Company Background
The Walt Disney Company is known around the world for its unique projects, which are loved by children all over the world. Everyone of any age has heard of this company, as well as the name of its creator. No wonder, because the firm Walt Disney has existed for over a hundred years and does not stop the production of its product for a year. The quality of produced movies and animated series is increasing, winning more and more audiences of different ages and backgrounds. However, if one delves into the details of the company and its financial statements, as well as the scandals associated with the name Walt Disney, one can conclude that the situation is not straightforward.
Therefore, this company was chosen for examination because Walt Disney is one of the oldest representatives of the animation genre, and it is possible to trace the rise and fall of the company, as well as the influence of the previous owners. It is essential to take into account the fact that despite the monopolization of the entire market, this company has competitors, and it is necessary to consider what development policy they have chosen. This will help conduct a grammatical analysis of what is happening and offer solutions to stabilize economic and reputational relations with both other companies and the consumer.
Throughout its existence, the company has signed a large number of contracts with other companies. The most significant agreements are the acquisition of rights to the Star Wars universe, as well as expanding its influence in other countries of the world. The deal with Lucas Films allowed for the creation of new products under their brand name, which increased the amount of financing (The Walt Disney Company, 2012). In addition, this universe is known to many people, as the film series Star Wars has been released for over forty years and covers a variety of age categories. Speaking of expanding its influence, the Volta Disney Company opened a large number of theme parks, thus drawing attention to its products and attracting a large number of potential users. However, both of these solutions have a number of nuances that do not allow them to be ultimately successful.
Speaking of the decision to purchase the rights to Star Wars, the quality of films that have been released in this period is not in high demand among viewers and critics. The Walt Disney Company began to focus more on the brand rather than the product itself. The primary indicator can be seen as hiring actors who do not have a distinguished acting career to star in films based on this universe. This decision for the sake of the box office has led to fan outrage and criticism of the movies found in this historically significant universe. Speaking of amusement parks, there was a problem. One of the main problems is the insufficient level of technical support for the attractions, as well as overpriced souvenirs. Very often, one can see that various tourist locations are closed due to reconstruction and repair work, which does not give the full enjoyment of staying in the park. The prices of products angry customers, as similar effects can be found at a much more reasonable price, which hit the reputation of the entire company. Therefore, a number of changes need to be introduced in order to improve not only the financial but the reputation.
The Need for Management Change
Innovation has been and remains an integral part of The Walt Disney Company, and the next five years of the company’s operations will focus on the introduction of innovative products and services, among other things. For the qualitative implementation of changes in the company, it is necessary first of all to consider what kind of changes are essential in the company (Hameed et al., 2022). This may relate to the personnel policy of the company, the number of employees in a particular process, the goals that the organization is pursuing, productivity, and so on.
Changes in personnel policy are necessary when an analysis of the company reveals that the current staff is not doing enough. Employees from informal organizations, if any, can be involved in changes. They have an active influence on the company’s team and, if handled correctly, can be great allies.
In addition to the right staff, building the proper purpose is a crucial change. The first step is developing a company philosophy. It usually includes such exotic for many organizations’ management tools as mission, values, and strategic vision. After that, having a clear purpose for the company, it is necessary to build a business model, which will be divided into actual and target. Similarly, the company will concretely see what it strives for and what processes need to be built to achieve these goals.
The third step is the creation and optimization of processes according to the built early business model. Based on the business model, one can form a process structure as a set of upper-level business processes divided into corresponding groups and subgroups. The processes are pulled out of the target business model and supported it. Then an administrative structure is created on the basis of process one, which fixes the responsibility of positions and subdivisions for the fulfillment of work processes and projects (Al-Omoush et al., 2022). There is a wide variety of administrative structures (from linear to virtual) and approaches to their construction. The difficulty is that there is no transparent algorithm for choosing the design. Then a financial structure is formed on the basis of the administrative system as a hierarchy of financial responsibility and accounting, which consolidate the responsibility of managers (and sometimes employees) for the financial results of the company.
In addition to restructuring work processes, the company needs to consider its policy regarding marketing. Consumers expect a constant improvement in the quality of goods and services and their adaptation to their own needs. They notice the differences between products less and less, and their interest in particular brands is constantly decreasing. Consumers can get comprehensive information about products from the Internet or other sources, allowing them to be more informed about their purchases. When searching for the products they need, consumers are increasingly sensitive to prices.
This leads to the conclusion that in order for a company to stay afloat, given the current competition, it is necessary to make its products either cheaper or of higher quality and not to forget about advertising. The company Walt Disney has no problem with advertising, looking at how much merchandise exists in their cartoons. In this case, one can restructure the sales policy in terms of product availability (Škare & Soriano, 2020). It allows other intermediaries to officially buy their goods and receive a percentage of the profits so that the company will look better in the eyes of not only entrepreneurs but the general audience, and the product itself will be much more accessible.
The Impact of Changes
Over time, any company needs to change. These changes are necessary for further development, profit, and prosperity. As a rule, changes concern the most critical factors of the company, such as the purpose of production, the efficiency of employees, the financial component, marketing productivity, etc. Of course, not all changes the team will accept with joy, especially in the case when the company has worked for a long time in one pattern and got used to it. In the article “The Four Principles of Change Management” by MindTools, they write that any changes, even the most effective ones from the management point of view, can fail. These mistakes should not be discouraged. Just the opposite, analyze what exactly went wrong and what changes can be made in the strategy to achieve the desired result (Mindtools, 2017). In addition to the right goals, it is necessary for the workforce to do its job effectively.
“The article Employee performance: 9 practical steps to measure, evaluate and improve” by Perkbox describes the detailed actions to be taken in case of the necessity of management with the team. First of all, it is necessary to find out the reasons why an employee does not meet expectations, assess his strengths and weaknesses, and not forget about the constant training and development of employees. It is worth looking at the goals realistically and setting tasks that employees should definitely cope with. In situations where these steps do not lead to the desired result, it is necessary to take radical measures in the form of warnings or dismissal altogether (Perkbox, 2020). Some actions may seem extreme, but unfortunately, sometimes one has to act violently to achieve the necessary results.
Marketing is a fundamental part of all production as it brings the most profit. If management does not devote enough time and attention to this point, even with highly productive employees, the company risks operating at a loss. “The article 5 Change Management Elements to Transform Sales” by Maria Trizna describes how to proceed with competent production marketing. According to the article, the first step to successful marketing is to pay attention to the needs of the sales force. If there is a lack of motivation and problems in work processes, the team will struggle to meet their goals. When changing the workflow in sales, it is necessary to prepare the employees for them (Trizna, 2017). For this purpose, it is worth involving a tacit team leader. This way, it will be easier for the team to accept the changes because not only the management is talking about them, but an employee from their team, who probably has more authority than the management.
Change Management Techniques
Change management is one of the critical factors in the successful implementation of the quality system and the development of the organization as a whole. Therefore, from the very beginning of work, it is necessary to understand what changes can occur in the organization and how to manage them. Change management will allow control of the process of development of the organization and correct the course of the project on QMS implementation.
At the initial stages, the changes may be unnoticeable and insignificant, but in the course of the project development, their volume and quantity will increase and involve more and more people in the process of changes. Quality management “preaches” an evolutionary approach to the development of the organization, so change management should be based on the principles of kaizen: a large number of small changes in all areas of activity leads to a significant improvement of the organization as a whole.
Change management is divided into two parts: change management at a personal level, which concerns employees, and change management of the organizational structure. The quality system is a people-oriented system. Through change management, it is necessary to get people to work in a new way so that they change the way they are used to working. Here the quality system encounters the psychological and social issues of managing changes in people’s behavior. If one orders to change the behavior of people and tend to motivate them to do their work in accordance with the new rules, then changes will begin to occur in individual units and in the organization as a whole. In this case, it can be said that the quality system has already started to work and that it is implemented in the organization.
This system touches on three qualities of change: at the level of each individual, the team, and the organization. At the individual level, an understanding of working with each employee individually is worked through. The person should understand and believe that the changes are necessary after forming his attitude to the requirements for the changes to be embodied in life. After that, the employee accepts changes and starts to implement them in his work. When people work in a familiar environment, they are not very willing to change anything. Therefore, as a rule, the first reaction of employees to the proposed quality system methods will be a reaction of resistance.
References
Al-Omoush, K. S., Palacios-Marqués, D., & Ulrich, K. (2022). The impact of intellectual capital on supply chain agility and collaborative knowledge creation in responding to unprecedented pandemic crises. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 178, 121603.
Hameed, Dr. L. M., Taher, Dr. M. H., & Hussein, Dr. A. M. (2022). The Impact of Job Satisfaction in Achieving Strategic Agility through the Mediating Role of Knowledge Sharing. Webology, 19(1), 807–831.
Mindtools. (2017). Change ManagementMaking Organization Change Happen Effectively. Mindtools.com. Web.
Perkbox. (2020). Employee performance: how to measure, evaluate & improve. Www.perkbox.com. Web.
Škare, M., & Soriano, D. R. (2020). A dynamic panel study on digitalization and firm’s agility: What drives agility in advanced economies 2009–2018. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 120418.
Trizna, M. (2017). 5 Change Management Elements to Transform Sales. Www.salesresult.com. Web.
The Walt Disney Company. (2012). Disney to Acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. The Walt Disney Company. Web.