Competing for rating with others ITV’s
The BBC have to pick one of two choices lose the majority of there audiences like the other public service broadcasters worldwide or to get in competitive with more than 200 channels the confuse comes from being public service or to competitor for rating , the BBC should choice which one they want to be taking in consideration the benefits & the lose in each on. Now, I will talk about the advantages of being competing for rating with other ITV’s:
Save its market place 1-
25 years ago the government forced the BBC to develop them selves other wise they lose both charter & license fee. BBC can save its market place by compete for ratings with other channels than being a public service broadcaster by rating other channels BBC can encourage the government to increase their shares in BBC
2-New attractive and distinctive programs:
Exploiting the opportunities created by new technology in case to be in the race of ranking in the public service broadcasting. BBC create new digital channels with' 4' free-to-air and' 5' commercial channels within public service, to compete either nationally or globally. They also my have shapes like the sponsorships of big games like footballs & so on , to able them to compete with other commercial channels than being a public service and surviving in the market.
Now I will talk about the disadvantages of being competing for rating with other ITV’s:
1-The dumping down:
To fill the gab of the schedule BBC have Dropped the high-quality & quantity programmers as ITV, with panel games and doctor programmers, BBC were being accused of dumping down and chasing ratings, public service broadcasting mean to produce public programmers that others don’t, As a result BBC company had stopped producing a good-quality programmers. Like it was in the old days.
2- Increase the costs and money:
Investment in digital channels and to keep up with rapidly increasing prices for talent and sporting rights Competing with others ITV means spending more money necessary for that investment. In 1990 ITV won the premiership highlights for $61m in the FA cup, a move that cost the BBC its match of the Day programme and, according to Dyke, made no economic sense.
The advantage of being a global organization
For the last choice, BBC has to decide whether to stay national and UK provider or to go out to the global arena and compete globally. And this is the last dilemma that they face. Now, I will talk about the advantages of being a global company:
1- More expansion and being big brand name:
License fee funding mechanism itself encourages organization to compete for audiences. BBC developed cultivating a worldwide respect for both quality of its programmers and its independent, real reporting through the World Service editorially and managerially independent of the government and operates under the terms of the BBC's Royal Charter. "I think it is the appropriate way for us to expand and it offers us the prospect of becoming the world's leading broadcaster on television and online over ten years' (John Birt, 1998).
2- Increase the revenues of BBC:
British governments always encouraged the expansion of the BBC's commercial activities to increase the income since 1980. Under the direction of John Birt, the expansion programmers took off with new channels (BBC choice, BBC knowledge & so on ..) and alliances (the agreement with Discovery) that encouraged the corporation's expansion into new markets, heavy investment in new technologies – particularly digital and online- diminished the available funds for existing analogue service
Now I will talk about the disadvantages of being a global company:
High cost, talent and the possibility of the failing: 1-
Being global player sure need huge efforts from the BBC & big amount of money. The BBC it self may not be able to have the resources to use them in order to success in a global competitive world. Competition with other channels has increase BBC demand for talent and driven up the cost of content production it seems that they go to the global world without clear strategy. They depended on the national success to success globally. But if they cannot manage to reach their goal they could even loose the national reputation
2- Uncertainty and Loosing of UK identity
BBC lost part of its pre-loyal audiences because the global policy it adopted in order to be a global broadcaster decreasing the size and removing itself from the local arena to global one. In the digital world of multimedia choice, pressure on the BBC is greater than before to produce different programmers that guarantee something for everyone even if it is low in quality because the quantity is more important than the quality. A big part of these programmers are produced for the global audience & far away from the British tastes. People start to look at the BBC as a commercial company not public service broadcaster.
Conclusion
As I have showed in the beginning, the BBC carries a weight of history which can provide it the authority, power, influences and reduce its weakness, unlike any other broadcasting organization in the world, but sure this will need from BBC to make its moves slowly, steadily and not to make a big mistake.
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Q2. Based on the economic, organizational, socio-political and cultural features surrounding the BBC which are outlined in the Case study, what is your advice to the top- level management of the BBC on the process of decision making which they should adopt in order to avoid making flawed decisions with respect to their response to the three strategic dilemmas?
One of the most important operations in the organization is the decision making processes. Managers should know the structure of the decision making process to avoid any problems could show and they should learned from the past problems in taking decision in the future. Decision making can be defining as process or action that means recognizing and defining the nature of a decision situation identify alternatives, choosing the best one and putting it into practice.
BBC needs to do many things to lead the organization for more success. They need to follow the decision making processes step by step. Especially after the three dilemmas that the British government obliged it to follow. That’s what I will mention below. Then I will give them my advice in order to survive in these rapid changes in the new technology world. I will mention the actual process of organizational decision making which include the following steps which I think if the Top-management of the BBC follows it they will get a stable and endless successful:
Organizational Goals
This theory means that the managers of the BBC have to put in their minds how the goals of the organization arise, how these goals may changes over the time, how the organization could achieve this goals on the new government rules light. The BBC will find it self in front of two different sets of variables. First one is: set variables influences the divisions of the goals (which involves three sub variables: the organization collation, the organization visions of labor and the last sub variable is the definition of problems). Second one is Set variables influences the aspiration-level
on any particular goal dimension; which have a sub variable too: the organization past goal, , the organizations past performance and the past performance of other ‘comparable’ organization.
Organizational Expectations
Expectations are seen as the result of drawing inferences from available information. Expectations are by no means independent of hopes, wishes, and the internal bargaining needs of subunits in the organization. Variables that affect either the process of drawing inferences or the process by which information is made available to the organization (e.g. linear extrapolation, and the effect of hope on expectations).
Organizational Choice
A theory of organizational choice needs to characterize the process by which the alternatives available to the organization are ordered and selected. Organizational decisions depend on information estimates and expectations that ordinarily differ appreciably from reality. Choice takes place in response or influence
- those that the definition of a problem within the organization
- those that influence the standard decision rules
- Those that affect the order of consideration of alternatives.
The British government in 1990 takes an act that addressed the issue of cross-media ownership by capping the amount of ownership a newspaper company could hold in a television or radio company to 20 percent. Television companies couldn't hold more than to 20 percent share in another television company. Which mean that the BBC have to produce about 20 percent of its programs outsourcing, which mean again that it face restructure management, and problems in the creative employees because they used to be viable and creative in their jobs but after this new rules every things is changes in the organization. Also they have to be a global company because the government recognizes the important role that the BBC plays in the social and cultural life. The government wants the BBC become an international company because the new technology that any country or government want to fit it. Also the completive markets needs the BBC to changes many thing to catch it.
So an origination such the BBC had been seen by many as organization with kind of degree of independence from the state and its economy. They addressed the public as citizens rather than just consumers and allowed many different social groups to communicate with each other.
In the 1950’s Britain was reluctant to allow commercial television, in more recent times and perhaps as a result of the new technology requirement and it could account as a great source of funds.
The British Governments think that they have the right and some would say public duty to ban a particular programme or type of programme if they believe it breeches national security or is offensive to the public at large or even their particular brand of politics.
The environment that surrounding the BBC could be categorized into external and internal environment. This environment include economical, organizational, socio-political and cultural environment that the BBC have to deal with each one of them separately.
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Q3. How do the policies of governments (individually and or collectively) constraint the ability of the BBC to respond to these three strategic dilemmas?
The BBC faced three dilemmas, which they are
Dilemma 1: programme producer V.S. programme commissioner
Dilemma 2: competitor for rating with ITV channels V.S. public service provider
Dilemma 3: Global organization v. UK provider
These three dilemmas change many things in the BBC organization. I will mention these changes and how they response to it, and the role of government policy in facility and limitation effect on response. Then I will talk about the BBC as a combination of national, supra-national and international organization.
Dilemma 1: programme producer V.S. programme commissioner
The BBC at the beginning was a public service organization with a bureaucratic. It was very successful organization from all the sides. It had have a great values about work, ethical, style of working, their corporation even in their dealing with their employees they have a strong relationship depending on trust between them. The organization offered a great environment for its employees to work smoothly. also the employees were have a lifelong career, which consider as strong features that makes them works in comfortable minds about their futures.
But suddenly the government in the 1980 changes everything in that organization. The government obliged the BBC to change the way that it was dealing with employees to another one, which consider as uncertainty problem showed from no where. The government change the systemic to sections system, which is consider at that time as a weaknesses for the organization.
After these changes the BBC find it self have to adopt politics which makes the BBC work to be more accountable to market forces. After these restructure from the government the BBC have again to cancel many great deals with there employees. The employees founded themselves in a completive environment, or we can say that they will not feel any security in their jobs again. The era of freedom and creative works is finished. Now they have to be another people, they should have another personality to deal with this new situation. These new political rules have great effects on the BBC, first like the rate that the BBC has to outsourcing its productions. Which will effects the production processes and effects the producers them selves because they have to be more viability and they should be aware of any new ideas. Second the relationships between the functions in the organization itself become complex, because its changes to market relations process or we can say system. Finally the new rules of production gives the government more control on the BBC programme and more control on the technique and managing processes. So we can say that the BBC faced problems in this dilemma which limited their creative work.
Dilemma 2: competitor for rating with ITV channels V.S. public service provider
The BBC was the first and the biggest media company in UK or we can say worldwide. It was working on some strategy before the government imposition the new rules. Actually they were not recognizing that rules but was working without any problems. So, we can say that the responses were existing already. But after they recognized the new rules they knew that they have to change many things like their role in the market. And after they were focused on the football as the greater commercial provider. In 1990 they start changes that to focus on increased their new channels and they recognize that they have to enter the competitive in the media industry more than being a public service. So we can say that they responses to the government rules without reorganization but after they recognize that they follow the new rules under new strategies. Writers Marks and Gran, in their joint MacTaggart speech in 1997, argued that the BBC, in an effort to gain audiences, had adopted the same mass-market popular programming as ITV, with soap operas, panel games and doctor and detective dramas forming the bulk of the schedule.
Dilemma 3: Global organization v. UK provider
If we think about the BBC as national, supra-national or international govt. or combination of all three. We will find that it is a combination because at the first it was national then it becomes a supra-national and after the new technology emergences like the Tivo and EPG and after the new market and other competitive channels showed in UK. They recognize that they have to a global organization. "in the digital world of multichannel choice, the need for the BBC will be greater, not less. Real choice means genuine programme diversity that guarantees something for everyone. That is what the BBC exists to deliver. We will sustain the services that audiences know and trust, but we will also launch new ones and so continue to extend choice. As a public service broadcaster, funded by a universal licence fee, the BBC has a responsibility to make its services available on every television delivery system that licence payers will use-cable, satellite and terrestrial". (Birt I BBC Online, 1998). So, we can see that the BBC responded to the requirements of both the market and government regulation.
So the BBC responded to all the three dilemmas in one way or another, whatever they recognize that or not. They do, even sometimes that this new strategy eliminated their creative work. "It can be argued that the BBC's success as a national broadcaster- along with the other main UK broadcasters- is hampering its efforts to exploit its programmes on the world market".
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