There are advantages to being an affiliate station, the main one being that a certain level of autonomy is enjoyed. The station is essentially considered a distributor of Telemundo content, much like how a beer distributor would distribute products exclusively for Anheuser Busch. Although their are certain guidelines for being an affiliate, ZGS affiliate stations are not controlled by Telemundo. This means that ZGS Communications can create its own revenue streams.
The disadvantage here is that ZGS affiliate stations do not follow the organizational model that Telemundo stations do. The case example Group 1 provided was the integration of a digital product called holaciudad.com is study in how a change in organizational design would essentially alleviate many of the issues that have come about since holaciudad.com was introduced to select markets in the Unites States.
According to Worley and Lawler, organizations that fit the built-to-change mold seek out candidates that want to learn quickly and like change (Worley & Lawler, 19). But time and time again, I have seen the company hire sales personnel that have no experience in selling digital media. Combine this with the company's reluctance to provide ongoing training in selling digital media, and it's not wonder why the company is not meeting its digital sales goals.
The lack of ongoing training has resulted in an extreme reluctance to embrace holaciudad.com on the part of many station General Managers. Though television stations have a typical hierarchical structure, introducing holaciudad.com to the market meant that ZGS Communications needed to adhere to the built-to-change characteristic of shared leadership (Worley & Lawler, 22). Rather than "spreading knowledge across many people" (Worley & Lawler, 22), station General Managers are running for the hills.
Essentially, ZGS Communications took a "do what I say" approach in telling stations to sell the new digital product after providing a light, initial introduction to it. This is counter to multiple categories to what the Star Model (Galbraith, 1) shows us.
I took great interest in reading Galbraith Chapter 6, Designing a Reconfiguring Organization, because I feel that this could help lead a resurgence of this digital product for ZGS Communications. Creating a "cross-functional line team" (Galbraith, 79) comprised of the right personnel associated with holaciudad.com will essentially create a "miniature business unit" (Galbraith, 81) designed to meet challenges that arise an ever-changing digital world.
References
Galbraith, J.R. (2002). Designing a reconfigurable organization. In Designing organizations: An executive guide to strategy, structure, and process (pp. 73-90). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Galbraith, J.R. (2002). Introduction: Six immutable forces shaping today's organization. In Designing organizations: An executives guide to strategy, structure, and process (pp. 1-8). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Worley, C., & Lawler, E. (2006). Designing organizations that are built to change. MITSloan Management Review, 48(1), 19-23.
Phillip, you say that you have seen the company hire sales personnel that have no experience in selling digital media. How would you change this system? Are your new hires willing to learn a new skill if they were trained? How does the "do what I say" approach violate the Star Model?
ReplyDeleteGreat questions - first, the "do what I say" approach violates the Star Model by not allowing for cross-communication between the different points on the model. In fact, it disrupts the entire system because you'd have to eliminate lines on the model to the point where there is basically no star at all, just an pentagon shell. "Do what I say" eliminates the necessary input needed for people to train, strategize, develop or refine the process, etc.
DeleteNew hires have no choice but to learn how to sell digital but they have to do it in a very unconventional way. The GM makes the hire but since there is no full grasp of the product on the GM's part, the right questions are not being asked at the time of the interview. The interviewee could basically answer anything that sounds technical and the GM wouldn't be able to tell the difference between whether the candidate's response was valid or not. Once a person is hired, by default, the Marketing person at the station must now train. I am actually trying to revamp our system and present the company with a better way of moving forward. This assignment is so beneficial to me right now, it's unreal.
New hires would be willing to learn, I assume, based on the fact that my interns in college are loving every minute about learning a content management system. They know how much more marketable they make themselves when they do.
I really enjoyed learning about ZGS Communications and their link to Telemundo. I also thought you really integrated your thoughts into the readings this week, which was also enjoyable to read. Overall, great job.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jayson!
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