Take the time to Discover!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A GW summer institute class visit to the Ritz-Carlton corporate office in Chevy Chase, Maryland just outside of Washington, DC was a remarkable experience.  We were welcomed graciously by Diana Oreck who is the Vice President of the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.  According to the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center website, the center “offers advisory services, courses and presentations to organizations that wish to benchmark the award-winning business practices of The Ritz-Carlton.”  A list of courses in leadership, customer service and methodology is available at The Ritz Carlton Leadership's website.  The center is open to the public.

The same brand standards that one might expect from a Ritz-Carlton property was also delivered during our class visit at the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.  The Ritz-Carlton knows how to create memories.  The corporate offices were immaculately orderly, and had a feeling of luxury.  Legendary daily line-up was one of the highlights of our visit.  Daily line-up bonds teams while reinforcing and enhancing the organization’s culture.

The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center presentation of Service Values, Motto, Employee Promise and Credo reaffirmed my professional dedication in creating an organizational culture that admires service of excellence.

One area of the presentation that caught my attention is the low employee turnover rates at the Ritz-Carlton properties.  According to a research conducted by Pennsylvania State University “employee turnover rates are among the highest for entry-level employees in the hospitality industry” (Tews, M. J., Michel, J. W., & Ellingson, J. E., 2013).  How does a legend like the Ritz-Carlton keep such a low employee turnover rates?  According to Golden Nugget #68, “Take the time to discover what truly motivates each of your employees. This investment will pay off.”  Golden Nuggets are a way of communicating The Ritz-Carlton methodology to their organization as part of an integrated model where strategies of employee and customer engagement produces financial results.  By doing so, The Ritz-Carlton defines and refines its service of excellence continuously.

F.K.

Works Cited and Links:

The Ritz Carlton Leadership Center, (2015). http://ritzcarltonleadershipcenter.com

Tews, M. J., Michel, J. W., & Ellingson, J. E. (2013). The impact of coworker support on employee turnover in the hospitality industry. Group & Organization Management, 38(5), 630-653.