Disney essay - Grade: D PDF

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The essay topic is as follows:

Choose a real-life organisation. Explain how Human Resource Management contributes to that organisation’s success. Use the academic literature to support your argument.

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HRM10003 Assignment 2 – Essay

(Walt Disney company 1986)

101838817 Due: 12 August 2019

The motto at Disney – Treat our employees like we do our customers (Wilkie 2014). Disney’s aim to ‘create happiness’ in its many parks and resorts is not an easy task, especially not when trying to involve over 60,000 employees in each park to achieve it (Wilkie 2014). How does Walt Disney achieve this? Simple, though its human resource department. Walt Disney values the human element of its business, not only Disney’s guests, consumers and audiences, but also their employees, cast and crew members (Wilkie 2014). Disney is committed to creating a safe, inclusive and respectful workplace in all their locations across the world (Wilkie 2014). In 2019, Walt Disney universe was ranked the 33rd largest employer in the United States with over 200 000 employees under their care (Coletta 2018). The interesting fact about Disney is that all these employees had to go through the same, or slightly different, hiring process. This hiring process starts with Walt Disney’s human resource department and their attention to detail (Freeman 2019). Exceptional attention to detail in Walt Disney’s hiring and training process allows them to hire people who fit in in the culture and consistently do what their roles asks of them (Freeman 2019). This approach is part of what makes the Disney experience so memorable (Freeman 2019). Walt Disney has thousands of job classifications and each employment starts the same way, from senior executives, to tour guides and part-time desk clerks, the Walt Disney training process (Capodagli & Jackson 2007). The common goal for the training is always the same; exceptional guest experience (Freeman 2019). Walt Disney’s human resource department is based on the notion that “by educating the cast (employees) of the traditions of the past and the priorities of the present, it can maintain its competitive edge in the future” - Disney Institute Materials as cited in Mann & Budworth (2018, p.371). The training at Walt Disney leaves nothing to chance, not only does it include knowledge about competencies and particular job skills, it also ensures that each employee has a thorough understanding of Disney’s culture and traditions (Capodagli & Jackson 2007). Training at Disney is ongoing throughout the year with certain key information being repeated to remind employees to deliver guest service that includes the entire experience (Freeman 2014). For many organisations training can be viewed as an expensive but necessary evil, but Mr. Walt Disney viewed it completely opposite – he considered employee training an essential investment in the future of his company (Capodagli & Jackson 2007).

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Disney’s human resource department was not always as efficient as it is today. In 2013 the organisation went through a large internal change and prior to this makeover the human resource operations were segmented by Disney’s business units, this format often led to overlaps with other business units (Coletta 2018). HR representatives from the theme-park division would be at the same recruiting event as HR representatives from other Disney units, such as ESPN and Walt Disney studios (Coletta 2018). The organisation was competing with itself and management soon realised that this had to change. The chief human resource officer Jayne Parker said, "We had to present Disney as one company with many opportunities in order for graduates to understand that they can have a very interesting and varied career path at the Walt Disney Co" (Coletta 2018). Walt Disney’s attitude toward their employees and continuous training indicate they use more of the ‘soft’ model of HRM compared to the ‘hard’ model. The soft model being associated with the human relations movement and the utilisation of individual talent (Truss, Gratton, Hope-Hailey, McGovern & Stiles 1997). Soft HRM requires communication to be a vital role in management as soft HRM allows more flexibility and adaptability for employees (Truss et.al. 1997). The soft model states that employees are resources worthy of training and development, whereas the hard model aim to keep cost per employee at minimum (Truss et.al 1997). Walt Disney provide training for all their employees to ensure outstanding customer service and emerge each employee in the Disney culture and values. Despite this, Walt Disney still partake in some aspects of the hard model of HRM. Disney World rely heavily on contingent and part-time employees, in 2009 the rate of part-time and casual employees was estimated around 30% (Mann & Budworth 2018). Walt Disney spends large amounts of money on employee training and development, while saving money on employees’ hourly wage. In an interview conducted in 2009 with a large sample of Walt Disney World employees, most respondents expressed dissatisfaction with their wages (Mann & Budworth 2018). The average full-time hourly rate was reported at US $11.75 per hours (Mann & Budworth 2018). All of Disney’s theme parks have grown significantly in the last few years (Niles 2019) and in the segment results for quarter ending March 31st 2018 Walt Disney Parks and resorts reported a revenue of US $4.88 billion, the media networks US $6.14 billion, studio entertainment $2.45 billion and consumer products and interactive entertainment $1.08 billion (Noonan 2018). When considering the vast revenue Walt Disney made last year, US

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$4.88 billion on the theme park segment alone, yet many resort and park employees reported being underpaid and/or being paid absolute minimum pay (Munn & Budworth 2018). After a year of contentious negotiations, Walt Disney finally made a deal with the Service Trades Council Union (STCU) which represent six unions covering 38,000 employees at the Walt Disney Florida park and resort, to incrementally increase the minimum wage over the next three years before hitting US $15 per hour in October 2021 (Watts 2018). Despite these recent troubles, Walt Disney continues to be one of the United States largest employer and a role model for many other organisations because of their success in retaining and continuously attracting new employees each year (Hoai Ahn & Kleiner 2005; Mann & Budworth 2018). Walt Disney’s human resource department’s ability to instill Walt Disney’s values and engage their employees emotionally in the organisation makes employees want to place the customer, and the customer’s experience first. Walt Disney carefully craft their message to employees, to make them understand that their actions continually enhance the legacy of Walt Disney’s heritage and traditions (Freeman 2014). For most employees working at Disney World, it is much more than simply a job, they have adopted Disney’s values, innovation, decency, quality, community, storytelling and optimism (Williams 2019), full heartedly, this is why Disney’s human resource department is so successful.

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References Freeman, C 2014, Disney’s focus in employees allow employees to focus on customers, Institute of Management & Administration, vol. 91, no 7. Hoai Anh, N & Kleiner, HB 2005, effective human resource management in the entertainment industry, Management research news, vol. 28, no. 2/3, pp.100-107. Mann, S & Budworth, MHP 2018, ‘The happiest place on earth? A case study of Disney World employment experience’, in RJ Burke & JC Hughes, Handbook of Human resource Management in Tourism and Hospitality Industries, Northampton, pp.364-380.

Niles, R 2019, ‘Disney extends its lead in global theme park attendance’, Theme Park Insider, 22 May, viewed 10 August 2019, . Noonan, K 2018, ‘How the Walt Disney company makes most of its money’, The Motley Fool, 1 June, viewed 7 August 2019, . Truss, C, Gratton, L, Hope-Hailey, V, McGovern, P & Stiles, P 1997, Soft and hard models of human resource management: a reappraisal, Journal of Management Studies, vol 31, no 1, pp. 53 – 73. Walt Disney Company 1986, ‘Walt Disney logo’, in D23 the official Disney fan club c.2018, How Disney’s iconic look has changed from 1923 to the present day, D23 the Official Disney fan club, viewed 10 August 2019, . Watts, J 2018, ‘Walt Disney World workers land deal for $15 minimum wage’, CNN Business, 25th August, viewed 10 August 2019, . Wilkie, D 2014, ‘Disney’s motto: Treat employees like customers’, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 22 June, viewed 10 August 2019, .

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Williams, A 2019, ‘Disney’s organizational culture for excellent entertainment (analysis)’, Panmore Institute, 7 March, viewed 10 August 2019, .

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