[Solved] CASE APPLICATION The Curtain Falls It's

been called one of "the...

coursehero.com/tutors-problems/Management/25258896-CASE-APPLICATION-The-Curtain-Falls-Its-been-called-
one-of-the-entert

CASE APPLICATION The Curtain Falls It's been called one of "the...

CASE APPLICATION

The Curtain Falls

It's been called one of "the entertainment industry's biggest programming debacles."35
Jay Leno moved from host of the "Tonight Show" to his own talk show, "The Jay Leno
Show," which aired at the 10 p.m. weeknight time slot. Conan O'Brien was brought on as
Leno's replacement on the "Tonight Show," which has always aired after the local news.

The Jay Leno-Conan O'Brien fiasco started with a decision by NBC executives to save
some money by giving Leno one of the oldest formats in TV programming: a comedy-
variety show with a comedian, a stage, guests, and in-show ads. But that decision was also
a radical experiment based on a single show airing every single weeknight during prime
time on a major broadcast network. This format was cheaper to produce for

an entire week than 60 minutes of the pricey scripted dramas that are usually broadcast
during that time period. Jeff Gaspin, chairman of television

entertainment at NBC Universal, said, "I don't think it's wrong to take chances. . . .
Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don't." And this decision wasn't working. It all
started to unravel when ratings for Leno's talk show were low and continued to sink. One
media analyst

said, "Nobody's happy—the talent isn't happy, the advertisers aren't happy, and the
audience isn't happy." Local network affiliates that rely on that 10 p.m. slot to lead people
into the late local news rebelled. Those affiliates threatened to preempt Leno's show with
other programming. But that wasn't NBC's only problem. O'Brien's "Tonight Show" also
was doing poorly in its time slot, losing resoundingly to "Late Show with David

Letterman" on CBS for the first time in 15 years.

NBC executives continued to struggle with decision making. It took nearly two weeks of a
very public spectacle for them to craft a solution in which Leno returned to his gig at the
"Tonight Show" and O'Brien left

with a $40 million agreement to walk away from "his dream job." And so the curtain
closes on a story NBC executives wish had never been written.

Discussion Questions

1/5
1. Would you characterize television programming decisions as structured or
unstructured?

Explain. What type of decision-making condition would you consider this to be? Explain.

2. What criteria did NBC use in evaluating its initial decision to move Leno and O'Brien?
Was

that criteria appropriate? Why or why not?

3. Evaluate Jeff Gaspin's statement, "I don't think it's wrong to take chances. . . . Some-

times they work. Sometimes they don't." What does it say about his decision-making

style?

4. Describe how NBC executives could have used each of the following to make better

decisions: (a) rationality, (b) bounded rationality, (c) intuition, and (d) evidence-based

management.

Answer & Explanation

Solved by verified expert

Helpful

Would you characterize television programming decisions as structured or

unstructured? Explain. What type of decision-making condition would you
consider this to be? Explain.

This particular TV program "The Jay Leno Show" and "Tonight Show" are just a
coincidence where the executives thought randomly that replacing the show anchor could
produce more earnings and the rating which were dropping can rise up by giving Canon
O'Brien a chance to host the "Tonight show".

I would characterize this decision as the unstructured one because of the following
reasons

1. Executives had created an alternative which was not available at that point of time
giving Jay Leno another show of his own to tackle the expenses as well as create another
opportunity for the next show which was aired after the local news.

2. Beside this, the factor they took into consideration was the shows nature which was
old with the drama show with some guest and audience along with the drama.

2/5
The decision making condition here is to be considered as the "uncertainty based"
because the executives as well as the chairman of the NBC Jeff Gaspin did not took into
account all the possibilities and the uncertain outcomes of the new as well as the change
of anchor into account. This resulted into creation of uncertain outcomes due to the lack
of alternatives thought and studied.

What criteria did NBC use in evaluating its initial decision to move Leno and
O'Brien? Was

that criteria appropriate? Why or why not?

Following are the criteria used by NBC :-

1. Save money:-

NBC executives wanted to save some money by giving Leno the oldest formats of TV
programming which was a comedy based show with a stage and guest along with the ads.

2. Cheaper to produce the entire week as compared..

It was cheaper to produce the entire week content and gain some advantage
as compared to air the base show.

This criteria was not appropriate according to me because

1) No rating consideration was taken into account while doing so.

2) Competitors were not considered to take over the audience rating for the same time
slot.

3) Evaluation was lacking and the decision was completely based on radical experiment.

Evaluate Jeff Gaspin's statement, "I don't think it's wrong to take chances. . . .
Some-

times they work. Sometimes they don't." What does it say about his decision-
making

style?

Jeff Gaspin's statement cannot be considered as inappropriate. There can be many

reasons for him to do so. Chances are the possible outcomes. But here the chances taken
are purely based on instincts and not on the facts and figures which could have easily been

3/5
achieved by extrapolating the data available with them. You just cannot say that those
chances could work or not. This decision making is based on radical experiment and
purely on the possibility thought by the Chairman of the NBC.

This has brought unnecessary expenses of 40$ million to the company for replacing and
re-replacing the host to the previous show which could have been avoided if properly
worked out plan was implemented.

Decisions where lot of money is involved is to be always taken with some surety and with
some data crunching methods so as to assure that there is less or minimal losses if the
desired outcome is not achieved.

Describe how NBC executives could have used each of the following to make
better

decisions: (a) rationality, (b) bounded rationality, (c) intuition, and (d)
evidence-based

management.

a) Rationality:-

If the decision making involves rationality then there has to be some of the
objectives defined , some analysis over the subjectivity and insight .Possible outcomes and
the chances of achieving them could have been considered by the NBC team while making
decision of changing the host or continuation of the show with the same host or changing
the time before prime time of after the prime time. This would have help NBC and its
executive to save 40$ million to some extent.

b) Bounded rationality:-

If the Chairman of the NBC was bounded to certain rules and regulation and the
decisions are to be made under certain circumstances then there would have been some
different shoe or time or change of the format of the show could be there. If an individual
is bounded then there are guidelines where the particular person would work in a limited
decision making authority based on instincts and more of a rationality based kind of
decision.

c) Intuition:-

Some of the decision could be based on intuition if there are limited resources have
used or it is based completely on that particular person who will be responsible for the
outcomes in order to avoid the unnecessary contacts with other person to achieve the

4/5
desired goals. But here NBC could have used this if at all there are some of the instances
likewise have happened in the past.

d) Evidence based management:-

Critical thinking about the problem is the main criteria in this type of decision
making. Here in the given scenario, there was no evidence available that could have help
the NBC and its executive to take the decision and make it right as per the evidence. They
could have used the evidence similar to the given situation which has happened and
examine it critically to reduce the errors in their day to day work and achieve the desired
goals for the same.

Step-by-step explanation

Decision making ability and the structure of the decision making is studied thoroughly
and then the given scenario is studied and answered accordingly

Possible outcomes according to me is also given in the answer above.

Student reviews

100% (4 ratings)

Is this answer helpful?

5/5