Walt Disney World Company - Research Paper Example

Walt Disney World company Company Background Walt Disney World Company has several subsidiaries operating internationally. The company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, deals with entertainment and media enterprise. Walt Disney World Company is a diversified cross family of enterprises with five business segments. The company’s segments include media networks, studio entertainment, interactive media, parks and resorts, and consumer products. Walt Disney World Company is dedicated to operating within the ethical codes concerning training, employee selection, recruitment, and offering equal opportunities to all the organizational publics. The company supports several projects established to do social good to the people under the title of social corporate responsibility. A company is considered doing social good when it creates social value through its productive cooperation with stakeholders (Pies, Beckman and Hielscher 269). Managing several subsidiaries and affiliates of the company has caused the company to adopt interactive management, leadership, and organizational styles. Walt Disney World Company is market share oriented; the company therefore uses integrated communication strategies in its advertisement methods. Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Business ethics is a form of professional code of conduct that examines moral principles and problems that arise in the business environment. Business ethics applies to all aspects of a business environment and is beneficial to the conduct of people and entire operation of the organization. Corporate ethics have both normative and descriptive dimensions. The field of business practice and specialization adopts the normative dimensions, while the academics seeking to understand behavior of business employ the descriptive dimension of ethics. The primary objective of social responsibility is to create value for the community (Pies, Beckman and Hielscher 269). Walt World Disney Company promotes its commitment to non-economic values under the charters of ethical codes and moral standards. The company has adopted codes of business ethics to regulate areas that are beyond the control of government. Walt World Disney Company complies with standards and ethics concerning training that it offers through its learning management system referred to as Disney Development System. The company provides equal opportunities for all employees and recruitment applicants without discriminating them because of race, disability, religion, sexual orientation, color, national origin, marital status, or other basis that is against the federal law. Employees are prohibited from harassing any other employee, guest, or other person for reasons that are in contradiction with the law. Corporate social responsibility is a form of corporate self-regulation that businesses integrate into their business models to monitor and ensure their active compliance with the spirit of law, international norms, and ethical standards. Walt Disney World Company participates in doing social good to the people beyond the legal requirements and interests of the company (Barth 1). The company participates in eliminating the undesirable consequences associated with environmental and social issues. The company’s corporate citizenship goals include inspiring communities, kids, employees and parents in order to make long-lasting and positive change in the world (Barth 2). The Disney Friends for Change program, which operates in nineteen countries, has attracted two million and five hundred thousand kids to pledge for the environment. Other programs hosted by Disney in relation to corporate social responsibility include Disney Magic of Healthy Living, Disney’s Climate Solutions Fund, and Disney’s Human Rights Policy Statement. Management, Leadership and the Internal Organization Management refers to the act of coordinating people’s efforts to accomplish the desired goals and objectives of the organization. The management focuses on effective and efficient utilization of the available resources through minimization of wastage. Management incorporates planning, leading, directing, staffing, controlling, and organizing of people and efforts with the objective of accomplishing specified goals. Walt Disney World Company managers have a proper understanding of the pressures of customer waiting versus revenue (Cope 16). The management is continuously attempting to optimize revenue by balancing proper utilization of the available human resources to ensure that customers enjoy the service experience without extended wait. The company gives managers specific tools of management designed to help them in their functions and solving organizational problems. Pies, Beckman and Hielscher argue that effective problem-solvers must develop relevant tools and competencies of management (271) Leadership is a function of management that deals with social influence. Leadership describes a situation where one person volunteers to aid and support other people in accomplishing a common task. The leader guides, directs, and coordinates other people in attempting to achieve goals of the organization. Leadership in Walt Disney World Company does not solely focus on prices and profits; however, leaders focus on specifying the abilities of their commodities to meet the customer’s needs (Cope 22). Walt Disney World Company’s board of directors is strong and balanced characterized by exceptional knowledge and considerable experience. The company’s board of directors comprises of ten members. The leadership team devotes its efforts to strategic guidance through supporting delivery of long-term value of the company. Internal organization is the way in which a business is structured to effectively perform its operations. Internal structure of a company determines the relationships prevailing in the organization and the critical activities required to achieve organizational objectives (Haan and Mohammad 85). The objectives and communication networks that need to be built up both internally and externally, usually determine the structure of the internal organization. Large-scale corporations such as Walt Disney World Company develop internal organization structures based on satisfying the needs of different categories of customers. Walt Disney World Company employs a matrix structure in its management. The matrix structure enables employees to report two more than one line managers. The company has adopted this structure because the organization comprises of teams, which draws people from diverse specializations. Walt Disney also organizes its employees based on product, processes, and geographical area. The company deals with production of a range products, thus is convenient for it to create an organizational structure that is based on product lines. Some products of the company require a series of processes; various departments have been set up to perform each process. Additionally, Walt Disney World Company has branches many countries of the world. The management has adopted a geographical structure to ensure proper management of affiliates and subsidiaries. Customer-driven Marketing Marketing is a process of making consumers aware of product existence through communicating the value of a commodity. Customer-driven marketing primarily focuses on consumer wants as the drivers of strategic marketing decisions. Businesses that use customer-driven approach cannot pursue any marketing strategy until the selected methodology passes the test of consumer research (Shamma and Hassan 377). All aspects of the marketing plan are driven by the desires of potential consumers. The starting point of marketing endeavors, including the nature of t he product itself, consider the customers as the starting point. This approach attempts to prevent the expenditure of research and development funds to develop products that people will not buy. A formal approach to the customer-based approach is SIVA; SIVA stands for solution, information, value, access. Walt Disney World Company focuses on providing customers with the best experiences possible. The customer service of Disney adopts the gold standard where the management understands that the company that does not treat patrons as they should could be going in the wrong direction. Walt Disney World’s customer philosophy is based on the compass. The company’s compass is represented as N-Needs, W-Wants, S-Stereotypes, and E-Emotions (Shamma and Hassan 379). The company strives to meet the customers’ basic needs and give them the reason to demand the company’s goods and services again. The marketing personnel of Disney World understand the power of emotions when it comes to buying decisions; marketers thus strive to overcome the negative impressions that the customers could be holding towards their products. The customer-driven strategy of the company has seen it make remarkable progress in terms of profitability and market share. Conclusion Walt Disney World Company operates its business within the purview of law and ethical conducts regarding morality and fair treatment. The company ensures that the elements of management, leadership, and internal organization are excellently tailored towards the realization of organizational goals. Walt Disney uses the strategy of customer-driven marketing to ensure that they create value to consumers through the goods and services they offer. Works Cited Barth, Cindy. "The Walt Disney Company Issues 2010 Corporate Citizenship Report." CSRwireMar 23 2011. ProQuest. Web. 5 Nov. 2013 . Cope, Rachelle F. "Innovative Knowledge Management at Disney: Human Capital and Queuing Solutions for Services." Journal of Service Science 4.1 (2011): 13-19. ProQuest. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. Pies, Ingo, Markus Beckmann, and Stefan Hielscher. "Value Creation, Management Competencies, and Global Corporate Citizenship: An Ordonomic Approach to Business Ethics in the Age of Globalization." Journal of Business Ethics 94.2 (2010): 265-78. ProQuest. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. Shamma, Hamed, and Salah Hassan. "Customer-Driven Benchmarking." Benchmarking 20.3 (2013): 377-395. ProQuest. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. Haan, Salim Alawamleh, and Abdalraheem Kloub Mohammad. "Impact of Organizational Structure on Knowledge Management in the Jordanian Insurance Companies: From the Perspective of the Supervisory Leadership." International Journal of Business and Social Science 4.11 (2013):82-95. ProQuest. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. Read More