Disney is a well known company in homes across the world because of the magical experience you have when visiting one of their many theme parks; the magic begins with the vast amount of training each employee receives to make every visitors experience a memorable one. Whether you are a member of their cast of characters or working in their restaurants, you receive training at the Disney Institute where a structured learning environment is used. This training will ensure that every Disney employee is given top notch training to ensure that the tools needed to please their customers are available.
Walt Disney once said, “You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world É [sic] but it requires people to make the dream a reality.” This is why Walt Disney realized early on that the only way his parks would be successful is by implementing strategic training and organizational behavior methods; so that all of his employees would be able to create the environment, he was striving for. Walt Disney wanted his employees to be customer-responsive and this is why he implemented training for everyone in the company, which developed into the Disney Institute in 1986. The training that the employees receive can be easily seen by the superlative customer service they provide.
The institute offers a wide variety of classes including Disney’s approach to people management, approaches to quality service, approaches to creative leadership, approaches to orientation, approaches to HR management, customer loyalty, and other business related classes based on the participants needs. However, in the beginning of Disney HR practices ran by Disney were not as diversified as it is today and for the past 50 years, but Disney soon realized it’s mistakes and took action when initializing a union when Disney found out they were the only California company that did not have Unionized employees.
The wide variety of training and the benefits they reap supplement the organizational culture of the company and show the detailed thought that went into creating training that would benefit the massive number of employees that exist through out the Disney Company. The intense focus that Disney puts into each employee is easily paid back by the customer satisfaction that they maintain which keeps the theme parks jam packed year around. Just to get an idea of what it takes to become an employee at Disney, a prospective candidate must watch a ten-minute video about what is expected of employees.
It also covers some of the most vital rules such as private transportation to the park is required, no tattoos, excessive jewelry and makeup is strictly prohibited along with any piercing; facial or otherwise. At this point approximately ten percent of candidates leave but this is exactly what Disney is looking for. They want to weed out those individuals that are not going to be a good fit. The same day that they interview they are hired and complete paperwork and receive their first benefits briefing. This way less time is spent on orientation and the cast members can start their valuable training right away.
Some companies that have utilized the chance to receive this successful training are: Toys R Us, Siemens Medical, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Start Holding, and several hospitals around the nation that are known for their top notch customer relations and the service they are known to provide. This would be a result of the training the employees have received via Disney Institute.
In a case study with Toys R Us, the head of customer relations was looking for a way to delight customers and keep the customers coming back because of the service the company was striving for. They received the knowledge they needed from training at the Disney Institute on organizational culture and how to motivate employees to strive for delightful customer service.
This indicates that the Disney Institute was able to create classes to teach employees from a variety of companies how to create a good organizational culture. This is done along with observing group behavior and teaching motivation through the new and improved organizational culture, which is created by the training. The most interesting thing about it all is that they have been able to duplicate the same customer response and employee response repeatedly in many different types of companies. Because the institute has been so successful with Disney employees, any company has the ability to attend the lectures and classes to obtain this world class training to make companies have more successful interactions with customers.
Because Disney is constantly growing, the need for this particular training is vital to their success and they have proven how well it works. I have been to many theme parks, but none as welcoming as Disney, because everyone you encounter is ready to serve you as a guest and not treat you like a burden because they actually have to do their job. It seems that with the motivational types of training that are used at the Disney Institute that they believe in the Y theory that employees enjoy working and are creative individuals that seek self-direction rather than some organizations that believe all of their employees are lazy and need external motivation from their superiors; this is known as the X theory.
Disney’s orientation process is called Traditions, which is held on all employees first day with Disney and it does not matter who you are within the company it is necessary to be a part of the magic. Traditions is used to submerge the employees into the dream, mission, and service ideology of Disney and how Walt Disney wanted his company to operate even after his passing.
With the information that I have researched about Disney I never realized how much actually goes into the training of their cast and other employees through out the theme parks and now I see they offer first class business standards to make the company operate with a fantastic organizational culture. I say this because they strive for excellence and make you feel at home away from home and treat their employees very well while giving them top of the line training and opportunities.
Disney has created a culture for their employees where they feel that they are valued as an individual and a vital part of the team. They can do this with open communication throughout the chain of command, comprehensive training, and rewards. Providing this type of dynamic employee has given Disney one of the lowest attrition rates for any company in the United States. This philosophy of how to treat an employee has been passed on year after year by the likes of Walt Disney. The basic belief is that you cannot have happy guests if you do not have happy employees, which is an example of organizational culture and can be an example of human resources practices.
One way Disney determines if the employees are happy is with a 120-question survey about management’s performance. Using this survey is a good way to determine if management and employees are communicating effectively; once the surveys are complete, a staff meeting is held within three weeks of the survey completion and at that time all staff concerns are addressed so that any problems can be resolved. This goes back to the human resources practices and organizational culture, which shows the Disney Company is concerned about the welfare of their employees and want to keep their employees satisfied in turn satisfying the visitors.
According to Blassingame:
The company-wide belief that every cast member has valuable information to share is given life through Disney’s ongoing employee communication efforts. Cast members receive a biweekly newsletter with company information and updates available in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. They can find updated information online via the Disney intranet as well, which contains everything a cast member could need, from the current Disney stock price to the day’s weather forecast (2003)
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.
Disney respects and trusts their consumers and believes that we should laugh at ourselves and our experiences, which help us all, grow as people. Innovation is very important for the Disney Company because without having innovative ideas the company would not be as successful as it is today. In addition, by Disney treating their employees so well helps keep the magic alive even 80 plus years after Walt Disney’s dreams came to reality.
Within their organizational culture of course community is vital because this is where their sales come into place; even though they are in business to make money Disney still makes sure their visitors are supplied with the best accommodations and they also make sure it is affordable for everyone with some of their new business strategies to make your vacation fit your budget with the “magic your way” plans. At each Disney location throughout the world, many similarities are present as far as evidence of organizational culture, motivation, and communication, but the biggest difference would be in the culture.
Each Disney location offers culture that coincides with the location, such as Disney Japan. Even though it is an exact replica of Disney California, the culture is based on the microscopic attention to detail that Japanese citizens are used to along with the World Bazaar that is similar to Main Street USA, but manipulated to appeal to the Japanese.
It is evident that when each location was created a lot of thought was put into executing a culture and environment that would appeal to the community, because if this was not the case Disney theme parks would not be as popular as they are today and Disney would not have time share plans where you can go to any of the theme parks at your discretion. Yet, if an American decided to go to Disney Europe or Japan, it may not appeal to them in the same way Disney Orlando or California appeals to the American culture. The same thing goes for the employees at each location.
The location where you are working through Disney is also developed to suit the culture of the employees as well as it is to suit the same beliefs as the community or local consumers. It is very easy to see that the success Disney has had in developing a vast amount of employee training has reflected on other companies and has helped them become more successful with organizational culture, human resources practices, communication, and motivation. Many companies have turned to the Disney magic to refurbish their image through out the world and have successfully done so with the help of the Disney Institute with the help of Walt Disney’s original thoughts on how employees should be trained, so that everyone has access to the magical experience at all of the Disney theme parks.
