Organizational Culture in Hospitality: Ritz Carlton Report Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the organizational culture within the Ritz Carlton Hotel, focusing on its impact on employee management, customer satisfaction, and competitive advantage within the hospitality industry. The report begins with an introduction to organizational culture, emphasizing its importance in the hospitality sector, where customer satisfaction is paramount. It then explores the organizational culture concepts, including artifacts, espoused values, and assumptions, using the Ritz Carlton as a case study. The analysis delves into the specific methods the hotel uses for employee selection, training, and the implementation of its 'Gold Standards.' The report further examines the cultural web, encompassing stories, rituals, symbols, organizational structure, control systems, and power structures, to understand how Ritz Carlton fosters a positive work environment and maintains a competitive edge. The conclusion highlights the importance of a strong organizational culture for long-term success and suggests that the Ritz Carlton's approach serves as a model for other organizations in the industry. The report also includes a self-reflection section and references to support the analysis.

Running head: MANAGING PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH PEOPLE
Managing Productivity through People
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MANAGING PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH PEOPLE
1.0. Introduction
The purpose of the following assignment is to focus on the factor of the organizational
culture and the topic of the competitive advantage in the hospitality industry. The hospitality
industry is all focused about the customers and the customers play a huge role in the success
story of all the organizations within it. The chosen organization for this paper is the Ritz Carlton
Hotel that has been a very successful organization within this industry and they value their
customers very much (The Ritz-Carlton, 2017). The cultural web of this organization has to be
discussed in this paper as well.
2.0. Brief introduction to organizational culture
Hospitality industry is such an industry where most of the focus has to be on the
customers and their satisfactions levels. The employees have to be treated very kindly and well
being has to be looked after by the company (De Vita 2007). The organizations in the hospitality
industry have some certain missions and values. These have to be looked after by the managers
and the leaders. The employees have to be trained very swiftly and the quality of the training has
to be perfect so that the employees can adjust to any organization environment (Mullins and
Christy 2013). Another way of developing skills of the employees is to maintain a sporting spirit
within the employees and the competitiveness between them so that they can try their hardest to
manage the productivity of the organization (De Vita 2007).
3.0. Organizational culture concepts
The Ritz Carlton is one of the leading hotels in the luxury hotel chain industry and it is
very much renowned for their customer services and loyalty to the customers. They maintain a
very good organizational culture and their diverse workforce is a very important part of their

2MANAGING PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH PEOPLE
maintaining a good working culture (The Ritz-Carlton, 2017). Organizational culture has a
connection with the knowledge sharing between the people. It has to be assumed that the
different aspects of organizational culture have to deal with the management of the employees
properly. The concept of organizational culture can be divided into different levels. These are
artifacts, espoused values and assumptions. These have to be discussed so that it can be
understood properly. Artifacts signify the facts that are constant with the processes, structure,
goals, missions and goals. The dress codes and the furniture within the organizational settings
can be considered as artifacts. The values of the organizations have to be espoused by the
leaders. They believe in the shared assumption on how the company should be run. The
assumptions refer to the original values of the culture. These signify the human nature in the
organizations. According to the top leaders of the hotel, they do not tend to ‘hire’ their
employees but they are keener to ‘select’ their new members for their team Ritz Carlton (The
Ritz-Carlton, 2017). They look upon their hotel as a team who work collectively to meet up the
industry needs.
5.0. Analysis of organizational culture concepts
The organizations should select some unique methods to select their employees. They
look to interview their applicants over the telephone first and then decide whether they are
appropriate for a face-to-face interview (Chapman and Cha 2002). The hotels also should not
give the utmost importance on the degrees held by the applicants but they even encourage paying
the tuition fees for the college level. The ‘Gold Standards’ is one of the most important parts of
their culture web that looks on the organization according to their moral values that help them to
operate. Other things include The Credo, The Motto, The Three Steps of Service, The Basics and
The Employee Promise (He, Murmann and Perdue 2012).

3MANAGING PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH PEOPLE
6.0. Organizational culture in the hospitality industry
The hospitality industry belongs to the group of such industry who value their customers very
much. They look to impress and entertain the senses, caters to fulfill their wishes which they
have not expressed yet and other major things. These steps help them to stay ahead of their
domestic as well as international rivals and gain the competitive advantage. All the departments
like the human resources, the food department, the suppliers of the materials and others should
be at a smooth communication so that they can manage every difficulty that are raised in certain
circumstances. The turnover rate of the hospitality industry is very high. This is why the some of
the workers have to be selected and recruited on a seasonal basis. One of the problems in this
industry is the absenteeism. The fact reflects that the workers may opt for being off for the low
days and come to work when the payments will be high. The employee dynamics is quite
changing in this business so the leaders cannot be hard-nosed. If they are, they will be having a
big problem in retaining the workers. An excellent leader in the hospitality industry must look to
motivate the workers and set them for a better customer service all the time. The workers in this
industry like such kind of managers who know everything in this industry and deals with them
the way they prefer the most.
The workers in the hospitality industry have a good deal of understanding between
themselves. They will look to identify the potential changes and leave the current job as there are
better jobs always hovering around. The workers have their own style of communication that the
guests do not understand. There is every possibility to earn a good deal of money in the
hospitality industry because the workers are being paid on hourly basis. This resonates the fact
that the hospitality industry has a huge scope for improvement.

4MANAGING PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH PEOPLE
6.0. The cultural web
Cultural web is an element to determine the different aspects of the organizational culture
of an organization (McDonald and Foster 2013). This helps for the customers to relate
themselves with the different facts an organization has within and they can decide how they
judge the companies according to their cultures. There are six components for the cultural web.
These are stories, rituals and routines, symbols, organizational structure, control systems and
power structures (McDonald and Foster 2013).
Stories
Stories are the events that had taken place in the earlier times and the things that the
people had gossiped in and outside of the company. The organizations give a great value to it as
it is concerned with their image.
Rituals and routines
These are the behaviors that the people indulge in their day to day activities. These things
signify the assets that are valued by the management in a huge manner.
Symbols
The symbols refer to the fact how the company represents itself by their office
compounds, their logos and their dress codes for the employees.
Organizational structure
Organizational structure refers to the structures that are defined by the official chart of the
organizations and the power and influence of their leaders (McDonald and Foster 2013).

5MANAGING PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH PEOPLE
Control systems
Control systems refer to the fact about how the organizations are controlled. This
includes the financial systems, quality systems, rewards and punishments and all the other
necessary things.(McDonald and Foster 2013).
Power structures
Power structure means the ways the power is handled by some leaders in particular. This
involves the senior executives, the board of directors, the CEO and the important departmental
managers. They have a huge influence in the decision making, strategy implementation and other
things (McDonald and Foster 2013).

6MANAGING PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH PEOPLE
7.0. Conclusion
The paper can be concluded by saying that Ritz Carlton hotel has to move forward in a
well directed manner so that they can outlast other organizations in the hotel industry. The
cultural web that they have woven to build a friendly atmosphere between the employees has to
be supported by the employees and the community. This will lead them to a greater position in
the industry and competitive advantage.
8.0. Summary of the key concepts
In this paper, the organizational culture with reference to the hospitality industry has been
discussed. It has been found with focusing emphasis on the Ritz Carlton Hotel. It can be said that
keeping a good organizational culture in the hospitality industry is the key to their success. It
should be remembered that guests in the hotels need a proper behavior from the employees of the
hotels. It is even more important in the international conditions. The leaders must motivate the
employees to behave well and be motivated all the time. The employees should be selected after
a thorough interview process and the best people should be chosen to serve the best hotels.
9.0. Self-reflection
I have discussed about the organizational culture in the hospitality industry through the
example of Ritz Carlton Hotel. They have been the one of the best organizations so I suppose the
rising organizations in this industry should look to follow how they have developed the
organizational culture within their organization. If I go to a hotel for staying for some days, I
would definitely want good behavior from the employees with proper etiquettes. This would
please me and I will be satisfied with their service. Thus I would like that the best kind of
organizational culture be implemented.

7MANAGING PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH PEOPLE
10.0. References
Dawson,M, Abbott, J and Shoemaker, S 2011, ‘The Hospitality`Culture Scale: A measure
organisational culture and personal attributes’ , International Journal of Hospitality Management,
vol. 30, pp. 290-300
Berger, F and Brownell, J 2009, Organisational behaviour for the hospitality industry, Pearson
Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River NJ
Chatman, JA and Cha, SE 2002, ‘Culture of growth, mastering leadership’, In L Mullins (ed.),
Management and organisational behaviour, 9th edn, Financial Times Prentice Hall, Harlow
De Vita, E 2007,” Get engaged”, Management Today, April, pp. 38-43
He, P., Murmann, S.K. and Perdue, R.R., 2012. Management commitment and employee
perceived service quality: The mediating role of affective commitment. Journal of Applied
Management and Entrepreneurship, 17(3), p.79.
Leonidou, L.C., Leonidou, C.N., Fotiadis, T.A. and Zeriti, A., 2013. Resources and capabilities
as drivers of hotel environmental marketing strategy: Implications for competitive advantage and
performance. Tourism Management, 35, pp.94-110.
McDonald, S. and Foster, R.A., 2013. The use of Johnson's Cultural Web to improve
understanding of organisational culture: a critical review. International Journal of
Management, 30(4), p.340.

8MANAGING PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH PEOPLE
Mullins, L. and Christy, G., 2013. Management & Organisational Behaviour. Pearson
Education.
Raub, S. and Robert, C., 2013. Empowerment, organizational commitment, and voice behavior
in the hospitality industry: Evidence from a multinational sample. Cornell Hospitality
Quarterly, 54(2), pp.136-148.
The Ritz-Carlton. (2017). Luxury Hotels & Resorts | The Ritz-Carlton. [online] Available at:
http://www.ritzcarlton.com [Accessed 23 Aug. 2017].