Walt Disney's Culture Change

The culture of a company or organization starts with the founder. It is the founder

that sets the tone for how things will run inside the company. In 2005, Disney made a

change at the top of the organization that changed the culture maybe forever.

From 1984 to 2005 Michael Eisner was the CEO of Disney. Eisner was very

much in control during his time as CEO of Disney. He set the tone, was very hands on,

and controlled everything. Shareholders begin to feel that Eisner was hindering the

company’s creative culture. He stepped down as CEO in March of 2005, and the Culture

began to change.

Eisner’s replacement was his long time assistant, Bob Iger. Iger began to change

the culture in that he trusted his subordinates, he ruled by consensus, and did not have the

need to be in the headlines. (“From beast to beauty” 2007).

Before 2005, Disney’s espoused values did not align with its enacted values.

Although Eisner was not an unethical CEO, he seemed to hinder the great minds at Walt

Disney. Walt Disney was built on great ideas and free thinking, but while Eisner was

CEO he often threw out any ideas he did not like (“From beast to beauty,” 2007). . After

Iger took over, you could begin to see the espoused values align back with the enacted

values. Iger encouraged the contributions of others and the weekly meetings did not just

flow in one direction.

Iger’s communication with the organization helped reshape the culture at Disney.

Iger has allowed scriptwriters more freedom and has given the studio chief more

responsibility. He puts his trust in the Disney employees and in return the Disney

employees do not let him down.

In order for the Walt Disney organizational culture to continue to succeed, Iger

must continue to have open communication. As stated earlier, the former CEO of Walt

Disney closed all lines of communication if he did not like the idea. Disney once again...