A CASE STUDY ON PIXAR’S INCREDIBLE

CULTURE

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PRESENTED BY:eMBA HR

Ami Savla- 10010Ankita Sen- 10018

Dimple Laungani- 10040Mamta Chawla- 10075

Tanvi Kokate- 10164

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ROADMAPTOPIC SLIDE

NO.PRESENTED BY

1) INTRODUCTION TO PIXAR2) ACQUISITION OF PIXAR BY WALT DISNEY3) UNIQUE WORK CULTURE

4-12TANVI KOKATE

4)ELEMENTS OF CULTURE5) PIXAR UNIVERSITY6) CRITISISM OF CULTURE7)MANAGEMENT OUTLOOK AFTER ACQUISITION

13-22MAMTA CHAWLA

8) ANALYSING THE CASE-SHRM WAY9) CULTURAL FIT10) HIGH INVOLVEMENT MODEL

23-26DIMPLE LAUNGANI

11) 5 P’S OF SHRM AT PIXAR12)PIXAR’S EDGE FOR DECISION MAKING13) HR CORE COMPETENCY AT PIXAR

27-31AMI SAVLA

14)HOW PIXAR FOSTERS COLLECTIVE CREATIVITY-HBR15) PIXAR’S OPERATING PRINCIPLES16) REASONS FOR SUCCESSFUL SHRM AT PIXAR

32-37ANKITA SEN

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SYNOPSIS

This case is about the unique organization culture at Pixar Animation Studio (Pixar).

Informal approach toward work and Human Resource (HR) policies that built a motivated and loyal employee base.

Company's hands-off management style coupled with a craftsman-like nurturing of the creative process

Cultural and HR management implications to Pixar after acquisition by The Walt Disney Company.

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CRUX OF THE CASE

Understand the techniques adopted Pixar in creating and maintaining its unique organization culture

Understand the cultural and HR management implications to a company in the event of it being acquired by a larger entity

ABOUT PIXAR5

Headquarters: Emeryville, California

Founded in 1986 by Steve Jobs, Ed Catmull, and John Lasseter

Employee Strength- 850

14 Academy Awards, 7 Golden Globes and 3 Grammy Awards

Major feature films- Toy story, A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo.

Competitors-Dream Works, Blue Sky

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KEY PEOPLE AT DISNEY-PIXAR

Steve Jobs- Chairman & Chief Executive Officer- Pixar. Later member of Board of Directors- Disney (till 2011)

Dr. Ed Catmull- President- Pixar. Later Chief Creative officer- Disney and Pixar

John Lasseter- Executive Vice President- Disney and Pixar

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PIXAR’S - JOURNEY

Founded in 1979 by Catmull and Smith, as Graphics group, of the computer division of Lucasfilm Ltd, that was running into losses.

1986- Pixar purchased by Apple and became Pixar Image Computer (PIC)

Poor sales forced Pixar to focus on animation business

1991- Smith Left Pixar

1997- Pixars Deal with Disney

2004- Pixar and Disney Parted ways

May 2006- Disney acquired Pixar

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ACQUISITION OF PIXAR BY DISNEY

Disney announced on January 24, 2006 that it had agreed to buy Pixar for approximately $7.4 billion.

Pixar had a six-on-six record & analysts attributed its success to the culture of the organisation.

Main motive was to embrace Pixar’s unique culture that had fostered some of the most innovative films in history.

Pixar was acquired by Walt Disney on May 5th, 2006.

Both the companies stressed that Pixar’s would remain a separate entity & its culture would be protected

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PIXAR’S WORKPLACE CULTURE

No Employment contracts

People centered business model

Culture of innovation

Hire people who are better then we are

Preventing burnout

No Hero culture

The organizational structure

Short films as training ground

Art as a teams sport

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NO EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS

Contract system- in vogue, builds loyalty

Pixar’s model was just the opposite

Employees-long term affiliation instead of one time contract

Creation of incredible workplace-Opportunies to learn and grow and most of all great coworkers

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PEOPLE CENTERED BUSINESS MODEL

Departure from idea centered model of Hollywood

“if you have a great idea, and you give it to the wrong people they will screw it up, if you have the wrong idea and you give it to right people they will fix it”

Kept employees interested as well as motivated

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CULTURE OF INNOVATION

Not to be complacent and had to always stay ahead of the curve

Intense self-scrutiny ensured, benifitting from all experiences

Employees were committed to quality of products

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“HIRE PEOPLE WHO ARE BETTER THEN WE ARE”

Time constraints posed by tight productions schedules led to it.

People on the “growth-curve” in their careers were hired

Hiring based on potential rather than position with their existing employer.

A departure from the general tendency of managers to hire down due to threat.

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PREVENTING BURNOUT

Employees enjoy long & productive career

Programs for employees general well beings

Ergonomics expert

Doctors & masseuses

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NO HERO CULTURE

Team preference

Everyone as a team would get bonus

Artistic & technical side both were equally important

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THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

3 parallel groups- technology department- creative department- production department

Group talk with each other

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SHORT FILMS AS TRAINING GROUND

Produced for training purposes

If success then used in movies

If failed then people can be wiser with the experiment

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ART AS A TEAMS SPORT

Helped retain talent

All are a part of the process

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PIXAR UNIVERSITY

Started in 1997 & Headed by Nelson

Continuing program of lectures, workshops, courses and events that went on every day at the Pixar facility. 

 PU offered more than 110 courses, including a complete filmmaking curriculum, classes on painting, drawing, sculpting, and creative writing...

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CRITICISMS ABOUT THE CULTURE

Pixar was a self-contained organization without links to external perspectives 

This could encourage homogeneous values and an insular view of the world

Pixar’s policy of retaining the same team over and over again could lead to stagnation of ideas.

Relied too much on the same core group of people

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MANAGEMENT OUTLOOK AFTER ACQUISITION

After acquisition, Disney wanted to embrace Pixar’s culture.

Steering committee was formed

The difference between the cultures was palpable and difficult to bridge

Cultural adaptation under new owner-biggest challenge for Pixar

23 ANALYZING PIXAR THE S-HRM WAY

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WHY DOES PIXAR REQUIRE SUCH A CULTURE?

If we aren't always at least a little scared, we're not doing our job

A business whose customers want to see something new every time they go to the theater

Innovation entails risk, and companies that don't innovate soon find their customer base dwindling

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CULTURE FIT

Trying to bring in cataclysmic changes in an organization culture can be indigestible

Best fit Approach- “HR strategies are appropriate to the circumstances of the organization, including its culture, operational processes and external environment”

Pixar’s use of best fit approach

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HIGH INVOLVEMENT MODEL OF SHRM

• No- Hero culture• Open communication and

parallel groups• Art as a team sport• Flexibility• Whacky culture

Approaches

• Lowest turnover rate• Creative brain trust• Retention during poor financial

conditions• Transition from High

Involvement to High Commitment in the long run

Results

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5 P’s MODEL OF SHRM AT PIXAR

Philosophy

Policy

ProgramPractice

Process

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Philosophies•Going from Suck to Non-suck

Policies •No Employment contracts•Hire people who are better then we are•No Hero culture

Practices •Accept every offer•Make you partner look good•Look for what’s wrong, not just what’s right

Programs•Pixar University

Processes •Unique Recruitment Process

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PIXAR’S EDGE FOR DECISION MAKING

Its managers give its directors a lot of autonomy

Even though directors have autonomy, they get feedback from others

Pixar uses a process for "postmortems" on the major aspects of movies after they're completed

Pixar admits mistakes in other ways

Pixar has an extensive education program at Pixar University, with more than 110 different courses

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HR AREA OF CORE COMPETENCY- INNOVATION

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HR AREA OF CORE COMPETENCY

INNOVATION

Unconventional

approach

Hiring people with

“growth curve”

Parallel groups &

open communica

tion

Team before

individual

Pixar University

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-By Dr. Ed CatmullHarward Business Review

HOW PIXAR FOSTERS COLLECTIVE CREATIVITY?

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WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

Involves a large number of people from different disciplines working effectively together to solve a great many problems.

Must be present at every level of every artistic and technical part of the organization.

Taking Risks

Constructing an environment that nurtures trusting and respectful relationships and unleashes everyone’s creativity

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ROOTS OF PIXAR’S CULTURE

At the root of Pixar’s culture are its smart, talented and creative people.

Pixar believes in primacy of people over ideas.

Power to the Creative's - Incubation Teams

Peer Culture - Brain Trust- Dailies´ or daily reviews

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ADVANTAGES OF DAILIES

Once people get over the embarrassment of showing work still in progress, they become more creative.

The director or creative leads guiding the review process can communicate important points to the entire crew at the same time.

People learn from and inspire each other; a highly creative piece of animation will spark others to raise their game.

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PIXAR’S OPERATING PRINCIPLES

Everyone must have the freedom to communicate with anyone.

It must be safe for everyone to offer ideas.

We must stay close to innovations happening in the academic community.

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PIXAR : PRACTICING S-HRM

Fulfills the aim of S-HRM by:

Building a long term and major impact on the behavior and success of the organization

Ensuring the organization has skilled, committed and well motivated employees

Achieve sustained competitive advantage

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