Walt Disneys Management Establishment of a Global Team - Research Paper Example

Global Team Development

Introduction

The objective of this research is to establish the primary changes that development of a global team has brought to the Walt Disney Company. The development of the global team requires sufficient resources set aside to ensure that team attains the necessary skills and knowledge to manage the operations of the company on a global platform. The Walt Disney Company started off when two brothers, Walter and Roy decided to start an entertainment channel that would entirely concentrate on production of animations. The two brothers were equal partners in the beginning when the company was known as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in 1923. Roy later suggested that the company should undergo a transformation which involved a change in its name to The Walt Disney Studio. The company created its first cartoon characters Mickey and Minnie mouse which grew to become very popular in children's entertainment sector (Atzori, Melis, & Giudici, 2012). The entertainment appreciated the content developed by the Walt Disney Company, and this propelled it to great success which prompted the company to venture into other fields in the entertainment sector. The Walt Disney Company ventured into production of consumer products which were mainly meant for kids. This deal was reached when Roy accepted an offer to have the cartoon characters printed on children’s paper towels. The Walt Disney Company became a public company in 1940, and that expanded its capital base and enhanced its expansion and investment in foreign territories. In 1955, the company pioneered a different approach to the entertainment when it opened its first Disneyland theme park.

The theme parks were a great attraction and boosted the success of the company even further. At the same time, the company ventured into the television business where it opened up various television stations. The Walt Disney Company currently has diversified its operations into four distinct industries which are; consumer products, theme parks and resorts, media networks and studio entertainment (The Walt Disney Company, 2017). The consumer products sector is involved in development, sales, and promotion of products that represent the Disney characters. The Television, radio, and cable properties are the core of the media network. All these expansions have led to the rise of the company’s dominance in the Global market.

The global economy has currently become quite dynamic and competitive that managers from the great companies have started to consider alternative ways to remain effective and relevant in the global market such as global team development. These global teams are generally a pool of geographically dispersed professional employees who work in designated regions to promote the operations and the corporate image of the company (Bond, 2011). Walt Disney Company is one of the organizations that have combined skill sets and expertise from around the world to come up with a global team that has an extensive understanding of their targeted global markets and has the ability to keep the company profitable in these regions. The Walt Disney Company reaps the benefits of international diversity through bringing together employees from different ethnic backgrounds and cultures that varied work experiences and different perspectives on strategic and organizational challenges (Curry, 2015). This is a very significant strategy in the performance of the company as it helps it gain a competitive advantage in its target market.

Literature Review

Every global company’s competitive advantage depends on its ability to coordinate critical resources and information that are spread across different geographical locations. The Walt Disney global team targets several emerging markets which the company believes would be advantageous for its business. These markets include Latin America, Japan, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. These emerging markets have particularly been selected by the Walt Disney Company due to their consistent economic growth and the increased population size. The most recent achievement by the Walt Disney is venturing out into Shanghai, which is one of the rapidly developing China urban centers. China is believed to have a population of over 1.3 Billion people, which requires an expansion of the initial investment as the current Disney Resort in Hong Kong does not meet the needs of the population. Besides the rapid growth and stable economy, China has a GDP growth of approximately +10.3% in the recent year (Freeman, 2014). This means that the Chinese population has money to spend on luxuries such as the Disney resort. Most of the competitors that the Walt Disney company faces in the industry have also gone international by expanding their operations in most of the emerging markets. Disney has however been able to maintain a constant delivery of quality service and enhanced customer experience which has given it a competitive advantage over other players in the industry.

The Walt Disney Company's success in the global market has not been easy to achieve. The company has taken many years to study and analyze trends in some emerging market such as China and Japan. Global team development refers to the strategic move by the human resource department to compose a team to represent a company in the world market. This team is usually comprised of professionals who take the responsibility of promoting the business as well as enhancing its corporate image in the international market. Ingelsson, Eriksson & Lilja (2012) talks about the development of global teams in international organizations, whereby Walt Disney Corporation is one of the organizations quoted in the article. The Walt Disney Company has continually invested in the development of a reliable global team that would give them a competitive advantage in the international market. Global teams require proactive attention and continued support as they are responsible for the success of the business in the global market. The increased competition in the industry requires the Disney Company to develop a reliable global team that will be able to propel its popularity and sales in the international markets.

Research Methodology

Data collection techniques such as structured questionnaires were used to attain information about the Walt Disney global team development from relevant sources. This information was used together with information attained from analysis of literature material on the same topic. The sources utilized in this study were believed to be credible and to contain relevant information about the global operations of the company. This was one of the strategies that ensured that the research attained reliable information on the global team development in the Walt Disney Company. The second method involved analysis of scholarly and peer reviewed articles which are believed to contain authentic information about the global team development.

Findings and Discussion

From the research, it was evident that the Walt Disney Company has implemented numerous strategies to bring together its global team. The research revealed that the company makes use emotional regulation strategies on the onstage workers, which is a fulfillment of one of the regulations that were passed by the organization (Siklos, 2009). Sirklos talks about a film that was developed by the Walt Disney Corporation about the late apple chief executive officer Steve jobs. The article talks about innovation which is encouraged throughout the administration of the Walt Disney Company and the role it has played in ensuring that the company develops a workforce that upholds its global goals and ambitions. This is usually quite useful for the global team as besides getting the ultimate satisfaction, it has supportive teams that it can rely on. The establishment of the global team has also ensured that the Walt Disney Company adheres to international standards that regulate the entertainment industry. This has been a sure way to boost the corporate image of the company as well as to attract more potential customers in the international market (Reyers & Matusitz, 2012). Teamwork is one of the strategies that have enhanced production of quality content by the company. Its emphasis on establishing a good relationship with its global partners has enhanced the creation of a reliable global team that is able to propel the company to ultimate success.

The Walt Disney global team follows several strategies which include the Path-Goal model, the contingency theory, and the teamwork theory. All these are combined to come up with a management system which has enabled the company to remain successful in the industry. A path-goal model is an approach that defines the primary goals as well as the procedures that the team should follow to achieve them (Reyers & Matusitz, 2012). The team is expected to keep focused on the path and the goals only. The goal is to increase your employees' motivation, empowerment, and satisfaction, so they become productive members of the organization. The contingency theory which is also applied by the Walt Disney Company emphasizes on the best corporate organizational approach that enables making the best decisions for a company.

Atzori, Melis, & Giudici, (2012) describes how the company has promoted its environmental philosophy in the development of its global team. According to Atzori, Melis, & Giudici (2012) every world market in the current world has regulations regarding environmental conservation. Walt Disney Company has strict policies that enforce corporate social responsibility especially with regards to the environment. The global team is developed by combining of employees who can transform the environmental philosophy into an actionable environmental plan in the regions that they are located. This has been beneficial to the company in the past as it has boosted its image across the globe and also gained it a pool of loyal customers who are impressed by the social responsibility policies of the organization. The Walt Disney Company has insisted on playing a leadership role in environmental sustainability through its global team (Atzori, Melis, & Giudici, 2012). This has enabled it to grow to one of the largest organizations that have maintained high standards of corporate social responsibility in the entertainment industry.

The global team developed by the country which spans in many global markets has ensured that environment continues to be a priority (Curry, 2015). The company has in the past invested numerous resources from its branches to fund environmental conservation in regions such as the threatened Atlantic forest in Brazil, coral reef protection in Bahamas and conservation of a vast savannah land in Africa. The global team development process in the company encompasses all these factors to ensure that there is continuity in the achievement of the basic goals of the company besides taking corporate social responsibilities. The environmental philosophy is meant to enable the global team to create an environment that is beneficial to the customers of the business, employees, business partners and the general public (Atzori, Melis, & Giudici, 2012). This has led to increased productivity of the company in different markets where the global teams have fully implemented the environmental strategy.

Freeman (Freeman, 2012) brings forth the issue of how the entertainment company is keen on details when combining its global team. This global team which is made by the Disney Company takes the responsibility of representing it and selling its products and services to the outside world. It is therefore important that this team possesses the best qualities that will appeal to the markets and enhance the development of trade and business agreements that would propel the operations of the company in the market to the next level. The other thing that the author talks about is the strategy of continuous employee training as well as the engagement of employees at an emotional level. The performance of the global team is highly determined by the skills and expertise that it possesses (Freeman, 2012). The continuous training strategy which is adopted by the company is meant to ensure that the global team is at par with emerging market trends and current technologies that are applicable in their representation role. Emotional engagement between the global team and the company’s management is an issue that is meant to bring a better understanding and coherence in implementation of the key strategies of the company in the global market.

Hooey takes a divergent approach in analyzing the mission statement of the company and its application in the global team development process. The company’s mission statement acts as a constant reminder of the company’s fundamental goals. The leadership of the global team ensures that the goals of the company are embedded in the psychology of the team members so as to ensure that every individual in the team works to the best interests of the organization (Hooey, 2016). Walt Disney Company is one of the organizations that have its global team analyzed in this article alongside other great companies such as Levi Strauss and Toyota.

Total quality management (TQM) is a global team management strategy that is used by the Walt Disney Company to ensure effectiveness and goal driven management. According to Ingelsson, Eriksson & Lilja (2012), total quality management is a value-based philosophy which is based on the underlying values of an organization. The Walt Disney management ensures that the global team conforms to the total quality management policies so as to achieve a thriving team on the global market. The total quality management instills a strong organizational culture on the global team which is a sure way to ensure continuity in the achievement of organizational goals and promotion of its policies in the global market. The approach ensures that there are shared goals and values among the global team and thus achieving coherence in operations towards the goals of the company (Ingelsson, Eriksson & Lilja, 2012). The company ensures that the global team consists of people who possess the desired values and who are able to socialize with the rest of the team and deliberate on emerging challenges coming up with solutions.

Emotional regulation is another strategy that the Walt Disney Company incorporates into the management of its global team. The organization usually has preset target and expectations which the workforce is expected to meet. The global team has a set of guidelines which are meant to standardize its conduct on the world stage with regards to emotional regulation and manipulation. Reyers in his article refers to the emotional engagement of the customers in the set of product and services that the company provides (Reyers & Matusitz, 2012). The organization believes that the best way to appeal to its customers is through developing an emotional attachment that will trigger loyalty among the customer pool. The global team is expected to implement these emotional related concepts as a way of winning over the target markets and promoting the profitability of the company in these regions.

Conclusion

The Walt Disney’s management establishment of a global team was a move that brought a revolution in its global operations. The company uses theories such as path goal, the contingency and the team work theories as revealed by research on its operations. These strategies are put in place to guide the team have enhanced the continued success of the company in beating completion and venturing into new global markets. Emotional regulation is another strategy that the Walt Disney Company incorporates into the management of its global team. The company has managed to come up with an efficient management scheme which has enhanced its success. Management plays a significant role in the success of a business. The total quality management (TQM) is another technique that the Walt Disney Company uses in global team development and management. This approach ensures effectiveness and goal driven management in the operations of the global team. The management at the Walt Disney Company has proved to be both competent and experienced. The global team which is focused on the emerging markets such as China, Japan, and Asia has enabled the company to venture into these regions successfully.