Subject category:
Human Resource Management / Organisational Behaviour
Published by:
Babson College
Version: 4 April 2001
Length: 13 pages
Data source: Field research
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Abstract
This is the second of a two-case series (BAB039 and BAB040). Changing the operation of a major newspaper is harder than steering a big ship. It can take months of management planning and co-ordination with thousands of employees to alter a newspaper's course. That was the challenge facing Anne Eisenmenger, an assistant business editor at The Boston Globe. In 1997, she landed a temporary assignment in the paper's strategic planning department to help move the Globe's home delivery deadline up from 7am to 6am. The theory was that the extra hour could give readers more valuable time to spend with the paper. More time meant more sales and fewer lost subscribers. The reasons were clear. The only question was how. In the months that followed, Anne was to lead a team in a search for ways to squeeze that one precious hour out of a packed daily cycle of news, production, distribution and delivery. Like any major daily, The Globe was a mix of amazing efficiencies and hide-bound traditions built up over decades. She would find that some things could be changed, while others could not. But in working toward the solution, Anne would also have to find ways of organising, co-operating and motivating. On a ship, you could just give the order. But on a newspaper, you needed consensus among the many captains.
About
Abstract
This is the second of a two-case series (BAB039 and BAB040). Changing the operation of a major newspaper is harder than steering a big ship. It can take months of management planning and co-ordination with thousands of employees to alter a newspaper's course. That was the challenge facing Anne Eisenmenger, an assistant business editor at The Boston Globe. In 1997, she landed a temporary assignment in the paper's strategic planning department to help move the Globe's home delivery deadline up from 7am to 6am. The theory was that the extra hour could give readers more valuable time to spend with the paper. More time meant more sales and fewer lost subscribers. The reasons were clear. The only question was how. In the months that followed, Anne was to lead a team in a search for ways to squeeze that one precious hour out of a packed daily cycle of news, production, distribution and delivery. Like any major daily, The Globe was a mix of amazing efficiencies and hide-bound traditions built up over decades. She would find that some things could be changed, while others could not. But in working toward the solution, Anne would also have to find ways of organising, co-operating and motivating. On a ship, you could just give the order. But on a newspaper, you needed consensus among the many captains.