IntroductionIt was 5:45 on a crisp, cold, Midwestern fall

morning. Ray Robinson, the newly hired social media coordinator

for The Chicago Localnewspaper, was up and moving already,
frantically gathering her things together for a day at her new job.
Being early was always important to Ray because it showed
initiative and competence and today was exceptionally significant. It
was Ray’s second time reporting to work, and she wanted to
continue to make a good impression on the many long tenured
employees that are now working for her. At only 27 years old, Ray
was going to have to prove herself, and she would do anything she
could to accomplish her goals at the Chicago Local. Being one the
youngest employee at the company was one thing; however, she
was not only an employee. She was on the executive board. Ray
definitely had experience in the media industry, for she had just
resignedfrom her job at Google in Mountain View, California to
move to the bustling city of Chicago. It was a great opportunity, but
she was also nervous to take on such a huge responsibility. She
threw her cereal bowl sloppily into the sink, grabbed her backpack,
her keys. She made sure not to forget her phone and her computer,
both of which she could not do without. Ray smiled at her
clumsiness, and then took a deep breath after she closed her front
door. “I hope I don’t feel this rushed at work,” she thought jokingly to
herself, even though she knew that her statement was laced with
wishful thinking. Taking on the role of “social media coordinator” at
a newspaper is actually a more challenging job than it may sound
like. With many old style newspapers struggling in the 21st century,
Ray was tasked with revolutionizing the presentation platform of the
Chicago Local, to go along with the trend of growing interest in
online news. Since her generation had adapted to getting all of their
information on tablets and smartphones, it was more than important
to grab ahold of this demographic. Her responsibilities,
unfortunately, didn’t end at turning the Chicago Local into a social
media accessible newspaper. The CEO who hired her, Bob
Chapman, is afraid that if the newspaper continues in only print, it
wouldn’t be making enough profit by next year and will be shut
down like many of the other local newspaper companies. Over a
matter of just a few months, Ray has to apply all she knows about
media advertising, and online platforms to come up with a plan that
benefits the company, by enabling the newspaper to be read
digitally. Over the course of her first week, Ray will be having daily
meetings with the CEO and head writers from all sections of the
newspaper to collaborate, but mostly inform them about her new
plan. Yesterday was more of just an introduction meeting, as Ray
met with the team that consisted of: Mack(the head sports writer),
Jennie and Paul(who cover politics), David (who covers local news),
and Blane(from international news). The team is made up of almost
all men, with the exception of Jennie, and everybody on the team is
over 35 years old, with Paul being the oldest at 55. Each member of
the team had been working for the Localfor at least 10 years, and
even the confident Ray could admit that she felt a bit nervous
bringing change upon several tenured employees. Ray felt strongly
that if The Chicago Local did not go online and advertised through
social media than it would surely go out of business and she truly
wanted this hard-working company to thrive. Ray pulled into the
parking lot at 7:30, and as she got out of her car, she let out a sigh
of relief; she could finally relax for a bit, work didn’t start until 8:45.
She noticed Paul locking up his car. “Good Morning Paul, How’s the
morning going?” Paul managed a small grin, gave a tiny awkward
nod, and just began walking quickly towards the door. Not the best
encounter I guess, Ray noted. Even if she wasn’t going to get along
with these people she knew that she at least had faith in her skills to
save this news
Over the next 25 minutes Ray explained in detail her plan of action
to transform the print newspaper into an organization based upon
social media and online advertising. Throughout the presentation,
she noticed mixed reactions among the crowd, a few gloomy, faces,
but also some looks or intrigue.Ray exclaimed enthusiastically,
“What do you guys think I would like to hear your feedback?” Ray’s
heart dropped as she realized Paul was standing up to speak.
“Well, isn’t a newspaper a printed piece of paper, I mean it seems
like we can’t even call ourselves a newspaper anymore with all this
online ‘mumbo jumbo.”Ray was nervous as she began to speak, but
tried to keep her confidence, “While I understand your viewpoint,
the data does show that the majority of viewers would like to access
their information at the tip of their fingers. The numbers of internet
readers are expected to increase drastically over the next few
years, and printed newspaper readers are expected to become
obsolete.”David chimed inbefore she could get in her next
sentence, “I just do not understand. I have been here over ten years
and print newspapers are still enjoyed by many of our subscribers.
Its classic and classy. Why are we changing this now?” Ray could
really feel the situation getting heated.“Exactly!” exclaimed Paul,
I’ve given practically my life’s work to this newspaper, and in 30
years, I’ve never seen a change this big or hell, this ridiculous. Why
should I completely adjust everything that I have been doing my
entire career after so long.” Paul’s rant continued, “We’ve spent a
lot of money making this an appealing, and one of the last
remaining, print newspapers in the city. I think we have to stick with
that, or at least give it some credibility. Just as Ray felt her power
completely being stripped away, Bob finally intervened. “Now listen
up guys, I know that this is a huge change to our company and it
was hard for me to face at first as well. This plan is open for change
and is not set in stone; however, as CEOand I have decided that we
need to implement social media into our company in order to
survive. Ray is here to help and I trust her decision. We will pick this
meeting up in two days to let all of you cool off and consider the
future of this company.” n Exchange with the CEOAs
the meeting came to a close, Ray thanked everybody as they
walked out the door. Once everybody had lad left, Bob stopped to
talk to Ray. “Listen, I know this meeting didn’t go well, and it got a
little hectic, so I think we should have a one-on-one talk about what
we think went wrong.”Ray sat down across from Bob and Bob
continued. “It worries me that some of our top employees are
struggling with this transition, but at the same time, I know what
this company needs to do to survive, and that’s why I hired you, you
know the ins and outs of making money online.” Ray nodded and
smiled at Bob’s compliment, but his tone shifted. “It’s not my area of
expertise, but I think we should consider some possible
compromise, maybe we keep need to put some of our budget
towards print still.”Ray responded, “It would be hard to fund both,
and our profit margins would rise much more slowly if we did this
transition gradually. With all due respect, time is against us
here.”Bob retorted,“Ok. and I apologize for Paul and some of our
employees, they have been here a long time and just don’t
understand this digital transition, just try not to take it
personally.”“It’s just amazing to me how they don’t get what the
numbers show. Digital news is the onlyway we can save this
company. I’ll try to ignore it next time.”Taking what Ray said into
consideration Bob closed off the meeting, “We can pick up from
here tomorrow at the meeting with the entire staff to finalize what
path we decide to choose. See you tomorrow and get some re