Abstract
Robert DeFillippi, “Dilemmas of Project-Based Media Work: Contexts and
Choices,” Journal of Media Business Studies, 6(4):5-30 (2009).
Key Words: project management, media, identity, autonomy, learning, alliances
Media firms exist in dynamic business contexts which influence how they and their
creative workers respond to a series of project-based work dilemmas. This article reviews
three forms of dilemmas or tensions within media-based businesses: identity dilemmas
of individualization versus collective belonging, organizing dilemmas of creative autonomy
versus corporate control; and learning dilemmas of creative exploration versus
commercial exploitation. The article conceptualizes how creative businesses and creative
workers respond to these dilemmas in terms of separating, integrating, and shifting
response options. It then examines how contextual features of media industry
technologies, markets, institutional practices, and user coproduction convergences
impact how project businesses and their creative workers are likely to respond to the
dilemmas.
Robert DeFillippi, “Dilemmas of Project-Based Media Work: Contexts and
Choices,” Journal of Media Business Studies, 6(4):5-30 (2009).
Key Words: project management, media, identity, autonomy, learning, alliances
Media firms exist in dynamic business contexts which influence how they and their
creative workers respond to a series of project-based work dilemmas. This article reviews
three forms of dilemmas or tensions within media-based businesses: identity dilemmas
of individualization versus collective belonging, organizing dilemmas of creative autonomy
versus corporate control; and learning dilemmas of creative exploration versus
commercial exploitation. The article conceptualizes how creative businesses and creative
workers respond to these dilemmas in terms of separating, integrating, and shifting
response options. It then examines how contextual features of media industry
technologies, markets, institutional practices, and user coproduction convergences
impact how project businesses and their creative workers are likely to respond to the
dilemmas.
