Culture and Organisations Pixar case study
HRO372
1. Background
Pixar Animation Studios was founded in 1979, initially specializing in producing state of the art computer hardware (Carlson, 2003). In 1990, due to poor product sales the company diversified from its core business and began producing computer animated commercials for outside companies. Success came for Pixar after the production of its first computer animated film ‘Toy story’ in 1995 (Hutton and Baute, 2007). Since then, Pixar has made many innovative animated feature films, with well known ones including - A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille and WALL-E, six of which are in the top grossing animated …show more content…

This systematically ensures that people gather there repeatedly throughout the day, providing “valuable encounters” (Catmull, 2008). 3. Recruitment
All new hires attend an ‘orientation session’ where Pixar’s president Ed Catmull, gives a presentation on the mistakes the company have made and the lessons that were learned. The process is intended to ‘break down the barriers’ and change the assumption that successful people are not always right. 4. Communication structure
There are no channels at Pixar. Members of any department are freely allowed to approach anyone. The decision making hierarchy and communication structure are seen to be separate from one another. Nobody needs to ask permission to speak to another member on how to solve a problem. Pixar offer a “safe environment” on freedom of speech with all employees being encouraged to email notes to leaders giving their opinions on what they liked and disliked about their work and why. Barret (1997), states that transparent and open communication can positively influence innovation and creative processes in an organization. Ways in which Pixar manage this communication is through the following processes: (a) Pixar’s “Creative Brain Trust”
Teams are typically made up of a director, a writer, some artists, and some storyboard people. All team members are encouraged to share their ideas through a process called “the brain trust.” This occurs