Ritz-Carlton Case Study free essay sample

The seven days countdown was a result of the evolution and refinement of the hotel opening process, which became more solidified in the late 1980s to early 1990s when hotel chain was opening many new properties. The first two days were devoted to orienting employees to The Ritz-Carlton culture and values, while remaining five days involved more specific skills training and trial runs of service delivery. To ensure that employees are get aligned with organization mission and core values, trainers from 23 nationalities who are all considered the â€Å"best of the best† in their role within the organization. These trainers are responsible for ensuring that each employee is at the required level or standard in their specific job function at the hotel. Schulze send a message to the new team that â€Å"You are not servants. We are not servants. Our profession is service. We are ladies and gentleman. We are ladies and gentleman and should be respected as such. We will write a custom essay sample on Ritz-Carlton Case Study or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This statement affected employees to learn the genesis of the Ritz-Carlton motto, â€Å"We are ladies and gentleman serving ladies and gentleman† Moreover, The Ritz-Carlton employed the â€Å"Gold Standards† to ensure this message was communicated effectively to all employees. The Gold Standard included â€Å"The Credo, The Three Steps of Service, The Motto, The Employee Promise and the Twenty Basics† to ensure employees were focused on the organizations values. Next, employees in each functional area met for an introduction to their new departments. This is used to help the employees learn more about one another, their likes and dislikes, and how they could function together as an effective unit. After that, employees are trained for developing their skills which is useful for doing jobs. Because of these continuous communication and addresses from the top and intensive training, skill development and an aligned HRM strategy, the Ritz-Carlton managed to create ladies and gentleman out of their employees within only seven days. 2. In what may be a first for the hospitality industry, Brian Collins, hotel owner, has asked James McBride, Ritz-Carlton general manager, to lengthen the amount of time spent training hotel employees before hotel opening. Should McBride lengthen the 7 Day Countdown? As I summarized at the first question, The seven day countdown was a well-defined hotel opening process, aimed at aligning the employee with the vision and mission of the organization. But I think McBride should lengthen the seven day countdown by following reasons. First of all, nowadays, customers’ requirements are changing very rapidly and diversified much. So I think extending the seven day countdown means investing in long standing excellence in areas such as employee orientation and customer oriented training resulting in increased customer engagement and satisfaction. By lengthening training session, The Ritz-Carlton hotel can meet with customers’ requirements with flawless services. Secondly, the customers who use the hotel are diversified. Not as in 1980s or 1990s, so many customers from different countries which have very different culture are coming nowadays. To follow up these different customers’ wants, the company should train employees more intensively and precisely, so I think seven days are too short to do that. For example, managers can add probation time that a senior member works with their juniors for one or two weeks and gives them real-time experiences which is very important and precise learning method. Lastly, by extending the seven days countdown, employees can understand their role in achieving company’s success. They can learn more about their duties before they complete their training period, so they can adjust their position and job more easily. This also can affect the loyalty to the company that employees know more about their company and the key success factors more obviously, so they feel they are doing crucial part for their company. Therefore, I believe that Ritz Carlton should lengthen the orientation to further ingrain service excellence in its new employees which will ensure higher productivity and foster competitiveness. . Or, is this the time that McBride should consider a total overhaul of the hotel opening process? If yes, what should he change, and how should he go about doing it? What’s different about experimenting in a service business? I think that The Ritz-Carlton hotel need to think differently because now it is not an opening period, but an ongoing operation period. Yet, I don’t think McBride should consider a total overhaul, but just he needs to change h is view. First, McBride should change their training program’s concept. The seven day countdown is more focused on the employees, not customers. He should consider more about customers’ satisfaction. For example, the employees make the visit memorable for their customers by fulfilling even the unexpressed wishes and needs of the guests. It makes the relationship between hotel and customers very tight, and thus, the customers will visit hotel again and again. Secondly, the company should regarded employees as the important factors of its exceptional service culture. The company must realize that as it is in a service industry, the quality of its end product was only as good as the people providing it. Therefore it take care to see that it not only recruited the right employees to a job, but also provided them with the necessary inputs to enable them to provide exceptional service for customers. Lastly, as I answered in second question, he should lengthen the process. The world and the service industry are becoming more dynamic, so the company needs more specialized and more skillful employees for maintaining their pacesetting position.