The Walt Disney Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Walt Disney Company - Essay Example "It complements legitimate power, but in a negative way because compliance is achieved not out of respect, but out of fear. Examples of coercive power include labour union strike threats, denial of promotion or pay raise and litigation." (Rasheed, n.d.). John Lasseter, for the big bosses and other employees, was a threat to their abilities and therefore could most likely surpass their creativity and eventually take the spot light away from them. Also, they thought that his creativity and innovative lines of attack will create a disagreeable encounter for a target. The second type of interpersonal power being applied on John Lasseters case is the expert power. An expert power may be defined as, "Having expert knowledge about a subject that others value and do not possess themselves can give someone the upper hand in communication." (Rasheed, n.d.). In this case, the expert power is being manifested by Lasseter’s profound knowledge regarding animations. Further, his expertise on animation was not limited to the traditional, obsolete forms of animation but he even initiated the incorporation of computers in the process of making animated movies, which totally changed the way animation in both Pixar and Disney work. His extensive control over the animation productions of both Pixar and Disney suggests the expert power that John Lasseter possessed. As mentioned earlier and as we can recall from the passages of John Lasseter’s case, there are two types of power involved: coercive power and the expert power. Coercive power is being manifested through the executive and other big bosses’ decision to terminate him because he jeopardizes the standing of those with higher positions. Because of their personal interests, they made sure to preclude a newcomer from overriding them; they took action in order to preclude the approval of his proposal. But because he was too artistic and very