Disney Staff Gets Leading Role

When the Mike Fink Keelboats returned to the waters of Frontierland last month, it marked one of the rare times that Disneyland officials have brought a scuttled attraction out of retirement.

Few park guests even noticed when the pokey boats and their crusty, wisecracking river pilots were hauled into dry-dock in mid-1994. But emboldened by a new emphasis on employee “empowerment” at the Anaheim park, a handful of workers, known as “cast members” in Disney-speak, pushed for the attraction’s return.

“Cast members kept bugging their managers to reopen the keelboats, and here they are,” said Sacha Jackson, a newly minted Disneyland management trainee who assisted in the relaunch. “It’s nice to bring something back that people never thought they would see again.”

Credit the “Empowerment Evolution,” a change of course for Disneyland that could resonate far beyond the fake green river of Frontierland. In perhaps the most sweeping reorganization since Disneyland opened in 1955, management is overhauling the park’s operating structure and shaking up the work force to ready Walt Disney’s flagship for the 21st century.

Led by John Cora, vice president of theme park operations, Disneyland’s traditional, highly centralized structure is splintering into 77 distinct operating units, which employees are being encouraged to run like their own small businesses.

The idea is to break down rigid lines of authority to give workers the flexibility to improve their own little corner of the kingdom--such as the cast-inspired effort to recommission the keelboats.

“It’s earth shattering, it’s huge, it’s a very big change,” Cora said. “ . . . It was time for us to do business a different way.”

Disney brass predict autonomous employees will be happier and feel a greater sense of ownership under the new system, which they hope will bring more satisfied customers through the turnstiles.

But some union leaders and cast members say the “Empowerment Evolution” is a thinly veiled attempt to divide the work force, eliminate scores of good-paying union supervisory jobs and squeeze more work out of rank-and-file cast members.

Real power still lies with Disneyland executives who are more interested in improving the bottom line than in bettering working conditions, argues Manuel Magana, spokesman for Local 399 of the Service Employees International Union.

“I wish I could say they were doing this for the benefit of workers,” said Magana, whose union represents 800 maintenance and service workers at Disneyland. “But every move Disneyland makes is really about money.”

Mouse watchers say Disneyland’s move away from the top-down management style of founder Walt Disney reflects increasing competition in the theme park business, where players such as Universal Studios Hollywood are rivaling Disney with world-class entertainment.

It also symbolizes the growing influence of outside executives who aren’t wed to the “Walt way” of doing things. They are led by Paul Pressler, a former toy industry executive who had never worked a day at Disneyland until he was appointed president of the park in 1994.

But while the “Empowerment Evolution” may be new at Disneyland, it is just the latest name for a management philosophy that has taken root in organizations nationwide, from the autonomous work teams of auto maker Saturn Corp. to the “partners” behind the counter at the Starbucks Corp. chain of coffee bars.

Pushing more decision-making down to the shop floor allows companies to solve problems quicker and get closer to their customers, says David Bradford, a senior lecturer at Stanford University’s graduate school of business.

“There is a psychological component as well,” said Bradford, a specialist in organizational behavior. “If workers find their roles more challenging and exciting, there can be tremendous benefits for the organization” in terms of morale and productivity.

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Disneyland’s Cora says that dual focus on customers and cast members is at the heart of the “Empowerment Evolution.” Announced to Disneyland employees last November and now in the early stages of implementation, the reorganization so far has transformed about 80 hourly cast members into salaried “assistant managers” who have been trained to act as coaches for the small work teams being set up across the park.

Operating units that once encompassed hundreds of workers in a slew of rides, restaurants and shops have been whittled down to the equivalent of mom-and-pop stores.

“The whole idea is [to build] a sense of ownership,” Cora said. “If you are working at the main entrance, this is your main entrance, your small business. . . . We needed a greater focus in our lines of business to meet guest expectations.”

But Charley Richardson, a workplace researcher at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, says the real focus is on the bottom line. By splitting organizations and work procedures into smaller, measurable components, managers can easily figure out where the fat is, a process known as “leaning out” the work force.

Indeed, Disneyland plans to increase supervision in its small business units by installing one manager for every 20 cast members, compared with one for approximately 60 workers now. Disneyland’s Cora says the arrangement will be a boon to cast members, who will receive more support and quicker feedback from their bosses, who are supposed to function more as motivators than supervisors.

But Richardson, who has examined a similar reorganization at Walt Disney World in Orlando, says increased surveillance is designed to crank up worker output, no matter what Disney calls its managers.

“It inevitably leads to a process that makes employees work harder,” said Richardson, director of the Technology and Work Program in Lowell. “It’s like driving with a cop in your rearview mirror.”

Perhaps the most disturbing change for cast members is the planned reduction of union foremen or “working leads,” the shop-floor supervisors who work alongside cast members and who have historically managed the day-to-day activities of Disneyland’s myriad restaurants, shops and attractions.

The jobs carry hefty responsibility, premium pay and have been a traditional route of advancement for union members uninterested in joining the ranks of the management “suits.”

Disneyland currently employs about 150 full-time leads and as many as 300 to 400 part-timers during peak periods. But under an agreement struck with some of the unions last fall, park management has begun eliminating an as yet undetermined number of leads, turning to salaried assistant managers to direct its teams of newly “empowered” workers.

Full-time union foremen who lose their supervisory duties will be compensated for a couple of years to cushion the loss of lead pay. Still, some cast members see the disappearing posts as a shortening of their career ladders and a way for Disneyland to squeeze more out of workers without compensating them for it.

“They basically want us all to do lead work without the lead pay,” grumbled one longtime attractions employee. “Empowerment means working harder for less money.”

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Disneyland’s Cora says resistance to change is natural, and that cast members fixated on the number of leads are missing the larger point of empowerment, which is to make the whole work environment more enjoyable by freeing workers to make more of their own decisions.

Rigid lines of authority have stifled cast creativity in the past, he explained, leading many to simply call a supervisor whenever a problem surfaced on the job. Multiply that scenario by about 10,000 cast members and Disneyland had a hidebound organization operating at a fraction of its potential.

Under the new empowerment program, workers are being encouraged to take more responsibility to ensure that guests have a good time at the park. If a customer needs personal assistance, a refund, a new set of Mickey Mouse ears, any cast member in the park can make it right without asking a boss for permission, Cora said.

Executives also are liberating cast members to take charge of their work areas. Thus, river attractions workers developed a plan to revive the keelboats, food service employees at the Plaza Inn Restaurant reorganized work teams the way they wanted them, and park nurses finally got their own lounge, where they do paperwork.

“It has really made a difference in [cast members’] attitudes and raised the fun level,” said Paul Hersek, new assistant manager for river attractions. “I have cast members walking up to me all the time saying, ‘I have this idea.’ They are getting a chance to own these attractions. That is just incredible.”

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Union officials in Orlando, who have witnessed a similar reorganization at Disney’s Florida theme parks, scoff at the notion that workers wield any more real power than they did before.

Giving employees the green light to replace a guest’s stuffed Goofy is a far cry from letting workers set their own hours or share a chunk of the profits if their ideas are implemented in the park, says Mike Duffy, president of SEIU Local 362 in Orlando.

“It’s a very limited form of empowerment that applies only to pleasing the guests,” said Duffy, whose local represents 3,000 custodians, ride operators and ticket takers at Disney’s Florida parks.

Disney watchers say some cast members may be reluctant to partake of even the limited amount of freedom offered by the “Empowerment Evolution.” Longtime workers may resent a departure from the established pecking order at the park. But it’s Disneyland’s flinty reputation for conformity--as evidenced by its strict employee dress code, rigid discipline and routine surveillance of workers through the use of plainclothes “shoppers”--that may make some cast members reluctant to loosen up.

“Employees worry about doing the wrong thing,” said Magana of SEIU. “They are afraid of empowering themselves right out of a job.”

Disneyland executives admit it will take some time to build trust and get cast members acclimated to the new environment at the park.

In the meantime, fresh-faced management trainees like Jackson are ready to proceed full speed ahead with the “Empowerment Evolution.” She points to the keelboats as tangible proof that employee input is being taken seriously at Disneyland--as long as it is compatible with Disney’s profitability goals.

“That will be the ultimate test for those boats,” Jackson said. “Whether we are getting the guest count.”

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Empowering Employees

Through a process known as the “Empowerment Evolution,” Disneyland is subdividing the Anaheim park into 77 operating units that employees are being encouraged to run like their own small businesses. The initiative kicked off in early 1996 and will take more than a year to implement. Here’s an overview of how it will work:

Organizational Structure

Operations that once encompassed several attractions, restaurants and shops employing hundreds of workers are split into much smaller units. For example, one manager and six supervisors used to oversee the 600 cast members employed in Disneyland’s “Center Stage” area, which included the parking lot, main entrance, The Walt Disney Story attraction, the steam trains and Main Street vehicles such as the omnibus and fire truck. As part of the “Empowerment Evolution,” Center Stage has been broken up into three units: One manager and eight assistant managers are now in charge of 250 parking lot employees; one manager and eight assistant managers supervise 300 employees at the main entrance; and one manager and three assistant managers oversee 50 cast members employed at The Walt Disney Story attraction, the steam trains and the Main Street vehicles.

Pro: Management says the change will improve service by encouraging employees to develop an “ownership” mentality in their small areas.

Con: Some union officials and organization experts say it’s a way to divide the work force and pressure employees to increase productivity.

Management Structure

Disneyland management is striving to break down rigid lines of authority and encourage the park’s 10,000 “cast members”, as it refers to its workers, to make more of their own decisions. As part of that process, the park is:

Retraining rank-and-file cast members to take more initiative in pleasing guests and improving their work areas without having to run to the boss for approval.

Reducing the number of unionized “working leads,” who previously handled day-to-day management responsibilities at individual rides, shops and attractions. Leads are being supplanted by a smaller number of salaried “assistant managers” who will spend 90% of their time directing teams of “empowered” workers.

Pro: Disney says autonomous employees will be happier and find their work more rewarding and challenging. Managers will spend more time in the field providing support and feedback to cast members. The assistant manager positions provide rank-and-file employees another avenue into management.

Con: Some union officials and employees contend Disney is trying to eliminate good-paying union supervisory jobs and squeeze more work out of cast members without compensating them for it. They question how much real authority “empowered” workers will possess.

Source: Disneyland officials

Researched by MARLA DICKERSON / Los Angeles Times