Session:         Semester 1, 2000/2001       4 Academic Units

Lecturers and Tutors:
Dr Arthur Chang                 Dr Marc Edge  
Room: #02-07                       Room:  #02-42
Tel. No.: 790-5773               Tel. No.: 790-5810
Email: tljchang@ntu.edu.sg     Email: tmarc@ntu.edu.sg
 
Lecture Times:     Tuesdays      11 am – 12:30 pm, CS LT 1
                              Thursdays     12 pm – 1:30 pm, CS LT 1
Tutorial Times:    Tuesdays        1 pm – 2 pm, CS TR 4
                              Tuesdays        2 pm – 3 pm, CS TR 4
                              Thursday       1:30 pm – 2:30 pm, CS TR 4
 

Aims:

This course is designed to introduce the concepts in the management of media companies.  It is not intended to empower you to leave with the ability to move into a media management position immediately.  Rather, this course should make you more aware of the issues a manager of a media company faces and how they affect the achievement of the company's goals and the people who work in the company.  The course introduces management problem-solving techniques and simulated practice through the case study method. Special attention will be given to the impact of technological changes in modern media.
 
 

Assignments:

I. Major project

To help students better connect the management issues in a practical sense, each student will be assigned to team up with two other students to form a group designed to discover a real-management case found at a local media company. The case should be written up according to the following guidelines:

1). Each case should have a focus addressing problems relating to any of the major issues covered at lectures;

2). The case should be written up based on first-hand information given directly by sources at a local media company;

3). In each case, the team should clearly provide enough background information so that readers can make sense of the problems of the company investigated;

4). Before the end of the third week, each team should email its proposal to Dr. Chang for approval before embarking the investigation on the media case.

At the end of the eighth week, each team should submit an interim report of no more than three pages detailing the progress of their investigation. At the end of the course, each group should be ready to present their case and be ready to offer possible solutions to the problems facing the company.

At the end of the term, each team is to submit a detailed, written report (no minimum length; maximum length five pages) of the case. At the last two weeks of the tutorials, each team will also present their case to their classmates. In addition to the written team report, each team member should submit a one-page report critiquing the usefulness of such an approach to learning about media management (i.e., evaluation of the method, recommendation for changes, etc.)

All reports should be double-spaced and typed in 12-point, Times-New Roman font.

This final report of group project is due on October 4 Thursday at 5 pm.

II. Tutorial Presentation

Each team will be assigned a management case found in the text book (i.e., Media Management: A Casebook Approach) and present the case in one of the tutorial period. The presentation should be around 20 minutes to brief the class about the general backgrounds of the case, the problems faced by the management in the case, and possible solutions.

Before the presentation, the team should give classmates a detailed, single-page summary/outline to prepare them for presentations. After the presentation, the team should be ready to answer questions from classmates during the next 10 minutes of class discussion. The purpose of this exercise to train students with analytical skills in assessing problems, evaluating tradeoffs between alternative solutions, and arriving a final decision. The exercise will also offer students the opportunities to develop leadership abilities in team settings.

Assessment:
50 percent Final Exam,
50 percent Continual Assessment.

Special Note:
All pagers, handphones and devices that emit noises that irritate and thereby impede the pedagogical process are to be turned off or put in silent mode. Violators will be remembered.
 
Basic Texts:
Stephen Lacy, Ardyth B. Sohn and N. J. Mahwah. 1999. Media Management: A Casebook Approach. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum
                Associates. Red-spotted P96.M34M489 (Note: Cases cited in the tutorials refer to cases in this book.)

Mehra, Achal. (ed.) 1988. Newspaper Management in the New Multimedia Age. Singapore: AMIC. Red-spotted PN4734.N558
 

Supplementary Texts:
Lavine, John M. and Daniel B. Wackman. 1988. Managing Media Organizations. White Plains, N.Y.: Longman. Red-spotted P96.M34L412

Pringle, P.T. 1991. Electronic Media Management. USA: Focal Press Red-spotted HE8689.6P957

Readings and Tutorials
 

1. Introduction to the Course                                                             Week of July 9

No Tutorial for First Week

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2. Decision Making & Structure of Media Organizations                Week of July 16
Lacy’s, pp. 1-37; Hammon, John S., Ralph L. Keeney and Howard Raiffa. 1998.
The Hidden Traps in Decisiong Making. Harvard Business Review, September-October. 47-58.

Tutorial: Group project discussion
Organizing groups, discuss group project ideas.

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3. Issues in Print Media                                                                      Week of July 23
Readings to follow.
Guest speaker

Tutorial: Decision making
Discuss cases in Chap. 1 of Lacy’s textbook.

 
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4. Issues in Broadcasting                                                                      Week of July 30
Readings to follow.
Guest speaker

Tutorial: Structure of media organization
Group presents cases in Chap. 2 of Lacy’s textbook.

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5. Marketing and Research                                                                  Week of August 6
Readings to follow.

Tutorial: Group project follow-up
Discuss progress of group projects

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6. Budgeting                                                                                            Week of August 13
Readings to follow.

Tutorial: Marketing and research
Group presents cases in Chap. 8 of Lacy’s textbook.

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7. Web Management                                                                               Week of August 20
Readings to follow.

Tutorial: Marketing and research
Teams present cases in Chap. 8 of Lacy’s textbook.

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8. Motivation and Personnel                                                                  Week of August 27
Lavine, Chap. 8

Tutorial: Team Presentation (Budgeting)
Teams present cases in Chap. 9 of Lacy’s textbook.

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9. One-week break                                                                                  Week of September 3

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10. Leadership                                                                                           Week of September 10
Readings to follow

Tutorial: Motivation and personnel
Teams present cases in Chap. 4 of Lacy’s textbook.

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11. Planning                                                                                                 Week of September 17
Readings to follow

Tutorial: Team Presentation (Leadership)
Teams present cases in Chap. 3 of Lacy’s textbook.

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12. New Technologies And Management                                                Week of September 24
New and future uses of technology in production.
Mehra, Chaps. 6, 7; Lacy, Chap. 10.

Tutorial: Team Presentation of Final Project

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13. Review                                                                                                 Week of October 1

Tutorial: Team Presentation of Final Project

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