Bolman Deals Human Resource Frame and Disney

Human Resource Frame
Overview of the Organization
The Walt Disney Company is one of the largest media and entertainment companies in the world. Its products and services meet the needs of billions of consumers around the world, through storytelling and the creation of fantasy and entertainment. In order to produce these outcomes, the Disney Company needs to engage around 200,000 employees (Forbes, 2018). The Walt Disney Company is ranked as one of the best companies to work for. The essential strategy of Disney is that they company requires its employees to create amazing experiences for guests and consumers. In order to do this, the employees themselves must be inspired, and committed to delivering those types of experiences. The human resources frame can be utilized to explain how Disney is able to inspire 200,000 employees to deliver amazing experiences.
Human Resources Frame
Bolman and Deal describe the four frames by which to analyze an organization. The human resources frame places “emphasis on people’s needs”, including “giving employees power and opportunity to perform their jobs well” (Business Balls, 2020). The human resources frame lends value to an organization in a few different, key ways. The first is that it allows employees to be their best – when people feel valued, they are in a better position to give their best. Disney creates this sense of value for its employees by investing in them – some 80,000 of them have access to company equity and many more have opportunities for training and education (Walt Disney.com, 2020). This level of investment not only creates loyalty, but it shows that the company invests in its people, leading the employees to invest back into the company.
Furthermore, Disney creates opportunities for many who otherwise might not have such opportunities, including veterans, people without high school diplomas, new immigrants and more (Walt Disney, 2020). Investing in people who otherwise might not receive such investment gives the company the ability to get the most out of people – they are motivated by having the opportunity to be their best, and achieve their dreams, something that might not otherwise be available.
The second reason such investments are valuable for Disney is that they make the company an employer of choice for many. Disney has found itself on the Forbes list of best employers, not only ranked high but ranked high for a non-tech company. That means that many of the company’s employees might have only had a few options, and none better than Disney. When given a choice many employees specifically choose Disney. Because of this, the company receives a higher standard of worker, ones more likely to create the types of magical experiences that Disney sells to the general public. This is important – someone who wishes to get into the entertainment field will naturally gravitate to Disney, giving it a competitive advantage over other companies in the same business.
Role of Human Resources
Most of Disney’s workers are in the United States, where the unemployment rate is very low at 3.6% (BLS, 2020). At that rate, competition for any worker is high, let alone for quality workers. Disney typically competes with a number of other companies in its industries. Roles are often creative, or involve interaction with the public. In either case, the experience that each role creates is important to maintaining competitive advantage. Application of the human resource frame makes sense for a company like Disney that must compete for scarce labor resources, and win the majority of available talent for any role that it needs to fill.
On its website, Disney describes its mission as to “entertain, inform and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling.” This mission requires, as it states, the ability to inspire. Ultimately, that is the most challenging aspect of the mission statement to deliver, especially with as many employees as Disney has. Entertainment is also a challenge at times – that requires creativity and execution, whereas inspiration is something more emotional in nature. For Disney to do both of these things requires an incredible amount of talent at its disposal, and each employee, especially those with a public-facing role, must be inspired themselves in order to inspire others.
Attribute #1 – Personal Growth
A large organization like Disney needs to not only attract talent, but then to provide that talent with opportunities to grow. Disney takes a relatively unique approach to its personal growth benefits. Sammer (2019) outlines some of the ways that the Disney approach to personal growth is different from most other companies. First, Disney pays up front, whereas most companies only provide reimbursement after the completion of studies. The typical approach is really rooted in the perspective that employees might take advantage of the company, whereas Disney’s approach shows trust. It is true that a few people might use the company but the trust that company places in its employees tends to be, on average, repaid with a higher degree of loyalty.
Disney also provides coaching support (Sammer, 2019), in order to help guide employees. This reflects the human resources perspective. The company knows that going back to school is a major decision for most people, and it seeks to help reduce the friction associated with that decision. By reducing the risk, Disney makes it easier for employees to grow and to actualize. These coaches are available online to Disney employees everywhere, something that encourages employees to go back to school, rather than delaying the decision.
The flexibility that Disney offers to its employees in terms of personal growth also includes the provision of study space in its larger facilities, and they also let employees pursue the growth paths that interest them most. At many companies, there will be an investment in employee education, but limitations will be placed so that the employee can only study things that directly affect their role; Disney allows a greater degree of flexibility in that study need not be strictly in the area where the employee works today.
Following the education program, Disney then works with the employees to help them leverage that education. This is maybe more in the interest of the company, but ultimately it is also in the interest of the employee as well. Disney has roles in a great many fields, and that gives employees the opportunity to explore their passions a bit more than might be possible in a smaller company.
Attribute #2 – Focus on Morale
The human resource frame emphasizes morale as a key component of success for organizations (McLeod, 2011). It is easy to see the role that morale will play at a company that is essentially in the entertainment business. A large percentage of Disney’s employees are in customer-facing roles, and in these roles the employees are tasked not just with performing a basic service but with creating magical experiences for customers. That distinction has ramifications for the focus that the company must place on morale, in particular relative to other companies of equivalent size. Most companies that large are more about efficiency and execution than anything else, but for Disney to thrive the company has to be able to consistently deliver magical experiences to customers of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds. In order to do that, morale at the company must always be at a high level.
Disney seeks to create a high standard of morale by encouraging its employees to have a high degree of loyalty, and to buy into the vision. As an example, the company makes a specific point to invest in break rooms and other aspects of the backstage experience (Bricker, . Disney considers these investments to be integral to raising the morale of the front of house workers that it calls cast members. These investments signal that the company is concerned with the total experience for its workers and that it intends to provide the best possible working environment.
These investments make sense when viewed through the lens of the human resources frame. The human resources frame argues that morale is critical to a company’s success. Not only is morale important in terms of reducing turnover, but it is important because higher morale means more energized and engaged employees. Disney needs this in order to create the best possible experiences for its customers.
To drive morale, senior executives make a point to engage directly with front line cast members. Doing this allows the executives to understand the pain points of cast members, and then make appropriate investments that will stimulate morale. In fact, the person in charge of this program was once a cast member, and can directly relate to the experiences that many cast members face in trying to be their best every single day. By removing the friction that might prevent that, Disney delivers a high level of morale to its workers, and in turn those workers are empowered to deliver the magical experiences that underpin the company’s mission.
Effectiveness
The ultimate test of effectiveness is revenue, but the company’s reputation among consumers also matters. According to the company’s 2018 annual report, its parks and resorts have experienced strong revenue growth – 8% in 2017 and 10% in 2018. This makes the parks and resorts the most steadily strong performing business unit in the company. Furthermore, operating income increased 14% in 2017 and 18% in 2018. Where other segments either struggled or delivered inconsistent results, the segment most directly affected by the human resource frame delivered the best results.
The strong financials reflect a positive reputation for the company among consumers. Positive customer experiences result not only in positive reviews online and repeat business, but strong word of mouth recommendations. In a highly competitive business environment, steady and growing revenue reflects that consumers are having good experiences with the brand. Morale is most associated with the parks and resorts line of business because of the direct impact of interactions of cast members and consumers.
Disney’s high morale among its employees is in part because it emphasizes empowerment, which is another aspect of the human resources frame. Disney employees are guided by the mission as it relates to creating exceptional customer experiences, and in turn they are empowered to do so. The company has actively removed barriers to delivering exceptional service, such as strict rules and stilted hierarchies – rules and hierarchies exist, but to serve the needs of the company’s mission, not the whims of management. When an employee or cast member is in a position of making a decision regarding a customer experience, they are empowered to deliver the best experience possible. This empowerment lies at the heart of high morale among employees and cast members, as they feel good making people happy and do not have many conflicts when it comes to their ability to do so (Jones, 2018).
In addition to the financial success attributable to attention to the human resources frame, Disney is also in a position where it has been awarded one of the best places to work by Forbes. This honor also reflects the result of the company’s commitment to meeting the needs of its employees. There are companies that might be better, but in its industry, Disney has distinguished itself as superior, and this success has not gone unnoticed. All told, it is reasonable to suggest that Disney has become a world leader in its field, and has done so in large part because it has done enough for its workers that they consistently deliver superior experiences even relative to some stiff competition in many of its industries.
Recommendations
A huge part of Disney’s success lies with the company’s attention to the human element. Disney focuses on fostering strong employee loyalty and on empowering them to facilitate the company’s mission. This sense of purpose in turn creates high morale, and a willingness to go the extra mile. It is reasonable to assume that Disney is not perfect in terms of its application of the human resources frame, but the company clearly pays attention to the needs of its employees, and many of its decisions showcase evidence that it is willing to do what it needs to do in order that its employees are empowered to deliver superior experiences.
There are ample opportunities for growth within the company, and employees are encouraged to pursue them. Disney rewards loyalty, and in turn receives it. In that sense, Disney seems to understand that it needs to be able to attract and retain the best talent, and uses its attention to meeting human needs as a way of doing just that. If an employee feels that their needs are not being met, then they might leave, but Disney has been able to retain 200,000 employees and deliver superior experiences.
References
BLS (2020). The employment situation – January 2020. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved March 2, 2020 from https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
Bricker, J. (2020) Disney World investing millions on cast morale. Disney Tourist Blog Retrieved March 2, 2020 from https://www.disneytouristblog.com/disney-world-investing-millions-cast-morale/
Business Balls (2020) Four frame model – Bolman and Deal. Business Balls. Retrieved March 2, 2020 from https://www.businessballs.com/leadership-models/four-frame-model-bolman-and-deal/
Forbes (2018) World’s best employers. Forbes. Retrieved March 2, 2020 from https://www.forbes.com/companies/walt-disney/?list=world-best-employers/#394d24715730
Jones, B. (2018) How Disney empowers its employees to deliver exceptional customer service. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved March 2, 2020 from https://hbr.org/sponsored/2018/02/how-disney-empowers-its-employees-to-deliver-exceptional-customer-service
McLeod, S. (2011) Bolman & Deal frameworks. Big Think. Retrieved March 2, 2020 from https://bigthink.com/bolman-deal-frameworks
Sammer, J. (2019) 5 takeaways from Disney’s tuition benefits. SRHM.org. Retrieved March 2, 2020 from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/5-takeaways-from-disney-tuition-benefits-approach.aspx
Walt Disney Company (2020) website, various pages. Retrieved March 2, 2020 from https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/forbes-ranks-disney-among-worlds-best-employers-for-2018/
Walt Disney Corporation 2018 Annual Report. In possession of the author.