Disney’s Mild-Mannered Prince Crowned King, Robert Iger’s Style is Very Different from His Predecessor

Disney’s Mild-Mannered Prince Crowned King, Robert Iger’s Style is Very Different from His Predecessor

Summary

The case study highlights the differences in leadership styles between individuals. Robert Iger, who is expected to take over leadership at Disney, is different from his predecessor Michael Eisner. Under Michael Eisner, conflict among the various stakeholders has featured prominently. The board members have been alienated while battles over remuneration were publicized. However, there have been significant expansions and diversifications that have influenced revenues positively. Various stakeholders have expressed their distaste for Mr. Eisner and vowed to cease doing business with Disney during his tenure. The change of leadership is a breath of fresh air for the board and partners, as well as employees. However, Mr. Iger does not possess any identity as a CEO. The board members are significantly sceptical about his abilities and are keen and curious to see him in action (Dawson & Andriopoulos, 2017).

Questions and Answers

1. How would you describe Michael Eisner’s leadership style?

Michael Eisner is an autocratic leader. The autocratic style of leadership is characterized by immense control of an organization’s activities under the individual. The leader barely involves other stakeholders in the process of making decisions. Consistently, the leader dictates all the tasks employees should carry out (Du, Li, & Luo, 2020). As seen in the case of Disney, this style of leadership has been both beneficial and detrimental. In terms of increasing revenue, the leadership style has been effective. However, Michael Eisner’s leadership style has been detrimental to innovation, creativity, relationships with stakeholders and partners, as well as their involvement in decision-making.

2. Do you think that Michael Eisner should have retired? Why or why not?

Michael Eisner should have retired from the organization’s leadership position. First, he failed to involve all stakeholders in the process of decision-making. This led to the alienation of some stakeholders, such as the board members. Secondly, Michael Eisner operated in an environment that was filled with conflict among different parties, including partners. Iger’s peacemaking role quelled this situation. Conflicts that lead to separation among partners and stakeholders of an organization could have a long-term negative effect. For instance, the Pixar chief had vowed to avoid renewing a deal with the company for distribution during Mr. Eisner’s tenure (Dawson & Andriopoulos, 2017). Such aspects could cost the company significant profits and lead to loss of market share. Therefore, such leadership was not beneficial in the long term because the stakeholders’ and shareholders’ interactions with Disney were barely positive.

3. What do you think is the new CEO’s biggest challenge in sustaining and igniting creativity at Disney at this point?

Mr. Iger’s greatest challenge in sustaining and igniting creativity at Disney is the lack of a culture of innovation. Employees at the company are familiar with the dictatorship leadership style under Mr. Eisner’s tenure. Such leadership robs the organization of important resources, such as the ability and space to innovate. The extreme control under the CEO eliminates any authenticity in the products and services while the workforce, board, and other stakeholders are deprived of any autonomy. Therefore, the culture that results from excessive control stifles creativity. Changing the mindset of all stakeholders, including employees, is a significant challenge since they are more familiar with receiving directives and working on goals blindly. Instituting new work procedures that increase involvement and autonomy will be difficult due to the past leadership.

4. What should the new CEO do to meet this challenge? Devise an action plan.

The new CEO should start off the new leadership with a statement stating the main changes that stakeholders should expect. The statement should reiterate the company’s vision and mission and the employee’s role in the fulfilment of these objectives. Subsequently, the role that autonomy, employee involvement, engagement, and creative and active participation play in achieving the vision and mission should be highlighted. Furthermore, the leaders of different business units should be engaged in the process of changing the organization’s culture through involvement, engagement, and innovation among employees. The transformation process should start at the top and trickle down. The managers’ styles of communication and interaction with employees may need to change to accommodate the new culture. The leader should then come up with strategies that can be used to create and nurture a culture of learning and innovating by involving the managers. This involvement is important in ensuring that the managers and employees yield control over their actions and work towards the company’s goals creatively and collaboratively. In addition, the creation of teams for different purposes is important in creating some sort of specialization within the workforce.

Critical Aspects

The case study highlights the different leadership styles that everyone chooses during their tenure. Michael Eisner chose the autocratic style of leadership, which significantly affected the organization and its stakeholders. The negative aspects that resulted from the leadership have motivated the upcoming CEO, Mr. Iger, to explore alternative leadership styles.

The new styles of leadership that the new CEO intends to explore seek to reduce the control that he has as the leader and increase the autonomy of other stakeholders. The main stakeholders include employees, board members, and partners. The relationships between the company, the CEO, and these stakeholders are also highlighted as meaningful and important to Mr. Iger. The involvement of stakeholders is highlighted as the upcoming CEO demonstrates a desire to maintain amicable relations with the various stakeholders. These may be improved through involvement in various processes that affect the company’s position.

Assessments

The assessments above are based on the company’s events and leaders’ activities. For instance, the desire to improve relationships with stakeholders is exhibited when Mr. Iger plays the role of a peacemaker during his Predecessor’s tenure. The decision to undertake this responsibility signifies a difference in beliefs despite being part of Mr. Eisner’s administration. Secondly, Mr. Iger cites intentions to reduce the control that is concentrated at the company’s top management. Distribution of this power, control, and autonomy downwards means that the other stakeholders will be involved in decision-making and other organizational activities. The dissatisfaction with Mr. Eisner’s style of leadership was exhibited when Pixar’s chief vowed to cut Disney off a distribution deal during Mr. Eisner’s tenure (Dawson & Andriopoulos, 2017). Such ultimatums signify dissatisfaction among critical partners and shareholders. Furthermore, the board members were sceptical of Mr Iger’s leadership because he was part of the previous administration. Such issues highlight a significant desire for involving leadership among stakeholders.

Outcomes

Balance of Autonomy and Control

Leaders’ effectiveness is dependent on their ability to balance control and autonomy. A leader influences multiple groups of stakeholders. Their responsibility is to offer guidance and seek their input while maintaining control over the likely decisions. The decisions that result from various stakeholder interactions should adhere to the company’s vision, mission, values, norms, culture, and objectives. Failure to create this balance can result in excessive control over others and possible resentment.

Involvement and Engagement of Stakeholders

The leader should always involve and engage the various stakeholders. A leader is non-existent if stakeholders are not present. Therefore, they are important to the leader’s role and responsibility. The process of involving and engaging the stakeholders allows them to provide their input on various issues. Such involvement leads to greater commitment, especially among employees. The leaders can create a workforce that offers a unique competitive advantage in the market simply by engaging them in the company’s decision-making processes and activities (Does Employee Involvement Equate to Engagement? 2012). Board members can provide the leader with the required support when they are aware of the various processes and are involved in decision-making.

Reflection

Leadership is an activity that is intended to benefit an organization and its stakeholders. Leaders must cooperate and collaborate with the people around them to be effective. Failure to collaborate or involve followers can lead to resentment and dissatisfaction. In an organization, these resulting elements are detrimental. Leaders must balance their control over followers and their autonomy to the stakeholders. Seeking input from various stakeholder groups reinforces their importance and significance to an entity. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain amicable relationships with various stakeholders. A leader may not exist without the followers. A leader’s importance is diminished in their absence. Therefore, each leader in an organization should strive to not only make decisions that result in goal achievement but also maintain the entity’s social capital. These objectives can be attained by choosing from various styles of leadership. Each leader uses a different style, and each organization thrives differently with the various styles.

References

Dawson, P., & Andriopoulos, C. (2017). Managing Change, Creativity & Innovation. Sage.

Does Employee Involvement Equate to Engagement? (2012).

Du, J., Li, N. N., & Luo, Y. J. (2020). Authoritarian Leadership in Organizational Change and Employees’ Active Reactions: Have-to and Willing-to Perspectives. Front. Psychol. doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03076

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Disney’s Mild-Mannered Prince Crowned King

1. Carefully READ the entire CASE first, and review again the chapter(s) pertaining to the case(s). Take time to think critically about all of the aspects of the case(s).
2. Write a brief Overview/Summary of the case in your own words describing the nature and/or background information pertaining to the case. (Minimum 1/2 -1 page)
3. In your opinion, what were some critical aspects of the case that were identified? What were some critical aspects that you perceived to be vital? (Minimum 1 page)
4. How were you able to make those Assessments of selecting the critical aspects or components for the case author/writer and for yourself? (Minimum 1 page)
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