Innovation Teams at the Walt Disney Company CASE STUDY

1. Why does Disney keep its development teams small?

Disney’s director of system, Jonathan Geibel, noticed that when teams had seven or
more participants, the individual contribution would drop significantly. Keeping the
teams small, allows each team to focus and have more decision-making power over the
project. This improves flexibility, productivity and makes them communicate more
openly and honestly amongst the team. Geibel’s approach to creating diverse teams
brings together people from all over the world with a main goal and motivation to create
the best experience for audiences. Increasing the intellectual diversity enables the team
to focus on the most innovative and creative ideas while maintaining close relationships
between them, enhancing efficiency and productivity. With small sized and autonomous
teams, Giebel was able to achieve competency in the development of animated films
with new ideas.

2. What are the pros and cons of the teams being so autonomous?

PROS

 Autonomous teams improve innovation and creativity.

 Improve project performance and gain efficiency by combining multiple individuals
with diverse skills, capabilities and experience in a team.
 Autonomous teams can share the workload, share resources, create a bond and
improve morale for other employees.

CONS

 Lack of communication and monitoring of one another may result in poor performance, if
individuals work too independently
 May suffer from power struggles from individuals that want control, if the team has no
leader.
 May pursue goals different from those of the organization, if there is a lack of
supervision.

3. Is Disney’s team approach mostly suited to creative projects, or would it work

equally well in other kinds of industries?

Collaborating with other individuals with diverse experiences, skills and levels of
creative knowledge gives them a unique way to develop innovation and creativity.
Disney’s approach to building a diverse and autonomous team works well in creative
environments and also in any situation where collaboration between team members is
needed. Individuals are exposed to collaborative and diverse teams from many avenues in
today’s technologically advanced society with increasingly rich media environments that
include collaboration as a form of social connections. This leads to those entering the
workforce to expect similar environments that allow for social collaboration and
teamwork. Individuals are now used to working in a team from early on, from the
development of online video games to the next killer application, everyone working in a
diverse group.