Human Resources at WDC
Disney’s coordination in high-performance teams is achieved through the use of organizational goals and how the mission and vision are communicated. As the complexity of the organization increases, coordination relies increasingly on the use of direct supervision and task standardization. So, with increased organizational complexity comes an increased need to manage human activities. The manager is challenged to meld the demands of the organization and the needs of the individual worker into a functioning whole.
Meanwhile, the organizational behavior and system at Walt Disney is something worth noting. When Mike Eisner and Frank Wells became the CEO and CFO of the Disney Company in late 1984, they began implementing changes such as rebuilding the animation department. Even if they knew this strategy would take years to pay-off, its end results were tremendous. Animation helped increase attendance at the theme parks by creating the materials for new attractions. Television animation came back which helped fuel attendance at Disney films that led to increased merchandising (Stone, A.1993).
They also created Touchstone pictures, a division of Walt Disney that had no name affiliation with Disney. Through this company, the studios were able to release a series of staggeringly successful films without tarnishing the Disney image. This would be followed by the creation of Hollywood Pictures, another hidden-Mickey studio. These organizational strategies were successful in bringing Walt Disney back to its glory. It proved helpful especially because this move can generate funds for the projects that needed the financial back-up.
They could then continue to produce films with values without worrying about where to get the funding. This is actually a smart move on the part of its leaders. In today’s tight labor market, it may be tempting to fill positions with the first applicant who meets their basic requirements. But WDC believes taking the time to find the best person for the job can help them reduce turnover, increase productivity, and possibly avoid a lawsuit for negligent hiring in the event of a crime committed by an employee.
If in the past, Walt Disney has not been that serious in conducting background checks on its applicants, now management is more careful. The Walt Disney World Company has begun conducting criminal background checks on applicants when hiring new employees. This procedure emerged after an incident where one of its cooks at the Florida Hotels was charged with raping a 16-year old tourist. (http://www. hotel-online. com/Trends/EI/EI_PreScreenings. html).
There seems to be a lack of management supervisory skills here as the person would have been aware of company policies on this matter. Managers have been burdened for years with an impossible task, telling them they ought to motivate others single-handedly, when the most a manager can do for others is to jump-start them – inspire them. Real motivation catches internally, after the mission is clear. Peak performers draw productivity from deeper reserves that are inexhaustible – from the sources of motivation. You can tell people to value excellence.
You can insist that they increase their productivity. You can emphasize the need for changing their behavior. You can attempt to train people and motivate them to upgrade their job skills and increase their effectiveness. But until an individual makes a personal commitment to achieving peak performance or makes that internal decision to excel, nothing much will happen (McClelland, D. 1955). There had been instances that in measuring the strength of an organization, the other aspects such as human capital had been raised.
Although, organizations are still trying to work out an accurate measuring tool, they have acknowledged that to be able to stay viable in any given business they also must look at the issue on human capital. As Peter Cheese and Bob Thomas wrote: …the most successful organizations today and in the foreseeable future will be those that are able to measure the business impact of their investment in people—whether that investment is employee recruiting, performance management, skills development or benefits administration. (p1, 2003)
