Conflict at Walt Disney Company: A Distant Memory?

Case Study: Exercise 11.1 Conflict at Walt Disney Company: A distant memory?

Carmen N. Falls

Webster University

            MGNT 5590 – Organizational Behavior

Dr. Donald Copley Jr.

As a Disney fan and follower and a non-Michael Isner fan my personal opinion is that the conflict is dysfunctional many of his early tactics were unnecessary but the text would say different.  Disney continued to grow the company and expand the brand even during a recession and he continued to lead the company effectively as a whole.  For a Disney purest he made what could be seen as missteps, in alienating Roy Disney and Stanley Gold but his payoff of $100 million to Disney & Gold mended the relationship and in turn Disney CO. kept the Miramax name and film library estimated at $2 billion. (growth)  I think the discourse between Iger & Jobs was manifested in that Iger insulted Apple & Jobs publicly.  Iger repaired the relationship because he knew Pixar was truly the new wave for animation and resurrected Disney animated films, Disney needed Pixar.   Iger repaired the relationship with Jobs and Pixar by paying $7.4 billion to get Pixar Studios (a smart move) and he put Jobs on the Disney Board.   I think that Iger's approach of compromise played a significant role in helping Disney position itself to survive the major economic recession.   Iger’s ability to put his ego aside and mend relationships and do what was best for Disney has made the company the largest media conglomerate in the world with a market value in excess of $40 billion.

References

Ivancevich, J. M., Konopaske, R., & Matteson, M. T. (2014). Organizational behavior & management (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.