Culture at the Walt Disney Company free essay sample

Lasseter, head of Disney’s animation studios and Pixar says, â€Å"What’s interesting is that he [Iger] actually said most of the time the big companies come in and influence little companies when they buy them. He, in fact, wanted the opposite to happen. † (Reingold, 2012). This acquisition changed Disney fundamentally: No longer was Disney the only way. Reingold, 2012). Disney also had to learn how to â€Å"loosen up† as Pixar is a very flexible organization in which you can bring your pet or child to work and you can also drink at the funky bars that the creatives have set up in their offices. (Reingold, 2012) Iger’s changes seem to be working. The Walt Disney Company made $40. 9 billion in revenue in fiscal 2011. (Reingold, 2012). The changes have increased efficiency with the employees; in some areas of the company they have implemented a flexible work schedule, so the employees don’t have to adhere to a specific schedule, in turn it allows them to spend ore time with family and loved ones. We will write a custom essay sample on Culture at the Walt Disney Company or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Iger increased capital spending during the recession as rivals cut back. Earnings driven by acquisitions have nearly doubled. The stock price has risen 80%, among other things. (Reingold, 2012). Although, overall the cultural changes are working for Disney, it doesn’t always work. Disney’s interactive division is losing money and the film division has had some bombs, which resulted in job loss. Some also believe that by not putting a lot of emphasis on the animation aspect that Disney is diminishing the company’s core brand strength and legacy. Iger says, â€Å"When you deal with a company that has a great legacy, you deal with decisions and conflicts that arise from the clash of heritage versus innovation versus relevance. I’m a big believer in respect for heritage, but I’m also a big believer in the need to innovate and the need to balance that respect for heritage with the need to be relevant. † (Siklos, 2008). I have recently gone through a cultural change at my last employer, AirTran Airways, Inc. , when we were acquired by Southwest Airlines. AirTran had always been the â€Å"low cost† air carrier that still wanted to be like the â€Å"legacy† carriers. We wore suit and ties, worked a specific schedule and had very little crew member appreciation events. When Southwest came in things totally changed. We could wear casual clothes to work, we implemented a Culture Committee in the station, which I started up and ran until my departure, and we had lots of fundraisers, station outings, and sporting tournaments for the crew members to get involved in. One thing you would always hear is that Southwest employees â€Å"OWN IT! † they are empowered to come up with ideas and carry them out. So if an employee wants to have a station outing they must â€Å"OWN IT† and put everything together, from talking with the restaurant/bar to putting out flyers to ensure everyone knows about it. This is not only for the â€Å"fun† things but also for process changes. Southwest has a whole department dedicated to their culture. For me this was a great change, however, for others they were reluctant to embrace the changes, even the station leaders pushed back. When Southwest first came in the picture people were scared, scared of change, losing jobs, changing roles, scares of just about anything. Performance dropped, and more accidents started happening at work. After a while everyone got used to the way things are done