Al Jazeera’s institutional development, then on the importance and role of evaluation in the development process.
1. The Relationship between “Core Business” and “Support Services” One of the most prominent topics of discussion that required sev- eral brainstorming sessions was on the relationship between “core busi- ness” and “support services” within the network. This key discussion would have an impact on the network’s division and department clas- sification as core or support, with employee salaries, privileges and benefits structure dependent on classification. Two different directions emerged: A- One group saw that such a classification could not be applied because all the departments and divisions were already integrated parts and could not be split into these categories. In their view, such a culture of differentiation between core and support units would not serve the overall internal workflow. After all, they argued, the network’s chan- nels, platforms, divisions and departments all shared and acted upon the same mission. They rejected such a classification in the spirit of the comprehensive work philosophy—all of an institution’s components are equally indispensable, and that the concerted efforts of all departments and divisions is the only way to guarantee premium media content. All the network’s employees, administrators, technical engineers, graphic designers, journalists, news and programme producers and presenters and others participated in this process. This involved every network employee and worker, regardless of their role, because the bottom line is they all perform their tasks in the best interests of the smooth opera- tion of the network’s channels and various platforms. B- The other group saw there was a graduated list of priorities, and a difference in importance between the network’s core (essential) and support (assistance) components. Based on this, they said there should be a classification, which determines the administrative position of these components. They argued Al Jazeera was originally a television institution, and all administrative, human resources, financial, techni- cal, legal and other components were created to serve this.
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