Diversity At Walt Disney Company

Having a diverse workforce is a serious matter to our business. We need a variety of opinions, ideas and perspectives to make sure we maintain our own performance and represent our marketplace globaly. When the customers reflect the communities that we serve, it improves the way we connect to our guests, consumers and audiences. We work together toward an inclusive environment that encourages creativity, innovation and camaraderie throughout all of our companies.

Introduction The Walt Disney Company is an American diversified multinational mass media corporation. It is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. It generated US$ 42.278 billion in 2012. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, and established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and travel. The Walt Disney Company operates as five primary units and segments: The Walt Disney Studios or Studio Entertainment, which includes the company's film, recording label, and theatrical divisions; Parks and Resorts, featuring the company's theme

At Disney World, English speaking employees are brought in from all over the world on one-year contracts, and combined together to create the fantasy experience the has made Disney's theme parks so popular (Global Agenda 2007, p.1). This engineered melting pot creates a unique situation for a manager, as they will be responsible for leading a very diverse group of young men and women, potentially from all over the globe. Leading and controlling this broad based group requires the ability to shift gears quickly and correctly to approach individual team members differently, while continuing to be conscious of the cultural differences and how particular actions could be perceived. With more than 58,000 workers and an annual payroll that exceeds 1.1 billion, Disney World is a shining example of a management formula that has set a standard for getting many different cultures to work together (Global Agenda 2007, p.1). I guess Disney truly is a small world after all.

It is very important for leaders and managers to embrace a diverse workforce. Because diversity could possibly add influence to the market share, and could widen the talent in the recruitment process for the organization. In addition, the organizations could benefit from the various perspectives and experiences; for example, different races, gender, and age groups within the workforce. However, a diverse workforce might also be challenging; for instance, leaders and managers may spend too much time in promoting

Disney strives to maintain a workforce that reflects open opportunity, where everyone is at an advantage by the company potential.

Maintaining an image as a culturally-diverse corporation is a concern that has become increasingly important in recent years. Wal-Mart’s upper management team, in 2006, created “a panel of outside experts to advise top executives on promoting diversity in its work force” as part of a phase of planning to increase internal diversity in the company (Kabel, 2006). The purpose of the creation of this panel was to give the company’s upper management information about issues of diversity and ideas on the promotion of workplace diversity.

The workforce in America today is enhanced with a significant mix of genders, race, religion, age and other background factors. For a business to be successful long term demands for a diverse range of talent that can bring perspective, fresh ideas and opinions to their work. The challenge of diversity is allowing managers to make the most out of different cultural backgrounds, lifestyles, plus different genders and ages to answer to different business opportunities more creatively and promptly. Diversity has changed in a way that the issue is no longer just male or female and black and white. It is greatly complex now. It is many things but it is greatly about the way we connect, emphasize and interact with different individuals. The advantages

Diversity and inclusion are hot topics in today’s business world. While treating individuals fairly and equally is a social imperative, it is also extremely important to the success of a business. With the changing demographics of society and its affect on the American workforce, organizations must truly embrace diversity and inclusion. “For companies to succeed in the global marketplace, they must make the most of the full range of their people. Companies must attract and retain the right skills, the best minds, all the required resources – and that means diversity” (Royal Bank of Canada, n.d.). There are a number of compelling reasons companies should adopt the core values of diversity and inclusion. This paper sets out to

Disney puts its efforts into market penetration through targeted market segmentation, as well as, market development through foreign outsourcing and licensing. It also is very known for growth through diversification as Disney has aquisition in multiple markets. Disney’s business strategies focus on competing in its product domain. Disney has 5 strategic business units: Media Networks, Parks & Resorts, Studio Entertainment, Consumer Products, and Disney Interactive. Each SBU’s greatest strategy is to ensure leadership excellence and employee satisfaction by using a process called “Guestology,” in which customer’s needs, wants, and emotions are studied and attempted to be satisfied.

The Walt Disney Company has been a major face of family entertainment for the past nine decades. It has grown from a small cartoon studio in the 1920s into a multi-million dollar global corporation, entertaining the world around us every day. As a corporation, The Walt Disney Company has numerous affiliates and offspring spanning different media networks, recreational theme parks, studios and consumer products. Their theme parks and resorts are a premier travel destination for millions of families, and are located in several different countries including the US, France, Japan and China. The Walt Disney Company also has a cruise line of its own, adding more travel and entertainment options to the mix. The question we often ask ourselves is, how did this small partnership of brothers develop into such a gigantic organization? Throughout Walt Disney’s 64 short years, his leadership, vision, and strong morals and values led the Mickey Mouse organization to where it is today. Walt had a vision, and his attitude and motivation are key drivers behind the

Disney goal is to satisfy their guests, employees, and businesses. While making the company a desirable place to work through their consumer social responsibility efforts. Walt Disney performs strongly in customer satisfaction and giving back to the community and also helping the environment. Enrique Vazquez is currently a Walt Disney Company employee at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. He talked about his experiences with Disney and it being the greatest and how he loves the work experiences. He said “I love how the Walt Disney Company trained me when I first was employed one years ago. I enjoy how they treat and care about their employees” (Vazquez, 2014). He explains to me how he has never had a bad experience or had any problems while working for Disney. He receives great health benefits, negotiable wage raises, and great amount of vacations and free theme park entrances for him, his family, and his friends. He says Disney is a good working environment and treats their employees well. He has no complaints.

Whether you are an employee (Cast Member) or a visitor (Guest), it is easy to see that the Corporate Culture of Walt Disney is one of magic, empowerment, and diversity. It is an organization with a strong set of values and beliefs that motivates it's Cast Members toward one specific goal, creating a magical experience for all guests who enter.

Not only Disney cares about their customer’s experience, but they also focus on the diversity of their employees provide. How Culture is Transmitted to Employees Employees are exposed and encouraged to base their work on Disney’s organizational

The Walt Disney Studio’s Diversity Mission Statement is “To create an inclusive environment that is open to all perspectives, allowing us to tell compelling stories in film, animation and music that visually and emotionally reflect our audience worldwide.” “The Walt Disney Studios maintains that the only existing boundaries are those of talent, ambition, imagination and innovation.” (Moore, 2007)

As Walt Disney Company is famed for its creativity and strong global brand, Disney appear to create value in its business primarily through a differentiation strategy.