The majority or papers that study creativity is concentrated on an individual and his or her personal creative potential. A person is in the center of the creative process because it is his or her talent and potential that brings success to a company. However, the impact of the surrounding environment is also significant. Regardless of the field where a company is operating, be it marketing, production of innovative devices, or governmental services, creativity is an integral part of work aimed at satisfying customers’ needs. However, taking into account modern conditions under which business should operate, it is important to estimate the effect of context and surrounding environment in which a person works.
Organizational culture is sure to have much in common with organizational climate, and both of them have significant impact on behavior in organizations. Companies develop their own culture that clarifies what behavior is acceptable and what should be censored and prohibited for their employees. The climate is formed on the basis of organizational culture and can serve as a tangible assessment tool for the elements of culture that comprise specific characteristics and behaviors. Therefore, they can be viewed as either supports or impediments of innovation and creativity within the organization. If the company empowers its employees, involves them in decision-making and provides them with a necessary level of motivation and support, it can have significant positive impact on the employees who are encouraged. At the same time, control may have dramatic influence on the employee’s creativity and intention to innovate (McLean, 2005, p. 241).
Developing its own organizational culture is not that easy for companies from various fields. Moreover, it gets more difficult when a company itself requires creativity as the main asset. For example, the Disney Animation Studio, Pixar Animation Studios and Marvel Studios all belong to one company, but developed an absolutely different organizational culture that are dedicated to promote creativity among their employees and to leave a field for new inventions without consolidating similar businesses. Ed Catmull, a president of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar, said that if two businesses are similar the logic way was to “consolidate the tools and the workflow, that is, the way of working, and the R&D so that we’re not duplicating it” (Price, 2014). However, there was another approach taken because they empowered employees to make their decision about usage of resources that were invented or available for one or another branch. Management also encouraged their employees to talk with each other, but did not insist on collaboration or sharing ideas with each other. They realized that in the era of changing technologies and software, keeping teams that pursue different ideas was the best way to encourage creativity. Moreover, the company “established an absolute rule [] that neither studio can do any production work for the other” (Price, 2014). Local ownership promotes separate cultures as a tool for making every studio unique and exceptional. All three branches have absolutely different cultures and management provides each of them with an opportunity to make their own way. They can be bridged, but not interfere one another.
It is worth to mention that some elements of organizational culture are common for all three studios. For example, managers encourage employees to watch what they say to bloggers and journalists because Disney Animation experienced a lot of leaks in the past. There is no special policy made regarding punishment or sanctions regarding this issue. Leaders of the company simply call for everybody in the crew to trust each other. They also say that such trust can be easily broken by telling secrets to people outside. It is unusual, but such simple things do prevent employees from unacceptable or undesired behavior. It builds a team that works for the common goals. Also, all studios are equipped with the last technologies that are needed for the type of product they specialize in. Employees have all what they need for their creativity and idea development and this all forms positive organizational climate at work.
Organizational structure also has significant impact on the outcome of the employees’ creativity. Thus, Disney Corporation is also outstanding because of the fact that there is no obvious hierarchy in its organizational chart. Every department is equal in their rights to make decisions and changes while working on the project. Management mostly plays the role of leaders and guides who estimates and directs the process. Both management and production parts of the staff are equal as they both are necessary for the success (Hirasuna, 2009). Pixar, in its turn, is focused mostly on developing three interrelated elements of the business such as leadership, process and accountability. Catmull realized that environment in which people work in is indeed as important as good people. Therefore, all extremely talented people from different areas of interest are encouraged to collaborate within the company by feeling more freely. However, this does not mean that there is no control or organization. Indeed, it has and the relationship between creative and production process are defined quite strictly (Morris, 2010). Marvel tries to unite many product lines within one umbrella where functional specialists of different segments are “organized according to product/market distinctions” (Brown, 2013). This creates synergy effects between different segments that adds to creativity and success. Management defines the code of conduct and common goals for the employees; while every department is comparatively free in the creative process they are involved. Moreover, the company has a very strong mission statement that shapes the behavior of employees and affects the performance of the corporation.
Moreover, such companies as the Disney Animation Studio, Pixar Animation Studios and Marvel Studios depend on the organizational culture they managed to develop. Their main product is creativity and innovation in terms of cartoons and movies, and their employees are the main their assets. Therefore, they all try to establish such social and organizational conditions inside their offices that would encourage their employees to create more. Management opted for keeping each branch’s organizational structure unaffected and unconsolidated in order to keep different groups of people with different ideas. This has an effect on the organizational culture that remained different for companies just as it was before mergers and acquisitions. Probably this is the secret of success that Disney Animation, Pixar Studios and Marvel Studios each of their fields of entertainment.
References
Brown, E. (2013). Copy of Marvel Presentation [Presentztion]. Prezi. Retrieved from https://prezi.com/yudobgykzhsh/copy-of-marvel-presentation/
Hirasuna, D. (2009, August 7). Walt Disney’s Creative Organizational Chart. Issue. Retrieved from http://www.atissuejournal.com/2009/08/07/walt-disney’s-creative-organization-chart/
Lukic, T., Dzamic, V., Knezevic, G., Alcakovic, A., and Boskovic, V. (2014). The Influence of Organizational Culture n Business Creativity, Innovation and Satisfaction. Management, 73, 49-57. Retrieved from http://management.fon.bg.ac.rs/management/e_management_73_english_06.pdf
McLean, L. D. (2005). Organizational Culture’s Influence on Creativity and Innovation: A Review of the Literature and Implications for Human Resource Development. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 226 – 246. Retrieved from http://www.mcleanglobal.com/public/MGC/publications/Org%20Culture%20and%20Innovation.pdf
Morris, J. (2010). 3 Things Every Company Can Learn From Pixar. Customer Think. Retrieved from http://customerthink.com/3_things_every_company_can_learn_from_pixar/
Price, D. (2014). Managing Creativity: Lessons from Pixar and Disney Animation. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/04/managing-creativity-lessons-from-pixar-and-disney-animation
