Presentation by:Mohsen Ghanadzadeh

Ali KiaKazemim

Topic Overview

• Perceived customer service• Mid-tier hotels showing recent downward trend

• Ramada holds steady but bracing for problems• Ramada embraces three areas of customer

satisfaction: Hiring Training Motivation

Company Background

• 9000 properties• More than 50 countries• 31000 employees• Businesses

• Hotel• Event Management

Background Information

• Three Business’s Ramada learned from:• Disney

• Set benchmark for exceptional customer service

• Southwest Airlines• Captured an essence of “fun” in air travel

• TGI Friday’s• Low employee turnover, and high employee loyalty

Management Dilemma

• Customers frequenting mid-tier hotels noted declining service levels.

• RFS needed to prevent this industry trend.

Management Question

• What programs in hiring, training, and motivation should Ramada develop and implement in order to prevent declining service?

Research Question

• What characteristics are indicative of workers capable of delivering exceptional customer service?

• Which employee characteristics should be used in hiring Ramada workers?

• Which approaches to training are exceptional-service firms using?

• How can Ramada motivate employees to show exceptional customer service?

Hypothesis

• New training techniques and employee satisfaction equals exceptional customer service.

• Data collection• Hired Unifocus

• In-depth guest surveys at every property

• D.K. Shifflet’s syndicated research on customer service• Use 10-point scale

How data was collected

• Target Audience• 31,000 employees at 900 Ramada properties• Face-to-face (Open-ended) employee input

“To bring about change in corporate culture and mindset would take more

than employees checking off boxes on a piece of paper”

How data was collected

• Plan of Action• Rather than have a stereotypical meeting, they

created an atmosphere similar to a hotel grand opening• Festive atmosphere, food, comedy

• Headquarters staff arrived:• Morning: Extracted information from

management, hearing issues• Afternoon: Employees invited to share their ideas

and concerns about the three initiatives.

How data was collected

• All answers from management and employees:• Recorded on a detailed summary form for

record and analysis

Results of Research

• Hiring• characteristics of self-

motivated employees discovered by Predictive Index used as hiring screens

Results of Research

• Training• Boring & Ineffective

• RFS’s Benchmarking states:• Exceptional customer service stems from a

more interactive (fun) training approach• Higher employee involvement generates

more knowledgeable employees• Happy customers

Results of Research

• Prior Rewards for accomplishment• Originally big ticket rewards, over long period

• Employee Response• Became lackluster as time progressed

• Solution:• Create more incentives over a shorter period of

time for greater inspiration and involvement

Management Decisions

• Establish what factors influence employees (Hiring)• Screen prospective employees for

characteristics revealed by Predictive Index• RFS Training• Traditional method scrapped, integrated

new interactive, multimedia training. Additionally, self-paced learning has been established at less busy Ramada’s

Management Decisions

• Motivation Program• Focuses on rewarding employees on different

levels of accomplishment• Performance• Supervisor• Peer Nomination• Completion of Training Modules• Continued self-directed efforts for personal

development by employees

Accomplishments

Hiring◦ Allowed for RFS to understand what to look for in a

prospective hire, personality and mentalityTraining◦ Discovered that traditional methods became outdated

and that establishing newer, more interactive and modern techniques, could catalyze employees

Motivating◦ Smaller awards over a shorter term were more

attainable than larger over long term.

Post Research Results

• Ramada now scores in the good to exceptional range within the D.K Shifflet service ratings• Increase of 30.5%

• Employees are more interactive and using their point system to gain rewards and gifts

• The motto of “Personal Best” is company wide rather than just an HR term.

Post Research Results

• As a result of their efforts:• Named to the 2009 Fortune World’s Most

Admired Companies• Wyndham Worldwide ranked second on the

list in the hotels, casinos and resorts category

Recommendations for Ramada

• Consider more factors in addition to HR Factors in customer satisfaction.• Room’s Quality• Price

• Consider more HR areas rather than which have been highlighted in Shifflet’s researches. • Organizational Culture