Ashford 2: – Week 1 – Assignment

Case 3.1 Charles and Mae

Read Case 3.1 Charles and Mae in the course text. In a three to five page paper, please address the following:

• If you were Charles, and using the decision wheel from chapter 1, discuss how you would prepare for the meeting with Mae.
• Identify which factor, job mandates, or employee potential seem to be the most influential in this case. Discuss which idea or concept in the chapter most influences your opinion and explain.
• Analyze the scenario to determine which psychological theory – equity, expectancy, or goal-setting – plays a major role in each person’s approach. Determine Charles’ next most logical course of action.
• Evaluate how race and gender of each participant may be a factor and whether Charles should consider Mae’s race or gender in how he approaches the meeting. Devises a solution, using research from the Ashford University library (specifically on media and minority retention).

Include the motivation concepts from the text and/or additional research. Support your position for each answer.

The paper

• Must be three to five double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
• Title of paper
• Student’s name
• Course name and number
• Instructor’s name
• Date submitted
• Must use at least two scholarly sources in addition to the course text.
• The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
• Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

This text and articles are for the entire course to use when you want ( thought it might help you)

Text

• Sylvie, G., Wicks, J. L., Hollifield, C. A., Lacy, S., & Sohn, A. B. (2012). Media management: A casebook approach (4th ed.). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Articles

• Ashoka. (2014, July 24). 3 innovations in participative journalism that will change the media industry. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2014/07/24/7707
• Bhuiyan, S.I. (2009, July). Strategies for developing media managers for convergence: An analysis of perspectives from management theory and practice for managers of converged newsrooms. Pranjana: The Journal of Management Awareness, 12(2), 1-15. Retrieved from http://www.indianjournals.com/
• Naldi, L., & Picard, R.G. (2012). Let’s start an online news site: Opportunities, resources, strategy, and formational myopia in startups. Journal of Media Business Studies, 9(4), 69-97. Retrieved from http://center.hj.se/mmtc_/jombs.html
• HBS Working Knowledge. (2013, January 9). Lessons for managing and motivating creative people [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2013/01/09/lessons-for-managing-and-motivating-creative-people
• High, P. (2013, October 14). Gartner: Top 10 strategic technology trends for 2014. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterhigh/2013/10/14/gartner-top-10-strategic-technology-trends-for-2014
• Kurtz, H. (2002, January 18). The Enron story that waited to be told. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64769-2002Jan17.html
• Strömbäck, J., & Esser, F. (2014). Introduction: Making sense of the mediatization of politics. Journalism Studies, 15(3), 243-255. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1461670X.2014.897412
• Trefis Team. (2014, September 26). How is News Corp’s print media business trending? Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2014/09/26/how-is-news-corps-print-media-business-trending/

Multimedia

Website

Decision Wheel

FIGURE 1.2. The decision wheel. Specifying Goals After the problem is defined, the next step specifies the goals of the decision. The goals need to be concrete. Vague statements about reversing a trend do not allow for effective decision making. The goals should be as specific as the problem and available data allow. Usually, the decision process addresses multiple goals. All goals should have a time frame in which they will be accomplished. In the free Web-classified ads decision mentioned earlier, the newspaper publisher decided the newspaper needed to draw more page views to its Web site, specifically to its classified ads page. The goal could be to generate an additional 1,000 page views a day within a month, generate 2,000 new page views a day within three months, and to retain at least 1,000 page views when the promotion ends after three months. These specific goals allow better monitoring and force managers to use detailed data analysis. Managers can set several goals at various times. For example, the publisher could have a goal of 1,000 more page views at one month, 1,500 at two months, and 2,000 at three months, and a permanent increase of 1,000 page views at six months, three months after the promotion ended. The crucial element of goal setting is degree of specificity and a time for meeting the goal.

Case 3.1 For Assignment

Case 3.1 Charles and Mae After covering everything from the courthouse to city hall to local schools, Mae Tyler, the 38-year-old, 38-year-old, 16-year veteran of the newsroom took the 5 P.M. (solo anchor) and 6 P.M. (co-anchor) slots 18 months ago. She says she is happy, but Charles Gaines, the news director and her immediate boss, thinks Mae is dissatisfied. He never sees her smile in the newsroom. He has noted that she has been frequently ill lately, causing her to miss deadlines. She complains her salary (about $ 75,000) trails that of 6 P.M. co-anchor Mark Vigar, who is younger and has less experience. Her 5 P.M. ratings were down 15% from the last ratings period, and the show is ranked second only by a half-share ahead of the third-place competitor. Charles wants to understand. Mae has been a station mainstay ever since she graduated from college. She was the first female to win major reporting awards at the station; when she finally got promoted to anchor, station General Manager Anthony Llorens touted it as “a long time in coming” and said she was a role model for other females at the station and across the city. Mae prides herself on being a good wife and mother as well as a professional, although she has always struggled to find balance among them. Lately Mae’s attitude, like a yawn, is contagious; her younger colleagues in the newsroom often take their cue from her on various matters, particularly on coverage issues such as story angles and source selection as it pertains to gender and race. Mae thinks Charles is sexist and, perhaps, unintentionally racist. She has seen how he treats Mark (they joke around a lot) and how differently he criticizes the anchors: He is direct and blunt with her and almost apologetic with Mark. Mae is the only African American on the city staff. There have been other African Americans on the staff over the years, but none in Charles’ 10-year tenure as news director. Mae feels as if she also is being singled out because of her race. Her evaluations for the last 6 months have noted her inconsistency in meeting deadlines and an apparent lack of team spirit. Yet Mae feels these complaints are race-based and sexist primarily because, when she started to change her hairstyle, Charles told her he did not like it. He is also critical of her wardrobe choices (he tells her, “You looked good today,” about once every couple of weeks) as well as her package selections (“ too many talking heads,” he tells her) for 5 P.M. Charles, who said there were more pressing deadline pieces, ignored her ideas for news features about schools and health and more hard news on how city policy impacts the African American community. Mae asked Charles for a meeting. She wants to challenge her evaluation and find out whether Charles has a problem with women and African Americans and stories about them. She thinks the problem extends to a salary inequity, too. In preparation for the following questions, review the chapter guidelines.

Sylvie, George; Wicks, LeBlanc, Jan; Hollifield, C. Ann; Lacy, Stephen; Sohn, Broadrick, Ardyth (2009-03-04). Media Management: A Casebook Approach (Routledge Communication Series) (Kindle Locations 1477-1478). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.