Conflict at Disney Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Conflict at Disney - Case Study Example Three stages of conflict are perceived, felt, and manifest conflict. Dysfunctional conflicts – Michael Eisner Conflicts in organizations are detrimental to the productivity of a company. During the tenured of Michael Eisner as CEO of Walt Disney Company his management style and personality clashed with a lot of key internal and external stakeholders. People skills are a critical success factor for managers today. The interpersonal conflicts he trigged became so distractive that it led to his demise as CEO of the company. Effective communications and managerial communication skills positively influence effective organizational behavior (Kondrat, 2009). Mr. Eisner created problems and conflicts with a lot of key and powerful players in Disney’s power hierarchy. I would categorize the conflicts Eisner had with the Weinstein brothers, the two board members, and Steve Jobs as dysfunctional. Dysfunctional conflict is an undesirable business practice because it hurts the moral e of the company and it lowers the productivity of the employees. It also disrupts the corporate culture of an enterprise. Some of the reasons dysfunctional conflict arises is associated with organization’s structure, policies, and processes (Landau, 2004). This type of conflict can be instigated by a person that does not listen to what others have to say and impose his belief system on others. The disruptive leader at Disney was its former CEO, Michael Eisner. Harvey and Bob Weinstein were key business partners of the company. They were the founders of Miramax which was a company of interest to Disney because the company negotiated the purchase of copyrights from them valued at over $2 billion. Michael Eisner made a mess of the negotiations and ended up causing a conflict over the financial details of the deal that had the potential of leading to a lawsuit. Lawsuits are an undesirable business outcome because it hurts the public image of a company. Eisner’s blunder wi th the Weinstein brother was not his only incident of dysfunctional conflict. During his tenured as CEO he was often confrontational and fought with two members of the board of directors, Roy Disney and Stanley Gold. These two board members often publicly criticized Eisner and on many occasions called for his resignation. The actions of Eisner were undesirable because the executive management team is supposed to work in alliance with the board of directors to accomplish the mission and goals of a corporation. A third dysfunctional conflict that Eisner instigated was with Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was the CEO of the animated producer Pixar. Michael Eisner publicly disrespected Steve Jobs and his company in front of Congress. After that incident the feud escalated and Jobs wanted to cut his relationship with Disney. In the end Michael Eisner was fired from his position at Disney due to his inability to build positive relationships with important customers and other power figures at Disne y. His actions led to the manifestation of several dysfunctional conflicts. Dysfunctional conflicts are risky due to the fact that they can escalate and lead to bigger problems for a company (Businessknowledgesource, 2010). Conflict with Steve Jobs – conflict stage Michael Eisner did a terrible job in his relationship with Steve Jobs. Steve was a very powerful player both in the computer and film industry. He had several disputes and conflicts with Steve in regards to their business