significant rise of the service sector began only in the middle of the 20th century(Kamdron, 2003, pp. 11-12). Today it makes up 60 per cent of the global gross domesticproduct and service organisations, including libraries, form the largest share of theworld’s economy. In line with the sector’s continuous growth, the managementrequirements (increased expectations by customers and continuous pressure foreffectiveness) for such organisations have also grown (Agarwal, 2011, p. 3).

In organisational management, it would be difficult to overestimate the significanceof work that is distributed well, clearly and without deficiencies. This is a factor thatensures the targeted operation of all employees, focuses their efforts into a certain field,enhances the quality and quantity of their work, and can enhance the efficiency of theorganisation as a whole. When arranging and coordinating work, managers have toconsider that different people have certain features, abilities, knowledge, skills,preferences, attitudes, views, intentions, wishes, strengths and weaknesses. (Oja andTerk, 1981, pp. 3-4).

Economic Survey of Estonia, published by the OECD (Organisation for EconomicCo-operation and Development) in 2011, recommends Estonia to increase the efficiencyof public sector spending. The survey focused specifically of the health care system,but these recommendations can also be applied to the public research library networkin Estonia: the system functions quite well, but there is potential for increasedperformance and for more effective provision of services.

Milvi Tepp, Professor of Organisation and Management at Tallinn University ofTechnology, has said that better technology can increase the organisation’sproductivity only to 1/3 extent, but considerably more, even 2/3 of betterperformance comes from better division of labor (Tepp, 2010). There are severalaspects from which the libraries’ division of labor can be improved; however, thesevary to some extent among libraries. Considering the circumstances that effect theeffectiveness and performance of library work, then the most vital factor is whether theemployee has sufficient attitude for having his or her job done at all, and whether he orshe is enough motivated for individual development and improvement, and forincreasing his or her work performance.

A generally accepted axiom in the business community is that an organisation mustgrow to remain competitive and thereby viable. Constricting growth is a death knell.The axiom of the library community should be that library organisations must changeto remain viable. Although there have been some changes in organisational structures,libraries are basically the same organisations they were 100 years ago (Hoadely andCorbin, 1990, p. 678).

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Transitions in the Estonian society posed new tasks both for organisations andpeople, bringing about a need for change. Significant changes have occurred in theEstonian research libraries that had had large staff numbers until the early 1990 s:several redundancies have been carried out in all major research libraries in Estonia.However, the research libraries in Estonia (and in other Baltic states) still bear themark of past times and have still not entirely transformed into market-economyorganisations. This is why a conflict has arisen in the context of the current economiccrisis where the organisation of work from the former regime remain in the way ofmarket-economy requirements that involve thinking of more efficient division of laborand coordination of work. As efficiency cannot be achieved merely through bettercoordination of work but also by employee motivation, the issues of salary and careeropportunities are also addressed.

In 2011/2012 a survey, using a questionnaire, was performed in Estonian universitylibraries governed by public law (Tallinn University of Technology Library, AcademicLibrary of Tallinn University, Library of the Estonian Academy of Arts, and Library ofthe Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre) to determine the attitude of the libraries’staff towards work organisation and performance appraisal. The librarians-orientedonline questionnaire aimed to establish the opinions of work organisation andperformance appraisal prior to launching a cost accounting pilot study based on theTime-Driven Activity-Based Costing (TDABC) methodology. The sample selectioncriterion provided that two libraries with higher and two with lower budget should beincluded. Though all four libraries have different structures, and the numbers of staffand population to be served, the services provided are broadly, however, similar and,thus, comparable. The questionnaire consisted of four parts: job satisfaction: generalissues; learning and individual development; division of labor and coordination;performance measurement and appraisal.

Data collectionThe questionnaires were applied to 195 library professional staff working in selectedlibraries. In total, 111 completed questionnaires were received back. The rate ofreceiving back was 57 per cent.

The following data were collected about the respondents: age, sex, monthly income,the size of the household, the number of workers in the household, the length ofemployment at the library, the length of professional employment in total, professionalstatus, education.

Eight men and 103 women responded to the questionnaire. That kind of genericdivide characterises Estonian library staff as a whole – first of all due to the lowsalary, librarianship has developed into the field of work predominantly for women.

The most active respondents belonged to the age groups from 41 to 50 years(29 persons, that is, 26 per cent of respondents) and from 51 to 60 years (26 persons,that is, 24 per cent of respondents), followed by the respondents from the age groupsfrom 31 to 40 years (20 persons, that is, 18 per cent of respondents), from 61 to 70 years(19 persons, that is, 17 per cent of respondents), and from 21 to 30 years (16 persons,that is, 14 per cent of respondents. Only one respondent fell into the age group from71 to 81 that make 1 per cent of respondents.

The major part of respondents receive monthly income less than e500(52 respondents, that is, 47 per cent of respondents) or their income remains


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between e500 and e700 (47 respondents, that is, 42 per cent of the total). Tenrespondents, that is, 9 per cent of the respondents receive monthly from e700 to e900and only two respondents receive monthly income over e900.

Most of the library staff members have a household of two or three persons –accordingly, 31 per cent and 26 per cent of the respondents. Of respondents 21 per centreported that their household consisted of a single person and 18 per cent of theemployees answered that the size of their household amounted to four persons. Onlyfour per cent of the respondents reported that the size of their household was five ormore persons. The percentage of sole breadwinners totaled to even 43 per cent of therespondents.

The length of professional employment varied a lot. Of respondents 16 per cent hadbeen professionally employed for five years, 6 per cent of respondents – for five to nineyears, 32 per cent of respondents – for 10 to 19 years, 23 per cent of the respondents –for 20 to 29 years, 18 per cent of the respondents – for 30 to 39 years, and five per centof the respondents – from 40 to 49 years.

Of the respondents 53 per cent have acquired academic degree or professionalhigher education in the field. Of the 10 per cent respondents reported to have aprofessional M.A. degree.

As the initial questionnaire included 71 questions, additional questions about therespondents and some specifying questions, then the authors of the survey, decided toanalyse only the C-part of the questionnaire, involving just 25 questions, for thepurposes of the current paper. The aim of the current paper is to find out:

(1) compliance of job descriptions with actual duties;

(2) satisfaction of the staff of Estonian university libraries with the division oflabor, work organization and coordination both in their own structural unitsand in the library as a whole;

(3) existence of intra-organizational career opportunities;

(4) fairness of salaries, compliance of salaries with the employees qualificationsand responsibilities; and

(5) readiness of librarians and specialists for greater contribution in order toreceive a higher income.

Compliance of job descriptions with actual dutiesA job description is a main document of personnel management, serving as a basis forpersonnel planning, design, evaluation, remuneration, training and development(Turk, 2005, p. 80). This is a written summary of the nature of the job – major tasks,duties, responsibilities, and work outcomes of a job. The most common elements in ajob description include: a job identification that includes the job title; a job overviewthat states the mission of the job and the products and services produced by theemployee; the primary tasks involved in the job; guidelines and controls that limit thediscretion of the employee, such as supervision; a statement of the qualificationsrequired, such as a level of education, etc. Most descriptions also include personspecifications: the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics deemednecessary for satisfactory job performance (The Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary ofOrganizational Behaviour, 1998, pp. 264-5; The Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary ofHuman Resource Management, 1998, p. 184). Supervisors and heads of the

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departments use job descriptions as a basis for assigning work and clarifyingperformance expectations. Job descriptions are also primary tool in performanceappraisal, in which supervisors evaluate the job performance of incumbents (TheBlackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Human Resource Management, 1998, p. 184). Jobdescriptions may be changed over time, i.e. when the specific features of a job change,then these changes must also be reflected in the job descriptions. The level of detail inthe job descriptions of the university libraries in Estonia vary from one extreme to theother: ranging from job descriptions that consist of a few sentences to four-pagedetailed documents including descriptions of duties, expected outcomes, andeducational and personality trait requirements of employees. Libraries havepredominantly static staff and job descriptions usually date back to the time of theirinitial employment. Added duties have often not been recorded in the job descriptions.This was also confirmed by the questionnaire results (see Figure 1).

A total of 48 per cent of the respondents have performed duties that are not includedin their job descriptions; in 71 per cent of such cases the employees have not receivedany additional remuneration for performing these additional duties; 20 per cent havereceived additional remuneration occasionally and 9 per cent always. However, 48 percent of the respondents claim that their job descriptions are not too broad and do notrequire a more detailed description of the processes that the respective duties entail. Ofthe respondents 39 per cent find that their job descriptions are not outdated and do notneed to be updated (see Figure 2).

The general attitude in libraries is that job descriptions are not followed; instead,people do the job that needs to be done.

Figure 1.“Are there any duties thatyou have performed aside

from your main job thatare not stated in your job

description?”

Figure 2.The respondents opinions

about their jobdescriptions accuracy and

adequacy


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Division of labor, work organization and coordination in librariesWork is the exertion of effort and the application of knowledge and skills to achieve apurpose. Most people work to earn a living – to make money. But they also workbecause of the other satisfactions it brings, such as doing something worthwhile, asense of achievement, prestige, recognition, the opportunity to use and developabilities, the scope to exercise power, and companionship (Armstrong, 2006, p. 205).

A lot has been written on work organisation and division of labor but the basics ofthese subjects have remained unchanged. Oja and Terk wrote already in, 1981 that inorganisational management, it would be difficult to overestimate the role of work thatis well-organised and reasonably distributed. This is a factor that ensures the targetedoperation of all employees, focuses their efforts into the expected field, enhances thequality and quantity of their work, and can enhance the efficiency of the organisationas a whole (Oja and Terk, 1981, pp. 3-4).

Division of labor should be assessed on two aspects:

(1) To what extent does the division of labor contribute to the achievement oforganizational goals and improvement of efficiency?

(2) To what extent does the division of labor affect the nature of work, raisesatisfaction, and contribute to the improvement of interpersonal communicationand personal development?

In the case of many issues that are considered extremely pressing or hard to resolve thereason often turns out to be only poorly planned or unplanned division of labor. Merelysetting the division of labor in order will significantly reduce the sharpness of the issue.Often the approach is to apply for new positions and this is seen as the only tool forimproving work. However, the organization’s internal reserves do not get attention,work and the division of labor between the employees are not analyzed. Poorlyorganized division of labor makes the use of working time unproductive (Oja and Terk,1981, pp. 8-9).

Juhani Lemmik (1999), Master of Political Sciences, has said: when an organisationis created, the organisation’s development plan and its precise purpose are stated;based on this, the organisational structure or how employees are to be divided intosubunits is set. This does not mean that the structure should not be changed during thelife cycle of the organisation. Although the purpose or goals of the organisation mayremain the unchanged throughout time, the organisation’s development plan,management plan and strategy can be periodically updated in order to achieve thesegoals. That is why the organisational structure should also be updated based on thenew development plan and the set strategies for implementing the development plan(Lemmik, 1999, pp. 5-6).

Daniel Ilgen and John Hollenbeck (1991) have maintained that the structure of theorganisation reflects how the two vital processes – division of labor and coordination– have been arranged within the organisation. Division of labor and coordinationdefine how the tasks are divided within the organisation, who reports to who, and howdo formal coordination mechanisms function. Structure also determines the work, itscontent and area of responsibility. In minor organisations, there is frequently no needfor the structure, as they lack clear division of labor. Division of labor means dividingtasks among people. By the means of division of labor, it is possible to:

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(1) assign to each staff member the tasks for which fulfillment he or she is the mostcompetent and responsible;

(2) make maximum use of the staff’s abilities; and

(3) improve working results.

Robert A. Miller (1937) has claimed: “Efficiency in the library means that library as anorganization has been structured so that it functions well, the work has been wellplanned and organized, and work processes have been divided in such a way thateverything is functioning easily and smooth. In every major library, work processesmust be organized according to certain rules” (Miller, 1937, pp. 512-13).

The questionnaire findings revealed that the respondents’ assessments of workorganisation and work load differ from the viewpoint (department or the library as awhole). Loyalty to the organisation (Turk, 2005, p. 364) as described in specializedliterature is expressed by librarians and specialists through loyalty to the structuralunit: the work organisation of the departments are seen in a better light than the libraryas a whole. This is where the internal environment of the organisation and the level ofthe organisational subsystems or departments/structural units of the libraries comeinto play. Because they do not have access to all its parts, it is difficult for employees tohave lobal perceptions of the entire organisation (Powell and Butterfield, 1978, p. 155).

Questionnaire findings demonstrate that the respondents are mostly satisfied withthe division of labor within their departments and reorganisation of duties is notdeemed necessary. The library as a whole has been regarded somewhat differently:respondents feel that duties should be reorganised and workloads should be dividedmore equally. Respondents expressed a slightly greater need for additional staff withinthe corresponding structural unit than in the library as a whole (see Figures 3 and 4).

The respondents also saw unnecessary jobs not so much in their own structuralunits as in the library as a whole. Of the respondents 77 per cent (29 þ 48 per cent)found that there are no unnecessary jobs in their structural unit and only 7 per centadmitted that such positions do exist. Conversely, 23 per cent of the respondents statethat there are unnecessary jobs in the library, 36 per cent are hesitant and 41 per cent ofthe respondents find that there are no unnecessary jobs in the library as a whole (seeFigure 5).

Figure 3.The respondents

satisfaction with thedivision of labor within

their structural unit


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Here are some examples of answers given when respondents were asked to elaborateanswers to the two questions on unnecessary jobs displayed in Figure 5:

. People are kept on their jobs because of past favors or connections, their currentcontribution is minimal.

. Libraries are going through tough times, unnecessary jobs cannot be kept forfinancial reasons.

. In every state-funded organization, there always have been and always will beunnecessary jobs and employees who do not cope with their duties because theyare paid by the state, not a private owner and keeping a large staff is alwaysbeneficial for the managements as they get a larger salary fund to distribute attheir own discretion.

. The jobs are necessary, it is the staff who lack proper qualifications.

. There are people in the library who work full-time but can rarely be seen at work.

. I am sure some of the work could be distributed between the current employeessince the current situation is not as intense as to have all employees overloadedwith work.

. The work should be organized better, then there would not be a need for so manyemployees.

. Some jobs could be integrated and these employees should get a higher pay.

Figure 4.The respondentssatisfaction with thedivision of labor in thelibrary as a whole

Figure 5.The respondents opinionsabout the unnecessaryjobs within their structuralunit and in the library as awhole

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The answers to the open-ended questions also demonstrate that the employees seeunnecessary jobs mostly in the library as a whole. Assessments are quite harsh insome cases, both with regard to the general inefficiency in the division of labor andwork organization but also on the qualifications of their colleagues.

When asked whether there have been any recent changes in the organisation ofwork within their own unit (and in the library as a whole), 32 per cent of therespondents answered that recent changes have occurred (see Figure 6) and 54 per centresponded that there have been no changes in the organisation of work of their ownunit recently. A total of 14 per cent could not provide a definite answer to this question.This difference may also depend on the specific department where the correspondingrespondent works.

Some inconsistencies arise from the answers provided to the question on changes inthe work organisation of the library as a whole: 31 per cent state that the library’s workorganisation has been changed recently (see Figure 7) whereas 44 per cent of therespondents claim that the work organisation has not been changed and 25 per cent ofthe respondents were unable to provide a definite answer to the question.

It is difficult to give an explanation to this inconsistency.Here are some examples of answers to an open-ended question of how these changes

were taken by the employees:. Positively.. The older employees found it harder to adapt, it was easy for the younger ones.

Figure 6.Changes in work

organization inrespondents structural

unit and in library as awhole

Figure 7.“Have earlier decisions on

changes of theorganization of work

proved theireffectiveness?”


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. There are always those who are not happy with any changes, but overall workhas become smoother.

. Well;

. Peacefully.

. It was noted.

. Some were disgruntled.

The answers reveal that employee reactions are mostly positive, this is confirmed by dataon Figure 7 – a large share of employees (42 per cent) found that the changes in theorganization of work have proved their effectiveness and only 10 per cent of therespondents feel that the changes in the organization of work did not prove to be effective.

Intra-organizational career: need and opportunitiesA large-scale research carried out across Europe during the 1990 s, studying the structureof 450 organisations (Ruigrok et al., 1999), showed that there is an increasing trend of an“internal labor market” within organisations: employees are no longer regarded as fixedinto the field or position where they are currently employed. More and more people arescheduled to be transferred to another unit within the organisation.

Careers may be intra-organisational, inter-organisational or a combination of both.Modern working environments have become more demanding in terms ofresponsibility and more interesting, which requires more universality and flexibilityfrom the employees but also the support for the individual development of employeeswithin the organisation. Career moves may be vertical, horizontal or radial. Verticalmobility within an organisation is generally upwards, but can also be downwardswhen the employee’s professional competence in insufficient. Horizontal mobilitymeans an employee’s movement within the same level of hierarchy. In the case of radialcareers, employees are included in the management of the organisation incircumstances where their positions and main duties remain unchanged (Turk, 2005,pp. 340-1; Hellriegel et al., 2000, pp. 510-12).

Intra-organisational labor policy serves various organisational goals: from theorganisational management perspective, for example, it gives an employer a goodopportunity to develop and maintain the knowledge and skills of its employees, whichin turn can contribute the enhanced productivity and efficiency of the organisation.Also, intra-organisational grades allow rational transfer of knowledge and skills,which in turn promotes intra-organisational capacity and expert skills.Intra-organisational labor markets can only be created in larger organisations as itinevitably entails a relatively high level of structure (multiple levels of careers withinone organisation) (Wise, 1996).

On average, the organisational structure in libraries changes very rarely and thuspositions are static and intra-organisational mobility is minimal. The expectations oflibrary employees for any career mobility are also minimal.

Although many respondents had had to perform duties that were not included in theirjob descriptions, the share of those who would like to work on another position at theircurrent library was only 29 per cent while 48 per cent of the respondents had no wish todo so (see Figure 8). According to specialized literature of HRM (Turk, 2005; Beardwelland Claydon, 2007; Fisher et al., 2005), career aspirations and realisation thereof are

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individual. The notion that people are generally interested in upward mobility only is notalways true. Many people are not interested in a hierarchical career at all. Instead,librarians and specialists wish to aspire to perfection at their current position and increasetheir professional competence, and career mobility is mostly horizontal.

Although 48 per cent (36 þ 12 per cent) of the respondents would not be willing towork on another position at their library, a total of 74 per cent of the respondentswished that if vacant positions occur, the management would look for suitablecandidates first from among the existing staff and only then from outside theorganisation (see Figure 9).

Answers to the question illustrated in Figure 10 reveal that librarians andspecialists are extremely pessimistic about career opportunities within their libraries.Only 2 per cent were certain about the availability of promotions, 4 per cent of therespondents considered it likely.

Figure 8.“Would you be willing towork on another position

within your currentlibrary?”

Figure 9.“Do you wish that if

vacant positions occur, themanagement would look

for suitable candidatesfirst from among the

existing staff and onlythen from outside the

organization?”

Figure 10.“Do you find that the

availability of promotionsat the library where you

currently work isminimal?”


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Here are some examples of answers given when respondents were asked to elaborateanswers to the question on promotions in the library.

. People are afraid to promote long-term staff because of fear that they will be toolenient on their colleagues.

. All positions are filled, outsiders will be preferred if vacancies occur.

. There is nowhere to promote. The management is in place, they will not moveanywhere. There is no grading system for librarians for moving forward.

. Because history has shown that there hasn’t been much movement from oneposition to another. Older employees have been in their positions for decades; theones who have changed jobs have moved to other organizations.

. People cannot demonstrate their true abilities when they are not given any suchopportunities.

. The current practice shows that searches for new employees are done secretlyand behind the employees’ backs. There have been no internal competitions andno direct evaluation of employees has been carried out either (do they even knowwhat abilities and skills the employees have?)

. There is no perspective for promotion, at least as long as pensioners are kept ontheir comfy posts.

. There are few managerial positions in libraries.

. Small staff.

. They have looked for new people from outside our library.

. There is a relatively conservative organization of work in the library and lowstaff turnover.

. In our library, young people are promoted, which is a very welcome practice.

. There are few managerial positions and even if there are some managers who areapproaching the pension age that need to be replaced, I do not see anyopportunities for promotion for a long time after that.

. Because I do not see any opportunities for promotion as all positions higher thanthe specialist level have been filled.

. They would rather find a new person to fill a vacancy (existing employees are toofamiliar) and it is for the better, anyway: less antagonism among the existingstaff.

. Because there is minimal labor mobility and new positions are not created.

. There have been very few promotions of the existing staff, new people fromoutside are hired instead.

. Department heads are hired from outside.

. All positions with better pay are filled with people who care for their jobs and doeverything to keep it.

Answers to the open-ended question also reveal that librarians and specialists arerelatively pessimistic about career opportunities within their libraries. It is clear thatthe biggest problem lies in that the younger librarians do not see any opportunities for

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promotion while they are the ones with higher expectations and goals in terms of workand career than their middle-aged and older colleagues (Turk, 2005, p. 364). It is easierfor young employees who have recently obtained a degree in information science tochange jobs and become competent in another field than for their middle-aged andolder colleagues who obtained a degree in librarianship more than 15 years ago and forwho working at a library is the only possible choice and wish. They truly “care for theirjobs and do everything to keep it”. In addition to lack of a professional standard,librarians also lack a distinct grading system for career mobility.

Another issue that emerged from the answers is the lack of intra-organisationalpromotion opportunities: when vacancies occur, the management often looks for newemployees outside the library. As stated previously, there is an increased trend for“internal labor market” in organisations that could also prove to be successful inlibraries. The key benefits of an internal labor market for larger university librarieswould be the following: it affects the organisation’s capacity, it increases employeeloyalty and decreases staff turnover and costs related to training new employees, itallows the organisation to take care of its professional staff and motivate employees toincrease their competence through various training and refresher courses, employeescan gain knowledge of the organisation’s processes and/or services as a whole throughflexible rules for promotion, inter-department mobility and investment into staffdevelopment. In fact, by Powell and Butterfield (1978), the more departments in whichemployees have worked, the more they may have a perception of the organisation ingeneral beyond the individual departments. Conversely, the longer employees havebeen members of particular departments, the less they may have a view of theorganisation as a whole (Powell and Butterfield, 1978, p. 155).

Salary, qualifications and liabilityMoney, in the form of salary or some other sort of remuneration, is the most obviousextrinsic reward. Money provides the carrot that most people want. Salary is the mostcritical issue in libraries and since the employees in libraries (as in other positions withlower salaries) are mostly women, it is a more general issue. Several studies show thatgender pay gap is a problem in Estonia. According to Eurostat’s 2007 data, Estoniaranked with its 30.9 per cent gender pay gap the highest position among Europeancountries. The largest share of the average gender pay gap can be attributed to gendersegregation in the labor market, meaning that in Estonia, women and men have beenconcentrated on different positions and areas of activity. Women work more frequentlyon lower paid positions. There are more women with higher education in Estonia.However, several theories propose that women and men make decisions thatsubsequently affect their position and pay in the labor market already before enteringthe labor market or choosing their area of specialisation (Turk, 2011). For example, thepositions of teachers, librarians, nurses, etc. are mostly filled by women in Estonia.According to the devaluation theory (England, 1992) women are generally devalued inthe society, hence the jobs and tasks they perform are also less valued than those ofmen. This theory says that the pay level of a given field is strongly correlated with theshare of women working in that field. Thus, according to the devaluation theory thevalue of work is gender-based, meaning that the salaries in a given field are associatedwith the gender of the employees of that field (Turk, 2011; England, 1992).


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In Estonia, the predominantly women’s jobs, such as teachers, librarians andnurses, are low-paid. Therefore, as expected, the employees of university libraries arenot satisfied with their salaries: 68 per cent of the respondents feel that they do not geta fair pay for their work. No one chose the option “Certainly yes” and only 9 per centfound that they get a fair pay for their job (see Figure 11).

In designing labor and salary policy in Estonia, the requirements of the EuropeanSocial Charter have to be taken into account. The Charter contains several chapters onsalaries that include the concept of fair remuneration. For example, part I(4) of theCharter states: “All workers have the right to a fair remuneration sufficient for a decentstandard of living for themselves and their families” (Euroopa Sotsiaalharta, 1997,pp. 4-7).

Librarians and specialists in university libraries in Estonia generally have obtaineda higher professional qualification (including professional higher education) and onetenth of the respondents hold a Master’s Degree in their specialisation. However, thevast majority of respondents receive a monthly income of less than 500 euros (52respondents or 47 per cent) or between 500 and 700 euros (47 respondents or 42 percent). The share of respondents who received 700 to 900 euros or more than 900 euroswas only one tenth. That is why it is understandable that 58 per cent of therespondents found that their salary does not comply with their qualification and only10 per cent found that their salary complies with their qualification (see Figure 12).

According to the web site ekspress.job, librarians rank at number 7 among the top 10of most stress-free jobs. These statistics are based on the data and methodologydeveloped for a US career portal but it can probably also be applied for Estonia.

Figure 11.“Do you feel that you get afair pay for your job?”

Figure 12.The percentage ofopinions whether therespondents salarycomplies with theirqualification and level ofreponsibility

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Unfortunately such stress-free jobs also have their disadvantages, mostly the low salary– stress-free jobs generally do not provide many expectations in terms of career and pay.However, most of the respondents (42 per cent) still find that their professionalresponsibilities do not comply with their salaries, 40 per cent are hesitant and only 18 percent feel that their salary matches the level of their responsibility (see Figure 12).

The fact that 64 per cent of the respondents would be willing to take on extra dutiesif that would bring about an increase in their salaries is a clear sign that librarians andspecialists are capable and willing to work more and/or more intensively than they arecurrently allowed (see Figure 13).

Unfortunately, the Working and Rest Time Act (RT I 2001, 17, 78, passed 24 January2001), restricts taking on additional work, laying down that the general nationalstandard for working time of employees is eight hours per day or 40 hours per week,and overtime may not exceed eight hours per week. Holding two jobs is not allowed.While the former act allowed 20 hours of additional work per week in addition to the 40hours on the primary job, the new act that entered into force in 2001 allows only eightadditional hours in addition to the standard 40 hours. This amendment was thought toincrease the number of jobs and salaries (Aripaev online, 15 September 2000). Sadlythis did not happen. So – the people who would be willing and able to work more areforced between “violating” the law or settling with what their employer is offering: anunsatisfactory salary. However, short-term work (up to four months) exceeding theestablished restrictions on working time is allowed: up to 52 hours for a seven-dayinterval. Another option, to paraphrase the options presented by the respondents,would be better organisation of work and more efficient division of labor: keeping alarge staff is beneficial in order to get a larger salary fund to distribute at their owndiscretion but some jobs could be integrated and these employees should get a higherpay. The third option is to reward employees who make a larger contribution with aregular additional remuneration. The fourth option is to conclude contracts for servicesfor a fixed job or duties – working hour restrictions do not need to be laid down in suchcontracts. Moreover, for many librarians and specialists, work is not an annoying chorebut a means of self-actualisation.

SummaryMany of the library employees that participated in the survey have had to performduties that are not included in their job descriptions. However, this has been

Figure 13.“Would you be willing to

take on extra duties if thatwould mean an increased

pay or do you think itwould be better to hire a

new employee?”


429

accompanied with additional remuneration only in a few cases. A dedicated employeewill not require pedantic adherence to his/her job description but the library’smanagement should not take this for granted. Additional duties should beaccompanied with additional remuneration. However, respondents did not see aneed for updating their job descriptions.

It is remarkable that the questionnaire findings revealed a difference in therespondents’ assessments of work organisation and work load, depending on theviewpoint (department vs the library as a whole). The respondents were mostlysatisfied with the division of labor within their departments and reorganisation ofduties was not deemed necessary. The library as a whole has been regarded differently:respondents feel that duties should be reorganised and workloads should be dividedmore equally. The respondents did not see unnecessary positions in their owndepartments but in the library as a whole.

The organisation of work has been changed both within the departments and in thelibrary as a whole; these changes are generally viewed as positive and have proved tobe effective.

Most of the respondents would wish that if vacancies occur, the management wouldlook for candidates first from among the existing staff and only if suitable employeeshave not been found should they start searching from outside the organisation. This iscurrently not practiced and it is also one of the reasons why the respondents consideredthe promotion opportunities almost non-existent in their libraries.

Most respondents feel that their salaries do not comply with their qualification andresponsibilities. Lower salaries in the public university libraries in Estonia are partlyattributed to the fact that the positions of teachers, librarians, nurses, etc. are mostlyfilled by women in Estonia. The jobs and tasks that are usually performed by womenare less valued than those of men. Thus, according to the devaluation theory the valueof work is gender-based, meaning that the salaries in a given field are associated withthe gender of the employees of that field.

Many respondents would be willing to take on extra work if they would get paidextra. However, this is restricted by the Working and Rest Time Act, passed 24January 2001.

The authors of this study recommend the managements of the public universitylibraries in Estonia to take bolder action in changing the structure of theirorganisations; analyse work and the distribution of labor based on the new goals,developments plans and management plans; and pay more attention to theorganisations’ internal reserves.

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Further reading

Brooks, I. (2008), Organisatsioonikaitumine: Uksikisik, ruhm ja organisatsioon (OrganisationalBehaviour: Individuals, Groups and Organisation), Tanapaev, Tallinn.

Eurostat online (2010), Eurostat online, March, available at: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home/

About the authorsKate-Riin Kont graduated from the Department of Librarianship and Information Science,Tallinn University in 1995; she earned an MA from the same department in 2004. Since 2009, shehas been involved in doctoral studies at Tallinn University. Currently she works as Head of theAcquisitions Department of the Tallinn University of Technology Library. Research topics:university libraries, management, benchmarking, library services, scholarly communication,financing, expenditure, employees’ attitudes, performance measurement, performance appraisal,effectiveness, performance indicators, library statistics, cost accounting, time-drivenactivity-based costing, and managerial accounting. Kate-Riin Kont is the correspondingauthor and can be contacted at: [email protected]

Signe Jantson graduated from the Department of Librarianship and Information Science,Tallinn University in 1996; she earned an MA from the same department in 2004. Since 2005, shehas been involved in doctoral studies at Tallinn University, Institute for Information Science andsince 2010 at Tallinn University of Technology, School of Economic and BusinessAdministration. Currently she works as Head of the Bibliographic Department of the TallinnUniversity of Technology Library. Research topics: book history, book trade history, bookselling history, publishing history, university libraries, management, benchmarking, libraryservices, scholarly communication, financing, expenditure, employees’ attitudes, performancemeasurement, effectiveness, cost accounting, time-driven activity-based costing, and managerialaccounting.

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Division of labor and coordination, intra‐organizational career and salary fairness