Disney has always had a good reputation among the public. Perhaps a lot of that reputation can be attributed to the company’s code of ethics as compared to others.
When looking at the Society of Professional Journalists’s Code of Ethics and the Public Relations Society of America’s Member Code of Ethics, the most common things that show up are involve these themes: integrity, honesty and transparency. These organizations value members who strive to honest reporting. They want people to have respect for the organization and for the public when reporting. Or do they? When reading these codes of ethics, one gets the impression they are geared to keeping the organization’s reputation good, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
However, when looking at Disney’s Standards of Business Conduct, only two of its six sections cover topics like Integrity and Honesty. The remaining four involve ways to treat the customer practically like family. The most notable section supporting this is the Teamwork section. In this section, Disney explains how cast members need to work together to provide the entertainment of a lifetime. This section shows how the company frowns upon an employee talking down about fellow employee. Although it’s the shortest section of the six, the message hits home the most because Disney wants to make sure every employee or cast member is treated like part of the family and with the respect he or she deserves.
Another key difference between the two codes of ethics is the Respect section. This section details how every practice that is done on Disney grounds has genuine respect for the community. For this reason, the cast members are held to especially high standards when it comes to the overall cleanliness of the parks. Cast members are encouraged to call others out for littering in places where it is not authorized or for not respecting the overall community. When reading this section and the Teamwork section, it is blatantly obvious that Disney strives to create an honest environment as well as a clean and wholesome environment, one kids can look up to.
References
Code of Ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2015, from http://www.spj.org/pdf/spj-code-of-ethics.pdf
Member Code of Ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2015, from http://www.prsa.org/aboutprsa/ethics/codeenglish/#.VSb5pBPF-Hu
The Walt Disney Company and Affiliated Companies Standards of Business Conduct. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2015, from http://cdn.media.ir.thewaltdisneycompany.com/forms/DIS-SBC-CM.pdf
MATTHEW E. COHLMIA II 