Media Workers –
the invaluable resource
Bozena I. Mierzejewska
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
MEDIA IS PEOPLE BUSINESS
The products are created anew every day, which makes the media
company depend on day-to-day performance of its people.
High levels of creativity is of strategic importance.
Media Management,
Managing of Culture
Media and
creative industries
New forms of management
in the creative sector
Management theory
Theories of creativity and
innovation in management
EVERYTHING IS MEDIA MANAGEMENT
- Liz McFall
EVERYTHING IS MEDIA MANAGEMENT
- Liz McFall
the industry
EVERYTHING IS MEDIA MANAGEMENT
- Liz McFall
the technology
EVERYTHING IS MEDIA MANAGEMENT
- Liz McFall
the workforce
EVERYTHING IS MEDIA MANAGEMENT
- Liz McFall
the worker
precarity in media work
2007
Source, The Economist, 2008
2008
“CREATIVES” VS.
CONTENT TRANSFORMERS
The need to find the right balance between creativity and quality
control.
“creatives”
content
transformers
Closeness to the
content creation
process
examples
Writer
Chief Editor
Publisher
Director
"crafts people"
set designers,
stylists,
cameramen,
sound technicians
Functional dept.
(marketing,
customer service,
sales)
activities
generate/discover
and evaluate
content
Develop talent
/concept
Transform content
into "value"
Support creation
and business
processes
Characteristics
Few but important
No standard work
processes
Quality difficult to
measure
Majority of
employees
Many small
decisions
Standard
processes
Quality
measurable
Source, Aris & Boughin, 2009
Degree of freedom
High
‘Go create‘
‘Carrot and stick‘
Books
Hit ratio
Revenue share
of top products
• ‘Carrot an stick‘
Allow a high degree
of freedom in
generating options,
but strictly control
option selection
Movies
Music
Free TV
• ‘Go create‘
Allow a high degree
of freedom: ‘do it, try
it, fix it‘ approach
Pay TV
‘Solid job‘
Magazine
Key principles
Magazine
launch/repositioning
• ‘Solid job‘
Manage content
development
incrementally
Newspaper
Low
Degree of control
Low
High
Risk
Negative impact of failure
Source, Aris & Boughin, 2009
DEMOCRATIZATION OF MEDIA
PRODUCTION
Easier access to media professions.
Increase transparency of sources.
“Social media” enable contact with media outlets.
Why bother?
MACRO LEVEL
a new international
division of cultural labor
Why bother?
flexible, swift and agile companies
(rather than lumbering monoliths)
MESO LEVEL
Why bother?
MICRO LEVEL
Media worker role change:
from soloist to superstar DJ
RESEARCHING THE VALUE
OF MEDIA WORKERS
Concentration on journalists and artists.
Value of human resource as a strategic asset in media sector is
underexplored!
We need to build body of research on the reality of media work and
culture of media workers to evaluate this invaluable asset.
Coming out soon…
Managing Media Work
ed. Mark Deuze
TW
Let’s discuss the value of media
workers
Thank you for your attention!
TW
bozena.mierzejewska@unisg.ch