T.F.J. Steyn

The Challenge to Incorporate Teamwork as a Managerial Competency: The Case of Mainstream South African Newsrooms

Abstract This article outlines dimensions of teamwork as a managerial competency in South Africa’s transitional mainstream media newsrooms. It highlights differences on perceptions of the importance and implementation of this competency among respondents from reporter and first-line newsroom manager tiers, given media management transformation in a post-apartheid society. Moderately and practically significant effect sizes were calculated between the two respondent groups on all dimensions of the teamwork competency. Results emphasized the need to improve first-line newsroom managers’ teamwork abilities in efforts to improve professional newsroom operations.

Marketing Happiness in Politics: Strange Bedfellows, but a Winning Presidential Election Framework?

Research on happiness has become prevalent in academic literature spanning across psychology, sociology, healthcare, marketing, economics, and political science. See for example Cook and Chater (2010), Crossley and Langdridge (2005), Frey and Stutzer (2002), Martin (2008), Mogilner (2010) and Mogilner, Kamvar, and Aaker (2011). The happiness concept have influenced firms like Coca-Cola, Clinique, Zappos.com, Yahoo!, and Hugo Boss to connect to consumers by linking positive emotions to their brand in a downturn economy (Mogilner, Aaker, and Kamvar 2012). Coca Cola has, for example, integrated the word “happiness” into their campaigns with “Open Happiness” and “Where will happiness strike next?” while Clinique commodified “happiness” with its perfume brand “Happy.” However, the direct usage of the happiness concept to connect consumers with political candidates in a struggling economy has been avoided. Political marketers, however, use happiness indirectly in an effort to produce favorable outcomes. This leads us to ask the following questions: How can political marketers create an emotional connection that bonds individuals with their brand? How can politicians conceive a strategy to lead people down a path of happiness? How can happiness bolster a political candidate into victory?

How the Service Characteristics of News Require Media Organizations to Transition to a Marketing Orientation

Societal and industry changes, like increasing competition, lower profits, ownership concentration, inequality, and interference from stakeholder groups create a management environment where media organizations will only succeed through appropriate marketing philosophies. This article outlines how a production orientation traditionally guided media organizations. The production-orientation approach, however, seems outdated and the authors argue that by adopting a marketing orientation and treating news as a service to citizens rather than a commodity to consumers, media organizations might be more effective and efficient.