After you have reviewed the contents of the Walt Disney Company website, completed the readings provided at the Background page of Module 1, and performed additional research from the library and on the internet, write a 6- to 7-page paper in which you do the following:
Using the following assumptions of the Human Resources Frame, complete an in-depth assessment of the Walt Disney Company:
• Organizations exist to serve human needs rather than the reverse.
• People and organizations need each other. Organizations need ideas, energy, and talent; people need careers, salaries, and opportunities.
• When the fit between individual and system is poor, one or both suffer. Individuals are exploited or exploit the organization—or both become victims.
• A good fit benefits both. Individuals find meaningful and satisfying work, and organizations get the talent and energy they need to succeed.
Keys to the Assignment
The key aspects of this assignment that are to be covered in your 6- to 7-page paper include the following:
• Describe Walt Disney’s approach to human resources. Is Disney’s overall approach to human resources more or less effective relative to its ability to help the organization accomplish its stated purpose (vision, mission)? Explain.
• Using Bolman and Deal’s Human Resources Frame, analyze two or three human resources/ human relations characteristics of the Walt Disney Company. Because you cannot cover all characteristics that are related to human resources/ relations in a short paper, you will need to be selective; therefore, choose two or three characteristics that are of particular interest to you. These might include, for example the Walt Disney Company’s benefits design, its employee orientation/training programs, or its employee evaluation systems.
• For each of the human resources characteristics that you have included in your Case, discuss the extent to which that characteristic has been effective or ineffective relative to helping Disney to attain its stated purpose. Defend your answer in the context of the four (4) assumptions given above (how well do the two or three human resources/ relations characteristics you’ve identified ascribe to these assumptions – if at all)?
• Having had applied the Human Resources Frame to the Walt Disney Company, is there anything that you would you do differently? Conclude Chapter 3 of your paper by giving recommendations as to what you believe Disney should do, and explain why.
• The background readings will not give you all the answers to the Case. Therefore, you are expected to perform some research in the library, using a minimum of 3-4 scholarly sources from the library to support and justify your understanding of the case.
