Reference no: EM133008146

Organizational Learning at Pixar

Pixar is a world famous animation studio that has produced blockbuster hits such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Monsters Inc. However, its success is no accident. Lasting market success is built on the effective internal management of people and resources. This activity will provide a brief look at how Pixar effectively utilizes important organizational behavior practices to help foster its success.

Organizational effectiveness is considered the ultimate dependent variable in organizational behavior. Organizational effectiveness is based on four perspectives: open systems, organizational learning, high-performance work practices, and stakeholders. Organizations are effective when they have a good fit with their external environment, are learning organizations, have efficient and adaptive internal subsystems, and satisfy the needs of key stakeholders.

Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

Pixar, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is the world's most successful animation studio. With films such as Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo, Pixar has earned accolades ranging from Academy Awards to Grammys. Some analysts attribute Pixar's success to its unique culture and non-traditional management practices. John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer of both Pixar and Disney animation studios, says the secret to the company's success is hiring people with the best technical skills, and then getting them to work together.

Working together is achieved in a variety of ways. For example, Pixar relies on long-term employment relationships rather than short-term project contracts. This allows employees to develop valuable team relationships and social networks within the company. Pixar's workplace is also set up to facilitate working together. Buildings are designed to cluster people together into teams and encourage chance encounters with people who are working on other projects.

But working at Pixar is not just showing up and making friends. Although the culture is egalitarian, it's also based on a no-nonsense, perfectionist approach to producing the highest quality animation ever. Employees at all levels are not only encouraged to be creative, but also to offer candid feedback about work in progress. Production teams even have what they call "sweatbox" feedback sessions to openly discuss problems. Even the most successful films must undergo a "post-mortem" to discover how they could be improved. Animation President Ed Catmull says, "Our job is to address problems even when we are successful." His unique leadership is one of the foundations of Pixar's unique culture.

In addition to being efficient, Pixar must ensure that transformation processes are

1 adaptive and innovative.

2 adaptive and profitable.

3 nonadaptive and profitable.

4 nonadaptive and stable.

5 innovative and profitable.