Managing Diverse Media Production Teams

Organisations owe their success to highly functional teams with effective leadership (Mullins, 2016, p. 1632).

According to Shaban (2016), diversity in such teams can be double-edged, advantages being greater innovation and creativity from diverse points of reference and experience, leading to greater success, and the negatives being the opportunity for more conflict and misunderstanding due to the different social background, cultural belief and values, and resulting in workplace tension and lack of productivity. Hence, the difference lies in whether these teams are effectively led.

This article explores the theories, framework and real-life examples of how to manage diverse teams to success in the media production industry.

Team Management Theories explored

While there are many team management models that we can use, two will be explored here which are applicable to the media production industry.

Team Roles Framework

According to Belbin (2010), individuals in a team can be categorised into nine roles, Plant, Resource investigator, Co-ordinator, Shaper, Monitor Evaluator, Team Worker, Implementer, Completer Finisher and Specialist. Individuals can inherit one or more roles (seldom all 9). This allows leaders to identify and apply appropriate roles to the team members according to their strengths and allowable weaknesses, enhancing the effectiveness of the media production team.

Limitations to this model lies in its rigidity (Belbin, 2010, p. 34). Media projects often require teams to navigate dynamic situations and having a member with a given team role might not be advantages when the situation changes. Therefore having the right team mix and shared vision is essential, leading us to the next theory.

Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Leadership Theory

The LMX Theory is a relational approach to managing diverse teams (Erdogan & Bauer, 2014, p. 4). It approaches team building in 4 stages from individual relations to team building that results in the convergence of perspectives (George & Mary, 1995, p. 266). The strength of this theory is that it gives leaders a tool for benchmarking their progress in building their team’s dynamics towards a common goal. Through this relational approach, the leader is able to identify any cultural gaps that need to be closed. The limitation is that it cannot be used for short run projects as it takes time to foster meaningful relationships.

Examples of leadership in the Media Production Industry

The nature of media production is made up of diverse teams (script writers, production crew, actors, post production and effects) working together towards a common goal (finished film). Managing the dynamics of these diverse teams well is no mean feat.

Vince Gilligan from “Breaking Bad”

A lot can be said about the effectiveness of leading a diverse team of professionals through two highly successful TV shows (11 years) and one feature film with largely the same team makeup (St. John, 2013). Most teams do not even make it through one season. Yet from the documentary (The Road to El Camino: Behind the Scenes of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie | Netflix, 2019), all crew and actors were more than eager to join the production. According to St. John (2013), it seems that Vince implicitly chooses the people he works with carefully, and assigns the right roles to them (Team Roles), and is able to engage his department managers relationally (LMX) towards a common goal. The result is two of the best TV shows in the history of television.

Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Media Team 2006 - 2010

The media team of APPT is made up of a diverse team of media professionals. American host, Singaporean, Australian and Scottish video producers and editors. The clarity of goals and roles assigned was what made it successful. Though working styles were different, a culture of patience and willingness to adapt was established by the team leaders. The end of each week was celebrated with visits to several pubs (LMX). By the start of the second engagement the team was working flawlessly and improving workflows. The tour lasted for six months. The same team worked together for several years after that.

Insights and Recommendations to Media Project Leaders

There is no "one size fits all" solution, but here are some recommendations: -

1. Leaders need to quickly assess team members when forming with role assignment at the back of the mind.

2. Apply LMX to foster relationships and guide individual and team dynamics towards a common goal, with a deep understanding of any cultural differences or barriers to team building.

3. Engage the other team members to foster a common vision (4V) and negate any obstacles or challenges.

Media Production environments are often dynamic and changing. Having a diverse functional team is the key to success.

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References

Belbin, R. M. (2010). Management Teams: Why They Succeed Or Fail. Butterworth-Heinemann.

Belbin, R. M. (2010). Team Roles at Work. Butterworth-Heinemann.

Erdogan, B., & Bauer, T. (2014, 1 1). Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory: The relational approach to leadership. Oxford handbook of leadership and organizations, 407(433).

George, G., & Mary, U. (1995, 6 1). Relationship-Based Approach to Leadership: Development of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory of Leadership over 25 Years: Applying a Multi-Level Multi-Domain Perspective. The Leadership Quarterly, 6, 219 - 247. DOI - 10.1016/1048-9843(95)90036-5

Mullins, L. J. (2016). Management and Organisational Behaviour. Pearson.

The Road to El Camino: Behind the Scenes of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie | Netflix. (2019, October 29). YouTube. Retrieved May 22, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU8SgjZRPxA

Shaban, A. (2016, May 2). Managing and Leading a Diverse Workforce: One of the Main Challenges in Management. 3rdInternational Conference on New Challenges in Management and Organization: Organization and Leadership.

St. John, A. (2013, August 11). Seven Leadership Tips From Breaking Bad's Vince Gilligan. Forbes.com. https://www.forbes.com/sites/allenstjohn/2013/08/11/seven-leadership-tips-from-breaking-bads-vince-gilligan/?sh=68326b297eca