The digital revolution has brought rapid changes in the news marketplace, forcing the media houses to change tact and strategies to remain relevant in the media Industry. In the new digital era, people are increasingly relying more on the internet and television than daily papers for news (Tushman & Roberts, 2005). The digital trend has seen a decline in the sales of USA TODAY newspapers, forcing the leadership team to take action to leverage the company’s content distribution through different channels (Tushman & Roberts, 2005).
USA TODAY’s CEO, Tom Curly has had to effect changes in the company’s corporate culture, technology infrastructure, and organizational structure. Curly’s primary challenge as the leader has been to bring the rest of his senior staff who have been reluctant to embrace change. The senior team is stuck in the old culture that Curly championed. They are loyal to the paper and a culture of independence, where reporters were not told what to do but did their best to produce accurate news, making the newsroom the cultural center of the company (Tushman & Roberts, 2005). With the entrance of the online platform, USAT has experienced insurmountable divide in work style and culture as a result of competition and rivalry among its staff. The newspaper unit views online news as a threat to their survival (Tushman & Roberts, 2005).
Curley finds ways to integrate the two teams. He is a leader who is adaptive to change, in addition to his ability to innovate; he leads his team to accept change as it is essential for the future of the business. With the divide threatening the operations of the business, Curly is forced to replace five of his seven senior managers to change the status quo mentality and divisive leadership attitude which was deeply rooted in the company’s culture (Tushman & Roberts, 2005). Lack of teamwork is a major threat to the success of any business. Business leaders should be able to unite and integrate all the company’s resources to operate coherently and bring effectively sell their vision to all stakeholders.
Reference
Tushman, M. & Roberts, M. (2005). USA TODAY: Pursuing the Network Strategy (A). Havard Business School, 10(402), 1-18.
