Leadership at Walt Disney - Case Study Example

Name Class Unit Title: Leadership at Walt Disney Introduction Walt Disney is a global leader in family entertainment and media industries. The company have five major business segments which are; media networks, interactive media, studio entertainment, parks and resorts and consumer products. Walt Disney has been able to succeed in the global market through excellent leadership (Haley & Sidky, 2007). At the moment, the company is led by Robert A. Iger. Mr Iger took the position of leadership in 2005 (Disney, 2015). Mr Iger has been described as a leader of great inspiration. He has managed to lead the company to being among the most innovative multinational company. This essay will discuss Mr Igor leadership qualities based on the framework of leadership theories. Lastly, the paper will choose three aspects of their leadership and describe why they can be adopted or avoided. Discussion of leadership qualities based on framework of leadership theories Through his calm personality, Iger was able to initiate a smooth transition of power from the company former CEO in 2005 (Gandossy & Verma, 2006). The company former CEO leadership was command and control based under the former CEO. This had led to an autocratic structure where there was a low level of creativity. Once he took the job as CEO, he changed the company culture and philosophy (Bloomberg, 2010). This is through shifting the organisation leadership from being centralised to democratic. He transformed the organisation to the current structure that is more open to innovative. Mr Igor has been able to utilise a lot of positive traits from democratic leadership. This includes self-confidence and optimism. He makes the employees have a sense of belonging to the company. In his leadership, he has in several times stressed the need for optimism (Siklos, 2009). People will rarely follow someone who is a pessimist. However, optimism works well when combined with realism. He can be described as a patient leader who listens before reacting to situations. Through his leadership style, he has become very accessible to people. This is a vital attribute for an influential leader. His accessibility has led to high levels of motivation among workers (Haley & Sidky, 2007). Employees at the company have a sense of ownership. Mr Igor has been described as an open and agreeable leader. He has always been open about his plans for the company. Mr Iger has created a democratic leadership structure at Walt Disney. After becoming CEO, he initiated the plan to buy Pixar (Siklos, 2009). His main aim was to regain the animation beauty that Disney had lost. Within a year, he was able to purchase Pixar. This was a great proof of his capabilities to lead the company in all situations (Grover, 2007).The decision to purchase Pixar has been a significant milestone for the company. Mr Iger is innovative and creative. This is a trait that has helped the company to retain their market share. Walt Disney is a company that thrives on imagination and creativity (Reingold, 2012). This requires leadership that is open to new ideas and possibilities. Mr Iger believes that the media is experiencing innovation. This has made him incorporate high technology in the company. Through his leadership, the company become the first to release movies and TV programmes that were available in iTunes. He has made it possible for viewers to enjoy HD movies on their personal computers and Smartphones. This is through being a supporter of innovative ideas in the company. Mr Iger openness to new ideas has changed the company for better (Bloomberg, 2010). Mr Iger is a risk taker. This is evident through the company acquisition of Pixar and enhancement of Disney Parks. He was able to take the risk and announce the need to by Pixar at the first board meeting. He inspires the workers to take risks (Reingold, 2012). A good leader must be ready to take risks that will have a positive impact on the company. Despite this, he understands that with risk taking there are failures. A good leader is supposed to understand that mistakes can happen when taking risks (Wexler, 2005). Risk taking has been embraced by the company leading to high levels of innovation and creativity. The emphasis on quality leadership that is exhibited by Iger can be explained through McClelland’s Need theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000). This is through the need to maintain a close relationship with others. Iger maintains a close relationship with the employees. He ensures that he visits them in their workstations and has conversations with them. This is other means of motivating the employees by showing them that he cares. Employees are assured that he is ready to listen to them. Through his example of trust and openness, he has created a culture that employees follow (Brown & Trevino, 2006). This has made Disney have an environment of creativity where interaction is embraced. Leadership is based on the values and personality. The CEO personality has enabled him to have things done through others. When a leader is flexible, they can guide the employees’ successfully (Yukl, 2006). The leader is supposed to understand the employees’ needs so that they can come up with a motivation plan. This requires one to utilise McGregor’s Theory Y. Through an empowered workforce, an organisation can achieve their goals. This has been the case for Disney where employees are empowered. Empowerment gives the workers strength to work in achieving both organisation and individual goals (Brown & Trevino, 2006). This has promoted Disney expansion sand enhanced individual employee growth. Despite the good aspects of his leadership style, there is also a negative side. His participatory leadership may lead to sharing of sensitive information. Sharing of sensitive information may lead to conflict among employees or information leak (Kanji, 2008). When there is information leak to the competitors, the organisation is highly affected. This may even lead to losing the competitive advantage. His leadership is also time intensive. Making decision takes time under democratic leadership which affects efficiency. This is due to fact that decision making is carried out through consultations. The inputs from different sources have to be evaluated before coming up with the final decision (Kanji, 2008). In an organisation with a lot of employees such as Disney, this is a major problem. Aspects of their leadership that can be adopted Mr Iger leadership style is admirable. There are three main aspects of his leadership styles that one can adopt. The aspects are; collaboration, vision and openness. Democratic leadership have created a collaborative environment and enhanced innovation and creativity (Cho & Pucik, 2005). To adopt this aspect, one has to be open to other people’s ideas. It involves giving the employees a chance to express themselves and considering their input. This leads to a team oriented workplace where everyone is working towards achieving a common goal. This is a crucial aspect of democratic leadership. Participation requires a leader to be accessible by the employees. This would involve creating an environment that allows interactions and conduct meetings that are more inclined to conversations (Rok, 2009). As a leader, one has to allow subordinates take part in decision-making. This form of employee empowerment helps in boosting their morale (Crossan &Vera, 2004). Through participative leadership, a lot of innovations have happened at Disney, which gives the company a competitive advantage. A good leader must have a vision. This is another aspect that is seen in Mr Iger leadership. Passion is fulfilled from one's passion. When he become CEO, Mr Iger made clear his vision. He wanted Disney to continue expanding through innovations while at the same time maintaining their heritage. To adopt this aspect, one must have a target. A vision leads the leader towards their set goal. The target must be realistic and achievable (Crossan &Vera, 2004). This is seen in the manner in which Mr Iger was able to buy Pixar within a year after announcing the intention. Lastly, openness is another aspect of Mr Iger leadership that can be adopted. This is a major aspect of democratic leadership. Being true to others leads to enhanced levels of trust. This can be adopted through practising servant leadership. Democratic leadership involves leaders being the servants to the organisation. The Servant must always be truthful to their sovereignty that is the organisation and other stakeholders (Spears, 2009). This also involves being able to inspire trust and confidence in workers. One must also be open to new ideas from the employees (Rok, 2009). In Mr Iger leadership, openness has been a major contributed to success. He has always been open about his plans for the company. When he wanted the company to buy Pixar, he made the announcement to the board. Conclusion A good leader can lead an organisation to excellence. This has been the case of Mr Iger. He took Disney leadership in 2005 and transformed the company for better. Since he took the leadership of the company, Disney have changed with trends and is one of the most modern organisations. He changed the autocratic leadership that was in place and replaced it with participative leadership. His leadership supports creativity and innovation by being open to ideas. He is a risk taker and has encouraged this tradition in the organisation. In his leadership, he has been emphasising on quality. Mr Iger personality has enabled him to have things done through others. Three leadership aspects that one can choose to adopt from him are; collaboration, vision and openness. References Bloomberg L.P. 2010, How Bob Iger Unchained Disney, Bloomberg Business week, Viewed 6thApril 2015 from, http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-02-04/how-bob-iger- unchained-disney Brown, M.E. & Trevino, L.K. 2006, “Ethical Leadership: A Review and Future Directions,” The Leadership Quarterly, Vol.17, no.6, p.595-616. Cho, H. & Pucik, V. 2005, “Relationship between innovativeness, quality, growth, profitability, and market value,” Strategic Management Journal, Vol.26, no.6, p.555-575. 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