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Bergamini
Zack Bergamini
Professor Wolcott
ENC 1102
April 5, 2013
Literature Review: Walt Disney
The following literature review is about how The Walt Disney World Company, one of
the largest companies in the world, treats their front line employees. These employees are treated
like slaves while working (Kober, 2010, Perlin 2011, & Shortsleeve, 2004). The front line
employees also called cast members are the ones who operate the ride systems, cashiers at food
stands and store locations, and park operations such as custodial. For the amount of work these
employee actually have to do, the pay and benefits are poor. Like every worldwide company,
Disney is under much media scrutiny, especially with their employees. Disney cannot
discriminate or treat their employees’ poor because then they will have a jaded public image.
This is not what a company needs when their main goal is obviously revenue but the revenue
comes from the high-class service Disney is supposed to supply to every guest equally
(Smoodin, 1994 & Wallace 1996). With that need of high-class service, the amount of stress the
employees are put under is tough for an Florida hot eight-hour shift these cast members must
work daily (Perlin, 2011 & Prevot, 2011). There is a misconception of how Disney treats their
front line employees, it is not bad in any way, but the work they do is not comparable for the
hours and the effort they put in on a weekly basis and through the different articles, journals, and
interviews found in my research hopefully a person wanting to work for them is not afraid to
jump, but maybe can bring these points up with the company.
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Amount of Work Compared to Pay:
If you are working as a front line employee at Walt Disney World or any other Disney
park across the world you are guaranteed to work at least 40 hours a week. Disney can get away
with having some employees work more than forty hours thanks to fine print in the paperwork
they have employees sign and date before actually working (Perlin, 2011 & Prevot, 2011). They
work you to the bone, Disney wants everything out of you and you have to be in perfect guest
service behavior the entire time (Smoodin, 1994 & Wallace 1996). Researchers agreed that
working at Disney is complex, an employee will not just have to work his or her own designated
area, but they are performers, they have to put on a show as well (Shortsleeve, 2004 & Perlin,
2011). Disney believes that the employees are cast members and that the park is a “stage” the
word “cast” is in cast member thus where no matter where you are “on stage” you must be in
topnotch form (Smoodin, 1994 &Wallace, 1996). If the employees are supposed to do so much,
then most researchers believe that working them so much is not the ideal way to go. They feel
the pay given to the front line employees is way too low. Their hourly wage, which is minimum
wage at just upwards of $7.50 an hour, is deemed unfair for many of the scholars. Which is
definitely not a large sum of money at all. It can be increased or fixed very easily.
Walt Disney’s Idealisms:
Walt’s view on how employees should work at the theme parks is how the company
based their training and work ethics (Bryman, 1999 & Garcia, 2010). Bryman suggested Walt
was a totalitarian leader, the managers followed his leadership style, and thus the employees
were frightened in their job. They did not want to be fired at all. Garcia went on to say that most
employees especially during the 1970s and 80s where Disney was lead in a totalitarian state.
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Employees could not even talk to each other while seen by guests, they were like robots in a
sense it was business only for employees. The only fun they could have is interaction between
guests, not each other (Bryman, 1999 & Garcia, 2010). Both thought that seemed irrational.
However, once Michael Eisner took over the company, the managerial leadership changed and
the employees were give more freedom (Bryman, 1999). Prevot understood this change, he
studied that the guest service improved, and ratings were higher than ever before. The more
democratic, modern leadership was a blessing for employees. Prevot went on to say that with
times changing Disney has to make more changes to the way they treat employees in order to
keep a low turnover rate, save money and keep a reputable reputation towards the public media
and future guests.
Conclusion:
It is has been shown the amount of work and the way Walt Disney went about leading his
managers was unfair to the front line employees. Researchers have found that change is
necessary for employees to be treated fairly. Kober, Perlin, Shortsleeve, Smoodin, and Wallace
examined the ways Disney works their employees may be too much when you add in the many
facets of the job, long hours, and the weather. Especially when they are not receiving good
enough pay for their job. Bryman, Garcia, and Prevot studied Walt Disney leadership style and
how change has helped employees greatly, but it can still be changed for the better. However,
through this research they never discussed how Disney could change their outlook on frontline
employees with better pay plans and benefits to not only increase better customer service, but to
create a better working environment where the employees actually are pleased with their pay.
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That is exactly what I am going to accumulate through my research. Therefore, if I do end up
working at Disney World I can bring that up as suggestions for future use.
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Project Proposal:
The Walt Disney World is the largest single-site employer in the world with over 66,000
employees and they spend around 1.2 billion dollars for labor plus 500 million dollars in benefits
at about $7.55 an hour. They have over 3,700 different job offerings and host the largest college
internship program in the country, the Disney College Program where students from all over
different colleges have the power to work as front line employees anywhere on the resort.
Roughly about 60% of all front line employees are from the college program. Also, the Disney
International Program is gives the same opportunity jobs as the college program, but to
internationals looking to work in America. With all this said, there are a ton of employees
working for Disney World. I believe they are not getting the fair pay they deserve. My project
will hopefully give a better pay plan and benefits to the employees that they will feel more
comfortable working. This is for the all Disney executives to look at. They are very intelligent
men and woman with most having their PhD in business and marketing, so these people are no
slouches. All the executives are in their mid 40s to mid 60s, with the main focus hopefully
reaching to Thomas Staggs, Chairman of Disney Parks and Resorts, Meg Crofton President of
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, and Robert Iger CEO of Walt Disney Company. I will begin to
use a money marketing analysis, which then will compare their old pay plan to the one I create.
Also I will contrast this plany with other pay plans as well, such as the large competitors like
Universal, Sea World, and Six Flags. When coming up with a fair hourly wage that I think is
suitable for these frontline employees I will do some research by actually going into the theme
parks themselves and ask employees how they feel they should be paid and what benefits would
they most likely want if they were to receive such benefits. Another method I will use is have a
friend apply and start working for the company so I have an inside track by seeing his weekly
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statements and from there I will do my own fixed pay. That way I have a real life example on my
hands when creating the plan. The goal is to create a pay plan that will entice the Disney
management, if that does not go as planned, hopefully I will come up with plenty of great benefit
options that Disney has not already thought of that will be enticing and better for the employees.
Hence they will really want to be in top service form always and the ratings hopefully will get
even higher than ever.
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Works Cited
Bryman, Alan. Disney and his Worlds. Routledge, 1995. 64-77. Print.
Bryman, Alan. "The Disneyization of Society." The Sociological Review 47.1 1999. 25-47.
Print.
Garcia, Jason. "Walt Disney World Cast Members Can Relax a Bit about Their Look." Orlando
Sentinel. 14 June 2010. Web. 14 Mar. 2013.
Kober, Jeff. "Are Disney Cast Members Mousetrapped?" Magic of Business by Jeff Kober.
Mouse Planet, 9 Dec. 2010. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
Perlin, Ross. "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom." Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics.
1 May 2011. Web. 14 Mar. 2013.
Prevot, Arnaud. "THE MARKETING OF AMERICANA: PROMOTING THE WALT DISNEY
COMPANY AND HARLEY DAVIDSON MOTORS IN THE FRENCH MARKET."
Consortium Journal of Hospitality & Tourism 15.2 (2011): 35-45. Print.
Shortsleeve, Kevin. "The Wonderful World of the Depression: Disney, Despotism, and the
1930s. Or, Why Disney Scares Us." Project MUSE - The Wonderful World of the
Depression: Disney, Despotism, and the 1930s. Or, Why Disney Scares Us. The Lion and the
Unicorn, 30 Jan. 2004. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
Smoodin, Eric Loren. "Disney and the Corporate Agenda." Disney Discourse: Producing the
Magic Kingdom. New York: Routledge, 1994. Print.
Wallace, Mike. Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory. Philadelphia:
Temple UP, 1996. Print.
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