Hi phanomouse,
Several years ago I attended a seminar entitled "The Disney Keys to Management Excellence" that was put on by Disney University.
One of the things that was stressed was in regards to WDW service standards (park standards)
Safety is always #1. It "must be built into everything we do; the safety of the Guests and Cast Members can never be sacrificed."
#2 is Courtesy
#3 is Show
#4 is efficiency.
The CMs were trained to use these as a decision making tool and as it was presented ANY cast member has the authority to make an immediate decision if the safety of guests or cast members is in jeapordy.
Another topic that was presented, and connected to making decisions based on the above protocol, was "recovery". The concept was that sometimes, even when a decision is made to protect the guest's safety Disney may fail to lives up to guest expectations. And while the guest may not be right they were to be approached from the perspective that their perceptions are valid and they are Disney's GUEST.
Part of this included empowering CMs to make immediate decisions to fix the problem. They use a grid - sorry I'm not sure how to recreate it here but I'll try to describe it.
The horizontal axis runs from 0 to 10 and is fault or responsibility - to what degree does the CM (Disney) "own" the problem. The vertical axis is Severity, again 0 - 10. Visual the grid then divided into 4 quadrants.
The lower left quadrant (0-5 on both axis) is essentially an approach of empathy. The situation isn't especially severe nor is it essentially a problem Disney created. I noted an example for this one of the Dad who is at Guest services at the resort tired and cranky from the 12 hour marathon drive he just did to get there. Not a safety issue, so courtesy and show become the paramount decision driver and in this case really all dad wants is for the cast member to express some sympathy, understanding, and get him checked in efficiently so he can crash while mom takes the kids to the pool!
The lower right hand quadrant (5-10 on the fault/responsibility axis, 0-5 on severity) is the Fix it quadrant - it isn't especially severe, but Disney owns it so do what it takes to restore the sense of courtesy and show that Disney is "known" for.
The upper left quadrant (5-10 on severity; 0-5 on responsibility) is known as the hero quadrant. It really isn't Disney's fault but the situation is severe. An example would be a child that arrives at WDW and comes down with chicken pox. The illness isn't Disney's responsibility but it is severe so they do "something" to return some of the magic to the situation. This is probably the area that CMs use the most discretion (sign for a plush and bring it into the room for instance) and Disney gets the most word of mouth on.
The upper right quadrant is Red Carpet, (5-10 on both axis) Disney owns the situation and it is severe. This is where real safety concerns would be placed. In those cases the CM is empowered to make an immediate decision in an effort first and foremost to stay out of a recovery situation - that is always the goal and the 4 point decision path noted above is hopefully employed to avoid an issue. However, when it isn't then Disney's approach is to do what must be done to recover.
Hope this is helpful. Have lots more "stuff" re Disney management practices (at least what they claim to be doing) if you're interested.
Deb
