Human Capital Management

[pic 1]Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore   

Assignment on

THE WONDEFUL WORLD OF HR AT DISNEY

1. How was HR different at Walt Disney when compared to other firms?

At Walt Disney HR achieve common values and a strong organizational culture through the recruitment process. Disney HR focuses on values, behavior and beliefs throughout the process of selecting the right candidate. Disney HR does not simply hire employees they employ cast members to play a role in their company. They recruit cast members who reflect the “right” values of the organization. Disney HR relies upon casting to review all applicants and ensure that they embody the company’s value and culture rather than leaving this up to the managers. This process ensures that all candidates receive clear and consistent information. Disney HR also focuses on employee retention as losing talent is detrimental to the organization, so they work on keeping employees by knowing employees know that they care about them through appreciation, activities and benefits. 

1. What are some of the unique HR practices that it adopted to recruit train and develop its employees?

The following points were practiced while recruiting, training and to develop their employees:

• Hire the right people: they conduct auditions rather than job interviews, and refer to potential candidates as cast members. Moreover, candidates watch a short video early in the interview process to introduce cast members to Disney’s culture and values as well as to level-set expectations.
• Develop people to deliver service quality: They identify an individual’s passions and interests, and match him or her to the right position. This helps ensure a high level of satisfaction and engagement.
• Provide necessary support systems: employees at WDC receive comprehensive training and advancement opportunities. They offer feedback, support, and resources to help employees do their jobs well and feel engaged in the process.
• Retain the best people: Employees at WDC remain satisfied because of attractive benefits like free park admissions, discounts on merchandise, and a competitive benefits plan. They foster an employee creativity culture by empowering and providing necessary support required.

1. How is the leadership Vision, Mission and Strategy communicated to all its employees?

The Walt Disney Company uses a centralized casting team to ensure that not only the recruitment of key talent is consistent across the globe, but also to ensure that the company’s core values are clearly communicated and embodied by employees, no matter where they are located. They ensure that employees are engaged in the corporate culture and values is not through communicating the core values to employees who are already employed, but through selecting the right candidates from the beginning. Since values are difficult to change, ensuring that the employee embodies the company’s values from the beginning is critical. These casting centers are not only important to embedding the Disney culture in new cast members, but also the casting center sets the tone for the cast member’s experience. At Disney, leadership is not defined by leader’s title – it’s defined by leader’s actions. Disney leaders proactively work to align their values with the Company’s vision and the result is a motivated, innovative, and productive workforce. At WDC all new cast members on board with the Disney vision and values of the company by calling an employee a cast member, they reinforce that every employee is playing a role in the larger production.