Goal Setting Theory At Walt Disney Company

Imagine yourself as one person trying to totally reinvent the way that families are entertained. I will be talking to you about a farmer that became an animator. A farmer as a visionary leader, impressive. That is the story of Walt Disney. By all rights, Walt Disney was an excellent animator, but he had the self-awareness to know that he could not make his vision a reality on his own. I believe that Walt Disney is a visionary leader and I will show you how he used “Team Building”, “a group organized to work together”, (Thomas N. Barnes Center, 2012)(p.2) skills, “Diversity”, “a composite of individuals characteristics, experiences, and abilities”, (Thomas N. Barnes Center, 2012)(p.3) skills, and Full Range Leadership Development, “Contingent Reward”, “When the follower fulfills the leader’s expectation, a reward is provide to reinforce the demonstrated positive behavior.”,(Thomas N. Barnes Center, 2012),(p.14) skills to inspire people to buy into his vision and motivate others to help him accomplish his vision. I informed you earlier that I believe Walt Disney is a visionary leader, but that doesn’t make him an ethical leader. Through Walt Disney’s violation of “Honest”, “the bottom line is we don’t lie”, (United States Air Force Core Values, 1997), (p.1), “Openness”, “the free flow of

Walt Disney once said, “It’s not the magic that makes it work, it’s the work that makes the magic.” (Capodagli & Jackson, 2007). Walt Disney was truly a visionary and ethical leader that used his talents as a transformational leader and artist to dream up a world that has stood the test of time for nearly 90 years. In this paper I will explain why he was both a visionary and ethical leader. It will show that he used inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation to further his clear and easy to follow vision, inspire his personnel, and leverage their creativity. It will also show why I believe Walt Disney fit into the traits of an ethical leader by valuing his team members and creating an environment of mutual trust and respect. Then I will tell you how I have used the same transformational leadership behaviors to lead my people, have made sure not to fall into an ethical trap and take credit for the work others do. All leaders could learn something from Walt’s visionary leadership.

Within the pages of Disney U, a captivating story unfolds describing the development program designed for Disney employees. Many times reading a perfunctory book that is designed to improve one’s skills in leadership is, well, not a delight to read. However, Disney U is able to grab the reader’s attention and guide them through a thought provoking journey of ground breaking leadership tactics, inventive training methods, and creating an engaging environment for an employee.

In this “The Smile Factory: Work at Disney” case study, it clearly point out the power of organizational cultures that created by Disney itself. Organizational culture includes the values and assumptions that shared among whole organization. This culture is very important in improving employee motivation and company performance. It makes the companies operate smoothly and directs every employee toward “right” direction within organization. Every

The Disney Corporation is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive media. (Disney Corporate, 2009). This company did not become one of the leading corporations in the world without hard work, an extreme dedication to the mission and core values of the organization, and the successful application of the four functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Many internal and external factors may have a direct impact on the four functions of management like: globalization, ethics, and innovation.

The Disney Corporation has had both positive and negative effects on American society. Disney has majorly affected both the youth and adults in America by way they interact with each other, what they expect from each other, and how parents bring up their youth in harsh and unrealistic expectations according to Disney. Disney has fostered a strong sense of imagination in the past, present and future youth of America. This sense of imagination is necessary to the development of children when it comes to success in life and self-confidence. The Disney Corporation knows how to work it’s audience for a profit and mastering that skill has allowed Disney to accumulated billions by advertising and selling fantasies to young children and their parents. It’s also these very ideas that influence what Americans believe our government and policies should be founded on. In “The Mouse That Roared” the author states “Education is never innocent, because it always presupposes a particular view of citizenship, culture, and society. And yet it is this very appeal to innocence, bleached of any semblance of politics, that has become a defining feature in Disney culture and pedagogy” (Giroux 31) This quote defines Disney at large. Disney has created the idea of ‘imagination’ in American society and perpetuates it in everything America does and influences everything America stands. In everyday American life, politics and business, The Disney Corporation has a hand in it.

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

Strategic Planning is the process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organizations goals and capabilities as well as emerging market conditions and opportunities. Disney's primary strategic objective is to product high-quality content through their entire product mix. The company also had a record financial performance in 2010 led by the Disney movie studio last year was the first in history to make two film that crossed the billion-dollar mark at the global box office Toy Story 3 and Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Another strategic objective that Disney has set is the goal to make experiences more memorable and accessible through innovative technology. The final strategic objective that Disney has focused on is international expansion.

Its large size gives Disney several advantages, such as a large budget and a large human resource base. Internally, Disney follows a top-down approach, where managers tend to impose the culture, and bureaucracy is considered large with 185,000 employees in 2016 (Forbes, 2016). The decision making lies at top management level, giving the company a hierarchical structure. In the creative world Disney is known to make movies based on profitability, rather than quality of animation and image. Pixar’s core competence is their technological 3D success in computer animation. When looking at the staff at Pixar , it can be seen that they are very technically educated and have a lot of in-house creativity. This is the reason for their high level of innovation. Furthermore, they focus on quality instead of sales figures. Internally, Pixar uses the bottom-up approach, where input of employees is highly valued, and Pixar offers a very communicative and open working environment.

According to Robert Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, Disney’s corporate strategy for diversification is a combination of three objectives that are to be achieved through the fundamental alignment of the Company’s core business units. The three objectives to be achieved by The Walt Disney Company are (1) creating high-quality family content, (2) exploiting technological innovations to make entertainment experiences more memorable, and (3) expanding internationally. The Walt Disney Company’s three objectives that make up the Company’s corporate strategy are to be achieved through each of the Company’s core business units that are split up in to five divisions (1) media networks, (2) parks and resorts, (3) studio entertainment, (4) consumer product, and (5) interactive media.

1. What is Walt Disney Company’s corporate generic strategy? Explain the reason for your answer.

The Walt Disney Company is an outstanding renowned entertainment and media corporation with business ventures in Media Networks, Parks and Resorts, The Walt Disney Studios, Disney Consumer Products, and Disney Interactive. Walt Disney Company is a diversified corporation with products all around the world. (The Walt Disney Company, n.d.)

In this paper, we will explore the magical experience of Walt Disney Company through the structure and symbolic frames based on the Bolman and Deal?s individual lens. The structural frame focuses on the architecture of an organization and other features like: rules, regulations, goals, policies, roles, tasks, job designs, job descriptions, technology, chain of command, vertical and horizontal coordinating mechanisms, assessment and reward systems, and many more (Bolman, L., & Deal, T. 2013). The symbolic frame focuses on the culture, meaning, metaphor, ritual, ceremony, stories, heroes and inspiration of the organization (Bolman, L., & Deal, T. 2013). On this analysis I will also explain the organization?s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that impact the leadership, partners, employees and community internally and externally.

Identify an episode of strategic change for an organisation of your own choice. How appropriate was the approach to strategic change given the issues faced by the organisation? Critically evaluate the effectiveness of the strategic leadership during the change process. Identify the impact of the change episode upon the key resources and core competencies of your organisation.

Starting as a young boy from Missouri, farmer Walter Elias Disney set out to make a mark on society. After first joining the Red Cross in World War I, he came back determined to be an artist. After moving to Hollywood in 1923 with his older brother Roy, they founded Disney Brothers Studio. After diversifying as much as possible, Disney had a firm grasp on the global market share until the 1980’s where the company’s revenues began to slump in the film industry. Luckily Sid Bass invested $365 million in order to rescue the company and bring an end to all hostile takeover attempts. Disney’s billion dollar powerhouse status in the entertainment industry can be broken down and analyzed using the