By Abiola Ayankunbi
Management is the core of all operations in any organization because it is very central to all activities. Management is therefore a technical and social process which utilizes human and materials resources that influences human behaviour within the framework of socio-politico-economic environment and facilitate changes to achieve stated goal and objectives. It is also a relational and bilateral taking place between superiors and subordinates, organization and society, management and union.
Management exists to realize fundamental results for the various stakeholders like publishers, board of directors, management, staff, agents, vendors, advertisers, suppliers, contractors and the reading public. The major objective of the management is to assure organizational growth, innovation, creativity, development survival, and continuity of the company. The alternate to effective management is managerial decadence; this is not too good.
The first level classification function around which one can organize the principles and practices of management are planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. This classification transcends semantics and does not identify coordination or representing as a separate managerial functions. Coordinating is the essence and purpose of management.
Planning is the basic function of an Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief in which he decides in advance what he will do to attain a goal. It is a decision making process of a special kind, its essence is futurity. It is an intellectual process in which creative thinking and imagination are essential in deciding in advance what is to be done in the nearest future.
It is a deliberate process of fixing targets, setting up of policies and standard operating procedures and the development of work schedules by a determinate authority for the organization as a whole as well as for its various departments and environment with the aim of achieving specified goals and objectives within a specified period of time. The various levels of planning are strategic planning (long – term), tactical planning (short – term) and contingency planning which takes into account possible occurrences.
Organizing is the process of dividing the work into convenient tasks or duties; of grouping such duties in form of posts, of delegating authority to each post and of appointing qualified to be responsible that the work is carried out as planned.
Staffing is an integrated set of functions that are designed to attract, retain, and motivate a competent employee to higher of results. It includes recruitment, selection, placement, training & development, job & staff evaluation, remuneration, transfers, integration and separation.
Directing means leading or influencing. This involves influencing workers so that they strive willingly and enthusiastically to accomplish organization goals and objectives.
Controlling is the process by which an organization periodically takes its bearing. It measures progress, compares it with plan and takes corrective action.
In those days, newspapers were majorly set up for political reasons and principally to influence those in power. Then, the newspapers commanded enormous power and influence. Success of those newspapers as a going concern led to copy and space patronages. This eventually acted as insurance for the continued independence and professionalism of the business.
Not minding that most of the pre independence newspapers had political affiliations and concentrated more on political writings, they still managed to be objective in their reports to a very reasonable extent. The media firms were making money, first from copy sales because more copies were sold. The readers/buyers were always looking forward to the next day edition. The media made money from copy sales because they were seen to be at the forefront of gaining independence and this earned them sympathy patronage. What was the population of Nigeria when Daily Times print run was in excess of one million copes per day? Thereafter, the much needed advertising revenue started coming in.
Unfortunately, the trend has not changed significantly. Journalists have always assumed the roles of Managing Directors/Editors-in-Chief in the media industry, even without prerequisite knowledge. Once one’s professionalism in journalism is established, training in management principles should be next thing. This is however lacking in the industry presently and this has brought some of the firms to the sorry state.
Credence was laid to the above going by the statement made by Nosa Igiebor, founding member of the defunct Tell magazine on April 29, 2013. The statement was in the book titled: Nigerian Media Leaders: Voices Beyond the newsroom volume two, when he said that ‘The media can be profitable if: it is properly funded; you have clear business plans or models; you bring in seasoned managers to run it as a business. The mistake that most media companies in Nigeria is that professional journalists try to run the media companies; they simply do not have the orientation or inclination to be competent managers of men and resources. They can be brilliant journalists but that does not translate into competence in business management. No media house can survive if you do not have a clear business plan and an effective and competent executive management in place. The absence of these two is what is killing the industry, which, of course, is affecting the standard of professionalism in journalism today’.
National University Commission came up with the unbundling of mass communication as a way of repositioning and bridge the gap between town and gown in consonance with studies and learning of media related courses globally. Mass communication was broken down into seven courses namely: Public Relations, Media Studies, Journalism and Media studies, Advertising, Broadcasting, Films and Multimedia Studies, Development Communication Studies and Information and Media Studies. This was planned to take effect from September 2021 but nothing tangible has been done and the perceived beneficiary (media industry) is yet to react.
Planning and control are inseparable, they are the siamese twins of management. Unplanned action cannot be controlled, for control involves keeping activities on course by correcting deviations from plans.
What is obvious is that there is a deficit of preparation for management in newspapering in Nigeria; business training to understand the opportunities in the market is lacking. Specifically, there is no preparatory and consistent training to prepare one for leadership and management roles and this is breeding systemic crisis. Leadership training is practically absent. Watching the man who has been doing it and then it becomes a kind of tradition is what is happening presently. Things may be normal without any conscious efforts; as some present days’ Managing Directors are just satisfied with the fame and popularity.
Without disparaging anyone, some of today’s Editors and tomorrow’s Managing Directors seem not matured enough before assumption of office as Managing Directors. An MD/E-i-C’s job is not a writing job but a leadership one. It is how to manage men and resources. Possession of human capacity perspective on how to manage institutions is of utmost importance coupled with knowledge development and training. People of integrity who are sufficiently public spirited enough must always be media companies’ Managing Directors.
Entrepreneurial skills in marketing, accounting, personnel and production management should be adequately acquired by newspapers’ Managing Directors/Editors-in-Chief. Where MDs already possess technical capability, they must be exposed to courses on management development and organizational behaviour. The ways, approaches, strategies, policies, incentives, etc for achieving all these depend on the prevailing situation on the one hand and are also equifinal on the other hand.
The propensity of any media firms is principally on education, enlightenment, character, innovation and creativity. Nothing developmentally worthwhile may not be achieved if the competence of Managing Directors are not developed, enhanced or motivated both technically and managerially.
There are various agencies by which competence can be developed; the agencies are Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), the Centre for Management Development (CMD) and the Nigeria Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos Plateau state. Lagos Business School and School of Media and Communication have joined the list. Many developmental courses are many in overseas besides the online ones.
I will conclude this piece by quoting the answer of Ademola Osinubi, The Punch MD/E-i-C (1992 – 2022) to the question of what would be achieved if more journalists learned to be good leaders and business managers? He replied: ‘We would run into trouble if we don’t learn to combine roles. If I didn’t have the opportunity of learning management skills from some other people, for example, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, our former chairman, I probably would think that the business of newspaper begins and ends with writing. It goes beyond that. If the organization must survive, you must know how to handle all of your business activities. What is the goal of any business? You can only remain in business if you can pay bills. Being able to do that goes beyond journalism skills, you need management skills also’.
Abiola Ayankunbi is MD/CEO at AbingMO3 Marketing Management Consultancy
0802 305 1315
abiolaayankunbi@yahoo.com
