Dayton restructuring: 10 managers demoted to reporters/staff

If they make it, of course.

http://dayton.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2009/12/14/daily3.html

"As part of the restructuring, 10 management positions will be eliminated and 10 staff positions will be added.

All managers in the newsroom staff are currently interviewing, and following the interview process, the staff will be notified who retains the position of manager and who will be offered a lesser position."

 

Sucks for them paywise, but at least, it's not reversed, where a company gives an extra $10 per week, declares the employee a manager, and makes them work 60 hours a week.

 

I worked at a place where they kept cutting staffers and adding managers, including several whose functions were very much unclear to me. Perhaps this place had a similar structure and somebody noticed, unlike my former shop.

 

Time for these former managers to be put on the weekend beat, answer stupid questions sent in by readers about leaf collection and work the phones to take prep sports calls.

 

What this means is that 10 people who currently are staff reporters are likely to be out of jobs soon.

 

From the initial post

 

What isn't in the post: that 10 staff positions will soon be eliminated...I'd bet on it.

 

A lot of newspapers should go this route at least with the industry the way it is.
A lot of small to midsized papers have all these "managers" sitting all day, pretty much doing nothing except kissing ass or getting their ass kissed.
A lot of newspapers have working sports editors who produce copy, lay out pages in a pinch, lay out special sections and edit copy for them and still find time to manage.
News sides that I know of have 10 managers who pretty much do nothing. It truly is amazing to me that these newspapers pay these people to do very very little work that helps the company.
Good for this newspaper in recognizing the waste.

 

I know I complain a lot and this is truly not a complaint but a serious question to you managers in newspapers.

I was on a flight recently and read some article about productive business tactics.
Once again for about the 20th time in reading articles about productivity, I read that the most productive businesses are those in which there is a positive environment in which employees receive praise when there is a job well done.

I have worked at several shops in my career and I will tell you, in all the shops there has been no praise, except on the day you win an award. Yes I've won some and my coworkers have won some and on those days you get an email companywide praising you sort of for winning the award.
The rest of the time, you don't hear a positive word about ANYTHING. But you do receive negative emails on a regular basis reprimanding you or your coworkers for a rare typo or heaven forbid not having something in the newspaper that a competitor has.

My question to you is: Do you have the same experience in your shops?
Is it mostly a very very negative environment regarding the higher-ups treatment of sports reporters and copy editors and paginators?
Our environment is very negative almost intimidating.

After reading that article on the plane ... it made me wonder if the journalism profession is one that doesn't "get it."
Again, in the five shops I've worked in, it's been the same environment in each one.
Thank you for shedding some light on this.

And before you say, 'Fredrick is at it again wanting to be thanked for working holidays," I am telling you there was yet another article on the plane that dealt with positive reinforcement in businesses which is why I am asking the question. We are in business that is pretty much fading if not failing.

 

Stop being a pussy, Fredrick.

I'm in management and I say positive things all the time, but I also do not hesitate to point out shortcomings when warranted. My job is quality control. If I don't do it, that's on my head and deservedly so.

It's human nature to focus on the times you were criticized versus being praised. Sometimes, it's also human nature to think the criticism outweighs the praise. Also, sometimes the things people want to get praised for are actually the normal course of their job. Kind of like getting praise for being a good father, something you're supposed to do.

Then again, sometimes you just work for a dick.

Perspective in these matters usually comes with time. I know it did for me.

 

Bubbler, if you say positive things all the time, then you abide by what I read on the plane.
You must believe in positive reinforcement.
I said I wasn't complaining this time, just wondering if this was another reason for newspapers' demise. Five shops I worked at; all very very negative environments, with no praise except the day the award results come in, pretty much intimidation the other days. I'm simply wondering if that's a smart way to run a ship.

 

For Frederick...I would say in my shop we get plenty of praise for a job well done from the publisher on down...I'm guessing we may be the exception to the rule, and I feel fortunate to work where I do. Of course, there are also the realities of furloughs and reader complaints that many of us deal with on a daily/weekly basis.