MEDIA MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS (THEORY)

THIRD YEAR

V SEMESTER

MEDIA MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS

Duration of Examination: 3 hrs

Maximum Marks: 100

Credits: 4

Objective: To create awareness about functions of media organization, Production processes of media organizations and to gain knowledge about organizing production houses

Unit 1

Principles of Management - management theories, personal management, role & functions of personal manager.

Unit 2

Managing media organization - planning, coordination, motivation, control, decision-making and departmentalization

Unit 3

Project Management in Media – Production project cycle (PPC), Management themes in production process, project planning, production strategies, PPC in Practice – Initiation (Ideas Evaluation and Assessment), Risk and Impact Assessment, Pre-production, production team, project specification, project work plan, source of funds, Budgeting (tols etc.) Project responsibility, Production process, Media Marketing.

Unit 4

Behavior in media organization and organization behavior. Nature & structure of different media organization – DD, Private satellite channels, Production houses, employment opportunities in Indian media industry, group behavior, innovation and creativity, culture of organization.

Unit 5

Sales promotions, purpose, tools and techniques, programming strategies, Audience Rating, Programming and Audience Trends Marketing programs and selling space and time. messages and vehicles, sponsored events & campaigns.

Reference:

Block etel.Managing in the Media, Focal Press.

MANAGEMENT

Art and Science

Management is both art and science. It is the art of making people more effective than they would have been without you. The science is in how you do that. There are four basic pillars: plan, organize, direct, and monitor.

Make Them More Effective

Four workers can make 6 units in an eight-hour shift without a manager. If I hire you to manage them and they still make 6 units a day, what is the benefit to my business of having hired you? On the other hand, if they now make 8 units per day, you, the manager, have value.

The same analogy applies to service, or retail, or teaching, or any other kind of work. Can your group handle more customer calls with you than without? Sell higher value merchandise? Impart knowledge more effectively? etc. That is the value of management - making a group of individual more effective.

Plan

Management starts with planning. Good management starts with good planning. And proper prior planning prevents… well, you know the rest of that one.

Without a plan you will never succeed. If you happen to make it to the goal, it will have been by luck or chance and is not repeatable. You may make it as a flash-in-the-pan, an overnight sensation, but you will never have the track record of accomplishments of which success is made.

Figure out what your goal is (or listen when your boss tells you). Then figure out the best way to get there. What resources do you have? What can you get? Compare strengths and weaknesses of individuals and other resources. Will putting four workers on a task that takes 14 hours cost less than renting a machine that can do the same task with one worker in 6 hours? If you change the first shift from an 8 AM start to a 10 AM start, can they handle the early evening rush so you don't have to hire an extra person for the second shift?

Look at all the probable scenarios. Plan for them. Figure out the worst possible scenario and plan for that too. Evaluate your different plans and develop what, in your best judgement, will work the best and what you will do if it doesn't.

TIP: One of the most often overlooked management planning tools is the most effective. Ask the people doing the work for their input.

Organize

Now that you have a plan, you have to make it happen. Is everything ready ahead of your group so the right stuff will get to your group at the right time? Is your group prepared to do its part of the plan? Is the downstream organization ready for what your group will deliver and when it will arrive?

Are the workers trained? Are they motivated? Do they have the equipment they need? Are there spare parts available for the equipment? Has purchasing ordered the material? Is it the right stuff? Will it get here on the appropriate schedule?

Do the legwork to make sure everything needed to execute the plan is ready to go, or will be when it is needed. Check back to make sure that everyone understands their role and the importance of their role to the overall success.

Direct

Now flip the "ON" switch. Tell people what they need to do. I like to think of this part like conducting an orchestra. Everyone in the orchestra has the music in front of them. They know which section is playing which piece and when. They know when to come in, what to play, and when to stop again. The conductor cues each section to make the music happen. That's your job here. You've given all your musicians (workers) the sheet music (the plan). You have the right number of musicians (workers) in each section (department), and you've arranged the sections on stage so the music will sound best (you have organized the work). Now you need only to tap the podium lightly with your baton to get their attention and give the downbeat.

Monitor

Now that you have everything moving, you have to keep an eye on things. Make sure everything is going according to the plan. When it isn't going according to plan, you need to step in and adjust the plan, just as the orchestra conductor will adjust the tempo.

Problems will come up. Someone will get sick. A part won't be delivered on time. A key customer will go bankrupt. That is why you developed a contingency plan in the first place. You, as the manager, have to be always aware of what's going on so you can make the adjustments required.

This is an iterative process. When something is out of sync, you need to Plan a fix, Organize the resources to make it work, Direct the people who will make it happen, and continue to Monitor the effect of the change.

Is It Worth It

Managing people is not easy. However, it can be done successfully. And it can be a very rewarding experience. Remember that management, like any other skill, is something that you can improve at with study and practice.

MANAGEMENT THEORIES

Theory X

In this theory, which many managers practice, management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can. They inherently dislike work. Because of this, workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems of controls developed. A hierarchical structure is needed with narrow span of control at each and every level. According to this theory, employees will show little ambition without an enticing incentive program and will avoid responsibility whenever they can. According to Michael J. Papa, if the organizational goals are to be met, theory X managers rely heavily on threat and coercion to gain their employee's compliance. Beliefs of this theory lead to mistrust, highly restrictive supervision, and a punitive atmosphere. The Theory X manager tends to believe that everything must end in blaming someone. He or she thinks all prospective employees are only out for themselves. Usually these managers feel the sole purpose of the employee's interest in the job is money. They will blame the person first in most situations, without questioning whether it may be the system, policy, or lack of training that deserves the blame. A Theory X manager believes that his or her employees do not really want to work, that they would rather avoid responsibility and that it is the manager's job to structure the work and energize the employee. One major flaw of this management style is it is much more likely to cause Diseconomies of Scale in large businesses.

Theory Y

In this theory, management assumes employees may be ambitious, self-motivated, and exercise self-control. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties. According to Papa, to them work is as natural as play. They possess the ability for creative problem solving, but their talents are underused in most organizations. Given the proper conditions, theory Y managers believe that employees will learn to seek out and accept responsibility and to exercise self-control and self-direction in accomplishing objectives to which they are committed. A Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people will want to do well at work. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong motivation. Many people interpret Theory Y as a positive set of beliefs about workers. A close reading of The Human Side of Enterprise reveals that McGregor simply argues for managers to be open to a more positive view of workers and the possibilities that this creates. He thinks that Theory Y managers are more likely than Theory X managers to develop the climate of trust with employees that is required for human resource development. It's here through human resource development that is a crucial aspect of any organization. This would include managers communicating openly with subordinates, minimizing the difference between superior-subordinate relationships, creating a comfortable environment in which subordinates can develop and use their abilities. This climate would include the sharing of decision making so that subordinates have say in decisions that influence them.

Theory X and Theory Y combined

For McGregor, Theory X and Y are not different ends of the same continuum. Rather they are two different continua in themselves. Thus, if a manager needs to apply Theory Y principles, that does not preclude him from being a part of Theory X & Y.

McGregor and Maslow's hierarchy

McGregor's work was based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. He grouped Maslow's hierarchy into "lower order" (Theory X) needs and "higher order" (Theory Y) needs. He suggested that management could use either set of needs to motivate employees. Papa says that as management theorists became familiar with Maslow's work, they soon realized the possibility of connecting higher level needs to worker motivation. If organizational goals and individual needs could be integrated so that people would acquire self-esteem and, ultimately, self-actualization through work, then motivation would be self-sustaining. Today, his Theory Y principle influences the design of personnel policies, affects the way companies conduct performance reviews, and shapes the idea of pay for performance. According to the Douglas McGregor: Theory X and Theory Y article, "He is the reason we use the term 'human resources' instead of personnel department" says Brzezinski. "The idea that people are assets was unheard of before McGregor."

Criticisms

Today the theories are seldom used explicitly, largely because the insights they provided have influenced and been incorporated by further generations of management theorists and practitioners. More commonly, workplaces are described as "hard" versus "soft." Taken too literally any such dichotomy including Theory X and Y seem to represent unrealistic extremes. Most employees (and managers) fall somewhere in between these poles. Naturally, McGregor was well aware of the heuristic as opposed to literal way in which such distinctions are useful. Theory X and Theory Y are still important terms in the field of management and motivation. Recent studies have questioned the rigidity of the model, but McGregor's X-Y Theory remains a guiding principle of positive approaches to management, to organizational development, and to improving organizational culture.

PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

In any organization, there has to be someone concerned with the welfare and performance of persons who are a part of the operation. When an individual or a team of individuals takes on this task of seeing to programs and setting policies that impact everyone associated with the company, they are engaged in the process of personnel management, sometimes referred to as human resources management.

The function of a personnel manager usually begins with the staffing process. Someone has to be focused on screening and interviewing persons, with an eye to placing individuals with the right skill sets in the right position within the company. Along with placement, the HR manager may also oversee or at least be involved in the creation of entry level training programs, as well as continuing education opportunities for existing employees.

Determining company policies and procedures as they relate to personnel is another important aspect of the personnel management process. HR functions often include drafting vacation, sick leave, and bereavement policies that apply to all employees of the company. The personnel management team often is also responsible for managing the health care program provided to the employees as well.

Role and Functions of a (HR) Personnel Manager

Function 1: Manpower planning

The penalties for not being correctly staffed are costly.

* Understaffing loses the business economies of scale and specialization, orders, customers and profits.

* Overstaffing is wasteful and expensive, if sustained, and it is costly to eliminate because of modern legislation in respect of redundancy payments, consultation, minimum periods of notice, etc. Very importantly, overstaffing reduces the competitive efficiency of the business.

Planning staff levels requires that an assessment of present and future needs of the organization be compared with present resources and future predicted resources. Appropriate steps then be planned to bring demand and supply into balance.

Thus the first step is to take a 'satellite picture' of the existing workforce profile (numbers, skills, ages, flexibility, gender, experience, forecast capabilities, character, potential, etc. of existing employees) and then to adjust this for 1, 3 and 10 years ahead by amendments for normal turnover, planned staff movements, retirements, etc, in line with the business plan for the corresponding time frames.

The result should be a series of crude supply situations as would be the outcome of present planning if left unmodified. (This, clearly, requires a great deal of information accretion, classification and statistical analysis as a subsidiary aspect of personnel management.)

What future demands will be is only influenced in part by the forecast of the personnel manager, whose main task may well be to scrutinize and modify the crude predictions of other managers. Future staffing needs will derive from:

* Sales and production forecasts

* The effects of technological change on task needs

* Variations in the efficiency, productivity, flexibility of labor as a result of training, work study, organizational change, new motivations, etc.

* Changes in employment practices (e.g. use of subcontractors or agency staffs, hiving-off tasks, buying in, substitution, etc.)

* Variations, which respond to new legislation, e.g. payroll taxes or their abolition, new health and safety requirements

* Changes in Government policies (investment incentives, regional or trade grants, etc.)

What should emerge from this 'blue sky gazing' is a 'thought out' and logical staffing demand schedule for varying dates in the future which can then be compared with the crude supply schedules. The comparisons will then indicate what steps must be taken to achieve a balance.

That, in turn, will involve the further planning of such recruitment, training, retraining, labor reductions (early retirement/redundancy) or changes in workforce utilization as will bring supply and demand into equilibrium, not just as a one–off but as a continuing workforce planning exercise the inputs to which will need constant varying to reflect 'actual' as against predicted experience on the supply side and changes in production actually achieved as against forecast on the demand side.

Function 2: Recruitment and selection of employees

Recruitment of staff should be preceded by:

An analysis of the job to be done (i.e. an analytical study of the tasks to be performed to determine their essential factors) written into a job description so that the selectors know what physical and mental characteristics applicants must possess, what qualities and attitudes are desirable and what characteristics are a decided disadvantage;

• In the case of replacement staff a critical questioning of the need to recruit at all (replacement should rarely be an automatic process).
• Effectively, selection is 'buying' an employee (the price being the wage or salary multiplied by probable      years of service) hence bad buys can be very expensive. For that reason some firms (and some firms for particular jobs) use external expert consultants for recruitment and selection.
• Equally some small organizations exist to 'head hunt', i.e. to attract staff with high reputations from existing employers to the recruiting employer. However, the 'cost' of poor selection is such that, even for the mundane day-to-day jobs, those who recruit and select should be well trained to judge the suitability of applicants.

The main sources of recruitment are:

• Internal promotion and internal introductions (at times desirable for morale purposes)
• Careers officers (and careers masters at schools)
• University appointment boards
• Agencies for the unemployed
• Advertising (often via agents for specialist posts) or the use of other local media (e.g. commercial radio)

Where the organization does its own printed advertising it is useful if it has some identifying logo as its trade mark for rapid attraction and it must take care not to offend the sex, race, etc. antidiscrimination legislation either directly or indirectly. The form on which the applicant is to apply (personal appearance, letter of application, completion of a form) will vary according to the posts vacant and numbers to be recruited.

It is very desirable in many jobs that claim about experience and statements about qualifications are thoroughly checked and that applicants unfailingly complete a health questionnaire (the latter is not necessarily injurious to the applicants chance of being appointed as firms are required to employ a percentage of disabled people).

Before letters of appointment are sent any doubts about medical fitness or capacity (in employments where hygiene considerations are dominant) should be resolved by requiring applicants to attend a medical examination. This is especially so where, as for example in the case of apprentices, the recruitment is for a contractual period or involves the firm in training costs.

Interviewing can be carried out by individuals (e.g. supervisor or departmental manager), by panels of interviewers or in the form of sequential interviews by different experts and can vary from a five minute 'chat' to a process of several days. Ultimately personal skills in judgment are probably the most important, but techniques to aid judgment include selection testing for:

• Aptitudes (particularly useful for school leavers)
• Attainments
• General intelligence

(All of these need skilled testing and assessment.) In more senior posts other techniques are:

• Leaderless groups
• Command exercises
• Group problem solving

(These are some common techniques - professional selection organizations often use other techniques to aid in selection.)

Training in interviewing and in appraising candidates is clearly essential to good recruitment. Largely the former consists of teaching interviewers how to draw out the interviewee and the latter how to xratex the candidates. For consistency (and as an aid to checking that) rating often consists of scoring candidates for experience, knowledge, physical/mental capabilities, intellectual levels, motivation, prospective potential, leadership abilities etc. (according to the needs of the post). Application of the normal curve of distribution to scoring eliminates freak judgments.

Function 3: Employee motivation

To retain good staff and to encourage them to give of their best while at work requires attention to the financial and psychological and even physiological rewards offered by the organization as a continuous exercise.
Basic financial rewards and conditions of service (e.g. working hours per week) are determined externally (by national bargaining or government minimum wage legislation) in many occupations but as much as 50 per cent of the gross pay of manual workers is often the result of local negotiations and details (e.g. which particular hours shall be worked) of conditions of service are often more important than the basics. Hence there is scope for financial and other motivations to be used at local levels.
As staffing needs will vary with the productivity of the workforce (and the industrial peace achieved) so good personnel policies are desirable. The latter can depend upon other factors (like environment, welfare, employee benefits, etc.) but unless the wage packet is accepted as 'fair and just' there will be no motivation.
Hence while the technicalities of payment and other systems may be the concern of others, the outcome of them is a matter of great concern to human resource management.
Increasingly the influence of behavioral science discoveries are becoming important not merely because of the widely-acknowledged limitations of money as a motivator, but because of the changing mix and nature of tasks (e.g. more service and professional jobs and far fewer unskilled and repetitive production jobs).
The former demand better-educated, mobile and multi-skilled employees much more likely to be influenced by things like job satisfaction, involvement, participation, etc. than the economically dependent employees of yesteryear.
Hence human resource management must act as a source of information about and a source of inspiration for the application of the findings of behavioral science. It may be a matter of drawing the attention of senior managers to what is being achieved elsewhere and the gradual education of middle managers to new points of view on job design, work organization and worker autonomy.

Function 4: Employee evaluation

An organization needs constantly to take stock of its workforce and to assess its performance in existing jobs for three reasons:

• To improve organizational performance via improving the performance of individual contributors (should be an automatic process in the case of good managers, but (about annually) two key questions should be posed:
• what has been done to improve the performance of a person last year?
• and what can be done to improve his or her performance in the year to come?).
• To identify potential, i.e. to recognize existing talent and to use that to fill vacancies higher in the organization or to transfer individuals into jobs where better use can be made of their abilities or developing skills.
• To provide an equitable method of linking payment to performance where there are no numerical criteria (often this salary performance review takes place about three months later and is kept quite separate from 1. and 2. but is based on the same assessment).

On-the-spot managers and supervisors, not HR staffs, carry out evaluations. The personnel role is usually that of:

• Advising top management of the principles and objectives of an evaluation system and designing it for particular organizations and environments.
• Developing systems appropriately in consultation with managers, supervisors and staff representatives. Securing the involvement and cooperation of appraisers and those to be appraised.
• Assistance in the setting of objective standards of evaluation / assessment, for example:
• Defining targets for achievement;
• Explaining how to quantify and agree objectives;
• Introducing self-assessment;
• Eliminating complexity and duplication.
• Publicizing the purposes of the exercise and explaining to staff how the system will be used.
• Organizing and establishing the necessary training of managers and supervisors who will carry out the actual evaluations/ appraisals. Not only training in principles and procedures but also in the human relations skills necessary. (Lack of confidence in their own ability to handle situations of poor performance is the main weakness of assessors.)
• Monitoring the scheme - ensuring it does not fall into disuse, following up on training/job exchange etc. recommendations, reminding managers of their responsibilities.

Full-scale periodic reviews should be a standard feature of schemes since resistance to evaluation / appraisal schemes is common and the temptation to water down or render schemes ineffectual is ever present (managers resent the time taken if nothing else).

Basically an evaluation / appraisal scheme is a formalization of what is done in a more casual manner anyway (e.g. if there is a vacancy, discussion about internal moves and internal attempts to put square pegs into 'squarer holes' are both the results of casual evaluation). Most managers approve merit payment and that too calls for evaluation. Made a standard routine task, it aids the development of talent, warns the inefficient or uncaring and can be an effective form of motivation.

Project Management Fundamentals

The following discussion about project management has been pulled together from various sources including books, courses, presentations, and my own experiences. This is by no means intended to be a complete treatment of the subject of project management. Nor is it going to make you a project management professional. Instead, use it as an introduction to this discipline perhaps while assessing whether it would be of interest for you to pursue as a career.

What is a Project?

A project is a unique venture with specific start and end dates. This is different from an ongoing task that doesn't have an end date. Projects are run by people and often involve different parts of an organization. Constraints on project include cost, schedule, resources, and quality. There's a give and taken between these items i.e. you can't have it all. Usually projects are divisible in to stages or phases each with their own set of priorities and goals.

What is Project Management?

Project management is a combination of techniques, procedures, people, and systems focused on the successful completion of a project. It is also a discipline that will support the planning, implementation, tracking, and control of projects.

What is a Program?

A group of related projects are called a program. They may have mutual dependencies that may be complex. The key to their success is that they be managed in a coordinated manner.

Typical Project Phases

There are many methodologies for running projects. Typically, they consist of the following high-level phases:

* Define the project

* Plan the project

* Get approval to proceed

* Implement the project plan

* Evaluate the project

Understanding and Managing Project Politics

Projects are rife with politics. Understandably so as everyone is jockeying to achieve the goals they deem the most important. Managing these politics is an essential task for the project manager and team members. It also falls to the project management to help others navigate the political waters. Key to managing the politics is keeping people informed. The bigger the project, the more time it will take to communicate with interested parties.

Balancing Priorities

A project will consist of a set of priorities. These priorities can be classified in to what must be achieved, what should be achieved if possible, and what would follow from the previous choices. What's not so obvious sometimes is that the priorities of various stakeholders will vary and they will vary over time. It is the project manager's job to manage the inevitable conflict that arises from this situation.

Project Scope

The objective of this step is to define and agree on results that the customer expects. There are project success criteria and personal success criteria to consider.

It is best to use various methods to understand what is really being asked for. This means using words, pictures, graphics, and one-on-one discussions. Graphs, mock-ups, and prototypes will also help. Consider using brainstorming sessions to get the ball rolling.

Formal methods and documentation help this process, but it's important to aim for clarity and not just length. This step is also the start of the requirements capture process. Ideally, the project team is involved as much as possible as it will help build their understanding.

Project Feasibility

The feasibility of the project should be assessed before the project proceeds. Consider whether the project is technically feasible, has organizational support, and has the financial backing to be completed. A business case can help with the feasibility analysis and should at a minimum include a cost/benefit analysis. For some large projects, the feasibility study could be a project in itself. The end result is a clear reason to proceed with a project or to shelve it.

Project Risks

Risk management should start as early as possible. The goal is to identify and record the major issues that may affect the project including uncertainties and assumptions. As the project progresses, the list of risks should be reviewed to ensure it remains comprehensive. Some items will disappear while others will need to be added.

The project objectives are a critical reference for the project. They act as the definition of success for the project manager and the goals for the people involved in the project. This document also serves to summarize the contract with the customer and therefore can be used with the change control process to address new requests. The objectives document should contain the project goal statement and a list of project deliverables.

A face-to-face meeting with stakeholders is a good way to build the objectives document. During this meeting, the project manager should ensure that everyone's view is being heard and that everyone is participating. After the meeting, craft the objectives document and distribute for sign-off.

Project Goal Statement

This is a short statement (around 50 words or less) that accurately reflects what the project is setting out to do. It also outlines the conditions in which it is being done and defines constraints of the project. This statement should not get in to details of implementation. It should just cover what is going to be implemented and when.

Defining Project Deliverables

Deliverables are always tangible and measurable. They are the things that external project stakeholders are going to receive when the project is complete or at the completion of each phase in the project. These deliverables can be equipment, completion of a report, installation of new hardware, etc.

Before implementation work on a project can begin, it is necessary to define project tasks. The most common way to do this is through a work breakdown structure (WBS). Other methods include the Product Breakdown Structure, Organization Breakdown Structure, and the Cost Breakdown Structure. Regardless of the process used, the idea is to break large projects in to many smaller components. These smaller components should be small enough such that accurate estimates and costs can be determined. Aim for the amount of time per component to be around 40 hours for a person or group. Anything bigger and there's a good change the item can be broken down further. However, the ordering shouldn't be determined at this point.

Good estimates are necessary for the success of a project. They can help with obtaining approval to start or continue a project. They're also useful for setting priorities based on expected ROI. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to estimates. A lot will depend on where the make up of the project team and the project itself. Exploratory projects are going to be much harder to estimate for than a project that has been done several times before. The most important thing is to try and provide estimates as the act of doing do can help with everyone's understanding of the requirements.

Know your goal

It sounds obvious but if you don't have an end-point in mind, you'll never get there. You must be able to clearly state the goal of your project so that anyone can understand it. If you can't adequately describe your goal in a single sentence then your chances of achieving it are pretty slim.

Know Your Team

Your team is the most important resource you have available and their enthusiastic contribution will make or break your project. Look after them and make sure the team operates as a unit and not as a collection of individuals. Communications are vital! Invest time in promoting trust and ensuring that everyone knows what they have to contribute to the bigger picture. Dish out reward as well as criticism, provide superior working conditions and lead by example.

Know Your Stakeholders

Spend time with your stakeholders. Stakeholders will either contribute expert knowledge to the project or will offer their political or commercial endorsement which will be essential to success. Shake hands and kiss babies as necessary and grease the wheels of the bureaucratic machine so that your project has the smoothest ride possible.

Spend Time on Planning and Design

A big mistake traditionally committed on projects is to leap before you're are ready. When you're under pressure to deliver, the temptation is to 'get the ball rolling'. The ball however, is big and heavy and it's very, very difficult to change its direction once it gets moving. You need to spend time deciding exactly how you're going to solve your problem in the most efficient and elegant way.

Promise Low and Deliver High

Try and deliver happy surprises and not unpleasant ones. By promising low (understating your goals) and delivering high (delivering more than your promised) you :

* Build confidence in yourself, the project and the team

* Buy yourself contingency in the event that things go wrong

* Generate a positive and receptive atmosphere

Consider this : if you finish early everyone will be happy; if something goes wrong you might still finish on time and everyone will still be happy; if things go really bad you might still not deliver what you anticipated but it will still be better than if you over-promised!

Iterate! Increment! Evolve!

Most problems worth solving are too big to swallow in one lump. Any serious project will require some kind of decomposition of the problem in order to solve it. This works but only with close attention to how each piece is analyzed and resolved and how the whole fits together. Without a systematic approach you end up with a hundred different solutions instead of one big one.

Stay on Track

Presumably you have an end goal in mind. Maybe it's your job, maybe your business depends upon it or maybe you're going to revolutionize the world with the next Google, the next World Wide Web or the next Siebel/SAP/Oracle.

If this is the case you need to work methodically towards a goal and provide leadership (make decisions). This applies whether you're a senior project manager running a team of 20 or you're a lone web developer. You need to learn to use tools like schedules and budgets to keep on track.

Manage Change

We live in a changing world. As your project progresses the temptation to deviate from the plan will become irresistible. Stakeholders will come up with new and 'interesting' ideas, your team will bolt down all kinds of rat holes and your original goal will have all the permanence of a snowflake in quicksand. Scope creep or drift is a major source of project failure and you need to manage or control changes if you want to succeed.

This doesn't imply that there should be single, immutable plan which is written down and all other ideas must be stifled. You need to build a flexible approach that allows you to accommodate changes as they arise. It's a happy medium you're striving for - if you are too flexible your project will meander like a horse without a rider and if you are too rigid your project will shatter like a pane of glass the first time a stakeholder tosses you a new requirement.

The best way to handle this is to have a plan, to update it regularly and make sure everyone is following it and pointing in the same direction.

Test Early, Test Often

Project usually involve creative disciplines loaded with assumptions and mistakes. The only way to eliminate errors is through testing. Sure you can do a lot of valuable work to prevent these mistakes being introduced, but to err is human and some of those errors will make it into your finished product code. Testing is the only way to find and eliminate errors.

Keep an Open Mind!

Be flexible! The essential outcome is delivery of the finished project to a customer who is satisfied with the result. Any means necessary can be used to achieve this and every rule listed above can be broken in the right circumstances, for the right reasons.

Don't get locked into an ideology if the circumstances dictate otherwise.

Don't get blinded by methodology.

Focus on delivering the project and use all the tools and people available to you. Keep an eye on the schedule and adjust your expectations and your plan to suit the conditions. Deliver the finished product, promote its use, celebrate your success and then move on to the next project. 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The editor-in-chief is the chief organizer of the newspaper. He/She is like the CEO of a business organization. These are some of his/her responsibilities:

* Run the class every day

* Conceptualize and organize the activities in conjunction with the teacher

* Be a visionary for the paper

* Be a "cheerleader" for the paper both in and out of class

* Be the publicly recognized person responsible for the paper

* Facilitate interactions with other staff members

* Cooperate and coordinate with Associate Editors

* Organize the staff

* Help resolve conflicts between staff members

* Help organize effective lessons for staff members

* Coordinate with the photographers

* Coordinate with the artists

* Coordinate with the printer

* Correct the pages during production week

* Establish the 'atmosphere' during production week

* Make sure all staff members fulfill responsibilities

* Be in-charge of self censoring the paper

TECHNICAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

* Works with all staff members to make sure they know how to save documents properly

* Works with Page Editors during production week to make sure they are formatting and saving correctly

* Makes sure all students know how to use Local Area Network (LAN)

* Collects all data from all pages and consolidates it on one Zip disk for printer

* Helps correct pages

* Be a visionary regarding technology

* Facilitate interaction between staff members regarding technology

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

* Help correct pages during production week

* Work closely with Page Editors

* Help organize the staff

* Help conceptualize and organize activities

* Help run the class

* Help be a visionary for the paper

* Be a "cheerleader" for the paper both in and out of class

* Facilitate interactions with other staff members

* Help resolve conflicts with other staff members

PAGE EDITOR

* Collects all the stories for the page

* Collects all the art work and graphics for the page

* Organizes the page in an attractive way

* Reads and edit stories

* Reads and corrects page before giving it to editors

* Requests artwork and photos page during Story Idea Session

* Knows how to use PageMaker and Photoshop

* Knows how to scan photos

* Knows how to download photos from the web

* Meets all deadlines

ART DIRECTOR

* Coordinates all the photograhers and artists with the page editors

* Meets with photograhers to make sure they know assignments

* Monitors photographers and artists on a daily basis

* Takes film to be developed

* Keeps track of the number of rolls of film being used

* Monitors use of digital cameras

* Helps editors with downloading of photos from digital cameras

* Makes sure cameras have working batteries

BUSINESS MANAGER

* Keeps track of the financial situation of the newspaper

* Monitors accounts receivable and accounts payable

* Coordinates with the auditor

* Gives editors and class a monthly financial report

* In charge of billing sessions when bills are mailed

* Reports to teacher if businesses fail to meet payments

ADVERTISING MANAGER

* Makes sure that every student has an ad and an account to maintain

* Makes a list of potential advertisers to hand out at the beginning of the year

* Assigns all the ads during production week

* Makes sure that the ads are correctly placed

* Makes sure that the ads contain the correct information

* Interacts with the advertisers who call

* Checks for phone messages daily

* Responds to advertisers who call

* Reports to class on a monthly basis about the status of the ads

PHOTOGRAPHERS

* Take assigned photos and turns them in on time

* Report the Art Director on a daily basis

* Stay during production week to help with photo problems

* Constantly learning about better ways to take pictures

* Turns in all photos on time: Monday of production week

ARTISTS

* Draws assigned art work

* Works closely with page editors

* Works under the Art Director

* Comes to production week

* Meets deadlines

Organizational Behavior

Introduction

Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking a system approach. That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization, and whole social system. Its purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives.

As you can see from the definition above, organizational behavior encompasses a wide range of topics, such as human behavior, change, leadership, teams, etc. Since many of these topics are covered elsewhere in the leadership guide, this paper will focus on a few parts of OB: elements, models, social systems, OD, work life, action learning, and change.

AUDIENCE RATING

Remember that ratings come from sample surveys and that all ratings are estimates.

Expressed in Television Terms:

1. A rating is the estimated percent of all television households, or of all people

within a demographic group, in the survey area sample who view a specific program or

station.

2. HUT (Households Using Television) is the percent of all television households in

the area surveyed with one or more sets in use. It is the sum of all program ratings for

each time period.

3. Share is the percent of Households Using Television (HUT) tuned to a particular

program or station for a specific time period.

TV examples are used for simplicity. Radio ratings' nomenclature and definitions are similar

except that they are based on measurement of people listening--the household base is not employed in radio except for sampling purposes.

This assumes a household is viewing only one program. Where two or more programs areviewed simultaneously on multiple sets, the sum of ratings will exceed HUT because the household is only tallied once. In such cases, the sum of shares for the period exceeds 100 percent.