Abstract
The Ritz-Carlton utilizes the organizational cultures and ethical values that guide the employees and managers' behaviors. The organization also has a team-oriented culture that ensures service values nurture a collaborative atmosphere. This study also found out that Ritz-Carlton hotel has a strong culture, which is reflected by shared organizational culture that is required for a running organization. As a subsidiary of the Marriott International Inc., the company sticks to the uncompromising legal and high ethical standards that guide the company towards the right channel of conducting business. The study concludes by identifying culture and laws as the main sources of ethical practices.
Question 1
Organizational culture is the structure of shared key values, beliefs, and assumptions that act as a code of conduct of employing showing them what the behaviors they are expected to practice in the organization (Daft, 2016). Ritz-Carlton has rigorously adhere to its standards and organizational culture that makes it be a leading brand when it comes to luxury lodging. Ritz-Carlton has also ensured that they have visible organization culture, by giving each and every employee a credo card. The card includes the motto, credo, three steps of service and the service values, and employee promise (The Ritz-Carlton, 2016). The three steps of services that employee must have includes, a warm and sincere greeting, expectation and acquiescence with guest needs and a fond farewell.
The team-oriented culture at the Ritz-Carlton ensures that the service values nurture a collaborative atmosphere, by ensuring every employee is involved in the planning of the work and participate in teamwork to satisfy the needs of the guests. The credo card also has a pyramid that involves the foundation, factors, key success, mission and vision of the company to ensure the organizational culture of Ritz-Carlton remains visible (The Ritz-Carlton, 2016). In addition, at every Ritz-Carlton hotel, there is a poster of the motto, employee promise, and credo to ensure that the company's organizational culture remains visible. Ritz-Carlton introduces its new staff members to its organizational culture by giving them company brochure or the new hire manual to read. The company also ensures that before the new employees complete the orientation they can memorize and recite the credo.
Question 2
Ritz-Carlton hotel has a strong culture; this is because the company ensures that organizational members share the organizational culture. Ritz-Carlton has a culture that make sure all the employees show agreement regarding the values of the company. The company has cultural values that emphasize on customer services, which leads to high-quality customer services. The company has also ensured that there is an extensive agreement among the organization members; this becomes an essential culture when it comes to customer-services-related values (Jupiterimages Corporation, 2010). Ritz-Carlton hotel has a strong outcome-oriented culture, which is another aspect that illustrates strong culture of the company.
The Ritz-Carlton hotel constitutes an organizational culture that has subcultures that emerge within distinct branches, departments, and geographic locations. Therefore, Ritz-Carlton has clear subcultures within the organization. For instance, the staff members that are weddings department may experience a different culture from that experienced by employees working in meetings department (The Ritz-Carlton, 2016). Additionally, subcultures may emerge from the personal characteristics of managers and employees. The different conditions under which work is performed in the company may also result in having an organization with subcultures.
The Ritz-Carlton hotel has enhanced the steps of building a good organizational culture. Therefore, Ritz-Carlton hotel has the type of culture needed for a learning organization. The Ritz-Carlton has shaped its organizational culture and has become an effective strategic leadership (Jupiterimages Corporation, 2010). The company consists of a complex set of ideology, symbols, beliefs and core values that are shared by the organization. In Ritz-Carlton, employees undergo three phases before they entirely embrace the organizational culture. In the first phase, the employees learn about the culture from observing their physical surrounding, which is known as see-it-phase. In the second phase of the company, "believe it" ensures that the culture is enlivened at the regular line-up that focuses on one feature of the company gold standards (Daft, 2016). In the third phase, the employees are enhanced to live and adopt the culture.
Question 3
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company uses the formal code of ethics that is established in its parent company's code of conduct. As a subsidiary of the Marriott International Inc., the company sticks to the uncompromising legal and high ethical standards that guide the company towards the right channel of conducting business. In addition, the company requires all the employees to adhere to business values and The Gold Standards that illustrates the philosophy and values. Although, the codes are not formulated as real codes, the company formulates summary statements of priorities, values, goals, and principles that guide the business towards ethical behaviors.
The key component of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company include the values, philosophy, principles, and personal responsibility. The philosophy and values are defined in the Gold Standards that have six components. These components include Credo, Motto, three Steps of Service, Service Values, the sixth Diamond, and Employee Promise. The other components of the company's codes of ethics include Principles of Responsible Business, Commitment to Human Rights, and Ethical and Legal Standards. These features are found on the Ritz-Carlton's Business value. This structural have various means of supporting ethics that include ethics training. For instance, the company has business ethics training program and Marriott's Internal Audit Department (The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, 2016).
Question 4
The source of the company's ethical practices is the organizational culture and law. The organization culture of the company defines what the employees and all stakeholders are supposed to do to accomplish the company's ethical standards. This culture ensures that employees and managers adhere laws related to unfair competition, antitrust, abuse of purchasing power, political contribution, and political and commercial bribery among others (The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, 2016). These values and laws have enhanced the company to maintain the ethical behaviors and has not encountered any major ethical issue.
References
Daft, R. L. (2015). Organization theory and design (12th ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Cengage Learning.
Jupiterimages Corporation. (2010). Organizational Culture. doi:2012books.lardbucket.org/books/management-principles-v1.0/s12-organizational-culture.html
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. (2016). Gold Standards. Retrieved from http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/about/gold-standards
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. (2016). Ritz-Carlton:Community Footprints - Principles of Resoponsible Business. Retrieved from http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/community-footprints/our-commitment/values
The Ritz-Carlton. (2016). organizational culture Archives - The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center. Retrieved from http://ritzcarltonleadershipcenter.com/tag/organizational-culture/
The Ritz-Carlton. (2016). Organizational Culture Must Be Lived Every Day - The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center. Retrieved from http://ritzcarltonleadershipcenter.com/2015/04/organizational-culture-is-lived-every-day/
The Ritz-Carlton. (2016). Three Steps of Service | The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center. Retrieved from http://ritzcarltonleadershipcenter.com/2013/10/bookending-your-clients/
