In recent years, we have witnessed unprecedented scientific and technological development, facilitating access to information and essentially outlining the characteristics of an information civilization.
The global characteristics of the media environment in which the media operate must determine the qualities of the management team and the choice of the right management strategy for each media.
The scale of the change
The scale of the change is extremely large. For this reason, many of the entities that have to regulate organizational and market policies at various levels are still difficult to navigate. One of the many reasons is old managerial reflexes and inertia in thinking. The negative consequences are magnified many times by conceptual errors in explaining this reason. As is common practice, first-rate thinking inevitably pushes a harsh political explanation for the phenomenon. There are usually several reasons for the inappropriate selection of management teams in the public media:
premeditated personalities are preferred, regardless of their political background; they are appointed by some mythical behind-the-scenes forces that pull the strings and other arguments according to the situation.
Much of these explanations are spread by the media themselves, thus diverting attention from the nature of the problem. At the same time, the media has suffered from the results of this thinking. They have suffered because of such explanations, reels and to some extent true, are a small part of the answer. The problem is that from this point of view it is difficult to see the other, much more important reasons and thus to solve the real problem - inefficient governance, both at the state level and in the specific organizations. Old managerial reflexes are at the root of the inability or unwillingness to reflect and apply modern management approaches, methods and techniques. Some of the weaknesses that characterize the problematic situation in this aspect can be seen in any social conflict:
Control processes
The momentum to control processes from the center is one of the most difficult obstacles to effective management. At the top of the pyramid of this center are the state structures. We will not comment purely on political reasons. They are well-known and it is imperative that we part with them because in this territory it is fully manifested the regularity that those who are trying to control today find themselves tomorrow in the role of the victim, that is, the controlled one. soon with the level of managerial culture and creativity, generally considered as managerial knowledge and opportunities for their application in practice, innovative thinking and positive attitude to scientific management
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges is accepting the transition from highly centralized, hierarchically organized and centrally regulated structures to so-called horizontal ones or as some call them democratic. Vertical structures are based on the management philosophy of the priority role of control, while so-called. horizontal reflect the opportunities for maximum freedom, self-development, cooperation with partners, coordination between organizational units and between organizations. Beyond general phraseology, the issue of social media is still thought and resolved in the classical vertical plane. The practice of making global decisions by a limited number of specialists, led by an active parliamentarian, has long proven ineffective.
This is the same program of the great battle in the creation of laws to involve specialists from the relevant guild. Their presence can solve only half of the problem. Because it is accompanied by another problem, their presence is usually organized in the simplest way possible and naturally, the result is zero. An effective practice is in the team that makes important decisions about the activity of the media to participate in both specialists who are familiar with the specifics of the media, as well as management experts, such as science and practice. solutions. It is of utmost importance to comply with the requirement that the competences of regulatory authorities are comparable to the world, European and national laws, agreements and other documents and civilizational norms governing the general principles of freedom of expression, access to information, self-government of organizations and others.
At first glance, the issue of choosing a Director of Public Media is the subject of close professional discussion. We can accept this statement with the proviso that the quality, relevance, relevance and social role of different types of media are directly dependent on the way they are organized and managed.
The Management team
The management team of each media must competently solve a number of complex issues. The more important ones are:
To give maximum creative freedom to the teams, which should be in line with the media policy, based on the principles of public utility and humanity.
The management team must create the conditions for economic efficiency, flexibility, and dynamism of the organization, the ability to identify the phenomena and highlight the most significant problems.
Ensure the fulfillment of strategic tasks by establishing an effective management decision-making system and making the right choice for current problems to be addressed.
Employee innovation thinking should be a top priority in the work of the management team. Opportunities for the competent formation and management / self-management / of autonomous creative teams with full organizational, financial, technical and so-called services are extremely important.
The main task is the implementation of effective organizational structures designed specifically for the media and the specificity of its information environment. Mechanically transferring even the most advanced organizational models is an extremely dangerous solution, and the experience so far has repeatedly confirmed this claim.
The effectiveness of management depends on the capabilities of the manager of the management team, also known as the Program manager. The Program Manager is a senior representative of the Program Management Office. Whether she can specify and solve with her team tasks such as:
Development of complex development programs;
Implementation of fundamentally new management technologies;
Competent development of a package of internal regulatory documents;
Development of strategies and their indicative linking in a hierarchical and horizontal aspect;
Implementation of modern information technologies, decision-making systems, and management of human resources, systems for managing the most important integrated processes; Reference: What is the difference between a Human Resources Manager and a Human Resources Specialist
Implementation of complex management problems
The successful implementation of these complex management problems is directly dependent on the formation of new quality management teams. Reference: Quality control and quality assurance in Project Management
Top managers must know and apply at least the most undeniable modern trends in management science. We have deliberately listed the major management tasks to illustrate the complex nature of the problem of effective governance.
It is obvious that most of the responsibilities of management teams are not directly related to the specifics of the processes for creating a specific information product. This inevitably leads to the conclusion that management should be carried out by a team of well-trained specialists in various fields. Leading among them should be managers with qualifications and experience in management, financial and economic management, personnel management, logistics and specialists with qualifications and experience in the relevant organization-specific area.
Given the experience to date and the positions on what kind of staff to manage the public media, the reaction against not putting professionals in the field in the first place will be natural. In order to assuage the passions, we would emphasize that the best option is for the manager to have a qualification in the relevant field, but also to have a HIGHER qualification in management and experience gained through growing up in the hierarchy.
The belief that the activity is specific and should be managed by distinguished media professionals is a mistake that has been confirmed many times in recent years. Even prominent theorists who have practical journalistic experience can only be good managers by accident. It is well known that the most ingenious surgeon does not necessarily have to be a good hospital manager.
The decision in this regard is related to the requirement for the preparation of senior management teams with management qualifications. It is a good option for guild professionals to receive, for example, master's degrees in management. It is a serious training which includes mastering the fundamental knowledge in this field. Today 's most practical - oriented training gives only a general idea, far from the required quality.