Organizational Culture of Ritz-Carlton - Research Paper Example

Organizational Culture of Ritz-Carlton This paper is a research paper on organizational culture. The paper defines organizational culture and also looks at the characteristics of organizational culture. The paper then discusses organizational culture of in a hospitality corporation, i.e. Ritz-Carlton Company. The paper then concludes with recommendations of actions that can be taken to improve organizational culture in Ritz-Carlton Company. Let us begin by looking at the concept organizational culture. Organizational culture can be defined as the common perception held by organization members; organization is a system of shared meaning in an organization (Nagel, 206). For that reason, organizational culture encompasses a corporation’s traditions, values, believes, and attitudes (Mclean and Marshall, 1993). Organizational culture of a corporation, therefore, can be viewed as the general culture of an organization that shapes the behaviour and all the activities of an organization. Organization culture of an organization has some distinct defining characteristics; the following is a brief description of eight main characteristics of organizational culture (Nagel, 2006). The first characteristic of organizational culture is Innovation and Risk taking. This characteristic of organizational culture explains a corporation’s degree of innovation and risk taking. Some organizations encourage their employees to be more innovative and to take more risks than other organizations. The second characteristic of organizational culture is attention to detail. This characteristic of organizational culture explains the degree to which a corporation encourages its employees to be precise in their work and to pay close attention to details. The third characteristic of organization culture is outcome orientation. This characteristic of organizational culture explains the degree to which the management of a corporation focuses on the outcomes, rather than on the processes that brings about the outcome. The fourth characteristic of organizational culture is people orientation. This characteristic of organizational culture explains the degree to which the management of an organization focuses on the effect that the activities and the decisions made by the management of an organization will have on the people within the organization. The fifth characteristic of organizational culture is team orientation. This characteristic of organizational culture explains the degree to which work activities within an organization are organized around teams, rather than individuals. The sixth characteristic of organizational culture is aggressiveness. This characteristic of organizational culture explains the degree to which an organization encourages its employees to be aggressive or adventurous, and competitive. The seventh characteristic of organization culture is stability. As a characteristic of organizational culture, stability explains the degree to which the activities of an organization aim at maintaining the status quo. The eight characteristic of organizational culture is agility. This characteristic explains a corporation’s ability to change goods or services quickly, in response to new market demands. As we can see from the explanation of the characteristics of organizational culture, the characteristics of organizational culture are explained and expressed in terms of degrees; for that reason, therefore, the various characteristics of the organizational culture of a corporation are expressed as being either high, moderate, or low. For instance, an organization may have a high innovation and risk taking culture, but a low or a moderate team orientation culture. Having explained organizational culture in details, let us look at the organizational culture of Ritz- Carlton, which is a hospitality firm. A look at the 12 service values of Ritz-Carlton Corporation can help us a great deal in understanding the organizational culture of Ritz-Carlton Corporation (Kirkaldy, n.d.). The following is a description of the main elements Ritz- Carlton organizational culture, To begin with, let us look at the Ritz-Carlton’s innovation and risk taking culture. One of the service values of Ritz-Carlton Corporation is to seek opportunities to innovate and improve the Ritz-Carlton’s experience. This fact shows that the Ritz-Carlton Corporation has a high risk taking and innovation culture. This view was clearly expressed by Simon Cooper, former CEO of Ritz-Carton Corporation. In an interview with Robert Reiss, the host of Forbe’s show, The CEO Show. In this interview, Cooper explained that the Ritz-Carlton Corporation spends a lot of money on research, so as to improve their products and services (Reiss, 2009). On attention to detail, the Ritz-Carlton Corporation has a high degree of paying attention to detail. The Ritz-Carlton Corporation actually encourages its employees to spend up to $2000 on each customer or guest, so as to ensure that the customer is satisfied with their service (Pravab, 2010). This fact shows that the Ritz-Carton Cooperation encourages a culture of paying close attention to details. On the culture of outcome orientation, the Ritz-Carlton Corporation has a culture of high level of outcome orientation. This point is borne out by the fact that the Ritz-Carlton Corporation focuses on hiring the best possible employees as a way of ensuring that the services of the corporation are always the best services (Pravab, 2010). The corporation also encourages its employees to be friendly and respectful to their customers as a way of ensuring the best outcomes. The Ritz-Carton Corporation’s level of people orientation is high. From Ritz-Carton’s motto, we learn that Ritz-Carton corporation views its employees as being central to their services; the motto of Ritz-Carlton Corporation states “We are Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen” (Reis, 2009). This motto shows that the Ritz-Carton Corporation places a lot of premium on its employees; also, the Ritz-Carton Corporation gives its employees opportunities for self-improvement as a way of empowering the employees more. Lastly, Ritz-Carlton cooperation has a high degree of organizing its activities around teams. All the employees of the corporation are encouraged to work as a team for the common good of all the employees and the organization (Pravab,2010). Having looked at the general organizational culture of Ritz-Carlton Corporation, let me make two recommendations on how the Ritz-Carton Corporation can improve its culture. The first action that the Ritz-Carlton Corporation ought to take so as to improve its organizational culture is to invest more in their employees. Even though the management of Ritz-Carlton Corporation treat their employees well and view them as their greatest asset, increasing the remuneration of the employees and giving them more motivations can booster the morale of the employees more, leading to higher quality services. Secondly, to improve on the culture of innovation and risk taking, the management of Ritz-Carlton corporation should give its employees more incentives to be more innovative; also, the employees who come up with new innovations and discoveries should be handsomely rewarded as a way of encouraging other employees to be innovate also; the Ritz-Carlton Corporation also ought to take more risk and to set more funds for research as a way of improving on their services and products. Rerences Kirkaldy, D. (n.d.).12 Service Values Ritz-Carlton Uses. Web. https://www.google.com/url? sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCkQFjAB&url> Mclean, A.& Marshall, J. (1993). Intervening in Cultures. Working Paper, University of Bath. Cited in Mullins, L. J. (2002) Management and Organizational Behaviour. 6th ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall. Nagel, R. (2006). Organization Behaviour, Organizational Change, and Organization Culture. Web. https:www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ve d=0CE.> Pravab. (2010). Organizational Culture: A Ritz-Carlton Experience. Web. https://www.google.com/url ?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0C> Reiss, R. (2009). “How Ritz-Carlton Stays at the Top”. The Forbes. 10th Sept. Read More