Impact of employee training and development on fostering customer service culture at Ritz Carlton

Running head: RESEARCH PROJECT
Research project
Name of student
Name of University
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Executive summary
The report was prepared to discuss about the impact created by training and
development of employees on the management of a customer service culture to ensure
gaining competitive advantage and success in the future too. Ritz Carlton has been considered
as the case study here which managed to implement the various principles of global talent
management to ensure recruitment and selection of the right talents and ensured managing
good communication along with sharing of individual ideas and opinions to make a collective
decision required to deliver the best quality services to the customers.

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Table of Contents
Project outline............................................................................................................................4
Introduction............................................................................................................................4
Rationale of research for the project......................................................................................6
Research aim..........................................................................................................................7
Research objectives................................................................................................................7
Research questions.................................................................................................................8
Literature review........................................................................................................................8
Employee training and development......................................................................................8
Customer service culture within the organisation................................................................10
Impact of the employee training and development on the fostering of a customer service
culture...................................................................................................................................11
Conceptual framework.........................................................................................................13
Discussion of questions............................................................................................................13
Determining the main reasons of success for Ritz-Carlton success.....................................13
Evaluation of sources of success and resources based on the VRIO framework.................15
Ritz-Carlton’s approach to manage global talents from different continents.......................18
Application of six principles of global talent management to Ritz-Carlton.........................20
Recommendations....................................................................................................................22
Conclusion................................................................................................................................23
References................................................................................................................................23

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Research title: Impact of employee training and development on the fostering of an
exceptional customer service culture at Ritz Carlton
Project outline
The research is conducted for the purpose of assessing the various aspects of
employee training and development managed at Ritz Carlton to foster the development of an
exceptional customer service culture and facilitate and enhance the level of satisfaction
among the customers too. Considering the case study of a major hotel chain named Ritz
Carlton in UK, the hotel chains have focused on delivering extensive hospitality services for
satisfying the guests and to ensure influence their purchasing behaviours for repeated
purchases. The formation of a good and healthy customer service culture is based on the
attributes and feedbacks of customers regarding the services delivered to them by the hotel
and on the basis of their experiences too (Jehanzeb and Bashir 2013). Thus, the training and
development of employees can assist them to learn and form a collaborative working where
learning and development are promoted and the goals and objectives are achieved easily.
There are multiple theories and management concepts that will be used as well for conducting
the research project effectively and at the same time, ensure contributing to the successful
accomplishment of research too.
Introduction
From the case study, it is understood that the guests are satisfied with the hotel
services delivered and it is an important part of the hospitality management at Ritz Carlton.
The fulfilment of the needs and preferences of the customers is the top most priority of the
hotel chain and it has been found that the staffs of the hotel are skilled and knowledgeable
enough to meet the needs of guests effectively (Elnaga and Imran 2013). For enhancing the
level of customer satisfaction, the business organisations need to leverage the best potential
of the human resources and achieve excellence in terms of higher sales and revenue

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generation too. The research project highlights the importance of managing employee
training and development required to foster the development of exceptional customer services
culture considering the hotel chain named Ritz Carlton, furthermore, raise the level of
satisfaction among clients and influence their buying behaviours too (Ford 2014). The
organisations seems to have invested a good amount of resources on the training and
development programs, which has not only facilitated the attrition rate, but has also improved
the learning, development and knowledge acqusitions. With the help of these training and
development programs, the organisation will be able to design a better learning experience
and also prioritise on the growth and development of employees within the hotel, required to
meet the needs and preferences of the customers efficiently (Kulkarni 2013).
Considering the SWOT analysis for the hotel chain named Ritz Carlton, the strengths
of the organisation include skilled, knowledgeable and empowered employees and also a
wider global outreach due to the presence of large numbers of hotels all over the world. The
parent company had added value to the brand while the brand trust and loyalty have ben
established with the effective communication process managed with the various stakeholders
involved in business (Asfaw, Argaw and Bayissa 2015). There are more than 33000
employees who have been working across 25 countries while the rewards and incentives
programs have also strengthened the skills and enhanced motivation among the staffs. The
weaknesses of the organisation include expensive hospitality services along with the poor
economic condition and declined bottom line. The opportunities of the hotel chain could be
the management of corporate tie ups and providing special packages for increasing the
customer base while aiming to expand the tourism and hospitality market globally as well
(Kum, Cowden and Karodia 2014). The threats are experienced with the presence of multiple
business competitors, high operational costs and also the emergence of natural disasters, bad
weather conditions and terrorism activities that could also affect the tourism business.

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The Goleman’s model of emotional intelligence focused on the various aspects of
skills, knowledge and competencies that could drive the leadership performance and also
allow the employees of the organisation to develop their self-awareness skills, self-regulation,
social skills, empathy and motivation skills too for the purpose of achieving success. To
foster the development of a healthy corporate culture, motivation is necessary and it can be
possible with the help of fulfilling the needs of employees at different levels based on the
application of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory (Falola et al. 2014). It can allow the
manager and higher management level of the organisation to fulfil the needs of employees at
different hierarchical levels, furthermore, ensure keeping them motivated and encouraged to
develop a good culture within the workplace. The use of PESTLE framework could also
ensure identification of various factors such as the political factors, economic factors, social
factors, technological, legal and environmental factors that should contribute to the
management of business functioning in an effective way too (Anitha 2014).
PESTLE analysis
The political factors are the influences created by the political bodies and the
Government for the purpose of managing the costs of operations along with identifying the
various ways to make up the costs associated with it. The structure of workforce has been
affected as well due to the political influences, which has resulted in increase of wages
structure to make sure that there is high level of motivation among staffs along with
enhancement of skills and knowledge too.
The economic factors include the currency fluctuations that have affected the business
functioning within the hotel industry whereas the foreign exchange also helped in creating
significant impact on the economy of the nation. The value of currency has also increased the