Organization Climate towards the End of Michael Eisner’s Tenure at Disney
The beginning of Eisner’s tenure and management at Disney are marked by successful results, leading to profitability and prosperity of the company. Most of the purchases and mergers also contributed to the growth of Disney’s influence. Apparently, the success of Eisner’s venture and activities was explained by good relationships with other executives leading the company. Fruitful cooperation with supervisors was evident, but the rest of the personnel did not feel sufficient support on the part of the CEO. However, in the second half of their tenure, Michael Eisner experienced a significant decline in relation to his record and profile.
Most of his relationships broke up due to his egoism and reluctance to compromise. Failure to communicate and cooperate with other important people in the cinematographic industry, including Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steve Jobs, and Michael Ovitz. Further, excess focus on potential rivals and negligence of organizational culture and climate. In particular, the CEO did not provide space and freedom for developing creativity among the employees, which is especially important in this kind of industry. Although Eisner was willing to be part of the company’s personnel and, therefore, he strived to be active while generating ideas and contributing to the companies’ success.
Recommendation to Improve the Organizational Climate Based on Leadership Skills, Principles, and Vision
Although at the end of Eisner’s tenure was not quite successful, the overall policy, philosophy, and vision of the company were congruent with its goals. Specifically, the executive encouraged people working in teams and generating ideas; he also believed that the role of a leader should not be confined to controlling processes and leading people only. Rather, Eisner’s leadership strategies should have been more expansive and visionary because some of the activities did not bring in significant shifts in employee culture and organizational climates. Additionally, low morale and inappropriate ethics are also among the reasons for Eisner’s resignation.
However, excessive focus on this approach prevented other members of the organization to practice creativity and put forward ideas as too many restrictions were imposed on them. Being a cheerleader at the very beginning, Disney managed to achieve tremendous success in the field. Extreme authority and excess use of power should be eliminated to give more freedom to employees and complement the creative policy. The atmosphere should be much more creative to provide writers, animators, and composers with sufficient space and freedom for work.
Strategic Implication of Michael Eisner’s Leadership and His Efficiency at the Strategic Level
At the strategic level, Michael Eisner’s leadership was not oriented on employees, but on the way, they perform objectives and tasks. Negligence of organizational culture led to disorganization and pressure imposed on creative workers. In the context of globalization and diverse culture, it is highly important for Disney’s manager to be more sensitive to the atmosphere in the workplace. The creative process cannot stand frictions and conflict because it does not provide greater results and increased productivity. Cinematography and the animated industry should be more concerned with establishing fruitful and trustworthy relationships to ensure long-term cooperation.
More freedom given to employees does not mean failure to comply with the company’s objectives and missions. In fact, the task of the leader is to gain trust and respect on the part of the employees. The focus on transformational leadership and a person-oriented approach is largely encouraged and, therefore, new executives working at Disney should pay closer attention to employees’ concerns.