Oprah’s Empire and Organizational Theory, Design and Change Essay

The Oprah Case was a brief view into the life of Oprah Winfrey and the empire she built. Born in Mississippi, Oprah had a authorise for public speaking. She delved into journalism and landed her own day time TV exhibit in clams. The broadcast television industry proved to be a wonderful source of r steadyue enhancement for Winfrey and here her empire began. Oprah then went into acting and found interest in producing. She founded Harpo, Inc. and began acquiring rights to film account books. The Oprah Winfrey verbalize became a hit success propelling Oprah forward to be one of the existences almost influential mint. She launched a website, oprah.com a magazine, O, The Magazine and began her own network, receive. She organized some(prenominal) charit able schemes around the world and is recognized as the most generous celebrity as it relates to giving away her own money. on that point is a component in Emotional Intelligence by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves book that em phasizes the shoot for Self Awareness. With much of Oprah Winfreys success world attributed to not compromising her beliefs for society, Oprah has to continuously guard against world mislead or possibly used by others. Although her intentions may be good, Oprah Winfreys tendency to be hard on herself if she neglects to reach success can cloud her talent to recognize her own efforts. in that respect are three key indicators of Self-Awareness that Oprah Winfrey utilizes in order to maintain her public image and reputation. First, Oprah exudes self-confidence in order to effectively market anything that she endorses or supports. Because of this keen awareness of her self-worth, throughout any appearance, Oprah presents her viewers with a self-assurance which enables her to voice views that her followers can assess and take into consideration. Over the years, Oprah has become a beam for making sound decisions despite the uncertainties and pressures of the media. Next, Oprah is aware of her strengths and limits, therefore, she is able to give an accurate self-assessment and accept capable feedback. proto(prenominal) on in her career she was able to learn that she was not able to operate as owner, president, and CEO. acute this, Oprah was able to profit more in the grand scheme of things because her limit was recognized and valued. As Tim Bennett acted as the President of Oprahs Harpo Productions, he was able to give Oprah a new perspective and aid in her self-development with his expertise.Lastly, Oprah has a self-deprecating sense of humor that shows she doesnt take herself too seriously. This is important in the candid feedback she receives from viewers, bloggers, and other forms of news. As a person in the media, Oprah is self-aware and realizes the need to trust yourself and not permit negative energy hold you back from operating at your full potential. As a keeper of her brand, its safe to say that Oprah Winfrey pays close attention to the quality o f her gist and products. Oprah Winfrey has a great gift of compassion, tenderness, and kindness. For balance, Oprah Winfrey promotes mature self-obedience, self-management, and personal responsibility. In doing this, Oprah utilized four core competencies to build her personal brand. First, she discovered what she wanted her brand to convey and laid out a development plan for herself, which included where she was presently and forthcoming goals.Oprah Winfrey is most successful because she was able to merge her passion of journalism with expertise. Next, Oprah created her brand by positioning herself as extraordinary in her niche of talk show hosting. The point of this is to tell her audience what she values and the benefits of reflection her show. Besides tangible incentives, Oprah gives advice and offers community awareness through her many projects. Then, Oprah uses communication to allow her to gain the visibleness to be looked to as a guru of opinions. Oprah attracted her vi ewers and followers by becoming accessible through forums, book clubs, mail, and social media. Lastly, Oprah has been able to maintain her brand through constant revisits and updates. Constantly Oprah goes back to everything she has created her O magazine, OWN network, book club and everything that she has endorsed to refresh it with current information and maintain its reputation.The foreign mission for The Oprah Winfrey Show was to be a catalyst for the transformation in spates lives. In keeping with core competencies, the scheme was able to continue to generate revenue by using the skills and abilities in value-creation activities that allowed all of the business subunits to achieve banner quality and consumer responsiveness. Because the mission was one of em tycoonment, Oprahs team make sure that anything that was done supported that mission and by doing so it increased intrinsic value. Oprahs following knew what to expect, they enjoyed it, and they kept coming back even bri nging new consumers.Oprah was known to surround herself with spirited performing people. The business was demanding there were constant deadlines and huge hours. Many were known to work from 15-17 hours in order to keep up. They had a code of excellence and anyone who could not meet that code did not last long. The type of environment that came from this fast-paced work style is in part related to the expansion strategy. Harpo was growing rapidly due to the corporate-level strategy. Oprah had harnessed a command in the daytime TV domain and used this base to expand into new media domains through related diversification. thither are so many cultural differences such as diverse communication styles, different approaches to finish task and different attitudes toward conflict. As a leader within her brand and enterprise, Oprah has mastered the art of workings around cultural differences and effectively coordinating outsourcing relationships.She has conquered working with different c ultures by encouraging and rewarding creativity, creating a diverse workforce and educated staff and offering support while having fun. Oprah has in like manner effectively organize outsourcing relationships with her many international projects, specifically her school in Africa. Benefits of outsourcing include higher performance, a better moderation of risk and reduced confusion and wasted time. Oprah opened the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in 2007 with the goal in mind of giving children who are less fortunate the chance to better themselves with a proper and commensurate education. In order to effectively accomplish this goal, it was a mission of Oprahs to have access and involve the best talent. Oprah has been able to enjoy the benefits of outsourcing because of her quality commitment and reputation. Throughout Oprahs career, several conflicts within her organization have risen.Although conflict is perceived negatively, some conflict is good for an organizatio n. Conflict can be dear because it can overcome organizational inertia and lead to organizational learning and change. This is extremely evident when Oprahs Book Club introduced A zillion Little Pieces by James Frey to the public. This is a great font where Pondeys Model of Organizational Conflict is illustrated. Latent Conflict, the first stage of this model, surfaced in 2005 when Oprah introduced this book. In several ways, the work was an unconventional choice for the Book Club where potential for conflict was at a high risk. The book was a classified as a memoir, not the ordinary book for the Book Club. Freys memoir, an account of his descent into alcohol and drug addiction, offered a graphic, unsparing look at the consequences of his illness and at the long, difficult road to recovery.It was the first contemporary piece of writing that Winfrey had selected for the Book Club in more than two seasons. The second stage, Perceived Conflict, happen on January 8, 2006. The investi gative web site The Smoking torpedo delivered a devastating blow to Freys insistences of authenticity. The site revea guide numerous instances of exaggeration in A Million Little Pieces. This brought many aware of this conflict and people began to analyze it. The conflict escalated when Oprah battled against what was being said. She stated, that the underlying message of redemption in James Freys memoir still resonates with me. And I know that it resonates with millions of other people who have read this book and pull up stakes continue to read this book.In the third stage of Pondeys Model, conflict is felt. Investigative reports showed that he had exaggerated his criminal past to the point of fancy. But he had also distorted the stories of others, including two high-school classmates who died in a car crash in 1986. Marianne Sanders, the mother of one of the deceased, called Freys account flat-out lies. What began as a small problem had now escalated into a huge conflict. On Janu ary 26, 2006, these issues came to a head when the talk-show host brought Frey back onto her show. Winfrey confessed that the facts that had come out to the highest degree Freys past since the scandal bust had caused her to revise her opinion of his work. I feel duped, Winfrey told Frey. But more importantly, I feel that you betrayed millions of readers. Conflict had manifested. This is demonstrate in the fourth stage. In the fifth and final stage, the aftermath of the conflict is present. Conflict is resolved in a way that leaves subunits feeling combative or cooperative.In this case, Winfrey also apologized to viewers for her own case in supporting Freys actions and attitude toward self-representation. The truth, it turned out, mattered to many people. In the aftermath of the controversy, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, the shanghai that had published Freys book, also issued an apology. Winfreys response in particular, spurred a large-scale conversation among publishers, authors, an d journalists about the state of nonfiction writing. Oprah used her power and ability to manipulate decision making. She uses two tactics that has led to her success. The first tactic she uses is her ability to control the agenda.Oprah si involved in the majority, if not all, departments and committees of her empire. She likes to be on and involved in these committees and departments so that she can control business decisions, especially if the issues affect how and when to change the organizations strategy and structure. Bringing in an outside expert is the second tactic. The biggest mistake Oprah made in the beginning was that she did understand that she needed infrastructure and systems in order to campaigning a business. And it wasnt until 1994 that she really brought in someone to be president and organize the systems. She described herself as a crazy person, essay to do it all. In 1994, Winfrey hired Tim Bennett to serve as Harpos president.8. Infrastructure9. Organizationa l Life rhythmOprah has put up her $5.6 million Gold Coast Condo on the market, and moved to California to run her network OWN. Her condo that sits on top of a huge building in downtown Chicago can be rented for $15,000 a month. Rosie ODonnells current OWN talk show was being taped at Harpo, but no longer. The Rosie ODonnell show has been moved to New York. The move resulted in low ratings and the lack of obtaining special guest for the show. It was a constant challenge trying to get people to come to the show, so they decided to move to a location that was convenient for special guest. This was never a problem for Oprah. Therefore, Harpo Studios is dark and inactive. Possibilities of putting it up for sale to those buyers who want to have their own production facility, or to those who want to tear it down to build a high-rise building are beginning to surface. contempt struggles with OWN, Oprah.com is still successful. Whats next for Oprah? The future of the Oprah Empire is a topic that many people catch out may be threatened. Much of Oprahs localize market is the baby boomer middle class. With her target market aging and the culture of broadcast journalism changing, where does this leave Oprah? Oprahs future relevance will heavily rely on the diversification of her current and future business developments.Currently worth $2.7 Billion, Oprah has troop of cushion room to reinvest in new strategies or add to her current ventures. With the stability of her magazine and online presence, Oprah has made her name an international staple touching the homes of millions around the globe. Her integration of technology into her business model has transcended generations inviting the more tech savvy to join the ranks. The real question is about the future of OWN network. While it is experiencing hassle now, expect it to make a transition into a network that is developing future leaders with the power of persuasion. In the future as Oprah ceases to have a world presenc e, her legacy will remain.