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Walt Disney Company Organization\'s Culture Determines Communication

Last reviewed: September 20, 2013 ~6 min read
Abstract

Communication is an important facet that determines the success of an organization in any industry. While focusing on Walt Disney, this study shows that its success is premised on effective communication between departments and employees. Effective conflict resolution techniques are also essential in building cordial relationships among employees. This enhances the companies success.

Walt Disney Company

Organization's culture determines communication

Walt Disney's culture and communication can be described as two sides of the same coin. It is through structured mechanisms and processes that the organization exists. It is through documents, memos, meetings, and conversations that employees coordinate their activities. These communicative behaviors are collectively known as the discourse of the company. Therefore, it is primarily identified as the means by which Walt Disney creates a coherent social reality. In case the ongoing communication practices were absent, employees would never have thought of themselves as an organization. The continuous meetings, telephone calls, corridor conversations, and sales talks are mechanisms that create the Walt Disney organization (Robbins & Judge, 2011).

This viewpoint shows the connection between an organization's culture and communication. Communication is a viable way by which Walt Disney exists because its processes and structures determine the communication model adopted. This will makes employees consider of themselves as part of the organization. Similarly, the group does not accept employees who fail to communicate in ways that others deem normal. This creates a complex relationship between the organization and communication. Effective communication among all employees is the premise of Walt Disney's success. In this case, it expects individuals to communicate in a defined and agreed manner. The practice forms and aligns their behavior characterized with habits and expectations. This has enabled Walt Disney to continue existing, despite some individuals leaving and new members replace (Beebe & Masterson, 2009).

The role communication plays in perception and organizational culture

Communication is the backbone of Walt Disney's existence. Any communication within employees or stakeholders has the potential to influence the ability of Walt Disney to achieve its goals. Communication serves to create power relationships within the company. Managers must obtain the right information at the appropriate time in order to manage the organization effectively. Walt Disney has fostered a culture of success through effective information sharing and management. The road map of interest to employees is the one that shows the decision making process in the organization. When employees want to act collectively, they engage cultural shortcuts also known as rhetorical rules. This may involve discussions over a table of coffee or beer. Employees have to devise the best way of executing a collective action (Robbins & Judge, 2011).

In teams, a set of members may feel that the quiet people have declined to contribute. On the other hand, the silent members may go angry because some of them communicate by shouting. Employees work productively and feel more cohesive when they share rules and expectations to govern their process of decision-making. With a culture of transmitting the organizational culture to new entrants, a rhetorical culture is created because the rules are applied across multiple processes. This enables a stable mechanism of decision-making policies extending across multiple situations of decisions over time (O'Connell & Cuthbertson, 2009).

The role of conflict in group communication

A breakdown in the communication process spurs a conflict within a group of an organization. During communication, conflict is a catalyst to get to the source of disagreement. Theorists have developed three schools of thought to demonstrate the role of conflict in group communication.

The traditional perspective: The traditional perspective conquers that conflicts hurts organizations. This view acknowledged conflict as a negative phenomenon and thought of it as synonymous with destruction and violence. In the traditional perspective, conflict is a dysfunctional consequence of components like poor correspondence, absence of trust around the workers, and an inadequacy of the administration to respond to employees' desires and needs. Evidently, conflict causes productivity losses. In extreme cases in the work place, conflict may distract leaders from productively discharging their responsibilities effectively. Along these lines, we see that the traditional perspective acknowledged conflict as an awful thing and lobbies for its total avoidance (Beebe & Masterson, 2009). At some point, this brought an inclination to stifle the conflict and push it away from anyone's vicinity. Some organizations attempt to wish it away by overlooking the existence of conflict. Both the investigative management methodology and the managerial school of administration related vigorously to improving such organizational structures. They are critical in identifying the regulations strategies, rules, tasks, and power relationships. Such inbuilt standards will recognize and revise issues of such conflicts in case they arise. Accordingly, through legitimate management systems and regard for the sources of conflict, it may be mitigated and organizational performance enhanced.

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References
5 sources cited in this paper
  • Beebe, S. A., & Masterson, J. T. (2009). Communicating in small groups: Principles and practices (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
  • Frey, L. R. (2012). New Directions in Group Communication. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE.
  • O'Connell, T. S., & Cuthbertson, B. (2009). Group dynamics in recreation and leisure: Creating conscious groups through an experiential approach. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
  • Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2011). Organizational behavior (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson- Prentice Hall.
  • Schultz, B. G. (2009). Communicating in the small group: Theory and practice. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers.
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PaperDue. (2013). Walt Disney Company Organization\'s Culture Determines Communication. PaperDue. https://www.paperdue.com/essay/walt-disney-company-organization-culture-96787

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