Student: Trần Huỳnh Đức

Class: K57CLC1
Subject: Cross-cultural Management
Essay’s topic: The corporate culture of the Walt Disney Company

The corporate culture of the Walt Disney Company

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

A firm’s organizational culture or corporate culture is the set of shared values,

traditions, and customs that influence employees’ motivation and behaviors.
Corporate culture is rooted in an organization's goals, strategies, structure, and
approaches to labor, customers, investors, and the greater community. As such, it is an
essential component in any business's ultimate success or failure. In an attempt to find
out what are good and what are not in the corporate culture establishment of the Walt
Disney Company, the conglomerate’s organizational culture would be discussed in
this volume, applying the Schein’s model for analysis.

About the Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading
diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise that includes
Parks, Experiences and Products; Media & Entertainment Distribution; and three
content groups-Studios, General Entertainment and Sports—focused on developing
and producing content for DTC, theatrical and linear platforms. Disney was originally
founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt and Roy O. Disney as the Disney
Brothers Cartoon Studio; it also operated under the names The Walt Disney Studio
and Walt Disney Productions before officially changing its name to The Walt Disney
Company in 1986. The company established itself as a leader in the American
animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and
theme parks.

About the Edgar Schein’s Model of Organizational Culture

Edgar Schein is a renowned professor at the MIT School of Management who has
studied extensively in the field of organisation management. He believed that
organisations take time to develop a culture as the employees go through various
changes and adapt to the external environment and solve organisational problems.
They learn from their past experiences and start implementing practices, and
collectively the employee's attitudes form the culture within the organisation. Schein
believed that there are three levels in an organisation's culture: artefacts, values and
basic assumptions.
1. Artefacts
Artifacts and creations are the constructed physical and social environment. This
includes physical space and layout, the technological output, written and spoken
language and the overt behavior of group members.
2. Values
A deeper level to the superficial artefacts that contribute to the organisational culture
is the values of the company, the individuals that work there and the coherent
alignment of those values. How employees react to situations and problems will shape
the culture. What people actually think matters a lot for the organisation. The mindset
of the individual associated with any particular organisation influences the culture of
the workplace.

3. Basic assumptions
The third level is the basic assumptions of the employees which can’t be measured but
do make a difference to the culture of the organisation. There are certain beliefs and
facts which stay hidden but do affect the culture of the organisation. The inner aspects
of human nature come under the third level of organisational culture. The organisation
follows certain practices which are not discussed often but understood on their own.
Such rules form the third level of the organisational culture.

Ultimately, Schein stressed that cultures are not adopted by organisations in one day.
Rather, they are formed through the course of time as employees undergo various
changes whilst adapting to their external environment and solving problems. The
culture of the workplace is formed as employees gain from their past experiences and
put such learning into practice.

THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY’S CORPORATE CULTURE

The Walt Disney Company’s organizational culture is associated with American

culture. The conglomerate is frequently considered one of the many cultural
representations of the United States. In this company analysis case of Disney, the
corporate culture ensures that employees reflect ideals that align with target
customers’ preferences and expectations in the mass media, parks and resorts, and
entertainment industries. For example, employees’ advocacy for good storytelling
helps in managing and satisfying customers’ expectations regarding the company’s
movies, television programs, and related products. The Walt Disney Company’s
success is an indicator of strategic alignment between the corporate culture and the
cultural traits of the target market, especially the United States. This link between
American culture and Disney’s organizational culture is a contributing factor to
business success in the United States and even in the international market.

Although Disney’s corporate culture is linked to American culture, the business

succeeds internationally because it also has organizational cultural attributes that
empower employees to maximize their performance and the company’s profitability.
For example, emphasis on innovation motivates The Walt Disney Company’s human
resources to contribute to product development that matches trends in the amusement
park, entertainment and mass media industry environment. Thus, the corporate culture
supports the corporation’s efforts in managing strategic growth and related
opportunities.

Artefacts of the Walt Disney Company’s corporate culture

The company’s earliest identity is most often associated with its founder, Walt
Disney, whose well-known persona as an optimist who encouraged his employees to
dream big, helps solidify the often-elusive segment of an organization’s cultural
artifacts. Disney was viewed as a laid back leader who made sure that every voice was
heard. His “powerful sense of mission” made him a pioneer of formalized corporate
cultures that relied on the “initiation and coaching of employees into enthusiastic
participation with the organization’s values, and also the treatment of customers as
welcome guests into that distinctive world”.

Disney films were able to suspend the audience’s disbelief in an entirely new medium.
These early films not only found a synergy between artistry and technology, they also
laid the early groundwork for Disney’s long history of introducing audiences to new
worlds that were unlike their own. Disney’s unique worlds were first introduced with
animated films that humanized animals, such as Mickey Mouse in Fantasia (Disney,
1940a). Disney also co-opted popular fairy tales such as Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves (Disney, 1937), Cinderella (Disney, 1950), and Peter Pan (Disney, 1953) to
create alternate worlds within the human world, but these stories all had the same
underlying theme that a better world awaits those who dare to dream.

Disney’s animated brand eventually met the real world in the form of Disney theme
parks (e.g. Disney World, Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Disney Cruises), where
cultural artifacts that attempt to avoid anything ugly or unpleasant can be observed in
an “environment carefully controlled to preserve the illusion of entering into Disney’s
cartoon and movie world”. As a strong believer in culture, environment, and
performance as being the key to quality service, Disney transformed the employee-
employer relationship into a stage production of cast members that are never on the
clock, but rather, on stage.

From strict dress codes to cultural immersion and orientation processes that cover past
traditions, present operations, and visions for the future, these artifacts of idealized
societies illustrate the early days of the Walt Disney Company’s cultural evolution.
When combined, each characteristic allowed visitors to be whisked away to a world
reminiscent of Peter Pan’s “Never Land,” where children can have adventures in
faraway places and never grow up (Disney, 1953).

Values of the Walt Disney Company’s corporate culture

The following are the main cultural values of The Walt Disney Company’s corporate
culture:
 1. Innovation

Innovation is a major cultural emphasis at Disney. In this characteristic of the

organizational culture, the objective is to encourage creative imagination in the
company’s human resources, to achieve excellent products and business performance.
The corresponding behaviors contribute to the creation of competitive products in the
international market. In relation, this cultural characteristic empowers the company to
address new challenges and business opportunities in its industries. For example,
through creative and imaginative innovation, The Walt Disney Company integrates
new technologies in new and existing products to satisfy emerging trends in
customers’ preferences with regard to movies, amusement parks, and related
entertainment products. The company’s strategies are geared toward using innovation
for long-term business growth. Thus, Disney’s corporate culture’s motivational
influence helps in managing business development for long-term success.

2. Decency

With a family-oriented business focus, The Walt Disney Company emphasizes

decency in its organizational culture. For example, the company’s product portfolio,
human resource training and development programs, and management strategies
motivate employees to ensure decency in their behaviors, especially in directly
communicating with customers. This cultural trait contributes to the excellent positive
reputation linked to the company’s brand image, which is a business strength and
competitive advantage specified in the SWOT analysis of Disney. Through decency in
the corporate culture, the company keeps its brand appropriate to customers of all
ages.

3. Quality

Disney’s corporate culture highlights exceptional quality for distinguishing the

business from competitors in the global market. This cultural characteristic requires
high quality standards in all aspects of the business, including employees’ skills.
Managerial emphasis on quality helps fulfill The Walt Disney Company’s generic
competitive strategy and intensive growth strategies, which prioritize the
differentiation of products through uniqueness and quality in business divisions and
subsidiaries, such as Pixar Animation Studios. For example, the organizational culture
reinforces the high quality of entertainment services in the company’s parks and
resorts. Workers are motivated to continuously enhance their behaviors for excellence
in services and entertainment experiences for The Walt Disney Company’s customers.

4. Community
A community mindset in human resource development is one of Disney’s strategies in
using its organizational culture to manage employees and their behaviors and outputs
toward the fulfillment of business goals. For example, the company has programs to
motivate workers to view themselves as members of an entertainment community that
works toward excellent performance. This cultural trait contributes to high employee
morale, high quality of products, and high customer satisfaction. The resulting sense
of community helps address stakeholders’ interests in the multinational business,
especially through Disney’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. The
corporate culture helps unite the organization to address issues in the workplace.

5. Storytelling

The Walt Disney Company’s organizational culture involves excellent storytelling

skills. The company’s history is a story to tell, so are its products in the global mass
media, entertainment and theme park industries. Through this cultural factor, the
business facilitates employee behaviors that add value to products. For example, the
corporate culture encourages employees to use their personal experiences in making
the company’s entertainment products more memorable to customers. This cultural
characteristic is evident in the company’s movies and related programs, as well as in
Disneyland theme parks and related resorts, as workers are motivated to put on a show
that makes customers’ experiences magical. Thus, storytelling is a cultural trait that
optimizes strategic management for The Walt Disney Company’s excellent
entertainment brand image.

6. Optimism

Positive thinking reflects employees’ behavioral contributions to Disney’s products.

This cultural characteristic focuses on virtues like hope and happiness. For example,
employees’ behaviors reflect hope and happiness in how they approach customers,
such as guests in Disneyland theme parks. Happiness is a factor that creates a link
between Disney’s organizational culture and co-founder Walt Disney’s aim of making
people happy. Also, optimism motivates workers to adopt a mindset of excellence that
focuses on solutions and opportunities, thereby contributing to the strategic innovation
of the business. In this way, the corporate culture helps The Walt Disney Company
manage challenges experienced in the international market.

The combination of these cultural values supports business resilience in the industry’s
external environment, which the Porter’s Five Forces analysis of Disney determines as
highly competitive. For example, competitors like Viacom, Time Warner, CBS, Sony,
and Comcast, which owns Universal Pictures, are aggressive in the mass media and
entertainment industries. The Walt Disney Company’s corporate culture supports
strategic management for enhancing business performance via behavioral factors. This
organizational culture sheds light on the significance of human resources in achieving
excellent branding in the global industry.

The basic assumptions of the Walt Disney Company’s corporate culture

“It is important to genuinely care for your people”

At Disney Institute, they believe that great leadership requires finding as many ways
as practically possible to regularly demonstrate genuine care for your people. "As
practically possible" does not necessarily mean spending lots of money on elaborate
gifts or grand gestures. Instead, employees really just want to know that you care
about them as individuals.

In their professional development training courses, they teach business leaders from
around the world that demonstrating genuine care means showing real concern for the
well being of each person in the organization. It's about deliberately paying attention
to employees as human beings and as unique individuals. This kind of genuine care
must be built directly into the company culture—not as an extra benefit, but as a
foundation.

“Be part of the story”

Besides, Disney focuses on specific areas across the continuum of service in order to
sustain/improve its business results. It calls this approach the Chain of Excellence.
The chain starts with a focus on the customer and on the staff, led by excellent leaders
that understand the focus on customer service. These leaders align the entire
organization around a set of values and vision, making sure the entire company
understands two core concepts: “who we are” and “where we are going”. These
leaders are tasked with overseeing and sustaining the company’s culture and vision, its
employee training programs, and on-going engagement of their staff. And together,
that leadership and the employees create a working environment that allows for high
quality service and customer satisfaction.

Advantages of the Walt Disney Company’s corporate culture

An advantage of Disney’s organizational culture is its focus on optimism and

innovation, which contribute to excellent business performance. Also, the company
benefits from the cultural advantage of family-oriented focus. This characteristic
strengthens the Disney brand’s popularity. For example, family orientation enables the
company’s global reach in the entertainment market, and the corresponding brand
popularity. Moreover, Disney’s corporate culture promotes a community mindset that
supports rapport and morale among employees. The company’s culture also motivates
the workforce with much care and involvement to ensure high-quality output, which
translates to high quality products. Through these advantages, the company’s
management motivates workers to maintain behaviors for strategic success.

Disadvantages and recommendations for the Walt Disney Company’s corporate

culture
A disadvantage of Disney’s corporate culture is its limited emphasis on non-family-
oriented subjects. The company focuses on family orientation through its cultural
traits of decency and community. However, this focus limits business diversification
and expansion. For example, The Walt Disney Company cannot readily offer adults-
only entertainment products because doing so could break its family-oriented brand
and culture. A recommendation is to improve the company’s organizational culture by
gradually integrating support for some deviation from such family orientation. This
support allows additional flexibility for business endeavors for non-family-oriented
products for some segments of the international market. This business analysis case
also shows innovation as a factor in Disney’s organizational culture. However, this
cultural factor does not push the company to adopt rapid technological innovation and
corresponding strategic management policies. This condition creates the issue of
limited motivational push for employees to adopt behaviors for more aggressive
innovation. It is recommended that The Walt Disney Company promote a more
innovative mindset through its corporate culture to ensure innovation-based
advantages against aggressive competitors.

CONCLUSION

While much of Disney’s current culture and policies can be traced, in some way, back
to its original founder, the company has had to change and grow with the times, and
adapt to new ways and ideas from a whole new era of cast members. Over time, new
leadership and employees have brought in new beliefs and assumptions, but just as
individuals will often avoid change, so too do companies. Thus, while Disney is a
global leader in the field, it is also true the company has room for growth. Just as
organizational culture theory transitioned from Shein’s (1990) internal focus and
toward a two-way interaction between global audiences and organizations, Disney
should learn to use external cultures to shape its internal values and its efforts of
global citizenship. Multinational media companies no longer have the luxury of
defining their culture from within, and for Disney to remain relevant, it must
recognize that audiences are equal partners in the developmental cycle of its
organizational culture.

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