Disney Leadership and Organizational Culture - Essay Example

Running head: DISNEY LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE Disney leadership and organizational culture Name University Course Date Date Disney’s Leadership and Organizational Culture Introduction The culture of an organization can be defined as the shared values, norms and beliefs that shape the company’s objectives and strategy. The perceptions of an organizations staff are in essence ordered by the prevailing organizational culture and traditions. An organizations culture is exemplified in the myths, symbols and rituals that employees share. As employees share a common culture, they develop a coherent perception of events and situations, such as what is expected of company leadership, what is the expected code of conduct, and what performance standards are expected of them(Waltz, 2007). Leadership in an organization should put an intense focus on its employees like coming up with training programs to help the employees develop the tools needed to please the customers. Disney once said that. “You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world but it requires the people to make the dream a reality” (Waltz, 2007). This idea is what made Disney think that the only way his organization will be successful is through implementing strategic training, so that all the workers would be in a position of creating an environment that is conducive for the customers. He wanted all the employees to be customer responsive and this made him implement a training program for every employee in the organization. The intense focus Disney puts into every worker was paid back by the customer’s satisfaction which maintain them to buy from Disney business (The Walt Disney Company, 2009). Leaders should support and encourage employees to make suggestions and provide their own opinions especially regarding the management through open lines (Associated Content, 2008). The employees are trained in programs like ethics, diversity, professional development, and integrity. Continued motivation on workers is the key to making them be happy and this will make them get committed in their work. The leaders should create a culture in the organization that put customers first since customers should be considered first in a business. Leaders in an organization should create a culture that will make their workers feel that they are valued as an individual and a fundamental part of the team. This communication can be done through open chain of command, rewards, and comprehensive training in an organization. This culture has been applied in Disney and it has made it one of the lowest attrition rates for any organization in US. This philosophy of treating the employees well has been successful passed year after year in Disney. The basic belief by Disney is that the customers will not be happy if you do not have happy employees (Waltz, 2007). In an organization, community is very important since this is where the sales come into place. So leadership in an organization should take care of the community. In Disney, it ensures that visitors are supplied with the affordable and best accommodations. This strategy ensures that the customer’s budget fits the vacation with the “magic your way” plans. At every Disney business location in the world, several similarities are present but the biggest difference is the culture (Danielski, 2009). The location where an employee works is developed to suit his/her culture as well as to fit the beliefs of the local customers. The traditional heritage of an organization determines the employees and customers loyalty to the organization. The language used at Disney for example, in reference to employees and customers has gone a long way in determining their attitudes. At Disney, employees are referred to as “cast members”, because of the role they play in creation of happiness through entertainment. Customers are referred to as “guests”, because of the exceptional service and care they are given when they visit Disney (Byrman, 1999). Leadership in a company should develop effective Communication of the company’s Vision and Mission; for example in Disney’s, success is attributed to the management’s effective communication on the objectives. The values on which the business is founded have been successfully conveyed to the entire organization. The management takes initiative to guide their teams in decision making and provides leadership that is focused on enhancing performance at all levels (Ashby, 1999). A Disney Institute manager once says that “the leadership of an organization identifies an appropriate culture for the entity and the culture must then be communicated to employees and customers through a process”. According to the manager, employees at Disney are recognized by their contribution to satisfaction of guests, their performance, behavior, and duration of service. Care for employees is seen through three stages: The first strategy focuses on treating employees like customers, the second is promotion of an enabling a supportive work environment and a reward system that recognizes and celebrates employees with excellent performance (Ashby, 1999). This organization effectively uses an annual survey of questions to determine feedback from employees, such as their perception of management’s performance. This is meant to determine whether the communication strategy between employees and management is effective. At the completion of the survey, a meeting for all staff is conducted within three weeks, where concerns of employees are addressed and issues may be resolved. The corporate concern for employee wellness is apparent, as this has direct consequences on guest satisfaction. Their corporate strategy encourages effective communication in the organization and this can also be seen as an initiative to provide every employee with a weekly newsletter which publishes news updates and information related to company operations (Samson and Daft, 2009). In addition they use intranet which provides company information online, from stock prices to weather forecasts. Leadership should provide proper organizational Structure and Processes; this organizational structure is designed to connect the company’s vision to its operations and processes. In Disney, the framework developed supports effectiveness of the organizations division departments and job cargos are meant to be structured in order to enhance communication, cohesiveness and team work. They have maintained organizational structure and culture through development of resolved and focused processes. This has been achieved by designing its processes to engage and support team work. The company generously invests in improvement of its processes, beside ongoing learning programs that focus on company values, culture and traditions (Ashford & Humphrey, 1993). The company’s management believes that implications of the external environment may affect their performance. Team leaders are on regular basis provided with training in change management that is aimed at enhancing the employee’s responsiveness to uncertainty, and coping with this and changes in the organizational culture. Leadership should be focused on engaging employees to be actively involved in generation of individual success. Disney Company has developed a culture that demands individuals to assume responsibility for effective execution of its strategies. They motivate employees to be familiar with the events in the organization and to use sources to achieve the company’s objectives. The management at Disney has successfully established a culture of involving employees in making decisions and plans that affect them (Ashford & Humphrey, 1993). Organizational strategies focus on enhancing performance and fulfilling expectations. Employees at Disney are valued as individuals. This is evident through effective communication at all levels of the chain of command. The leadership has employed generous resources in training and rewarding exemplary staff (King, 2007). The philosophy and tradition of developing the personal abilities and skills of employees has been passed on from generation to generation by the corporate leadership at Disney. The leadership in a company should exemplify a culture that enhances dynamism in partnerships. This will encourages development of effective collaboration among the functional units through relationship and team building programs. The management of Disney encourages employees to be open in providing feedback that is essential in developing the company’s product and service portfolio. Trust is important in Disney’s culture, and employees are encouraged to provide their input. The company’s employees were encouraged to carry out innovative risk and be creative while having fun (Associated Content, 2008). Workers are encouraged to participate in activities in order to identify how to communicate effectively, make good decisions, and solve problems. This will make them share the accomplishment of the company happily as a result of the effort they put in themselves. Participating workers should follow the company’s rules and regulations since they are very important in keeping the company in progress of attaining its goals. Management seeks to continually produce consistent improvement in performance. To this end, effective strategies should be initiated to guide employees through anticipated change. Programs that focus on building passion and excitement, while fostering mutual commitment and integrity have been initiated in Disney. Employees in most organizations want to deliver quality service, and be recognized and appreciated for it. But many organizations unfortunately do not set up their staff to achieve required results. This is not the case with Walt Disney, as the organization puts all effort to an enabling organizational framework for employees to optimize potential and ability in quality service delivery (Associated Content, 2008). To this end, selected team leaders are on annual basis send to the training institute at Disney’s World Resort to enhance their skills in service delivery. From this program, the representatives are taught Disney’s customer service objectives. They are assisted to understand how the businesses are able to effectively implement customer service strategies. Moreover, the representatives get to learn how to provide excellent customer service while enjoying their job. Effective management of employees depends on the leadership role in an organization by developing and communicating its organizational culture. This process starts at recruitment of employees, through to effective development and management of careers. Disney’s success is largely attributed to visionary leadership which is effective leadership of internal operations. Disney’s leadership has the capability to have the human emotion sense. The organization has employed deliberate initiatives to establish values and behaviors that unleash the leadership qualities inherent in its work force (Marsden, 2007). The organizations effectiveness in strategy execution is attributed to the leadership role and their ability to bring into line the vision of the organization with the leading style (Associated Content, 2008). In this sense the organizations employees are able to work as a team since they share common objectives and goals, passion and inspiration. The management deliberately involves departmental teams in formulating and implementing its objectives. The management recognizes the importance of every individual and teams contribution as a strategy to inspire leadership development. The primary objective of all leadership initiatives is to enhance customer satisfaction, employee wellness, and efficiency in operations of all functional units. References: Ashby, F.C. (1999). Revitalize your corporate culture: powerful ways to transform your company into a high-performance organization. Google Books. Retrieved May 20, 2010, from http://books.google.com/books?id=kWtn5Hge-GEC&pg=PA200&lpg=PA200&dq=disney%27s+attrition+rate&source=bl&ots=J95DOEwzBZ&sig=Z7KC1WosboHAvSQhxgPtp8vwesQ&hl=en&ei=T92aSraQGpGxtgf70sHUBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=&f=fals Ansberry, C. (1992). Young Artists See Amusement Parks as Step to Big Time. Wall Street Journal, 5 (1), p. 21. Ashford, B & Humphrey, R. (1993) Emotional labor in service roles: the influence of identity. Academy of Management Journal, 10 (18), p. 88-115 Associated Content. (2008). Disney's organizational behavior concepts. Retrieved May 19, 2010, from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1013526/disneys_organizational_behavior_concepts_pg3.html?cat=3 Byrman, A. (1999). The Disneyization of society. Sociological Review, 47(1), p. 38-361 "Company News, “Disney to Close Animation Studio in Orlando". The New York Times. January 13, 2004. Danielski, A. (2009). Behavioral characteristics of an organization: the disney corporation. Associated Content. Retrieved may, from on May 20, 2010 http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1370668/behavioral_characteristics_of_an_organization_pg7.html?cat=3 King, Susan. (2007). "Costumes fit for a Disney princess". The Arizona Republic Marsden, J. (2007). Nothing Goofy About Seminar on Customer Service, Disney Style. Hartford courant, 12 (08), p. E.1 The Walt Disney Company. (2009). Safety and security. Retrieved May 20, 2010, from http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/cr_safety_security.html Waltz, J. (2007). The magic of disney's organizational behavior concepts. Associated Content. Retrieved on May 19, 2010, from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/381660/the_magic_of_disneys_organizational_pg5.html?cat=3 Read More