Analysis of Ritz Carlton's Leadership and Change Management Strategies

This report analyzes the Ritz Carlton case study, focusing on its takeover of Portman Shangri-La in China. The analysis highlights challenges arising from cultural differences between employees and leaders, and the strategies implemented to address these issues and reduce employee attrition. T...Read More

Running head: ANALYSIS OF RITZ CARLTON CASE STUDY
ANALYSIS OF RITZ CARLTON CASE STUDY
Name of the Student
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Author Note

1ANALYSIS OF RITZ CARLTON CASE STUDY
Executive Summary
This report is based on the analysis of the case study of The Ritz Carlton which had taken
over the Portman Shangri La in China. The organization had entered the Chinese market with
the help of this merger or take-over based operation. The issues that were faced by the
organization based on the differences in culture among the employees and leaders is an
important part of the case study which has been analysed in the report in detail. The steps that
were taken by the management to solve the issues faced by employees and further to decrease
the attrition rates in the organization has also been analysed in the report in detail. The effects
of culture, gender of the employees and diversity on the leadership and change management
process of the organization is also an important part of the discussion. The ways by which the
leadership qualities of the managers are affected by the culture and diversity of the
organization has been analysed in the report in detail. The effect of change implementation
on the operations of Ritz Carlton is also a part of the entire discussion process. The ethical
styles of leadership are also analysed in the report. The organization has been analysed based
on different factors that have affected the change implementation based process. The report
has been concluded by stating that the change implementation process and the leadership
styles of the organizations are affected by the culture and diversity based issues. The
discussion is thereby based on the different parts of the organizational culture.

2ANALYSIS OF RITZ CARLTON CASE STUDY
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Task 1.............................................................................................................................3
Task 2.............................................................................................................................6
Task 3.............................................................................................................................8
Conclusion......................................................................................................................9
References....................................................................................................................10

3ANALYSIS OF RITZ CARLTON CASE STUDY
Introduction
The report will be based on the analysis of the case study of the Ritz Carlton Hotel
which has entered China by taking over Portman Ritz Carlton Shanghai. The issues that have
taken place between the employees and the top management will be discussed in the report in
detail.
Task 1
a) Ritz Carlton is considered to be one of the well-known names in the hotel and
hospitality industry. The leadership style that was followed in Ritz Carlton was based
on a problematic and difficult relationship between the Chinese employees and the
foreign employers who took over the Shangri La Group (Amanchukwu, Stanley &
Ololube, 2015).
b) The new team that had the responsibility to incorporate the business style of Ritz
Carlton in the different operations conducted by the organization after the takeover of
Shangri La was based on three major elements which are employee satisfaction, guest
satisfaction and profits. The employee satisfaction forms the most important part of
the elements that are considered by the management of Ritz Carlton. The guests are
satisfied with the help of services that are provided by satisfied employees and this
further helps the organization to gain profits in the industry (Balon, 2014).
c) Mark DeCocinis was appointed as the general manager of Ritz Carlton in the year
1997 after the take-over of Shangri La by Ritz Carlton. The general manager had
entered China with an experienced team which would be able to help in the transition
process in the new market area. The team had to however face huge challenges based
on the ways by which the transition can be completed with respect to the external
operating environment. The standards of operations of the Portman Shangri La were

4ANALYSIS OF RITZ CARLTON CASE STUDY
below the operational levels of the Ritz Carlton tradition that is followed in different
areas of the world (Bolden, 2016). This was a major concern for the management of
Ritz Carlton and the team of top managers had mainly aimed at incorporating these
traditions within the work process of employees. The main advantage of appointing
the foreign managers in the top management positions is related to the knowledge that
has been gained by the experienced team about the operating styles of Ritz Carlton.
On the other hand, the disadvantage is based on the differences that are evident
between the working style of foreign managers and the Chinese employees (Cox,
2016).
d) Portman Shangri La had around 1067 employees who belong to average age of mid-
twenties to late-twenties. The general manager had an impression that the staff of the
hotel was quite large. He also wanted to provide an opportunity to the local
employees of getting an experience to work in the Ritz Carlton Group. The expatriates
of the hotel were not retained by the management in the top positions which were
already taken by the foreign managers (de Barros et al., 2015). The local employees
were also ready work in the new set-up until they had some major problems. The
general manager thereby felt the need to overcome the issues that were occurring
between the foreign employers and the Chinese employees. The young Chinese
workers were in high demand in the job market and this helped in changing their
positions easily. The three major ways which were implemented by the general
manager to solve the issues are,
Changing the style of relationship that is shared between the
employees and the foreign managers. The relationship that is shared
between the employees and the foreign managers need to be effective

5ANALYSIS OF RITZ CARLTON CASE STUDY
so that they are able to coordinate with each other in the different work
processes (Donate and de Pablo, 2015).
The dining room of the employees in the hotel was renovated
completely which helped in increasing the motivation levels of the
employees. The changes in dining areas will also provide the
motivation that is required.
The management also decided to bring new local recruits within the
existing workforce which can be helpful in their professional
development and the profitability of the organization as well (Edwards
et al., 2015).
e) The three-level pyramid that has been created by the general manager of Ritz Carlton
is based on the ways by which the organization can achieve the desired objectives
with the help of satisfied and happy employees. The change process in an
organization is totally based on the satisfaction levels of the employees. The first and
base level of the pyramid is thereby related to the levels of satisfaction of the
employees. The highest paid employees of the organization are not always the happy
ones. The monetary rewards form an important of the happiness and satisfaction
levels of the employees. The opportunities, pride and respect are a part of the true
happiness levels of the employees (Gold & Thorpe, 2016). The management has
thereby tried to increase the employee satisfaction levels with the help of different
initiatives. The dining room of the employees was redesigned completely by the
management. The management thereby aimed at creating a respectable and civilised
area of dining for the employees. The sense of professionalism was also instilled
within the employees so that they are able to align their habits with the other
employees of the Ritz Carlton Group (Ljungholm, 2014). The communication channel

6ANALYSIS OF RITZ CARLTON CASE STUDY
that was created between the management and employees was also open in nature.
The satisfied employees thereby made way for the high satisfaction levels of the
guests who visited the hotels. The high levels of guest satisfaction further helped in
increasing the profit levels of the employees and the attrition rate of employees had
also decreased in the years of its operations. The pyramid concept was thereby
explained to the employees so that they are able to understand its importance and also
become a major part of the entire process. This will be helpful for the organization to
establish its operations in the new market area (Lopez, 2014). The employees form
the base of the change management based plans that are formed by the organizations
especially in foreign market areas. The hospitality industry is mainly based on the
service of the employees for increasing its profits. The management of Ritz Carlton
has also provided huge importance to the satisfaction levels of the employees. The
services that are provided by the satisfied employees will further be able to create a
loyal and satisfied customer base as well. This is an important factor which helps in
increasing the profitability of Ritz Carlton (Muchiri & Kiambati, 2015).
Task 2
a) Culture of an organization is based on a system of shared values, beliefs and
assumptions which show people the activities which appropriate or note. The values
have an influence on the behaviour of the employees and the performance of the
organization. The strong culture of the organization is created when the employees
show consensus to the values. The leadership of the business is based on the culture
and work process that is followed by employees. The gender of employees also plays
a major part in the ways by which the organization is able to manage them in an
effective manner (Norris, 2017). The leadership roles that are provided to employees
are also based on their gender and levels of discrimination. The diversity level of

7ANALYSIS OF RITZ CARLTON CASE STUDY
employees is an important part of the ways by which the leaders are able to manage
their work process in an effective manner. The strength of culture based on business
leadership is high as the culture of the employees are managed easily if they follow a
strong culture. The weakness of this culture is able to affect the leadership style of the
managers. The strength of the gender in modern organizations is based on the
positions that are provided to the male and the female employees (Paliszkiewicz,
Gołuchowski & Koohang, 2015). The weakness on the other hand is based on the
discrimination that is evident in some of the organizations based on gender. The major
strength of diversity in the organization is thereby based on the ways by which the
organization is able to use the strengths for the purpose of increasing innovation
levels. The weakness of diversity of the organization is related to the ways by which
the employees need to be managed by the leaders in an effective manner (Renz,
2016).
b) The leadership style that is followed in organization is able to affect the change
management process in a huge manner. The leaders are an important part of the
change management based activities that are performed by the organization. The
culture that is followed by the organization and the strength of the culture is also
affected by the leadership style. The leadership style that has been depicted by the
general manager of Ritz Carlton is based on the ways by which the satisfaction levels
of the employees can be increased (Riaz & Khalili, 2014). The satisfaction levels of
the employees are able to increase the satisfaction of the customers. The concerns of
the employees were also taken in a serious manner by managers of the organization.
The top management of the company is therefore responsible for managing the
diverse groups of employees in the hotel. The levels of relationships between the

8ANALYSIS OF RITZ CARLTON CASE STUDY
employees and the top level management is thereby important for proper management
of diversity and gender based issues (Solomon, Costea & Nita, 2016).
c) The motivation levels of the employees in Shangri La was not affected by the
takeover. The satisfaction levels of employees in the had increased with the steps that
have been taken by the management. The loyalty of employees was also affected in a
positive manner by the take-over operation. The multi-ethnicity of the employees was
also affected by the take-over and the management and employees can collaborate
with each other.
Task 3
a) The three major leadership styles that can facilitate change in an organization are, the
transformational style which can help the managers to work together with the
employees in a collaborative manner. The democratic leadership style can be followed
to achieve the organizational objectives with the support of employees. The cross-
cultural style of leadership is based on the ways by which the employees and
managers are able to cooperate with each other (Renz, 2016).
b) The leadership style that has been followed by the management of Ritz Carlton is
based on the ways by which the satisfaction levels of the employees can be increased
in an effective manner. The advantage in this case is based on the increase of
employee satisfaction from the year 2000 to the year 2001. The disadvantage is
related to the issues that that have been faced by the management to align the
objectives of the organization with the leadership style (The Ritz-Carlton., 2018).
c) The ethical style of leadership is based on the respect of the ethical values and beliefs
based on the rights and dignity of others. The ethical leadership can be applied in the
organization by analysing the needs and desires of the diverse employees. The
examples of a workplace scenario are, the ways by which the CEO of Amazon Jeff

9ANALYSIS OF RITZ CARLTON CASE STUDY
Bezos is able to address the issues of the customers and employees with the help of
ethical leadership. The second example is of Sundar Pichai who is the CEO of Google
who is able to manage the employees in an effective manner (Paliszkiewicz,
Gołuchowski & Koohang, 2015).
d) The three types of ethical behaviours that need to be possessed by leaders are mainly
respect for others, abiding by the laws, leadership based qualities, commitment
towards the excellence. These qualities need to be possessed by leaders so that they
are able to manage the employees in an effective manner.
e) The stakeholders of the organization can be managed with the help of a strategy
named stakeholder mapping which involves the examination of key factors of the
organization. The stakeholders can be managed with the help of the determination of
the timeline based on regular communications with key stakeholders of the
organizations (Amanchukwu, Stanley & Ololube, 2015).
Conclusion
The report can be concluded by stating that the change management based plans need
to be implemented by the organizations with the help of proper coordination between the
employees and the management. The analysis of Ritz Carlton Hotel has depicted that the
employees and the foreign managers have been able to collaborate with each other due to the
initiatives that have been taken by top managers.

10ANALYSIS OF RITZ CARLTON CASE STUDY
References
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Ljungholm, D.P. (2014). Transformational leadership behavior in public sector
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12ANALYSIS OF RITZ CARLTON CASE STUDY
The Ritz-Carlton. (2018). Luxury Hotels & Resorts | The Ritz-Carlton. [online] Available at:
http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/about [Accessed 18 Jul. 2018].