Conflict at Walt Disney Company: a Distant Memory?
Conflict at Walt Disney Company: A Distant Memory? The Disney Company has played an iconic role in the American tourism and the evolution of digital media over the years. Its continued success and longevity are a concrete testament of the organization’s solid leadership, innovative growth and vision. Disney’s past and present leaders have made substantial impact on the company’s culture, direction, successes and shortcomings. This case analysis will focus on Michael Eisner and Rob Iger, the two most recent Chief Executive Officers of Disney, and their contribution and management approach to building sustainable business relationships, resolving conflicts and working towards the best interest of the organization. Also, our paper will highlight the dissimilarities between the beleaguered Eisner and his unpretentious successor, Rob Iger. The personality of leaders in an organization is significantly interrelated to how its senior management interacts and co-exists with one another and with outside partners. In turn, the dynamics of these interactions affect the organization’s performance and effectiveness considerably (Hermann & Preston, 1994, p. 75). In the past several years, the Disney Corporation has had few Chief Executive Officers with very diverse and distinct personality traits that transcended into the company’s culture and organizational performance. Ivancevich, Konopaske & Matteson (2011) point out that despite the severe recession, “Disney is faring better than many of its rival companies” (p. 337). The authors suggest that Disney’s current CEO, Robert Iger’s leadership and management had a lot to do with making sound business decisions benefiting the company. Disney’s continued success, however, was not always free of any corporate turbulence. Robert Iger‘s predecessor, Michael Eisner, left the company in 2005 under heavy criticism, one year before his contract expired (Kung, 2006). Throughout his tenure at Disney, Eisner
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