Q You say a strong company culture can inhibit innovation in a company. Why is that?
A In an economic crisis like this, you need to change things. And sometimes when you want to make a change in the company, a strong culture can inhibit it because [the culture] is based in it in being so successful for so long, and doing things in one way.
If you want to use an example outside the hotel industry, I would refer to IBM. In 1993, they were still making huge mainframe computers and thinking that it was going to be competitive. It was their culture that kept them going because that was their business, and yet they were losing market share like crazy, and losing money like crazy. It wasn’t until they woke up and changed the company that you’ve got the IBM that you have today.
I wouldn’t trade a strong culture for anything, but you have to recognise it when you are making change because it inhibits change.
Q You say an economic downturn is a good opportunity to relook priorities and build long-term sustainable change. What changes has Ritz-Carlton capitalised on during this time?
A We are going to change our training module and how we train. We tend to have a leader in each hotel that was doing the training, and what we are going to do is go to regional leaders [for this function instead]. So you get better quality of training, you get more centralised control over it, and that is something that is sustainable over time.
So it is a structural change brought about by looking at things and saying, ‘Can we do this more efficiently and effectively?’ You don’t want to do it efficiently and worst, but can you do it more efficiently and more effectively?
Q What is HR’s role during this economic downturn?
A HR has a huge role, because most of the impact of our decisions is on labour and the role about labour. It has some impact on guests, but very little. It is all about labour.
So their ability to cross-train our ladies and gentlemen so they can do other jobs, to have workshops, to keep people employed, to use fewer part-time workers to make sure we take care of our full-time workers – they’re crucial in the whole process.
Q How can they manage change during economic downturn?
A They have to be proactive. The more proactive your human resources department is in terms of creating employment for your existing workforce, the more proactive they are in communicating and forcing leadership to communicate. They have to be the ones, and sometimes, to be the pulse of the company. They need to gather everybody together, they need to walk them through this [economic crisis] because this is going to be a big change and we need it to be communicated.
So they have to be a key pro-active department in terms of helping leadership manage the impact of change on employees.
Q In your employee survey forms, one question employees are asked to answer is if they have a best friend at work. What is the role of the best friend in Ritz-Carlton?
A The key thing is, generally you’ve got a best friend at work because you enjoy yourself at work and you brought somebody else in. If you have a best friend at work, you probably like what you are doing.
I bet people who don’t like what they are doing, they don’t have really close friends at work. But the ones who do, that have coffee together and spend time together, I bet you that they are happier at work.
Q Do you have a best friend in Ritz-Carlton?
A I do! We’re a team of six at the very senior level and we are all great friends. In fact, we were looking at a date to go out for dinner with the wives, and everybody chose a weekend. Most businesses, if you are going out, you’d choose mid-week. They chose weekends because they rather go out on a weekend together than go out mid-week.
Simon Cooper is president and chief operating officer of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, overseeing the operations, development and strategic positioning of the brand. Cooper joined The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in 2001 and has presided over a major expansion of the brand which now numbers 72 hotels in countries around the world. Cooper was recently named 2008 “Corporate Hotelier of the World” by HOTELS magazine.
