Employee Training and Development at Ritz-Carlton
Ritz-Carlton is fully owned by Marriott International Inc. and is well known for the world-class and luxury services it offers its clients. The company is popular for its quality and outsanding services that enabled it to earn the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award two times in 1992 and 1999 (The Ritz-Carlton, 2017). Ritz Carlton cultivates its reputation by employing various strategies such as training employees to ensure that they are well equipped with skills and knowledge to offer high quality services that meet certain standards and specifications. For instance, it offers approximately 200 hours of training to employees in their first year of working. The company then offers additional 100 hours of training the following years as the employee continues working (The Ritz-Carlton, 2017). On the other hand, the company was highly ranked for employee treatment and empowerment that makes it possible for them to have low attrition rates (Dev et al., 2010). This paper discusses the challenges that Ritz Carlton may encounter while training employees and ways of overcoming the challenges identified.
Training and Development of Employees at Ritz Carlton
Before identifying the challenges that could be faced in the training and development of employees, it is important to understand the ongoing processes. When the hotels were started, one individual solely directed all activities such as management of quality because the hotels were still small. Since the company has grown significantly, delegation of duties has become important because the number of employees have increased. Apprentices are now trained and assigned the duty of managing quality and different activities which are audited and inspected by the inn-keeper (Amanet, 2017).The hotels have now grown, thus, requiring functional departments.
According to Dev et al. (2010), rigorous training is carried out at Ritz-Carlton to identify professionals who are committed to service provision. Individuals who undergo training have different backgrounds and technical skill. New employees are also trained by coaches who certify them on the areas of work where they are best suited. The company focuses on measured competency and ensures that employees get the best skills. At the moment, the organisation works to ensure that the hotel becomes a good learning environment. Ritz-Carlton uses detailed operational manuals and online training modules to facilitate the training process.
Potential Training and Development Challenges
Achieving the right balance between modernity and tradition during training could be a major challenge in training and development of employees at Ritz Carlton. The company was started several decades ago meaning that most of their techniques were used for several years. The company sticks to the same training modules and methods which could be outdated. In the modern world, things keep changing within a short time; thus, it is important for organisations to always be on the look out to identify some of the new strategies that may work for their business (Solnet, Kandampully & Kralj, 2010). There are policies, procedures, and structures of training and development used in training by Ritz Carlton that may not be quite effective for the current generation. Therefore, it is important for the company to ensure that modernity is observed so as to attract younger generations and to also be relevant with the current times. On the other hand, the company has to stick to traditions to ensure that it is different from others and that it is able to cater for the needs of the older generations.
During training, it is quite challenging to establish a balance between the two times. Also, an employee may learn both strategies but applying the concepts learned may present some difficulty since they may not be sure what might work well with certain clients. Updating the training modules and methods to ensure that modernity is observed could also be a big challenge. Implementing some new techniques or concepts may take time because they may not be sure of the effectiveness of such methods. Phillips J and Phillips P (2016) note that changing skill requirements may present difficulties in keeping up with demands for the company’s corporate learning assets. Developing new training programs and content for Ritz Carlton to ensure maximum performance of employees may take time due to research that needs to be done to confirm that whatever changes are to be implemented are right.
Ensuring consistency in delivery of training across all branches in various countries is challenging because the training process is carried out by different people. Analysing whether the right target of employees undergo the training could be challenging because the procedure is not centralized. Besides, dome employees are best suited for certain positions but they may be trained for a different position at the workplace. Determining whether the criterion to be used is focused on doing or knowing is challenging for a global team of employees. Moreover, ensuring that concepts are well captured and that content is translated appropriately despite existing differences in culture and language could also a major challenge. Nevertheless, different employees and trainers may have varying interpretations as dictated by their backgrounds.
Reduction of the development cycle times could also be a challenge to the training method used at Ritz Carlton. Getting new programs that can be used in all its branches could be a challenge because different countries have their consumers and employees influenced by different factors such as local traditions and cultures. Ensuring that a program can be used universally could be a major problem because some of the strategies developed in a certain locality may not be applicable in another. This also shows that it is difficult to predict the effectiveness of the method and program used in training due to such differences. An example of such a case is a certain observation made in a specific country may not necessarily mean that it may work in another country. According to Inghilleri and Solomon (2010), failing to act locally by excluding such observations may result to challenges in the given locality. Poor prediction subsequently leads poor planning thus making it difficult for the company to determine the following consequences.
Increasing product knowledge could also be challenging amongst employees. Some employees may not understand the application of new technology and products. Some of the employees who are not familiar with certain training concepts or technology may choose not to stick to them as initially directed. This means that the company may not be guaranteed of the training concepts and programs. Ensuring that training goes well with personal preferences could be challenging too.
Employees at Ritz Carlton undergo more than two hundred and fifty hours of training since the join the job. This means that the training program could be extremely expensive since all employees have to undergo the training. It also means that employees do not work for that number of hours because they are still undergoing the training. Employing new staff members quite often also increases the training cost. The trainers should also be well paid meaning that the company could find it an expensive exercise.
Ways of Overcoming the Training and Development Challenges
Investing in research is a good way of identifying the current trends and innovations applicable in the training. Research could also help to identify the weaknesses and strengths of the training program thus determining appropriate recommendations for the process. Research will also help the company to understand the tastes and preferences of users and using the results as a guideline to improving the training methods (DeSmet, McGurk & Schwartz, 2010). Since a long time is taken for training, research could help identify a shorter and more effective training program.
Bratton and Gold (2012) posits that to improve the effectiveness of learning, it is important to articulate learning outcomes that the company wants its employees to realize. This will increase effectiveness because employees will be well prepared for the training and under what things are expected from them. Understanding the context of training is also a good strategy in training because both the trainer and employee make the best out of the situation. As for Ritz Carlton, training it is important to recommend a web-based or web-conference training to ensure that common qualities expected from employees are passed.
To ensure that different ways of handling different clients from varying backgrounds are done accordingly, it is important to ensure that local cultures and traditions are taken into consideration. This helps to ensure that the training offers adequate skills and knowledge that enable employees to handle local and international clients accordingly (Bratton & Gold, 2012). This strategy does not only make the employee satisfied, but also ensures that clients are well served as they deserve.
Ritz Carlton Company should have highly educated, skilled and experienced systems designers. DeSmet et al. (2010) note that such designers are in a good position to develop new training and content programs. Development of new strategies enables the company to stay updated to ensure maximum performance. This type of method is also cost effective since it only ensures that quality is not compromised at any stage of training.
To deliver consistent training across all branches of Ritz Carlton, the company should analyse employees and the target audience. Other things that need to be analysed include; the content used in training and whether the structure of training is appropriate for a global range of employees. This makes sure that the training content is correctly translated and that program concepts are appropriately captured despite differences in culture and language across different training centers. Using web conferencing or web based training helps to ensure uniformity of training since all employees can be trained by a universal trainer (Inghilleri & Solomon, 2010).
This concept should mainly be applied for those qualities that are universal.
According to Chang, Gong, and Shum (2011), getting new and up to date programs can be enhanced by selecting a localized service provider who can ensure easy and quick file exchange. The service providers also need to have a good reputation of fast and predicable delivery to make the training predictable and reliable. Such potential vendors can be identified in conferences, trade shows, and industry association among others. Besides, making use of mobile devices such as cell phones is also good way of training since most people is comfortable using them in the current world. Finally, updates on training concepts can also be made on mobile devices easily.
References
Amanet (2017). Training the Talented, the Ritz-Carlton Way. Retrieved from http://www.amanet.org/training/articles/training-the-talented-the-ritz-carlton-way.aspx
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2012). Human resource management: theory and practice. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Chang, S., Gong, Y., & Shum, C. (2011). Promoting innovation in hospitality companies through human resource management practices. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 30(4), 812-818.
Dev, C. S., Thomas, J. H., Buschman, J., & Anderson, E. (2010). Brand Rights and Hotel Management Agreements Lessons from Ritz-Carlton Bali’s Lawsuit against the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 51(2), 215-230.
DeSmet, A., McGurk, M., & Schwartz, E. (2010). Getting more from your training programs. McKinsey Quarterly, 4, 101-107.
Inghilleri, L., & Solomon, M. (2010). Exceptional service, exceptional profit. New York: American Management Association.
Phillips, J. J., & Phillips, P. P. (2016). Handbook of training evaluation and measurement methods. London: Routledge.
Solnet, D., Kandampully, J., & Kralj, A. (2010). Legends of service excellence: the habits of seven highly effective hospitality companies. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 19(8), 889-908.
The Ritz-Carlton. (2017). Luxury Hotels & Resorts. Retrieved from http://www.ritzcarlton.com/
