Leveraging Personalized Employee Development Plans to Support Change Management Models in Academic Libraries in Zimbabwe

This chapter explores how personalized employee development plans assist academic libraries in Zimbabwe in implementing change management models. As the pace of technological change in academic libraries accelerates and the librarian is required to pivot to new tools, services and systems at a rapid pace, the need arose for the research. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 20 librarians sampled purposively from 10 state universities. The study also used Lewin’s Change Management Model. The study found that most academic libraries did not have custom employee development plans to support their change process. The study further stated that the potential value of custom employee development plans could support academic libraries in training their librarians with the skills needed to enable them to manage change. The study suggested that the personalized employee development plans supported strategic planning, communication, and collaboration. The study concluded that the academic libraries in Zimbabwe would benefit from using custom employee development plans to support change management models. The study recommended that the academic libraries should embrace custom staff development plans to enhance librarians’ capacity for managing change and embed them into their change management component. Study findings recommended that the academic library management should offer adequate training, so librarians can earn the knowledge and skills required for effectively managing change. Lastly, the study recommended that, to ensure the successful implementation of custom employee development plans for support and demonstrate involvement as a collective, academic librarians should ensure that all relevant stakeholders are involved.