Michael Eisner Essay

The conflict between Michael Eisner, the Weinstein brothers, the two board members (Disney and Gold), and Steve Jobs was really an unhealthy work environment. Michael Eisner, former CEO of Walt Disney Company had strained several important relationships to the company because of his abrasive style and his tendency toward micromanagement. Eisner fought with the Miramax founders, Harvey and Bob Weinstein over financial details relating to the purchase of Miramax. Eisner disagreed several times with Steve Jobs who was the CEO of both Pixar and Apple Computer. Negative remarks Eisner made in front of Congress about Jobs, Apple Computer were taken personally and Jobs threatened not to renew the Disney-Pixar partnership if Eisner remained as CEO of Disney. However, Eisner had a distasteful demeanor and disruptive behavior causing continuous disputes, board members repeatedly asked for Eisner resignation. Nevertheless, as stated by, Ivancevich, Konopaske, and Matteson, “dysfunctional conflicts are a confrontation
Shortly after Iger took over as CEO at Disney, he reached out and reconciled relationships with the Weinstein brothers by making a settlement payment. The Weinstein brothers received a $100 million dollar payment and Disney kept the Miramax name and film library worth 2 billion dollars. The relationship with Steve Jobs and Pixar was also reconciled by adding Jobs to the Disney Board of Directors and adding another influential and successful member to the team. Iger’s approach played a significant role in mending torn relationships involving Disney’s past controversial and abrasive styles brought about by Michael Eisner. The Disney Company was frustrated, inconsistent and facing a major economic recession, however, Iger new approach brought a refreshing sigh of relief to the company and to the company’s