GEO TV
Principles of Management
Mrs. Shagufta Rafif assisted by Mrs. Myra
Table of Content
1. Introduction
Formation of GEO
Company Logo
Vision Statement
Mission Statement
Organizational Objectives
Management at GEO
2. Planning
Short-term Plans
Long-term Plans
Forecasting
Making Decisions
Programmed & Non-Programmed Decisions
Managing the Planning Process
Strategic Planning
SWOT Analysis
3. Organizing
The Organizing Function at GEO
Structure
Organizational Chart
Division of Labor
Span of Management
Scalar Relationship
Authority and Responsibility
Delegation
4. Influencing
Influencing Function
Leading
Motivating
Communication
5. Controlling
Formation of Policies
Market Control Process
Quality Control Process
General Surveys
6. Conclusion
7. Suggestions
Introduction
GEO Television is a Pakistani television network founded by Mir Shakil ur
Rehman in May 2002. GEO TV belongs to Independent Media Corporation,
owner of the Jang Group of Newspapers. The channel started its test
transmission on 14 August 2002, whereas regular transmission began from 1
October 2002. GEO is an Urdu language word which translates to live on in
English.
The channel is lauded in the West and many Western media outlets have
asked GEO TV for exclusive footage sharing. Since its launch, GEO TV has put
freedom of speech and freedom of expression in Pakistan to unprecedented
levels in Pakistani history. This has also put GEO TV in numerous conflicts
with the Pakistani government. Most other Pakistani media outlets view GEO
TV as a model to follow, and as a result, Pakistan's media is now considered
to be the most free in the Muslim world.
training camp and commends GEO team for excellent coverage. 30-Jul 2002
A team of senior journalists takes over Dubai office to prepare for test
transmission. 5-Aug 2002 First signals from satellite are tested. 14-Aug 2002
GEO's test transmission starts at 12:00 noon PST with 24-hour news content;
frequency kept secret. 15-Aug 2002 Cable Operators start tuning into secret
frequency and begin airing GEO's test transmission without channel's
consent. 5-Sep 2002 GEO team begins nationwide 5-day tour marketing the
channel to cable operators, introducing them to the channel and getting their
feedback. 5-Sep 2002 Signs of brand power begin to emerge as GEO's logo is
copied and imitated by local brands i.e. GEO Biryani, GEO Water and GEO
Washing Powder. 11-Sep 2002 First advertisement announcing GEO
frequency. 30-Sep 2002 Construction of state-of-the-art, HQ and offices
completed. Team moves in from training camp. 11-Jan 2003 Launching
ceremony of infotainment and entertainment programs, with duration of 2
hours per day, is held at Mohatta Palace in Karachi. 11-Mar 2003 London and
New York Bureaus made operational. 20-Mar 2003 GEO and CNN sign
partnership contract for collaboration. 7-Apr 2003 GEO begins transmission
in UAE through E-Vision. 14-Aug 2003 GEO completes its 12 months of nonstop on air transmission.
Company LOGO:
All companies must have a pictogram, or single visual statement that
represents the entire idea behind that symbol. GEOs Logotype enjoys the
same reputation with our audience, stakeholders and employees.
The GEO logo represents many aspects of its business in true colors. The
Orange represents DAY and Blue represents NIGHT. The Urdu alphabet
Jeem cutting through from the TV Screen in a sharp angle connote the
GLOBE and the overall formation of the composite represents EYE ON
WORLD AFFAIRS 24 HOURS A DAY.
Vision Statement:
GEO will be the voice of freedom from the Asian subcontinent. It will
highlight the issues of concern and the cultural richness of its people through
information, discussion and entertainment. GEO will propagate transparency
of responsibility that will ensure its position as the most credible and
meaningful source of information, through quality programming based on
issues. GEO will provide entertainment audiences can relate to, thereby
creating viewer loyalty and response. GEO will forge an alliance amongst its
three stakeholders - viewers, advertisers and shareholders to maximize
viewer ownership. GEO will invest in human resources as it recognizes it to
be the foundation upon which the GEO future will be built. It is this very
foundation that will allow GEO to attain and sustain a leadership position,
thus fulfilling the promise associated with its creation.
GEO today is one of the popular most networks of Pakistan which serves its
viewers with both news and entertainment in the best possible manner
satisfying their demands and keeping in consideration their likes and dislikes.
GEO Television is the fastest growing network of Pakistan which was initiated
in 2002 and has been established on both national and international grounds
by now; this tells us how growth and expansion greatly contribute to its
organizational objectives.
Mission Statement:
Like every other organization, GEO T.V Network also has a mission statement
which highlights its purpose. Its mission statement states that:
GEO informs and entertains while celebrating cultures and
prompting
dialogue in the spirit of "live and let live".
Organizational Objectives:
The Organizational objectives of any organization are the main aims and
goals it focuses on and intends to achieve. These are the objectives on which
the entire management system is based.
The organizational objectives of GEO are as following:
To maintain its position as a market leader:
GEO TV network is the most popular network of Pakistan and the greater the
popularity the more the competitors and controversies arise, thus, it is really
important for GEO to work hard in order to maintain its position in the market
as the no.1 television network of Pakistan.
To enhance Profitability:
Profitability is one of the major goals of all the successful organizations. GEO
has also laid a great emphasis on this objective and tries its best to
maximize profit as much as possible.
Management at GEO:
GEO Television Network started out with its flagship channel GEO TV, but has
since launched several other channels which include the following.
GEO Entertainment - a Pakistan based entertainment channel showing
Dramas, musical programs, feature movies, primarily in Urdu Language.
GEO News - a Pakistan based Urdu news channel, rated as one the most
popular news channels in Pakistan.
GEO Super- sports channel, launched by GEO Network in September 2006.
Programming content includes variety of sports from around the world,
focusing mainly on cricket, with a secondary focus on boxing, football, tennis
and field hockey.
AAG TV - launched in September 2006 by GEO Network, it focuses on
programs for youth in Pakistan.
Each channel is headed by a BUH (Business Unit Head) who in turn reports
to the CEO of the organization.
Planning
Planning is the process of determining how the management system will
achieve its objectives. It involves analyzing, evaluating and selecting among
the opportunities which are foreseen.
Planning is the first and the foremost function of management at GEO where
by the management team comes up with schemes and ideas in order to
achieve all of the organizational objectives successfully.
Forecasting:
Forecasting is a process of predicting future environmental happenings that
will influence the operation of the organization. This planning tool is greatly
used in the planning function by the management team at GEO as it helps
them evaluate and estimate the sales, profit and revenue in days ahead. It
helps them find out where the organization stands in the market and where it
needs to be in the next 5 to 10 years. GEO T.V network being a very popular
network is growing really rapidly and thus it has very uncertain future. The
management team needs to carry out strong forecasting in order to minimize
the risks and uncertainties and lead the organization towards a safer and
more successful path.
Making Decisions:
Management at GEO involves Group decision making. The Business Unit
head discusses every issue with the board of directors and a general opinion
is taken from other organizational members before the BUH arrives with the
actual decision.
The Strategy team keeps an eye on viewership trends and schedule contents
accordingly with the consent of marketing.
GEOs decision making power is very strong as they strictly follow the
decision making process and that is how they are able to find solutions to
their problems immediately.
Identify
the
problem.
Gather
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impleme
nt
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ve.
List
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Select
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ve.
Strategic planning:
Strategy planning is the long range planning that focuses on the organization
as a whole. In doing so managers consider the organization as a total unit
and ask themselves what must be done in the long term to attain
organizational goals.
GEO has a network, which handles all the business units in each department.
The goals set by the management are evaluated to check how close they are
in achieving their objectives and how much they have achieved. If GEO fails
to achieve its required goals they take feedback and change their
operational plans accordingly. The Top management takes care of this
situation as they are responsible for such type of decisions.
SWOT Analysis
STRENGTHS
- First channel to bring
the concept of 'breaking
news'.
- Unbiased, accurate and
timely 24 hour news in
URDU
- Most Competitive work
team
- GOODWILL as the
largest media company
in PAKISTAN
OPPORTUNITIES
- GEO can increase the
awareness by attracting
more people through the
entertainement channel.
- Focusing on what
customer wants to see can
increase their viewer ship.
WEAKNESSES
-Lack of innovation.
- Because Pakistan has no
institute that provides
formal education on this
field they are required to
have all employees trained
from foreign institutions.
THREATS
- New channels.
- New channels are
attracting qualified and
trained employees of GEO
by good offers.
Organizing
Organizing:
It holds immense importance in any organization and likewise it is for GEO.
Organizing is the process of activating the plan made in the Planning
Function with the efficient use of the 4Ms of management money, material,
machine and man. In this function GEO seeks to tailor their managerial skills
to suit the situation. GEO
Structure:
GEO network has a perfect organizational hierarchy. The business unit head
is the utmost authority and also takes care of its major responsibilities and
hands other necessary responsibilities to workers working under him. GEO is
also a fully departmentalized organization.
E.g. if there is a breaking news it travels to the news room through any
means possible of communication phone, message etc. GEO is a very large
and distributed organization but still they face no problems in passing of
information or of being in contact and this is due to the very simple
organizational stream.
Formal and informal communication both are encouraged in GEO. If the
marketing department presents an idea of a new advertisement of GEO to its
business unit head and if it gets an approval then the business unit head will
directly contact the finance department and ask them to arrange the
financial resources required for the advert.
Departmentalization is also present in GEO but only in two major
departments; Functional and Geographic due to the nature of the business.
The functional department consists of: GEO News, Infotainment,
Entertainment, product development, childrens division, human resources,
GEO operations, technical, finance, marketing, sales, creative, music
programming, research department, GEO talent, events, sports
programming, game shows, fashion design department, Information
Technology and Transmission Department.
Whereas the Geographic department includes the offices locations in
Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Sialkot, Gujranwala
and almost in all districts, Dubai, UK and USA.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHART:
The Organizational Chart is very huge and is 3 meters long and of 64 Mega
Bytes hence it could not be attached in this but we have made a smaller one
to give you an idea of its management:
CEO
COO
CHANNEL
PRESIDENT
MANAGING
DIRECTOR
NEWS
MANAGING
DIRECTOR
ENTERTAINM
ENT
CONTENT
HEAD
PRODUCTION
HEAD
DIRECTOR
NEWS
Division of Labor:
The division of labor in GEO is done according to the expertise of an
individual and placing that employee in the best suited place. Then work is
assigned o him/her according to their departments. GEOs business head
divides the work and chooses the departments best suited for the task. E.g.
all the promotional tasks are given to the Marketing Department whereas
technical related tasks to the Technical department and so on.
Span of Management:
The span of management is moderate in GEO. The higher managers and
heads have to deal with lesser people whereas the lower managers have to
deal with a higher number of people. The sole authority remains in the hands
of the CEO for major issues but the rest of the issues are dealt down with the
business heads. It is narrow at the top and very wide at the bottom.
Scalar Relationship:
Scalar relation is one thing which is can easily be spotted in GEO. The higher
managers have bigger authorities whereas the lower managers have lesser
authorities. Other than that the employees also follow the gang plank in
some cases in order to carry out activities more quickly.
Delegation:
No matter how big or small the organization is every manager is responsible
for carrying out the tasks assigned to them and they are also responsible if
any of the subordinate does not does the task effectively. So is in GEO. But
the good thing in GEO is that if one is not able to do his/her task then all of
his/her subordinates and manager help him/her to complete it and if some
task goes abrupt then they notify the respected department for it.
GEO focuses a lot on delegating the work to its workers which is why there
are people working with GEO for a very long period. Even some of the small
decisions are given to these workers so that they get more motivated to
work.
GEO is a big organization and it consists of many business unit heads and
indeed all of them are responsible as not only do they have to perform
difficult task but they also have to keep an eye on the individuals working
under them. The business unit head keeps a friendly attitude with not only
its colleagues and subordinates but also with its Top Level Management as
well.
Influencing
Influencing Function:
Influencing is another of the basic functions within the management process.
It involves focusing on organization members, motivating them, leading
them towards the appropriate directions, communicating with them and
developing a good working relationship with them.
GEO T.V Network quite successfully maintains its influencing function by
carrying out some important steps as stated below:
Leading:
GEO follows a purely and highly democratic leadership style. The
subordinates are encouraged to be part of the decision making. The manager
is responsible for keeping the subordinates informed about their tasks and
shares decision making responsibilities with them. Problems are also solved
with the input of the subordinates. Many subordinates like the trust they
receive and then respond with team spirit and high morale. An important
factor that contributes to the Influencing Function at GEO is the Role Model
factor. Each and every figure, be it a head of department, a manager, a
director, a supervisor or even the CEO have the ability at GEO to motivate,
guide and communicate with the subordinates and to prove to be a good role
model. The leadership skill in the role models dedicates the subordinates into
going towards one goal, that is, organizational success. The leaders at GEO
encourage the employees to work hard and be promoted.
Motivating:
On annual basis, GEO carries several motivational programs to motivate,
guide and develop a sense of good will and dedication in the minds of the
subordinates. The tools that GEO uses for the motivation of employee
welfare are as follows: Incentives are given on the basis of the performance
of the employee which involves promotion, bonus and increments on their
salaries. Bonus and increments are usually given if an employee is able to
meet his targets before or on time successfully. There is an idea box in the
reception room for the employees; whoever generates a new idea is given a
prize. This is headed by the CEO of GEO himself. They have the success story
of the month program in which every department mentions an employee
who has gone an extra mile and has worked hard towards achieving the goal.
Each employees story is discussed amongst the committee and is reviewed
by them. The best story is selected and that particular employee is rewarded
with a dinner for two prizes. For motivating the employees, annual employee
functions are organized by the management. The employees are even sent
abroad to attend various workshops and seminars about motivation and
leadership; there they are taught to work willingly towards achieving one
common goal and are also given certificates and rewards at the end of these
programs. They even recently started a campaign for this year - Sir utha
kay GEO - which basically a motivation campaign. GEO maintains a very
friendly working environment and also offers its employees with other
benefits such as medical insurance, free fuel and telecommunication
benefits. Therefore, it is evident that GEO does everything it can to motivate
its employees into achieving one common goal, that is, organizational
success.
Communication:
GEO believes in the influence of internal communication to create a working
environment which is done by creating a strong relationship with the
organization and its people. This in turn encourages the subordinates and
boosts them up into working towards achieving the organizational objective.
Internal communication is basically based upon professionalism and service
before self policy in order to create a working environment within the
organization. GEO proved to be an organization that lays great emphasis on
the training and development of Human Resource. They know the
contributions made by the subordinates into making the whole organization
grow and into achieving long term goals that would not have been possible
without the hard work of the team. An integrated communication design is
planned and executed by the HR department for its subordinates to share
the sense of pride and joy which they have for GEO. Managers interact with
their employees and also communicate with them in open forum to maintain
a good working relationship which in turn would motivate and influence the
subordinates into working hard and willingly. The communication is also done
on the phone and over the internet.
GEO organization is more towards informality and is partially formal. They
tend to follow the Open Door Policy. Formal conversation is less evident
Controlling
Controlling is the process in which managers go through to control. In
technical terms, controlling is a systematic effort by business management
to compare performance to predetermined standards, or objectives to
determine whether performance is in line with these standards.
Controlling can be viewed as a subsystem of the overall management
system. The purpose of this subsystem is to help management enhance the
success of the overall management system through effective controlling.
The controlling subsystem involves controlling process which has three main
steps:
1. Measuring performance
2. Comparing measured performance to standards
3. Taking corrective actions
A stable and successful organization requires a good controlling meshwork in
order to maintain its position in the market and GEO being one of the leading
networks needs a strong controlling process to attain this goal. GEO being a
very vast media network requires a fast paced management process that
needs to be controlled efficiently in order to maintain its position in the
market.
Viewership is an important key for the GEO TV network to control and
analyze its performance. To measure its viewership GEO has registered itself
with Media Logic, a people meter installation company in Pakistan.
Formation of policies:
GEO has more policies than any other company. All its rules and policies are
confidential and are mentioned in employee hand book. All of their policies
are implemented strictly. When the company faces a problem in their old
policy then they revise then they send the notice to their policy defining
department and once it is finalized then it is sent to approval department
once it is approved then it is sent to upper level management for the
confirmation then it is implemented strictly. Now this policy is circulated via
website, notice boards and open forums.
In Pakistan there are around 750-800 people meters installed in four main
cities of the nation, which are Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad and
Karachi. These devices record the daily viewership and ratings attained by
GEO. This vastly helps the management to analyze where its organization
stands and to whom the organization is competing with.
General surveys:
At GEO, general surveys are carried out on daily and weekly basis to look
after the activities that are being carried out. These surveys are done either
within the organization, or through public voting surveys.
Therefore top level management has great responsibility on its shoulders to
carefully look upon these surveys and make sure that all the organizational
goals and objectives are achieved on time.
Conclusion
GEO T.V. Network is a very vast television network that is rapidly growing on
both national and international grounds so it needs a strong team to carry
out its Planning, Organizing, Influencing and Controlling Function both
effectively and efficiently. GEO aims to become the largest conglomerate of
Pakistan and contribute greatly in the overall growth and economy of
Pakistan. It strives to help people and to enlighten them with their
surroundings and make them aware of the current affairs.
It needs a good leadership framework to make sure thats its employees are
motivated and influenced in the correct manner and that they have sufficient
knowledge about the goals and objectives of GEO T.V network.
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