Walt Disney Company

Walt Disney is a well-known name in today’s society. Walt Disney once stated, “You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world but it requires people to make the dream a reality” (Sparks, 2007). Marty Sklar, Vice Chairman and principal creative executive for Walt Disney Imagineering was quoted as saying, “From the beginning, starting with Walt Disney, we have had five tings that make me proud to be a part of this company: high quality, products, optimism for the future, great storytelling, an emphasis on family entertainment and great talent, passion and dedication from our cast members. Walt Disney has come a long way, but it is still true to its core mission of providing quality entertainment for people around the world (Walt Disney, Culture). Since its founding in 1923, the Walt Disney Company continues to produce unparallel entertainment experiences leading a diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise (Walt Disney, Company overview). With its mission to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment, Walt Disney continues to seek and develop the most creative experiences (Walt Disney, Who we are).

Walt Disney’s values are what make the company stand out. These values are innovation, quality, community, storytelling, optimism and decency (Walt Disney, Culture). These values and culture is what reinforces their commitment and responsibility to the people in their organization. The services include talent acquisition, learning and development, employee services and events, and communication (Walk Disney, Business Standards and Ethics). Even though Disney locations throughout the world have many similarities, the biggest difference is in the culture.

Each location offers culture that coincides with the location and its evident when each location was created, a lot of thought was put into making sure that the environment and culture would appeal to that community (Sparks, 2007). Part of this is due to the communication that frequently highlights initiatives and strategies as well as employee recognition, business conduct and ethics practices and social responsibility practices (Walt Disney, Business Standards and Ethics). Walt Disney realized early on that in order to be successful, training and organizational behavior methods would need to be implemented.

The desire for all his employees to be customer responsive led to the development of the Disney Institute in 1986. The variety of training and the benefits of the training supplement the organizational culture of the company. Due to the detailed thought that went into training shows by the customer satisfaction with the show of jam packed theme parks year round (Sparks, 2007). The training deals with organizational behavior concepts including decision making, motivation, group behavior, communication, organizational culture, organizational structure and human resources practices.

The Disney Institute created classes to teach employees how to create organizational culture along with observing group behavior and teaching motivation. As a result, other companies seek this training from the Disney Institute. The Institute also includes traditions which submerge the employees into the dream and mission of Disney and how Walt wanted the company to continue even after his death (Sparks, 2007). With the culture that Disney created, employees need to feel that they are valued as individuals and vital to the team.

Disney has created this with open communication throughout the chain of command, comprehensive training and rewards. As a result, Disney has one of the lowest attrition rates for any company in the United States. The basic belief is that if you do not have happy employees, you cannot have happy guests. Disney’s philosophy of how to treat employees has been passed on year after year and is an example of organizational culture and an example of human resources practices (Sparks, 2007). One way Disney utilizes the communication from its employees is by using a 120 questions survey about management performance.

These surveys convey if the is effective communication between management and employees. After the surveys are completed, staff meetings are held to discuss staff concerns and resolutions are discussed. These meetings are usually held within three weeks to show employees that Disney is concerned about the welfare of their employees and to help satisfy them. Walt Disney Company believes that every cast member and staff have valuable information that can be shared through ongoing communication efforts. As we can see, communication is as important as the company’s values are (Sparks, 2007).

As with any company, strong beliefs, values and communication are needed in order for a company to succeed. Founded in 1923, the Walt Disney Company has maintained these strong beliefs, values and communication needed to ensure its success today. The success in employee training with the Disney Institute has led to other companies seeking their help (Sparks, 2007). This just strengthens the fact that Walt Disney Company has never wavered from its mission to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment.

References:
Sparks, W. (September 23, 2007). The Magic of Disney’s Organizational Behavior Concepts. Retrieved March 20, 2011 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/381660/the_magic_of_disneys_organizational.html?cat=3 Walt Disney Company. (n.d.). Business Standards and Ethics. Retrieved March 20, 2011 from http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/cr_human_resources.html Walt Disney Company. (n.d.). Company Overview. Retrieved March 20, 2011 from http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/overview.html Walt Disney Company. (n.d.). Culture. Retrieved March 20, 2011 from http://corporate.disney.go.com/careers/culture.html Walt Disney Company. (n.d). Who we are. Retrieved March 20, 2011 from http://corporate.disney.go.com/careers/who.html