SDME Chapter 11: Leadership and Organizational Structure

Leaders of all news organizations – whether start-up or legacy – must motivate others to set out on uncharted seas. This means they must be mindful of both the prevailing culture and the organizational structure of the company. Faced with a disruptive threat, organizations need to unlearn behaviors, values and skills before new ones can be learned. The team or working group is the most basic organizational unit in any endeavor. The management and development of high-performance teams requires a mix of skills, perspectives, and experiences. Founders of start-ups, as well as executives in established news organizations, must be both managers and leaders. Mangers plan, measure and evaluate current performance. Leadership is about the future. Leaders of successful digital organization tend to be innovative, bold in their vision socially confidant and optimistic, but also realistic about the future. Here are the questions you’ll consider in this chapter

• • What is organizational culture and why is it so important?
  • What types of structures and cultures exist in organizations?
  • What types of organizational structure and leadership are needed in the Media 2.0 environment?
  • What is the role of teams in this new environment?
  • What qualities make for successful leaders?