Organization Background
Organization Name:
Happy Dictionary Programme, China central Television
Main features:
This programme is famous around China. It is featured as a quiz show. Guests can reward with prizes by answering quizzes correctly. There are about 20 staff in the TV team, including producers, hosts, directors, photographers, lighting, interns and so on. Like all entertainment shows team, we are also a very active group.
Staff:
The whole producing team consisted of young people, and the atmosphere was alive and equal. This team intakes many interns each year in order to refresh the creating blood.
My position
Internship as assistant director
(My response was to assist the programme director to film)
Duration
One year
Performance assessment in the workplace
Following aspects are the main assessment components:
· Audience rating (TAM=Television audience measurement)
A professional team is responsible for this assessment. In CCTV, the CSM is responsible for this link: http://www.csm.com.cn/en/index.html
Each week we will have at least one meeting, and the TV rating is a must item.
· Direct hotlines
The programme has its own email boxes, fax and hotlines. Audience could reflect their suggestions to us directly.
· Professional assessment
The programme will be sent to TV expert to analysis. And the programme must be approved before shown by the political department, in order to ensure no harm to the society. Meanwhile, we also invite some experts outside the organization to assess like some media professors form universities.
Professional Development
As the TV programme requires fresh blood all the time. PD is quite essential. The leadership level’s PD is quite often. They could observe and study in other cities and even countries. For interns like me, at the beginning, we are assigned by the HR into the suitable position, while; we are asked to take part in different working sites to know the whole making process.
My Learning Feelings:
In this workplace, there was no very strictly working distribution structure.
People will learn more if they work harder and communicate with others more. For interns, we could learn lots of fresh knowledge by even watching. In this organization, personal mastery was accomplished well. This target acquired did not separate with shared vision. The functioning of this organization was transparent; we did discuss issues in an equal and freedom way. Thus, as the filming going, innovation could appear gradually, and some basic rules were executed well without forcing. The tacit understanding could be found which was interesting and power saving. However there was a not that welcomed thing always happened, which was the inspection system of TV system in China. Usually, producers due to some hard-explained reason here killed our great ideas. As we were a team of young, the system thinking was not carried out very well. While these shortages cannot be seen through the screen. We had to have many meeting for one shooting. Trying our best to forecast what will happen. Perhaps due to the emergencies always appear for TV making, we had to deal with some situation we had not thought before.
The following table analyzes KWL model of my previous job.
What I already know? | What I want to know? | What I have learnt? |
Some basic filming knowledge. Not very skilled filming skills. | Professional filming skills How to coordinate scenes How to lead the whole team to work smoothly | Professional filming skills Working with others better. Dealing with some emergencies. …… |
Above all, this is a long story; the place I have ever worked can be called a not bad learning organization.
The survey
Survey Results:
Colleague | Leadership that reinforces learning | Learning Process composite | Learning environment composite | Experimentation | Information collection | Analysis |
Me | 65 | 85 | 84 | 75 | 93 | 86 |
A | 63 | 78 | 69 | 86 | 86 | 71 |
B | 75 | 82 | 69 | 93 | 89 | 74 |
Average | 67 | 81 | 74 | 84 | 89 | 77 |
Education and training | Information transfer | Psychological safety | Appreciation of differences | Openness to new ideas | Time for reflection | |
Me | 79 | 93 | 86 | 86 | 100 | 66 |
A | 76 | 71 | 60 | 61 | 93 | 63 |
B | 76 | 82 | 71 | 71 | 82 | 54 |
Average | 77 | 82 | 72 | 72 | 91 | 61 |
Analysis
5 items reach top quartile among 12, while 3 of them only get second quartile. There are 4 elements out of 5 top ones belong to the concrete learning process and practices.
Good learning items:
From the table above, the RED item are the ones who jump to the top category. As 4 items are in concrete learning process and practice. It reflects the organization is a open information communication group. And in practice, the TV team does share information quite often due to the following potential reasons. People who are in this field especially entertainment area are full of passion and must have creative minds. Their characters are open and brave. Working with them, I could acquire many information all the time, never feel bored.
Experimentation:
The organization experiments with new ways of working frequently. When some good ideas come up, after the meeting approve, we will do the pre-test. If something that come raise our audience rating, we will embedded it into the programme. The test is carried out in a professional method. The leaders are encourage and stimulate us to explore new ideas.
Analysis:
When we have meeting, it engages in productive conflict and debate during discussion seeking dissenting viewing.
Information collection and transfer:
In order to have a scientific assessment, the organization not only collect information inside, as well as outside like experts, audience, advertisement customers, etc. The data is public. When we in a low point, the leaders will not just hide it, they let everyone knows in order to stimulate us.
Learning process composite:
Organizational learning is strongly influenced by leadership. I cannot totally agree this organization is a well-processed learning environment. When I worked as a intern, I did learn lots of professional and practical things gradually.
What should be improved?
Phycological safety
Although we are brave to express our ideas, while everyone in this organization is over stressed. For me, I always express my views, but compare with the other two colleagues, perhaps not everyone in this group like me. Especially some senior staff, they might hide their views due to different reasons.
Systematic training
In this organization, the leader level staff always has chance to go outside and open horizon. While these opportunities are not for everyone. Some staff seldom learns more things according to my observation. The huge imbalance in this organization might create a gap gradually--a knowledge one. The working staff is not one who receives new things for the first hand, they have to listen to leaders’ order. While leaders seldom participant the recording process all the time. The team should create a systematic training plan for all, not just for the few.
Summary
Organizations need to learn more than ever as they confront mounting forces. Although still some shortages exist in the organization in learning environment prospect, it is not a bad one. Strengthen staff is also strengthen the organization.
Attachments:
Fay:
Colleague A:
Colleague B:
Situation now:
The programme has already been run for over 10 years. The format of it is modified by many other programme in mainland. How to raise audience rating? As a learning environment, it still needs long way to go. The improvement of using new 3-D technology is indeed needed.
The main format of the show does not change too much. While some issues appear with the rapid entertainment shows rising.
1. The format of the programme is midified by other programmes in a great scale in the past few years. Audiences are kind of tired of this format. How to survival?
2. As I have already analysis the learning environment of the organization. Combining with my own experience, the training imbalance between leaders and working staff make a gap, which blocks the understanding of knowledge. This is, the leaders always receive the new horizon and knowledge, then they transfer it to the working staff, in this process, some points are missed.
3. Combining with new technology. As we know, many shows use new technology like interactive camera, SMS participation to attract audience. This programme also needs this.
Search for driving forces
From audience: the audience rating
From Sponsors: the stress of advertising
From TV leaders: the promotion
Find uncertainties:
1. If the format of this programme, will audiences accept it?
2. Will there be enough budgets for working staff to receive frequent training and alternative with new technology?
Scenarios and Plan
Scenarios | How to | Will |
1. Change the format | Collecting advices from the public, change the group of hosts Bring more interactive games | Raising audience rating Attract new audience and keep loyalty ones Attract more sponsors |
2. All staff training | More budgets for training and let everyone in the team get involved | Increase the working effectiveness Reduce “gap” |
3. New technology integrated | Change form recording to live Multiple connections with outside-studio audience | Raising audience rating Attract new audience and keep loyalty ones Attract more sponsors |
Discussion
Scenario planning involves identifying factors that could drive change in a system, and then systematically varying those factors in narrative storylines about the future development of that system (Fahey & Randall, 1998; Peterson, Cumming, & Carpenter, 2003). Scenarios help decision-makers cope with uncertainty by providing a framework from which to begin a discussion of uncertain and nonlinear ecological dynamics and potential futures (Peterson, Cumming et al., 2003; Wollenberg, Edmunds, & Buck, 2000).
Conclusion
The research outcomes of this organization are valuable, especially the scenario planning tips for it. From the nature of this media organization, it reflects some common points in the related organizations. For illustrate, the assessment system is well developed. However, as far as I know, the communication channel and ideas sharing various in different groups in this area, it is based on the attitude of leaders and cultures of the organization largely. I am lucky to have a good communication environment.
References:
Fahey, L., & Randall, R. M. (Eds.). (1998). Learning from the future: Competitive foresight scenar- ios. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ennett, E. M., Carpenter, S. R., Peterson, G. D., Cumming, G. S., Zurek, M., & Pingali, P. (2003). Why global scenarios need ecology. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 1(6), 322–329.
Scenario Planning for Wildlife Management: A Case Study of the National Elk Refuge, Jackson, Wyoming MARK W. NEFF Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
David A,Garvin, Amy C Is your a learning organization? March 2008 Harvard Business Review
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