The Four Rites Of Disney's Culture

Organizational culture can best be defined as a communal set of beliefs, expectations, and values that are communicated to each member of an organization. Each of these beliefs, expectations, and values influences the behavior of members within an organization. Culture is both seen and unseen. The six rites of an organization are artifacts of an organization's culture. They are physical demonstrations of when something significant has happened within the organization. The six rites are rites of passage, enhancement, renewal, integration, reduction, and degradation. The six rites are embedded into Disney's hiring and onboarding process in order to engrave its culture into the new people it hires.
The four most notable rites of Disney's culture …show more content…
For Disney, this was present in the concept of Disney University. According to Yemen and Isabella (2013), the university was designed specifically to pass down the traditions laid down by the founders (p.6). New cast members are not only taught the mission and values of the company but are actively engaged in them. They learn the history of the company and about the films that first made it a success. Cast members are taught the correct language with which to address guests during their shift. The university concept also acts as a rite of renewal. A rite of renewal can indicate that there has been a change in the company and demonstrates commitment to learning and growth. Instead of simply giving the cast members a handbook with their history and values outlined, the company aims to teach these values and pass down the history themselves. This emphasizes how committed Disney is to keeping the culture founded by Walt Disney alive. The authors state that, once cast members receive this orientation they are sent off to their individual departments (Yemen and Isabella, 2013, p.7). There they are introduced to the values and mission of the department. It may appear that this would dilute the original values that they learned about the company the company as a whole, but it serves to reinforce the idea that each department has a special role to …show more content…
Yemen and Isabella state that, whenever there is a guest present, the cast member must stay in character (2013, p.4). This dedication requires a lot of emotional labor from the cast members. In return the company shows their appreciation to employees with a reward program in which managers give a "Guest Service Fanatic" card to any person who demonstrates exceptional customer service which is then placed in a drawing (Yemen and Isabella, 2013, p. 7). A card is drawn by a top level executive or Disney character. This is an example of a rite of enhancement because the company is recognizing that an individual is improving and did something especially