Case Name :      Radio Station WEAA: Leading in A Challenging Situation

Authors :           Mary K. Foster

Source :             North American Case Research Association (NACRA)

Case ID :            NA0038

Discipline :        Organizational Behavior

Case Length :    10 pages

Solution sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

Corin Fiske, the recently hired Director of News and Public Affairs at WEAA a public radio station licensed and owned by Morgan State University (MSU) in Baltimore, Maryland was facing some urgent issues and had concerns about the level of support and motivation among her staff for her and for the station’s goals. For many years educators at the University had run the station as an educational resource for students and as a community service for the city. Over the past five years, the station had suffered from turnover in key positions (e.g., four General Managers in four years, Membership Director position open for over a year). The station had not had a fund raising drive in at least two years and had an operating loss of about $200,000 per year in recent years. A somewhat laissez-faire approach to management had been used at the station. Fiske had been recruited to help the station grow and achieve its potential. She was an experienced TV reporter and radio show host. She had an entrepreneurial spirit and viewed herself as a change agent. She had inherited a large staff of 30 direct reports, 29 were volunteers, one was paid, many had been at the station a long time (two to ten years). Most of the volunteers had no journalism or broadcast experience, other than their work at the station. The quality of the station’s news and talk show programming had suffered from lack of knowledge of public radio broadcast standards and from lack of commitment by some hosts. Since Fiske began working at the station, she had experienced some challenges: staff being late, non-responsive, resistant to change, and argumentative/combative, plus a resignation. What could she do to ensure her success and the success of the organization? She urgently needed to strategize with her boss and develop a plan of action.