Introduction
Walt Disney Company is a mass media and entertainment company headquartered in Burbank, California. The Disney brothers Walt and Roy founded Disney in 1923. Originally, Disney was strictly an animation industry before expanding into television, film, and most notably theme parks. Disney’s theme parks have become world renowned for the experiences and memories they give the people that visit the park. Disney’s parks are also respected for their organizational communication in terms of their employees and their interactions with visitors of the theme park. As mentioned earlier, Disney is a company that applies organizational communication to all facets of their operations especially to their theme parks. This is why we decided to study them so closely for this paper. We will apply Deal and Kennedy’s Strong Culture theory, Weber’s Theory of Bureaucracy, and Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid to what we have learned about Disney as an organization to analyze where they fit into each of these theories and critique their organizational practice and identify any ways they can improve as outlined by these theories.
Deal and Kennedy 's Strong Cultures When defining culture, one can say that culture means: a particular form or stage of civilization as that of a certain nation or period; development or improvement of the mind by education or training; or the behaviors and beliefs characteristics of a particular social, ethnic, or age group (Culture). All of
Culture is defined as a whole basis of knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, and customs that define a person or group of persons. Culture differs is so many ways and that culture is what defines each of person as an individual. This concept comes from the cultural that was taught and developed from after birth and through our adolescent years. Our culture is the foundation of who we are. It identifies the lifestyle and pursuits that are practiced in the group of people we interact with in our society. Culture beliefs, values, and practices are learned from birth.
What does culture mean to you? Culture is the arts and manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. Culture is you and the background you came from.It’s anything that describes you family,traditions,and music.
A culture is the body of ideas, ways of looking at the world, values, and standards for conduct and behavior that a given people or nation hold in common. It includes the range of meanings that people assign to their own perceptions and behavior, as well as to the natural world around them. We can define the elements of that culture, and understand how they fit together as a culture, by examining that people's customs, language, religion, material artifacts, and social and political institutions.
An organizational design of the Walt Disney Company has a horizontal structure. It is seen in the departmentalization or subdividing into smaller units. The company is currently organized with certain key companies – all brand names – dominating each division. “The business departments of Disney Company are then grouped according to the product and this is a good example of a divisional approach” (Mannheim, 2017). Although each division assigns their executive officers different
What is culture? Culture is something you and a group of people share that are similar to one another. A culture is a way of life for a group of people and their behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them. The language we speak, the art, literature, and the heritage we are proud of, our food, our festivals, and our customs and traditions together form our culture. They
Culture or Civilization taken in its wide ethnographic sense is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits required by man as a member of a society.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines culture as “the beliefs, customs, art etc. of a particular society, group, place or time” (Culture, n.d.). Cultural norms vary around the globe, which can make the global business
My definition of culture is your environmental and social background peered with your experiences. Culture is an essential ingredient in forming identity and self-awareness. The environment can create One's culture that they reside in, the way they are raised, or a collective of blended surroundings.
Introduction: The Walt Disney Company is on the threshold of a new era. Michael Eisner has stepped down from his position as CEO and turned over the reigns to Robert Iger. A lot of turmoil has been brewing through the company over the last four years; many people are hoping that this change in leadership will put Disney back on the road to success. Issues began around mid-2002; when declining earnings, fleeing shareholders, and
The Walt Disney Company plays and important role in the lives of many, through the services provided and a place where many people are employed. Understanding overall group dynamics are vital for continued improvement. It is important to note that group processes currently in place can influence individual behaviors thus resulting in the overall performance at the group level. Developing a favorable organizational context that is designed to enable the group to achieve its goals are paramount. Using the Action Model The Walt Disney Company will be able to focus on its organizational and group conditions to facilitate a high performing organization. Four conditions of central importance for continued improvement for the Walt Disney Company are: organizational context, group design and culture, outside help, and material and technical resources (Harrison, 2005). Given the complexities of these factors managing and approaching these conditions with caution are critical for sustaining the intentions of The Walt Disney Company, ?to be one of the leading producers and providers of entertainment and
Disney has become a marketing goliath and the #1 entertainment company in the US. They have been able to develop a creativity-driven philosophy that over time was tempered by financial responsibility and that benefitted from powerful synergies between its divisions. From the very beginning, Disney has been synonymous with innovation within the children’s entertainment industry, from their introduction of animations with synchronized audio, full-length animated feature films and then later into theme parks and on-ice and Broadway shows. One important element of Disney’s success was the extent to which they integrated and expanded into different
Culture is a way of life. It can be defined as a group of people linked by geographical location, ethnicity, gender or age. Culture can be reflected through language, clothing, food, behavior, spirituality and traditions. The behavioral patterns developed through culture are difficult to change.
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
This paper will analyse a recent period of strategic change at The Walt Disney Company which began in 2005 with the appointment of current CEO Robert Iger. The company began to experience halted growth during the late 1990s. The former CEO Michael Eisner had been successful himself in the late 1980s in changing the company during what is known as the Disney
Culture can be defined in many ways due to the fact that everyone can have their own distinct and traditional beliefs and values. “ Culture is fluid, it is not a static entity which one takes out of the box on occasion. It is with us daily” (Cultural Handout). Someone’s culture is set as the characteristics of the group practices in language, religion, types of food, social traits and habits, and the distinct arts and music. There are a variety of different cultures for example, Western Culture, Eastern Culture, Latin Culture, Middle Eastern Culture, and African Culture. All of these different cultures have their own ideas, values, and individualism, laws that are implied, civil rights, and even technology. In our, “ Culture Handout” culture is defined as the tool of the mind, “ it is an individual’s way seeing and interacting within the world. It encompasses one’s values systems, beliefs, and perceptions of the world around them. Race, socio-economic class gender, sexual orientation, ability, geographic location, age, religion language, etc. all impact the formation of culture, but these various context are not culture” (Cultural Handout).