The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company Case Analysis

THE RITZ-CARLTON HOTEL CO.

The effectiveness of the Ritz’s training and development system.

The satisfaction of the customers can be the indication for the effectiveness of training and development system. Integrating and prioritizing the values and concepts of The Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award criteria were set as the primary mission for the company by the corporate vice president Patrick Mene and as a result, the company was awarded 2 times. The Malcolm-Baldridge Quality Award was established by US Congress to raise awareness of quality management and recognize U.S. companies that have implemented successful quality management systems.^[1] This award has 7 criteria and one of them is Customers. When evaluators examine the companies under this criterion, they check how the organization meets the expectations of customers and market, how they acquire, satisfy and retain the customers and how they build the customer relationship. Winning this award shows that the training and development system of Ritz is effective.

An efficient training and development system should have orientation and training programs. The orientation program is necessary to bring the corporate culture to the new employees and the training is necessary for employee`s performance and continuous improvement. The orientation and training program are must for an organization and they have to be part of the business strategy. We can infer from the case that, D.C. Ritz has an extraordinary orientation program and it motivates the employees in a party setting.

When the staff members entered the building where their training would occur, they were welcomed by hotel managers with applause. They were informed about the company`s history, philosophy, values, milestones, most recently opened hotels across the globe and the awards company won.

As a result of the evolution and refinement of the hotel opening process, Ritz standardized a unique training program called “The Seven Day Countdown”. Over the years, this program brought efficiency together with it. With this training program, new employees were provided with the culture of the company, vision, departmental goals, teamwork, and technical training.

An effective training and development program should have two aims. First, new employees should understand and adapt the company vision and the values. Second, through this training, they should acquire soft skills and technical skills. According to the case, this training and development program helps Ritz reach these aims effectively. In corporate America, average staff training time is 28 hours and this time is 174 hours at Ritz. When compared, this huge training time difference and scope of this training give clues about the effectiveness of the Ritz’s training and development system.

To what extent does the system create the leadership, values, and culture of the Ritz?

The leadership, values, and culture are most relevant to people, leaders, and managers rather than the system itself. With the orientation, training and development program, company values and culture are being given to the employees by the management team, however, it should be considered that the management team is also selected according to this company culture and values. This means Ritz has a system that chooses the employees and management team and gives them the company vision. This system helps Ritz standardize its culture and values and also create the expected leadership.

In this company, most of the leaders began at the entry level and promoted in time. By this way, they adopted and represented the company values and the culture. All these leaders knew it very well that without dedication, all the efforts and equipment would be useless. That’s why they put excessive emphasis on the company values and evoked them to the staff again and again. The core company values and culture are not regular norms for Ritz, they are the cornerstones and tangibles of the company. The Gold Standards, 3 steps of service and the Twenty Basics of Ritz are exampling that Ritz has its own system and through this system, the company creates the values and culture.

What specific aspects of the training program help new recruits understand what it is to be a Ritz employee?

The Seven Day Countdown training program consists of two parts. First one is the culture part and the second one is the technical part. The technical part is about how to work effectively and it is not as important as the culture part. Because without the culture part of the training program technical part will have endless deficiencies. The Culture part consists of the vision and values, the motto, the Gold Standards, the 20 basics of Ritz. And also, with the company motto, employees are being taught what it is to be a Ritz employee. “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.”