LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Leadership Development and Current Leadership Practices at Walt Disney Inc

Leadership Development and Current Leadership Practices at Walt Disney Inc

Introduction

The requirement for leadership and leaders is a lasting subject that traces its early stages from the ancient China, 16th-century Italy and Old Testament (Safferstone, 2005). Numerous current scholars have crystallized definitions of leadership, identified the need for leadership in modern organizations, and documented the positive impact of effective leadership on organizational performance, and proposed leadership models and leadership development strategies (Pearce & Conger, 2003).

Leadership can be described in many different ways. As Northouse (2004) defined leadership as “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal”. (Pearce & Conger, 2003) explained that leaders tend to share some, if not all, of the following three ingredients: They are establishing a guiding vision, have passion, and act with integrity. Given the importance of leadership in contemporary organizations, it is not surprising that leadership development gets the largest percentage allocation from training and development budgets of most organizations (Rivera & Paradise, 2006). Discussing definitions of leadership development, (Olivares, Peterson & Hess, 2007) defined leadership development as a process of expanding an organization's capacity to generate leadership potential within the organization to achieve organizational goals.

Global leaders and executives have certain characteristics and skills which are the key to their success in the globalized world of business (Gregersen, Morrison, & Black, 1998). Walt E. Disney, creator of Mickey Mouse, is the founding father of The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Company has been chosen by the writer from the list of Fortune 500 companies in this study to review its current leadership development practices that helps the company to become the second largest media conglomerate in the world (Hoover's, Inc., 2005). The company is inspired by the vision and dream of Walter E Disney, who was an effective leader and strongly believes in implementing leadership development practices.

The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company, most commonly recognized as Disney, is the second largest media conglomerate in the world; second to Time Warner. The company is publicly traded in the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DIS. Disney's main operating divisions include Media Networks, Studio Entertainment, Parks and Resorts, and Consumer Products. Disney is the owner of ABC network television, 10 broadcast television stations, and over 70 radio stations. It also oversees ABC.com, Disney Online, and ESPN.com through its Walt Disney Internet Group. Disney Studios produces films under the names of Touchtone, Walt Disney Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, and Miramax. Disney also owns some of the most popular resorts and parks in North America under the name of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts (Hoover's, Inc., 2005).

Walt Disney's Current Leadership Development Practices

Disney Inc used variety of ways for leadership development. The current leadership development Disney Inc is focusing on is mentioned in the table below (Hoover's, Inc., 2005):

Training

Knowledge

Skills

Character

*Technical and cross-cultural

*Formal education

*International exposure

*Involves cultural differences

*Includes time and environmental issues

*Global macroeconomics and strategy

*Organizational structure and dynamics

*Decision making sciences

*Corporate governance

*Global marketing and ...