WDW Management Reorg

[freewill]

Haven't posted in a while, but I just saw this article and immediately thought of Pete when I read this line:

"The philosophy is to take a more holistic approach to management, focusing on the overall guest experience, Disney said."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-disney-overhauls-management-20160122-story.html



(Apologies if this has already been posted and discussed)

 

[OKW Lover]

I hope the new approach works. It sounds logical. But, it could also result in differences between areas as one manager puts the emphasis on food, while a different one might put the emphasis on gift shops or attractions. Somebody over them needs to make sure that everyone is working on the same set of priorities.

 

[MikeTaylor]

Michael Eisner was at DHS today, so, I guess anything's possible.

 

[rteetz]

Michael Eisner was at DHS today, so, I guess anything's possible.

He was at AK first then went to DHS.

 

[MrKnight]

As a former WDWCM I believe this is a very good move, WDW senior management has a history of being too discipline oriented, meaning they focus too much on a specific department aka discipline (F&B, Attractions, etc.) and fail to collaborate with other departments outside of their discipline, this results in a negative trickle down culture of "that's not my job" and finger pointing at other departments when something goes wrong, and this of course can lead to a poor guest experience. This new structure will force senior management at the park to take ownership on for an ENTIRE area versus a specific discipline, no more finger pointing, if something goes wrong in that area then EVERYONE in that area is responsible, and most especially the management in that area. I look forward to seeing if we see any noticeable differences to guest experience, I also look forward to hearing about this on the next DIS Unplugged Podcast!

 

[GAN]

This was certainly a result of "guest demand" .....

 

[GAN]

Heidi... Thank you for appreciating my humor!

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Usually do.

 

[SoCalTrojanSkip]

I hope this all adds up to some accountability in the management ranks...

My favorite thing about hearing about this reorg was that all of the resorts are supposed to be now getting their own GM as opposed to having a GM spread out across several resorts. While we had a wonderful time at all of our resorts last trip (POFQ, FW, POR) I have heard the complaints about the lack of consistency from resort to resort and day to day.

As for the parks, I know that several years ago, WDW did away with the old management structure in favor of a system of self management

Ops Manager
Area Manager
General lead (This positions also no longer exists at Disneyland)
Lead

WDW eliminated all of the location supervisors (leads) and had all CM's reporting only to a coordinator, who was mainly there to take care of scheduling issues. Disneyland took this approach and then very quickly backtracked on it after a year or so. I remember working guest control (and I do mean guest...singular) the night before California Adventure opened. The crew they had sent out to manage the event was from Florida and when we showed up to ask who was in charge, the answer was essentially...no one.

I don't know if there have been any changes to WDW's structure since then (that was Feb, 2001) but this seems like a step in the right directions.

 

[MrKnight]

I hope this all adds up to some accountability in the management ranks...

My favorite thing about hearing about this reorg was that all of the resorts are supposed to be now getting their own GM as opposed to having a GM spread out across several resorts. While we had a wonderful time at all of our resorts last trip (POFQ, FW, POR) I have heard the complaints about the lack of consistency from resort to resort and day to day.

As for the parks, I know that several years ago, WDW did away with the old management structure in favor of a system of self management

Ops Manager
Area Manager
General lead (This positions also no longer exists at Disneyland)
Lead

WDW eliminated all of the location supervisors (leads) and had all CM's reporting only to a coordinator, who was mainly there to take care of scheduling issues. Disneyland took this approach and then very quickly backtracked on it after a year or so. I remember working guest control (and I do mean guest...singular) the night before California Adventure opened. The crew they had sent out to manage the event was from Florida and when we showed up to ask who was in charge, the answer was essentially...no one.

I don't know if there have been any changes to WDW's structure since then (that was Feb, 2001) but this seems like a step in the right directions.

As a former WDWCM, I beg to differ with your statements. The Area Managers that your refer to above is a senior management position that oversees an entire area or department and has front-line managers reporting directly to that person, not coordinators, the coordinators are line-level CMs that report to the front-line managers. There are thousands of front-line managers (at both the parks and resorts), these are the managers that deal directly with guest issues that require management intervention, schedule/supervise/discipline CMs, and oversee front-line operational tasks. Coordinators are simply there to assist the front-line managers with basic supervision of CMs, handling of minor issues, and handling of certain tasks and functions that may require a more experienced CM.. Disney is a unionized company and hence only front-line managers can make CMs schedules and ensure that the union contract is being followed, it is a liability issue.

At the resorts, the structure is slightly different but same basic concept. There is normally a GM for several resorts (this is going to change) with department heads for the various hotel departments that report to the GM, the department heads are the equivalent of Area Managers at the parks, front-line managers report to the department heads. If you walk up to a Resort Front Desk and ask for the "Manager on Duty" a front-line manager will walk out and deal with the guest issue, very rarely will a guest every see or deal with a department head, much less the GM.. Most guests do not realize how large of a corporation Disney is with multiple layers of management, very rarely will a guest ever get to speak with a senior manager that actually has the power to make major decisions.

 

[SoCalTrojanSkip]

As a former WDWCM, I beg to differ with your statements. The Area Managers that your refer to above is a senior management position that oversees an entire area or department and has front-line managers reporting directly to that person, not coordinators, the coordinators are line-level CMs that report to the front-line managers. There are thousands of front-line managers (at both the parks and resorts), these are the managers that deal directly with guest issues that require management intervention, schedule/supervise/discipline CMs, and oversee front-line operational tasks. Coordinators are simply there to assist the front-line managers with basic supervision of CMs, handling of minor issues, and handling of certain tasks and functions that may require a more experienced CM.. Disney is a unionized company and hence only front-line managers can make CMs schedules and ensure that the union contract is being followed, it is a liability issue.

At the resorts, the structure is slightly different but same basic concept. There is normally a GM for several resorts (this is going to change) with department heads for the various hotel departments that report to the GM, the department heads are the equivalent of Area Managers at the parks, front-line managers report to the department heads. If you walk up to a Resort Front Desk and as for the "Manager on Duty" a front-line manager will walk out and deal with the guest issue, very rarely will a guest every see or deal with a department head, much less the GM.. Most guests do not realize how large of a corporation Disney is with multiple layers of management, very rarely will a guest ever get to speak with a senior manager that actually has the power to make major decisions.

Thanks for the insight...!

 

[doconeill]

Wasn't there as big stink a few years ago when they were eliminating the front line managers? Or am I misremembering?

 

[MrKnight]

Wasn't there as big stink a few years ago when they were eliminating the front line managers? Or am I misremembering?

I do not believe this has ever happened. I was a WDWCM several years ago and worked in both the parks and the resorts at various times. As I stated in my previous post above, WDW has a very extensive management hierarchy, at one of the resorts I used to work at, in one department alone (Front Desk and Guest Services) there was over 15 front-line managers!!