Abstract
Patrick Mene changed the focus of the Ritz-Carlton Company when he joined the organization in 1990. He focused on enhancing the quality of services through investing in training and development for the employees. The organizational culture of the company is also a major element that has led to the tremendous success achieved by the Ritz-Carlton Company.
Introduction
The efficiency of the human resource management function in the service industry determines the competitive power of a company. By investing in quality services through training and development for the employees, companies can differentiate their services from the competitors. This strategy is viable for harnessing a larger market share and effectively charging the standard prices without losing customers.
Personalization of services is actualized through the development of an organizational culture that fosters regular enhancement of the services offered to the loyal customers. The management function in a company should ensure that it develops a visionary objective to always enhance the quality of the services offered to customers. This approach not only adds value to the services offered by the company, but it also fosters loyalty on the part of the customers. This paper looks at the Ritz-Carlton Company, with a close focus on human resource management and some of the benefits of investing on competent employees. The paper also highlights elements of the company’s organizational culture and some of the lessons learned from Ritz-Carlton’s experience.
Background
The Ritz-Carlton Company is in the hotel business, and it manages a chain of luxury hotels in different parts of the world. The company has won numerous awards since 1983 when it was founded. Ritz-Carlton’s success is attributed to the efficient management function of the company. This is particularly revealed in the quality of the services offered by the company. Ritz-Carlton is among the few hotel management companies that have mastered the art of differentiating their services through the creation of value. The management of the company has particularly majored in investing on competent human assets.
The Ritz-Carlton has demonstrated its commitment to continuing to offer sophisticated services to its global market. The culture of excellence in service delivery has been perfected by the company, and it is rivaled by very few competitors (Milakovich, 2005). According to the management function of the company, the trick lies in the efficiency in human resource management. The company distinguishes itself by the performance of the human assets. This means that the Ritz-Carlton has ensured that its employees are the best in the business.
Human resource management
The quality of the services offered by the Ritz-Carlton Company in its hotels and resorts is attributed to the efficiency of the recruitment process. Patrick Mene joined the company in 1990 and he revolutionized the focus of the company. He inspired the management function of the company to focus on quality enhancement through training and development programs for the employees. According to Mene, a company cannot get perfect employees; rather, it should facilitate the development of perfection for the existing human assets. Through his relentless efforts, the company has developed a culture of developing a human asset base that guarantees quality services (Milakovich, 2005).
Mene also helped the company to propagate the strategy of offering personalized services to the loyal customers. For instance, he compelled the management function to adopt the culture of providing monogrammed pillowcases to customers when they visited one of the hotels repeatedly. One of the secrets of the company is the provision of intensive training programs for the employees.
The Ritz-Carlton Company has focused on ensuring that the employees are satisfied with their working environment. For instance, the company ensures that there are enough employees to handle the workflow without overworking. The reviews provided by the employees of the company indicate that the Ritz-Carlton Company respects its employees, and the management treats them as the most important assets (Reiss, 2009). This treatment would be expected from a company that is among the leading organizations in the service industry.
The Ritz-Carlton organizational culture
The organizational culture of the Ritz-Carlton Company is enshrined in values that compel its members to portray their highest level of competence. Keeping the employees happy has led to the development of a human asset base that is not only inspired to keep customers happy, but one that is willing to continue learning to enhance their skills in service delivery. The espoused values of the company dictate that the company should continue distinguishing itself through high-quality services and creation of value. The organizational culture of the company is also characterized by the commitment of the company to empower the employees.
Since the Ritz-Carlton Company is a multinational company, it has developed a culture of accommodating diversity in its employee base, as well as in the customer base. It is apparent that the company has embarked on a business strategy to ensure its entities match their surroundings in different parts of the world in terms of decor and culture. The company outsources labor, and it ensures that the employees adapt to the culture to guarantee its continuity (Reiss, 2009). From the case study, it is apparent that the most important element in service excellence for companies is developing a culture that provides an environment where the employees own their tasks in the workflow.
Lesson from the Ritz-Carlton’s experience
The most important lesson learned from the Ritz-Carlton’s experience is that companies should appreciate their employees and provide them with career development opportunities. It is apparent that the success of the company is attributed to the commitment of the employees that started out their tenure when Mene joined the company. As revealed in the company’s case study, a quarter of the company’s current managerial task force comprises of people that joined the company on an hourly employment basis. Other companies should follow this strategy to propagate commitment from the employees. The Ritz-Carlton’s experience also highlights the importance of developing a learning organization culture (Reiss, 2009).
The company has ensured that the knowledge acquired by its senior employees is passed on to the new employees. The regular training and development programs offered to the employees should also be emulated by other companies in the service industry if they intend to compete with companies in the caliber of the Ritz-Carlton Company.
Conclusion
The Ritz-Carlton Company is a good example of a company that developed long-term goals for the enhancement of the quality of its services. The company majored in the development of a human asset base that was competent enough to help it differentiate its services from its rivals’. The strategy has paid off quite handsomely, and the company is among the top competitors in the hospitality industry in the global market. Its organizational culture is associated with values that call for the employees to own their jobs, and to focus on enhancing the quality of services. Companies in the service industry should borrow ideas from the approach demonstrated by Mene in the management of human resources.
References
Milakovich, M. (2005). Improving Service Quality in the Global Economy: Achieving High Performance in Public and Private Sectors. Florida: CRC Press. Web.
Reiss, R. (2009). How Ritz-Carlton Stays at the top. Web.