Organizational Concepts Applied to Disney

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One approach to help you with an assignment like this one is to provide information for three concepts as they relate to Disney, which you can draw on. This is the approach this response takes. I also provide other links and extra infromation on Disney to consider for your final copy.

RESPONSE:

Disney is company known worldwide because of the magical experience people have when visiting one of their many theme parks (Waltz, 2007). Disney has set the standard for organizational behavior. "Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structures have on behavior within organizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization's effectiveness" (Robbins, 2005) (5). "Many companies try to manipulate their OB to benefit the company but fail. Disney on the other hand did not have this problem. Disney is so successful in managing their company's organizational behavior that it has dedicated a school to it" (Hernandez, 2008).

Your thesis could be something to the effect:

Disney's success is largely due its organizational culture, motivation, and communication that is "magic" to both its employees and customers alike.

2. Organizational Culture

Disney's organizational culture is built upon innovation, quality, community, storytelling, optimism, and decency because the foundation of the company was based on the very same culture we see today in the above mentioned beliefs of Walt Disney. According to Blassingame, Disney's goal is to treat every employee in the same manner as their guests and if they operate with this type of beliefs they can ensure everyone gets a dose of the Disney magic (The Walt Disney Company).

At Disney, one strategic underpinning of the "magical" visit is passing on the culture to all employees through an orientation experience Disney calls Traditions. Training is a large part of promoting the Disney culture and values. One example is that every employee from a top manager to a food service vendor is required to attend Traditions-on the first day on the job. This training is designed to immerse each employee into the Disney vision, mission, and service principles. The customer's experience occurs in part due to this disciplined transfer of the traditions of customer service excellence (Nelson, C. 2008). This tradition is part of the Disney culture and its success.

Every business has its own culture and this culture can cause a company to be successful or be a failure. An organization's culture is how an organization has shared meaning. It is how a company works together to reach the same goal. There are many characteristics of an organization's culture; there is the ability to take risks, the attention that is paid to detail, the attention paid to results rather than the solution, the ability to take customers into consideration, the ability to take the business team into consideration, the level of aggressiveness, and the desire to remain stable (Robbins, 2005, p.485).

Organizational culture serves many purposes. An organization's culture creates distinction. It should be easy to identify one business from another based on this company's culture. Organizational culture should also give the employee a sense of identity. They should feel as if they belong to something more than just a company name. It is the difference between being "just a number" in the company and being ...