Marko,
Here are my two cents on this idea (I am compelled to answer because I think
you have a great idea, and because your first name is one letter short of my
last ; )
While I agree with Roxanne that "The Apprentice" undoubtedly teaches poor
management skills, the human drama is, for better or worse, what people want
to watch, and so I think keeping this component will be vital for the success
of a show like this. And, I think that you can leverage the "drama" as the
basis for teaching OB and management ideas. I have often watched TV shows,
thinking to myself that these would be great case studies for OB and
management. A "reality" showed which aired a while back was called "The
Restaurant," and featured an entrepreneur/chef trying to start his own
restaurant, and the challenges he faced with the venture capital people as
well as the issues of hiring the right folks, and managing a team in a very
high stress environment. Another show still on is "The Agency," which follows
the everyday events in a modeling agency, the issues that the staff have in
working together, etc. These are all very entertaining AND, if viewed with
the right eyes, are a cornucopia of fodder for OB, management and leadership.
So, I could easily envision a show like this - following the lives of a
growing (or struggling) firm, and a team of outsiders following them to
address the OB and management issues and make recommended changes. I think
this approach would fit in very well with the current reality-TV trend and
have more mass appeal than a game show approach. It would also provide for a
longitudinal / narrative scope in addressing issues if the same firm was
followed for a season. You would also not have to keep finding new
businesses, just a couple of problem-rich ones at the start. If you had two
firms and two teams, each one could be judged at the end of the season on
some objective basis, such as sales, or some balanced scorecard / measurable
result. The team with the most improvement wins (as does the firm!).
Hope it goes well, let us know when we can watch the debut on You Tube!
Frank Markow, Ph.D.
Life Pacific College
1100 Covina Blvd.
San Dimas, CA. 91737
fmarkow@lifepacific.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv [mailto:
OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU]
On Behalf Of Zolin, Roxanne (CIV)
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2007 4:39 PM
To:
OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
Subject: Re: Management case studies for TV-show
Dear Marko,
Of course I'm biased, but this sounds like an excellent idea!
I think that the cases you choose should be based upon how you want to
balance your objectives of entertainment and education.
I see "The Apprentice" as being highly biased towards the entertainment
objective. The format of the show emphasis the competition in the workplace
and the drama in the employer/employee relationship, as exampled by their
catch phrase "You're fired". While this may contribute to their high
ratings, I wonder what impact it has had on business culture and social norms
in the workplace.
Since your program has a greater emphasis on education, you might look at the
demographics of the businesses in Estonia to determine the industries and
business size. For example, I suggest you draw at least half of your
examples from typical small businesses because there are more small
businesses than large businesses. I imagine you would also sample from the
various business functions of marketing, finance, production etc. You might
also focus on the typical issues of a post-communist industry. You might
also consider using some new business startup cases. I would also caution
against equating small business with easier case. Many small business
problems are very challenging.
One reason I am so excited by your concept is that I am currently studying
the grassroots development of businesses following natural disasters and
military action. Although TV is not always available in these contexts,
there may be some way to use programs like yours. If you, or others know if
any successful techniques of business development during reconstruction, I
would love to hear about them.
Best wishes with your project !
Warm regards,
Roxanne
*******************************************
Dr. Roxanne Zolin
Assistant Professor of
Management and Enterprise Development
Graduate School of Business and Public Policy Naval Postgraduate School,
555 Dyer Rd, Ingersoll Hall #301
Monterey, CA 93943
Mobile: (831) 869 1700
*******************************************
________________________________
From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv on behalf of Marko Rillo
Sent: Sat 5/19/2007 4:09 AM
To:
OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
Subject: Management case studies for TV-show
* Apologies for cross-postings *
Dear colleagues,
The following might sound interesting to some - I would gladly like to hear
your comments or ideas. Perhaps some of you already know good examples to
follow.
Our faculty is about to launch with Estonian National Television a weekly TV
game on solving management case studies. Our idea is to bring executive
education out of the classroom in an attractive manner.
In each game two teams of 3 middle managers compete in a reality-TV like
setting. In every show the selected teams go to a different company to
address a managerial problem to demonstrate their skills of applying
managerial tools and techniques. The panel of judges consists of: the
executive of the case organisation, a management professor and a management
consultant. Jury decides which team was better to allow them progress to the
next game. The winning team will face a new team of middle managers in the
next show. The team that lost will be eliminated. Winning team will be
ultimately selected in the final challenge among the two teams who won the
most challenges during preceding 15 weeks.
TV Format of Case Studies? I have authored number of management case studies
for the classroom use, but this experience is new. The TV format is different
for two main reasons:
1. They must be short and precise - the case study should be presented
within 1-2 minutes.
2. Their solving should require more than mere sitting-around-the
table and discussing (the usual MBA setting is more appropriate for a radio
show). The competing teams need to move around in the company, talk with
people and observe their work before they come to their solutions - it must
be appealing on the TV screen.
The format needs to be attractive to wider TV audience, but it should avoid
being "yellow" like
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apprentice . Our
intention is to popularise management education - to make managers in the
entire country think more about applying better tools and techniques and
educating themselves further. For this reason the 16 shows should start with
simpler case studies and gradually progress towards more complex challenges
to serve the educational function well.
We are very excited about this - we have recorded the pilot show already,
which has been approved. During the summer we will start the production to
hit the screens in September.
What do you think of this idea - what is good, what could be improved? Can I
ask you to brainstorm - which cases would you recommend?
Marko Rillo
-----
Chair of Organisation and Management
Tallinn University of Technology
E-mail:
marko(a)rillo.ee
Phone:
+3725040260 (Estonia)
Homepage:
www.rillo.ee