The 1930’s and early 1940’s is looked at as the Golden age of Disney. “The pioneering series of feature-length animated films from the Disney Studio garnered great popular and critical acclaim. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi became a central, even beloved, part of this filmmaker's legacy. In fact, these movies established the creative high-water mark of the early Disney Studio, presenting a complex integration of various entertainment and artistic elements.” (Watts, 1997, p. 83) This was the beginning of what would become the “Disney” we know and love today. Even though there was commercial success as well as critical success there were still realities in how the company was being managed that would cause …show more content…
The greatest number of tasks were completed under authoritarian leadership. This productivity depended on the leader’s direct supervision. When the authoritarian leader left the room, productivity dropped by nearly 40% in some groups.
2. Hostile and aggressive behavior in the form of arguing, property damage, and blaming occurred much more frequently in authoritarian groups than in other groups.
3. Even in authoritarian-led groups with high levels of productivity and little evidence of hostility and aggression, absenteeism and turnover were greater than in democratic and laissez-faire groups.
All of these findings as consistent with accounts about how Walt Disney ran his company. He would burn through animators, directors, office staff at staggering rate and only a very few stayed with him until his passing.
Turning our attention to Walt Disney’s leadership one will need to examine the five primary leadership styles listed at the beginning of the paper Traits, Situational, Functional, Relational, Transformational, and Charismatic. Walt Disney was unequivocally a Charismatic
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There has been no greater force in the American entertainment industry then the Disney brand that Walt began by animating a mouse driving a steamboat. His charisma carried through to his employees as well, even though he was an authoritarian task master they fully believed in his vision and the path that it would take to get there. “According to Klein and House, charisma, like fire, is the product of three elements—a spark, flammable material, and oxygen. Leaders with charismatic qualities, such as assertiveness, self-confidence, and the ability to articulate a vision, serve as the spark.” (Hackman & Johnson, 2013, p. 123) There is no doubt that Disney possessed all these qualities and used them to not only create a spark but to create a legacy.
Charismatics excel at creating the desired impressions through skillful use of the following elements:
• Framing: Successful leaders help followers interpret the meaning of events.
• Scripting: Scripts are directions or guidelines for behavior.
• Staging: Charismatic leaders pay close attention to how performances are staged, making sure that their personal appearance, the setting, and props support the image they want to