Change Management Process Analysis for Ritz Carlton Dubai Report

This report examines the change management process suitable for Ritz Carlton, focusing on the Dubai location. The core recommendation is a brand strategy shift, suggesting the introduction of a budget-friendly accommodation service to capture a larger market segment. The report emphasizes the importance of transformational leadership in managing the change effectively, fostering communication, and addressing employee concerns. It proposes the use of Lewin's change management model, detailing unfreezing, change, and refreezing phases. The report anticipates both positive and negative responses from team members and analyzes a previous technology implementation change effort to derive lessons learned. The intended results include increased revenue and customer traffic, while also addressing potential cultural and performance impacts, and the institutionalization of the change. The report underscores the need for careful consideration of communication, cultural factors, and phased implementation to ensure a successful change process.

Running head: CHANGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Change management process
Name of the student
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Executive summary
The aim of this report is to discuss about the change management process to be initiated by Ritz
Carlton in their business operation. In doing so, this report proposed that changes in terms of
brand will be suitable and effective for Ritz Carlton. It is recommended that they should
introduce a budget friendly accommodation service to cater to the larger mass market customers.
In this report, it is also identified that transformational style of leadership will be effective in
managing the effectiveness of the change process in the workplace. It is expected that this
recommended change process will be fruitful for Ritz Carlton in gaining more revenue and
customer traffic. However, a few negative responses can also get emerged, which should be
mitigated.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Identification of need for change.....................................................................................................4
Communication in the change process............................................................................................4
Implementation process of change management.............................................................................5
Unfreezing...................................................................................................................................6
Change.........................................................................................................................................7
Refreezing....................................................................................................................................7
Anticipated response of the team members.....................................................................................7
Analysis of the previous change effort............................................................................................8
Intended change results....................................................................................................................9
Change in organizational function...................................................................................................9
Impact of change in culture and performance...............................................................................10
Institutionalization of the change...................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
Reference.......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
The current business state of affairs is much more challenging for the contemporary
business entities than it was a decade ago. The external business environments are getting
changed in more rapid manner and it is important for the entities to cope up with these changes.
In this case, the impact of the change management process is evident. The more effective will be
the change management process, the more will be the organizational capability to gain the
maximum benefits from the change in the external business (Cameron & Green, 2015). There are
number of cases where the change management is not only initiated for dealing with the
challenges but also for gaining the maximum opportunities.
Same is applicable for Ritz Carlton Dubai due to the reason that they are already having
effective business processes and is considered as one of the leading hospitality brands in the
region. However, it should be noted that the hospitality sector is also changing rapidly and it is
important for Ritz Carlton also to cope with these changes to maintain their market leadership.
Ritz Carlton is having centralized structure due to the reason that they are having their presence
across different countries and Dubai is one of them (Kuipers et al., 2014). Thus, it is controlled
in centralized manner but the change can be done in region specific manner. Moreover, the
objective of the change process should be in line to their output goal of increasing revenue and
catering to larger guests.
This report will discuss about the area where the change should be implemented for Ritz
Carlton Dubai along with the implementation process of it. Different determining factors in the
change process will also be discussed. The probable response from the involved stakeholders
will also be forecasted on the basis of lesson learned from previous change process. Lastly, the

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organizational effectiveness of Ritz Carlton in effectively implementing the change process will
be analyzed.
Identification of need for change
Ritz Carlton Dubai is not having the need for change in terms of their internal process
rather should initiate change in extending their target customers. Thus, the recommended change
area will be in terms of brands of Ritz Carlton. They are having the need to change the brand
positioning in the market in order to have larger market presence in Dubai. This is due to the
reason that currently Ritz Carlton is catering to the premium customers only with their higher
end positioning (Hamraz, Caldwell & Clarkson, 2013). Hence, it is recommended that they
should introduce a budget friendly service under a new sub-brand, which will cater to more mass
market customers. The service delivery process should also be changed and should be more no-
frill much likes Ginger hotels. With the introduction of new sub-brand, Ritz Carlton will be able
to cater to newer and larger customer segments apart from their existing premium segments. This
change process is important for the long term business sustainability of Ritz Carlton due to the
reason that with the increase in the competition in the premium customers, they should have
more extensive presence in the market (Vora, 2013).
Communication in the change process
Communication process is one of the most important factors to consider in the
implementation of change process due to the reason that it will determine the flow of information
between the involved stakeholders. In the case of Ritz Carlton, Dubai, it is recommended that
they should initiate transformational leadership in order to have positive impact on all the
involved subordinates (Hechanova & Cementina-Olpoc, 2013). This is due to the reason that

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with the help of the transformational leadership, feedback and vision of the employees will be
considered in the decision making process, which will further make the change process more
effective. In addition, it should also be noted that transformational leadership will also enable the
upper level management to identify the issues and challenges that will be faced by the employees
from the change and design the change management process accordingly (Matos Marques
Simoes & Esposito, 2014). Hence, it can be concluded that with the help of the transformation
leadership style, the connection between the involved stakeholders will be more and the
probability of emergence of resistance from the side of the employees will also get reduced.
On the other hand, the cultural factors should also being considered in change process
due to the reason that Ritz Carlton is having diverse workforce and each of the employees from
different social and cultural groups will have different approach towards and change, In addition,
the cultural factors in the communication process should also be considered due to the reason
that communication process cannot be uniform among the diverse workforce. It is recommended
that the change agents in Ritz Carlton should follow the Hofstede’s model of cultural dimensions
in managing the communication process (Langley et al., 2013). With the help of this model, the
cultural preferences of diverse workforce can be determined and identified. For instance, the
individualistic or collectivist approach of the employees can be identified from the Hofstede’s
cultural dimension model and based on that they can be managed.
Implementation process of change management
Effectiveness of the implementation process is also important in the change management
process of Ritz Carlton due to the fact that the more effective and efficient will be the
implementation process, the lower will be the probability of resistance from the employees

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(Rosemann & vom Brocke, 2015). It is recommended that Lewin’s change management process
will be suitable for Ritz Carlton to implement their change.
Unfreezing
According to this model, there are majorly three steps that should be followed in having
the maximum output from the change process. The first step is unfreezing process that involves
readying the internal organizational practices and processes in line to the change. It is important
for the change agents of Ritz Carlton to identify the potential areas of change and communicate
that to the other involved members in the process (Hussain et al., 2018). This is important due to
the reason that the involved stakeholders including the employees may be skeptical about the
outcome and objective of the change. Hence, they should be involved and communicated about
the particular areas where the change will be implemented and the advantages to be gained by
the employees from it.
In the case of change in the brand positioning for the Ritz Carlton, existing employees
may be skeptical about their future after the change in the business process. It is the
responsibility of the change agents to communicate these employees about the benefits of the
change process. This process will ensure that probability of resistances from the side of the
employees is less. According to the Lewin’s model of change process, unfreezing process also
involves the mechanism of determining the organizational capability in meeting the change
requirement (Cummings, Bridgman & Brown, 2016). Thus, change agents of Ritz Carlton Dubai
should identify the extent of brand value and identity to which the new sub-brand can be pushed
in the market. In addition, the financial and operational capability of Ritz Carlton should also be
identified and analyzed prior to the implementation of the change. This can be concluded that

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with the help of the unfreezing step, the internal effectiveness of Ritz Carlton in dealing with the
change process can be determined.
Change
The next step after unfreezing is change, which involves the implementation of the
change process in the workplace. It is recommended that Ritz Carlton should implement the
change according to the identified factors in the previous step and it should be done in phased
manner. This is due to the reason that phased process of implementing the change process will
help to identify the areas of improvement prior to the holistic implementation (Shirey, 2013).
The change agents of Ritz Carlton should introduce the new sub-brand in small scale to identify
the potential challenges. Based on the feedback, the concept should be implemented in large
scale. In addition, the involvement of the employees in this step is also important because their
issues and challenges getting emerged in the implementation process should be mitigated.
Refreezing
Refreezing refers to the process of re-stabilizing the organizational processes and
practices after the implementation of the change. The existing processes should be stabilized in
order to make the employees accustomed with the new processes. Initiation of the evaluation and
monitoring process should also be followed due to the reason that there are number of issues and
challenges to be faced by the employees in the new process (Wojciechowski et al., 2016).
Continuous process of evaluation and monitoring will help the change agents to identify the
issues and challenges and can mitigate them. Thus, the entire implementation process of the
change management will be effective and fruitful.
Anticipated response of the team members

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There is probability of having both the negative and positive response from the team
members. This is due to the reason that different employees will have the different sets of
expectations and attitudes towards the change process. There are few employees ranging from
upper level to lower level will be transferred to the new sub-brand to maintain the existing
process and culture. These employees may have negative response towards the transfer and they
may feel that it will be challenging to cope up in the new environment. On the other hand, some
employees may have positive attitude towards the transfer due to the reason that they are open
towards taking new challenges (Sarayeh, Khudair & Barakat, 2013). Moreover, it should also be
noted that external factors can also have influence on the attitude and response of the team
members. For instance, if the issues being faced by the team members are not getting mitigated,
then they will have negative response towards the change process and vice versa. However, it is
expected that change agents of Ritz Carlton will face lower intensity of negative response from
the team members due to the reason that internal change is not getting implemented.
Analysis of the previous change effort
Previously, Ritz Carlton witnessed another change management process in terms of the
implementation of technology in the service delivery process. With the help of this change,
majority of the service delivery process got automated and less involvement of human labor.
This was being done to enhance the service efficiency for Ritz Carlton. However, the change
process was met with huge resistances from the side of the employees due to the reason that
implementation of technology affected the job security of the employees. Moreover, the
technological change process is implemented without the prior consultation of the employees.
This also caused gap between the expectations of the employees and implemented changes.

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It is learned from this past change process that involvement of the employees is the most
important factor in the change process. This will be followed in the proposed change process and
each of the involved stakeholders will be consulted regarding their views and feedback regarding
the change. On the basis of these feedbacks, the design of the change process will be made and
the employees will be ensured that their jobs are safe. Moreover, from the initial stage of the
change process, employees will also be communicated about the positive implications of the
change and how they will be benefited from it. Hence, the lessons learnt from the previous
change process will be used to prevent any resistances from the side of the employees.
Intended change results
The major objective of initiating this change is to cater to larger customer segments,
which are not getting catered with the current approach of Ritz Carlton. Moreover, with the
change in the brand positioning of Ritz Carlton, it is expected that customer traffic will get more
for Ritz Carlton and apart from their existing premium customers; they will also gain penetration
in the mass market also. Thus, the brand extension will be made possible along with the
enhancement of the brand identity and exposure. This can be concluded that majority of the
marketing objectives can be achieved by the proposed change process.
Change in organizational function
It is recommended that after the implementation of the change, Ritz Carlton should
function as strategic business units. This is due to the reason that business objectives and
operational process of Ritz Carlton and their new sub-brand will be different centralized
management will not be effective. Hence, the new sub-brand should be managed as the separate

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business unit. Each of the business level strategies of the new sub brand such as cost leadership,
differentiation or growth strategies will be different to that of their parent entity.
Impact of change in culture and performance
The existing organizational culture of Ritz Carlton will not be affected due to the change
because a new entity will be introduced. Hence, existing culture in the workplace will be the
same and the same culture will be followed in the new entity also. However, there are
probabilities of having impact on the organizational culture by means of different business
environment in both the entities (Payne, 2013). The new sub-brand will have different
environment to that of the existing Ritz Carlton brand and thus their respective organizational
culture will also be influenced by it. In this case, managing the same culture in both the entity
will create issues.
In terms of the performance, the change will have majorly positive impact due to the
reason that competition between the stakeholders of both the entities will help in enhancement.
However, it should also be noted that performance will also be determined by means of external
factors such as the business growth rate and stability (van den Heuvel et al., 2013). It is expected
that after the implementation of the change, organizational performance will get enhanced for
Ritz Carlton due to the fact that they are now having a sub-brand to tap the larger mass market
customers also.
Institutionalization of the change
The culture and internal business process of the new entity will be carried forward from
the existing operation of Ritz Carlton. Moreover, the initial sets of internal stakeholders will also
be sourced from the existing operations. Thus, it will help to refreeze the existing process and

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practices in the organizational culture. In addition, the transferred employees will be given
training about the budget accommodation service sector and their trends. This will help them to
get accustomed with the new business environments and accordingly they can design the
organizational processes.
Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that change in terms of brands will help Ritz Carlton to cater to
larger target customer segments and increasing revenue. Different important factors in the
change process are discussed and analyzed in this report. It is identified that transformation
leadership, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and Lewin’s change model will be effective for Ritz
Carlton in initiating their change management process. It is also identified that both negative and
positive response from the team members are expected. This report recommended that
involvement of the employees should be given the major considerations and it will ensure that
the intensity of resistance is limited in the change process for Ritz Carlton.

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