Disney: The Magic Continues - Essay Example

Disney: The Magic Continues Disney: The Magic Continues to rival top competitors which ensures that they remain at the top of their game. 'Successbegins with a Dream' is the tagline of Rich Hamilton's book about the business strategies of the Disney Empire. The author of this paper believes that Walt Disney, himself, defined his organization's culture, structure and human resource practices when he expressed his desires for his theme parks to present a good family show in a clean environment with 'friendly employees'. When Disney had no choice but to layoff 4,000 employees because of their family orientation operations Disney ensured that these employees were supported by the company. This was done to ensure the job satisfaction of the remaining employees. (Baldinelli 2001) Disney's organizational structure is spearheaded by a President and Chief Executive Officer. His management team comprises a Chairman of the Board of Directors who is flanked by eleven Board members. Corporate managers and Business Unit Managers add the final prong to the management ladder. (The Walt Disney Company: Corporate Information) A remarkable human resource strategy adopted by Disney is the discussion of a 120-question survey distributed to employees to ascertain the quality of communication and overall happiness of the Disney tribe. On the completion of these surveys all staff misgivings are addressed and consequently all predicaments are settled. Disney insists that all employees have valuable ideas which can be shared. Hence a newsletter is distributed throughout the company on a regular basis. In this way management and subordinates maintain an open communication system. The low hierarchical structure of this organization, therefore, is fairly fluid; there is no rigidity in their approach. Although Disney asserts that there policy is one in which each Disney location is empowered to transmit not only the culture of Disney which is to make people happy but also to convey the specific culture of the particular country. Baldinelli 2001 insists that one of the major weaknesses was their inability to allow managers of the Disney Corporation outside of the United States to manage autonomously. Initially, Euro Disney did not prosper. Researchers speculated that conflict between central management and local management was the major cause of the problem. (Baldinelli 2001) For this reason the Euro Disney encountered a number of challenges. Baldinelli 2001 noted that the central management prefers to 'micromanage' the organizations that are external of the United States. Contrastingly, Johnny Waltz boasts that 'Each Disney location offers culture that coincides with the location, such as Disney Japan. Even though it is an exact replica of Disney California, the culture is based on the microscopic attention to detail that Japanese citizens are used to along with the World Bazaar that is similar to Main Street USA, but manipulated to appeal to the Japanese.' Schein 1988 ascribes the development of an organization's culture as an aid to deal with the organization's environment. He also described culture as comprising three levels, namely, behavior and artifacts, values, assumptions and beliefs. Behavior and artifacts is the most obvious level. Further, Schein 1988 claims that at this level one can observe patterns of behavior and 'manifestations of culture' such as 'dress codes' and 'physical layout of work spaces.' In the case of Disney the most visible level of culture would entail dressing in costumes and not wearing any makeup during the entire work period. The concept of making people happy is projected in every physical phenomenon at the theme parks in particular. Beyond behavior and artifacts is the concept of the values of the organization. Schein 1988 believes that values establish the behavior of the members of the organization. In the world of Disney the values of the employees are imputed to them from the first day of entry into the establishment. Employees are immediately oriented and indoctrinated with the values of the Disney Empire. Thus, when an employee goes to the extreme to make a customer feel welcome and happy, they are performing based on the values that were delegated to them. The third and final level is assumptions and beliefs. Schein insists that 'underlying assumptions grow out of values, until they become taken for granted.' Disney's magic continues because they have been able to instill the assumption and belief into the hearts of both their employees and customers that Disney was created to make people happy. Waltz 2007 notes that Disney's fundamental belief is that happy guests are the consequences of happy employees. Herein rests the deep-seated connection between Disney's culture and its human resource practices. Moreover, Schein 1988 argues that an organization's culture is 'created and maintained by the organization's leadership'. Hence, Disney strives to recruit leaders who would be excellent in their attempt to fulfill the company's objectives. Natasha Emmons quotes Chris Caracci, 'We've learned we have to have good leaders'When you're unhappy in the workplace, the workplace productivity goes down. Unhappy employees don't deliver good guest satisfaction.' Emmons continues Caracci's quote, 'In finding leaders that promote loyalty, honesty and friendships, Disney looks for people who can demonstrate their values. (Emmons 2002) Carter Mc Namara posits that the Human Resource Management function consists of activities such as staffing, 'recruiting and training the best employees, ensuring they are high performers', compensation and the like. Interestingly, Waltz posits that the 'magic begins' with an extensive training program for first time employees. The training is given by the Disney Institute which ensures that the values and the beliefs of the company are continuously being reproduced. In addition, Terri Stines in his article on Rich Hamilton's book observed that part of Walt Disney's psyche was to think outside the box. Thus, Walt Disney disseminated this philosophy to his employees. He structured his organization for both the employees and the activities of his theme park to be derived from thinking that was done from outside the box. 'Disney strove for a total guest experience, from the first call for a reservation until the guest boarded the airplane for the trip home. To ensure that all went well, he mandated that even "backstage" cast members be trained to deal with guests. Members of the clean-up crew might be the last employee a guest encounters, and for better or for worse, leave a lasting impression.' (Waltz 2001) Walt Disney from the beginning ensured that his organizational structure, culture and human resource practices were in sync with each other by establishing the Disney Institute. Waltz 2007 proposes that the institute promulgates Disney's ideas on management, leadership, Human Resource practices and other organizational procedures. Thus, Disney's Magic Continues because the organization leaves no stone unturned in their quest to obtain and train employees who are 'a good fit' for the image of Disney. (Waltz 2007) Through training employees are given ample time to decide and demonstrate whether they are comfortable with no tattoos, no piercing and no excessive jewelry and makeup. (Waltz 2007) In short employees must adapt to the Disney culture immediately. Consistent with this idea of immediate adaptation to Disney's culture is Disney's Human Resource practice of immediately hiring and training candidates on the same day they are interviewed. Amazingly, this Human Resource practice boosts the organizational culture of Disney and allows Disney to boast of having 'one of the lowest attrition rates for any company in the United States.' (Waltz 2007) Emmons notes that the greatest means of promoting empowerment is 'through a model where the organization's structure and culture overlap as much as possible.' Throughout this paper there has been evidence of tremendous overlap not only between Disney's structure and culture but also its human resource practices. Thus, Disney continues to prove that it is certainly a force to be reckoned with. Mike Farell writing for Multichannel News on 12th May, 2008 entitles his piece, 'Disney Beats the Odds'. In spite of global recession, a weak dollar and a decline in the economy of the United States, Disney continues to beat competitors' strategies and accumulate revenues of billions of dollars. Indeed, Disney's magic continues to woo millions of investors, employees and customers from all over the globe. References Baldinelli, James. (2001). Walt Disney Company Overview. Retrieved June 24, 2008, from http://www.providence.edu/polisci/students/disney/links.htm Emmons, Natasha. (2002). Keeping Employees Happy Is Key To Keeping Guests Happy. Amusement Business. 114, (49) Farrell, Mike. (2008) Disney Beats the Odds. Multichannel News. 29 (19) p42 Hamilton, Rich. (2005). Walt Disney's Success Story. Disney Magic: Business Strategy You Can Use at Work and at Home. Retrieved June 24, 2008, from http://magicstrategy.com/articles/walt-disneys-success-story/ Schein, Edgar. Strategic Leadership and Decision Making: Organizational Culture. Retrieved June 24, 2008, from http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch16.html Stines, Terri . (2004) .Could Disney Magic Work for You' Taking Stock. Business Specialist. Retrieved June 26, 2008, from http://www.kckpl.lib.ks.us/refdept/tssum04.htm The Walt Disney Company: Corporate Information Retrieved June 26, 2008, from http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/management_team.html Waltz, Johnny. (2007). The Magic of Disney's Organizational Behavior Concepts. Read More