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Introduction
Organizational structure is considered as the framework that allows organizations to conduct, coordinate and control its activities horizontally, spatially and vertically. Organizational structure can be referred as a "process in which organizational activities are divided, organized and coordinated (p. 96)" in different dimensions (Shahabadi and Pourkiani, 2014). Organizational structure is an important and integral element of management and administration, because it administers differentiation within the organization to hold the organization together. It enables the members of organization to work in harmony to achieve common purposes.
Differentiation is an important component, variable or element of organizational structure as it has an important role in the creation of balance in the organization. Libraries are facing challenges of organizing the staff and creating an environment which provides satisfaction to clients and staff (Aiyebelehin, 2012). Differentiation within an organization is a key element that needs to be considered while designing the organizational structure of an organization (Ugbomhe and Dirisu, 2011). Managing differentiation of different types in an organization is very helpful for achieving its goals and objectives (Montana and Charnov, 1993). Differentiation can be considered as the tool with which variations and subtle differences in an organization can be managed properly. Differentiation, an important tool for creating balance, can be divided into three categories, namely, horizontal, spatial and vertical differentiation.
Horizontal differentiation is defined as the process of grouping similar jobs together to transform the functional units in an organization into manageable units so that similar tasks can be performed at one place. It is a concept that groups organizational activities into smaller units by obeying an overarching principle (Geisler and Turchetti, 2011). It can also be considered as the degree of separation between units, based on the orientation of the members, the nature of the task they perform and their education and training (Ugbomhe and Dirisu, 2011). Many bases such as function, clientele, subject, form of material, etc. may be used independently or with varying combinations for managing horizontal differentiation in libraries. Scope of tasks is the basis for horizontal differentiation as "organizations that attempt to carry out a wide variety of activities and that have clients or customers who require a variety of services would divide the labor into work performed by specialists" (Hall, 1992).
Vertical...