Scenario Communications – The Walt Disney Company
Communication Conext/Need-
The company I have selected is The Walt Disney Company. The communication that will be shared is an external communication addressing discrimination issues. The Walt Disney Company, who has been in the eye of the media in the course of recent months due to issues identifying with both sexual orientation segregation and age discrimination, is currently observing an increase in discrimination allegations inside the company. The American Psychological Association (APA) says that Gender identity refers to a person's internal sense of being male, female or something else; gender expression refers to the way a person communicates gender identity to others through
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By addressing issues and concerns that implicate the involvement of the company or the brand it is important for all internal shareholders to be addressed with a clear, honest, and informative communication. With the company being well known for the great employee treatment and working conditions, it is vital for them to address the issues of employee discrimination as The Walt Disney Company does not tolerate such a thing.
Internal Draft Communication:
December 18, 2017
Dear Valued Board of Directors, Member of the Executive team, and Employees,
The goal of this email is to share perspective to our representatives that we are executing an adjustment in our discrimination policy and we at The Walt Disney Company expect that all workers will entirely uphold to this approach taking effect as of today. Our present strategy, while strong, does not appear to address the majority of the current issues we have been dealing with in terms of our discrimination policy.
As per our Code of Conduct here at The Walt Disney Company, we expect the accompanying from our representatives consistently;
The Walt Disney Company has for quite some time been a socially different and alluring work environment. We enlist, procure, create, advance, train and provide a different state of work without respect to a person’s race,
Since the 1930’s, the Walt Disney Company is known for producing characters, images, as well as stories which have created happiness for audiences around the world. This corporation has grown from a small cartoon studio run by famous Walt and Roy Disney to a million dollar business. In Janet Wasko’s novel, “Understanding Disney”, Wasko explains Disney as corporation calling it “The Disney Empire”. Throughout her novel, Wasko argues that Disney is set up like a typical profit seeking corporation, as well as creates and manufactures fantasy, and lastly re-invents folk tales by “Americanising” them.
Disney is a lie. Why? This corrupt company brainwashes consumers into handing over their hard-earned money in order to purchase overpriced merchandise, all while under a facade of innocence and happiness. Fairy-tale endings and a cheerful mouse might represent Disney’s projected values, but underneath the exterior lay indicators of Disney’s corrupt ideals. Common people are deceived into handing over their hard-earned money to corrupt companies in order to purchase overpriced products. The power that these companies gain allows these businesses to control, to a certain extent, politics and influence political decisions. These companies will not hesitate to fire American workers in order to save a handful of dollars and stifle any trace of dissent. Therefore, large corporate companies should stop exploiting and manipulating consumers for profit.
For the purposes of this paper we have chosen to discuss the Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications associated with an employee cast in the role of Ariel within the Walt Disney Company. We will specifically focus on a guest facing Princess within the Magic Kingdom theme park itself. Further we will discuss some of the non-BFOQ qualifiers for our chosen role, and how BFOQs affect the stakeholders in the Walt Disney Company.
Walt Disney Company is an expanded global company with operations in four major business segments i.e. Studio Entertainment, Media Networks, Consumer Products and Parks and Resorts. The company has a workforce of more than 15,000 employees in more than 40 countries across the globe. In addition to having a huge workforce, the firm is largely renowned for its success and profitability in all its business segments on an annual basis. One of the most important aspects that have contributed to its growth and profitability throughout the years is its compensation program. The firm has compensation programs for all its employees because of its consideration of employees as one of the major stakeholders of its operations. However, Walt Disney Company has experienced significant challenges in relation to its compensation program because of the various peer groups used in this process. As a result, the company's compensation program has significant structural flaw because of its size and complexity.
Disney’s Standard of Business Conduct highlights the organizations values which are displayed within their business. The president for Disney says that they “have earned the trust of guests, audiences, consumers and shareholders because of our commitment to high standards in everything we do, everywhere we operate” ("Standards of business," 2012). The areas within the Standard of Business conduct are integrity, honesty, trust, respect, playing by the rules, and teamwork. These areas are practiced within the organization toward the public and employees because they want to be as a family friendly organization.
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)
1. About Disney Difference and how it will affect the company’s corporate, competitive, and function strategies.
The Walt Disney Company values the diversity of ideas, perspective, gifts, talents, experiences, and backgrounds that each employee represents within the company. Richardson says,
When you first meet someone, what are the first things that you notice? Sex? Race? Or maybe the brands of clothing that indicate social status? Human beings as a society judge and categorize others, labeling those who stray from social norm as weird or strange. Who are we to make these judgments and where did these ideas of right and wrong come from? The Walt Disney Company plays an important role in depicting who and what people should and shouldn’t be. Every aspect of Disney, including movies, TV shows, and products, are supported by most of the world for entertainment and seemingly honest messages of innocence and magic. Beneath the image of innocence, Disney is also a media empire, a global conglomerate consisting of
Walt Disney saw change as a consequence of employee behaviour (Brownell, 2008). If a leader were to be effective, he or she must understand the needs of a member in an organisation. This also included an awareness of motives, personalities, skills, and abilities (See ‘Emotional Intelligence’ in Northouse 2010, p. 23; Brownell, 2008). Path-Goal Theory comprises the motivation of leaders toward subordinates in order that such needs are met and achievement of an organisation’s proposed goal is reached (Northhouse 2010). Walt Disney sustained subordinate involvement and interest through his leadership commitment to employees, as well as his dynamism and enthusiasm (Bryman 1993). After all, “Walt Disney’s greatest creation was not Fantasia, [n]or Snow White, but...his uncanny ability to make people happy” (Collins and
Disney strives to maintain a workforce that reflects open opportunity, where everyone is at an advantage by the company potential.
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.
Disney has moved well beyond its cartoon-oriented roots. Though the company is still involved the production of original feature films and other related media (and though the media network division of the Company is still the organization’s leading generator of revenue) the company has long since stopped being your typical “animation studio” or “film production company.”
Mantsios, G. (1998). Media Magic: Making Class Invisible. Race, class, and gender in the United
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.