Walt Disney Productions. A renowned brand of family entertainment, with a global reach and multi-billion market value. What are the techniques and principles underlying the management system?

In this paper, we shall uncover Disney’s secrets of success.

The Team Organization Model

In the early days when Walt Disney was alive, he would call five or six animators into his office to discuss an idea for a new project. He would tell the story to them and capture their imaginations, getting them interested in the story idea itself and wanting to turn the dream into reality. Walt Disney’s great storytelling ability created a vision for the team, getting them to focus on working towards that common goal.

The use of storytelling to rally all project members around a vision is still an important element of the Disney approach because of Walt’s formation of a creative group called "Imagineering" in the early 1950s. The aim of the group was to propagate the Disney tradition by dreaming up new creative venues, such as the theme park attractions. Currently, there are 2000 Imagineers at the 5 Disney theme parks, although the ideas that are brought are may sometimes be quite frivolous but instead lead to realistic and innovative results.

All members should be fully aware of the team's business objectives and its organization structure. They understand what they are epected to achieve as a team and how they will work together to achieve that goal.

Visions must be created.

1) Assess the business mission: Customers,industry,experts, and competitors. Help team members examine the present business strategy to assess its viability and risks.

2)Reflect on the organization framework: Team members discuss the nature of productive teamwork and compare their relationships to the team organization model.

3) Confront relationship issues: Dealing directly with grievances and conflicts sets the stage for forging a common vision. It demostrates management's credibility that they want a team organization.

4) Search for opportunities to initiate chage, innovate and grow: Instead of waiting for problems to surface, the team should find out the problem areas first and find solutions to these problems.

5)Take risks and learn from mistakes: The team should be encouraged to experiment with new ideas.

6) Present a short vision statement: A mission statement should be created.

7) Dialouge and include: Team members discuss the vision and the potential significance for them and the company. Ideas are integrated so that they can understand the business strategy and the organization framework.

8) Update: The team revises the vision in light of changes in and outside the groups. Customers; ideas and complaints, the predictions of industry experts, and reviews the competition.

9)Appreciate accomplishments: The team celebrates its capacity to change and rewards progress on its vision.

A mission statement is a good way of helping the team members identify a common vision and work towards it.

A mission statement is a written statement of the company’s mission and goals. The aim of a mission statement is to help point out a common point of focus for employees; to act as a direction for all team members.

To execute what is stated in a mission statement, the company needs to have an organized internal structure comprising teams that are able to cooperate and work out solutions to problems.

Walt Disney firmly believes in the four-pillared philosophy- Dream. Believe. Dare. Do.

• Give every member of your organization a chance to dream , and tap into those dreams embody.

• Stand firm on your beliefs and principles. • Treat your customers like guests. • Support, empower, and reward employees.

• Build long-term relationships with key suppliers and partners. • Dare to take calculated risks in order to bring innovative ideas to fruition.

• Train extensively and constantly reinforce the company’s culture. • Align long-term vision with short term execution.

• Use the storyboarding technique to solve planning and communication problems.

• Pay close attention to detail.

UNITING

Together we stand, divided we fall. Unity within a team is imperative. A vision does not ensure that there will be untiy in a team. Sometimes, employees may compete against each other to be in favour of their boss.

Some ways to create unity include:

1) Explore the team's vision: Let the team member undertsand the objective and the value of the vision. When they understand that no one can fufill the vision alone; they must work together.

2)Assign a task and ask for one product: The team will work as a whole to come out with a solution/product and the final product/solution will be the intergration of all their ideas.

3) Keep track of group productivity:All workers average their output to form a group average for each week. Individual workers are responsible for keeping their output up, and for helping others improve theirs.

4)Promote group learning : All group memebers are expected to improve their skills in managing, selling, or operating machinery, and to help each other learn. The manager can randomly pick a team member to demonstrate their group learning process and rate the tteam.

5)Praise the team as a whole for its success:The manager recognises all members of the team and their accomplishments are writtren up in the company newsletter.

6) Reward individuals based on group performance:Each member receives a monetary bonus based on the team's success.

7) Hold an unproductive group accountable: Managers confront failed teams and have them suffer some consequences, rather than single out people to blame,

8) Make the task challenging: Team members will be highly motivated to accomplish the achievable, but difficult tasks, and they will realise that they need everybody's support and ability to say so.

9)Pledge to cooperate: Team members begin meetings by all openly declaring that they will cooperate and work together.

10) Limit the resources to the group: Team members realise that they cannot work alone but must pool their resources.

11) Assign complementary roles: An employee is asked to record ideas, another to encourage full participation, another to be a devil's advocate to challenge common views, and a fourth to observe and provide feedback to help the group reflect on its workings

12)Encourage team identity: Teams devise and publicize their own name and symbol.

13)Promote personal relationships: Team members discuss about their feelings and the values they consider important. Social gatherings and 'small talk' help to improve the relationships between the team members.

14)Write a philosophy: Team members develop their own value statement.

EMPOWER

Most companies are unwilling to trust and empower employees to the same extent as Disney.

An astonishing indication of the depth of employee trst and empowerment at Disney is the fact that its customer service representatives, the people who take the tickets at the theme park entrances, have $500,000 in tickets and cash at their disposal to give out to guest who forgot their tickets, run out of money with which to get home, or encounter any other problem that merits attention. That’s an extraordinary sum to place at the discretion of employees, but Disney obviously trusts these empowered cast members to make a sound judgement.

Empowering, like envisioning and uniting, cannot be done to people; they themselves must believe that they can do it.

1) Relate the team's vision to the organisation's: Employees discss how their team's goals further the business strategy and teamwork of the organization.

2)Allocate resources: The compoany backs up its talk with a budget and assgn people to the team to complete its mission.

3)Include skilled, relavant people: People who are specialists in technical areas, in facilitating groups, and linking with management will all help the team acoomplish its goals.

4)Develop abilities: Team members take courses, read books and journals, and discuss ideas to keep current in their specialities.

5)Structur opportunities to work together: Regular meetings, having offices close together,electronic mail and computer systems help team members exchange information and keep each other posted.

6) Commit publicly:The team members indicate that they are personally motivated to get the group's job done well.

7) Hold individuals accountable:All team members report on their activities to the group and show their personal responsibility. Individuals who complte their assignments are recognised.

8) Structure team human rsource system: The organization rewards group effort, using teamwork as a criteria for promotion, provides training in group skills, and makes consultation on teamwork avbailable.

EXPLORING

Teams explore issues thoroughly by protecting and stimulating diverse views. They search opposing ideas and intergrate them to create workable solutions. Strategies to encourage exploring are:

1) Include diverse people: People who differ in background,exprtise,opinions,outloo, and organization position are likely to disagree

2)Establish openess norms: Members are encouraged to voice out theiur doubts, opinions,uncertainties, and hunches. Ideas are not dismissed because they appear too unusual,impractical, or undeveloped.

3)Protect rights: The right to dissent and free speech reduces fears of retribution for speaking out.

4)Assign opposing views: Coalitions are formed and given opposing positions to present and defend. One person is assigned to take a critical evaluation role by attacking the group's current preference.

5)Probe Team: Members stop defending their own views and ask each other for information and arguments. They out themeselves in each other's shoes and reflect on the person's position and arguments.

6)Use the golden role of controversy: Discuss with issues with others as you want them to discusss issues with you.Lend them a listening ear if you want them to listen to you.

7) Consult relavant sources: Articles,books,consultants,experts ca provide experiences and ideas that can help the group decide which couurse of action is better.

8) Emphasize common ground: Throughout the discussion, they remind each other that they are working for a solution that benefits all.

9)Show personal regard: They criticise ideas rather than attack an individual's motivation and personality. Insults or implications that challenge another's integrity, intelligence, and motives are avoided.

10) Combine ideas: Team members avoid "either my way or youur way" thinking and try to use as many ideas to create new,useful solutions.bThey may be able to create a totally new solution.

REFLECTING

1)Collect Data: surveys and interviews are some ways whereby the organizat can elicit feedback from others.

2)Structure times to discuss findings: Team members avoid surprises that catch people off guard, but have regular, scheduled times to discuss their relationships.

3)Put self in others' shoes: Team members ask about and try to know each other's perspective so that thay can understand the problem fully anf be in position to develop solutions that work for all.

4)Define issues specificallyTeams can resolve conflicts more easily than general principles and grand ideas.

5)Use exploring and controversy skills: Team members invite various possibilities, avoid assuming that it has to be one person's way or another's and combine ideas.

6) Recognise the gains for resolving conflicts and the costs for not

7)Be firm, yet flexible: Team members should be firm in their resolution to develop useful solutions, but flexible about what they might be.

8)Strive for ongoing improvement: Teams need time to develop, and personal problems are not easily solved/ The goal is to make progress throughrepeated discussion rather than to solve all issuesand becomne a successful team instantly.

TEAM BUILDING

Building a team is not easy. The leader must be someone who is responsible and able to be firm in his or her decisions and be fair to all members of the team.

A successful leader will create and maintain an atmosphere that encourages creativity while keeping team members on track to accomplish assigned goals. Finding such a person takes thoughtful considration.

The composition of the rest of the team is a major factor of sccess and failure too. Each member should be the best representative of the needed skill sets in the company.

How can a leader create an environment in which team members can thrive? First of all, he or she must eoncourage the free flow of ideas by letting the members know that no idea is too ridiculous.

The leaders themselves should be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of each member and make good use of their skills to put together an excellent team.

Shortly after Michael Eisner (current Chairman and CEO of Walt Disney Productions) and Frank Wells joined Disney, they assembled a team of high-powered, and successful executives unlike any a Hollywood company had ever put together before.

This team was eventually dubbed "Team Disney".

Organization Structure

No organization can function without hierarchy to a certain extent. There MUST be someone in charge. Disney recognizes that valuable suggestions can be lost if employees hesitate to make them under the normal hierarchical business atmosphere.

Besides having specific locations for suggestion-making, top Disney executives will go out of their way to solicit advice from staff members, those frontline people who hear the comments and see the reactions of the guests.

Fostering Participation

Disney lets its employees participate in the projects that they planned. This helps to build the employees’ commitment towards the company and the project itself.

This approach is very successful as in normal theme parks, the turnover rate is 100%, but at Disney theme parks,, the turnover rate is less than 30%. Within the company’s management ranks, the turnover rate is less than 6%.

Fostering Commitment

Team commitment is promoted in various ways, including the storytelling method. On Movie projects, where teamwork is essential, Disney deviates from the norm in that collaboration is not just a ONE-TIME thing, with the participants gathered for just one particular film.

In fact, many teammates are staff that has collaborated before. Especially when it cones to animation films, that require special and well-honed skills. Participants are also well-trained in Disney’s traditions. They know exactly what us expected of them; and what The company represents further strengthens the team spirit.

To keep costs in check. Disney exercised extrememly tight control of the creatice process itself by institting a rigorous control of the creative process itself by institting a rigourous nine-step regimen for project management. Everyone had to follow this standard procedure regardless of what they were dealing with- movies,amusement parks or television shows etc...

Nothing was left to chance.

The process is:

STEP 1

Ask "what if?" rather than "what"

Learn to live for a time with the discomfort of not knowing, of not being in full control.

Take a trip through fantasyland; start with the story.

STEP 2

Develop resarch

Evaluate alternatives

Recommend an idea

STEP 3

Reconcile scope

Prepare pro forma.

STEP 4

Finalize master plan

Outline initial business processes

STEP 5

Finalize design details, equipment, and materials.

Develop implementation strategy and budget

STEP 6

Prepare contract documents

STEP &

Construct site infrastructure and develop work areas

Produce show elements

STEP 8

Install the show

STEP 9

Assemble final project documents

Monitor performance

Get sign-off letter from operations

Disney executives adhere to these guidelines for the aligning of the company's long-term vision with short term execution. The company is thus kept on the track through evey project but costs are cut and production is speeded. The enables Disney to constantly deliver successful products and services.