Disney World

...

by local academic and students to “draw attention to Disney’sinfluence on the environment, culture and labour” (Hills and Welford, 2009, p.51).

D. Employees and organizational culture’s conflict

During the operation of the park, many employees encountered poor workplace conditions,

underpayment of wages and a failure to protect workers’ rights (Hills & Welford, 2006). Theyalso felt like being put into a show because they have to smile everyday according to Disney’s“smile factory” strategy (Van Maanen, 1991, cited by Matusitz, 2009). This was particularly anissue in Hong Kong because people who always smile are considered to be suspicious and theemployees are not willing to do this; thus it caused a mini- revolution inside the park, as therewere 1,000 employees left (Matusitz, 2009). This incident shows the lack of internal communication between the employees with the organization’s culture and policies.

3.Evaluation and Recommendation

After critically analyse the case, the communication strategies that Disney carried out are goodand appropriate but somehow reactive rather than proactive. It could be seen in the issue of

employee and shark’s fin soup.

Therefore, several recommendations are drawn in order toimprove the strategy.

Firstly, the strategies used to communicate the park with audience is very appropriate sinceDisney utilized both personal (Enquiry telephone lines) and non-personal channels (TV, pressrelease, website). The problem in their strategy is the timing, however. According to Belch &Belch (2009, p.150) personal channel often used is word-of-mouth communication, and it is apowerful source of information for consumers. In Disney case, they did not reveal muchinformation during the development of the park; thus leaving the consumers no ideas whatmay be interesting in here. In others to improve the situation, it would be better if thecommunication activities could happen together with the development of the park. This wouldhelp give more information to consumers and also create a hook that draws their attentions tothe park when it opens.

Secondly, the strategic planning to incorporate Chinese culture into Disneyland was conductedproperly. According to Appelbaum & Belmuth (2009), the international business operationrequires thorough knowledge of the planners about political (how to gain the favor of thegovernment), economic (how to attract Chinese visitors), social and cultural (the restaurantmenu or Chinese annual events) values, and Disney seems to works it out well. By featuringthose values, it obviously that Hong Kong Disneyland is more localized than other Disney park inall over the world. The problem of the planning is the executive is totally different as mentionedabove. Therefore, it would be helpful if there are observers who can constantly check theexecutive of the plan and correct it when it goes wrong according to the plan.

Thirdly, Disney seems lack of preparation for crisis management. Before the opening of thepark, Disney was already faced a lot of confrontations from Hong Kong environmentalists. Atleast they should be proactive and manage the environmental risks they could encounter when

operating the business. During the shark’s fin incident,

they somehow underestimated thepower of the environmentalist; thus, fail to communicate with them in an appropriate way inthe beginning. According to Doorley & Garcia (2007, p.315), the communication planning forissues management should try to neutralize or minimize the impact of negativity on audiencethinking. It could be seen that Disney tried to minimize this issue by consulting with local greengroup (Hills and Welford, 2009, p.51). However, the way they communicate the message is verycontroversial as mentioned in the strategies analysis above, and also very haste. It could bebetter if they could try to address the issue in the first place rather than try to defend and go

“around the brush”

.Lastly, it is vital to establish a strong internal communication in order to motivate and boost the

employee’s performance. According to Nelson (cited by Doorley & Garcia, 2007), the

communication message should not only give the initiative message (for example, why you areworking here at Disneyland), but include the vision and values (how Disney operate and theidea of smiling factory) and the mission (why Disney have to serve customers with a smile). If inthe beginning, Disney could give a strong and clear message about its culture, it could helpprevent the employees felt confused about the clash between their own cultural backgroundand the organizational culture

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Reputation management, 1stedn., Routledge, New York, USA, pp.242-245.2.

Baldwin, J, L, Liu, A, Suzuki, H & O'Rourke, J, S, 2007, ‘The Walt Disney company: launch of aHong Kong Theme Park’,The business communication casebook , 2nd

edn., South-WesternCengage, Mason OH, USA, pp.259-273.3.

Belch, G, E & Belch, M, A, 2009, ‘The communication process’,

Advertising and promotion anintegrated marketing communication perspective

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HK Disneyland names Jacky Cheung as spokesperson

, viewed in20th March 2010,.5.

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