LED 560 Case Study #4

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Trident University International *

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Feb 20, 2024

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1 Trident University LED 560: Leadership and Strategy Case Study #4: The Culture and Moral Compass Dr. Virginia Johnson

2 Gaylor Palms Hotel Case Study The Gaylor Palms convention hotel in Orlando Florida opened in February 2002 and was used to implement a different plan of action to deliver profitable top quality service. By giving the opening manager full reign on implementing a previously developed, formally studied approach, the owners believed that the hotel would create a level of culture that could be successful and duplicated through its organization for strategic success in the hotel world. This change allowed the opening manager to create a successful hotel while blending mission and culture specific content which is reflected in a strategic approach unseen in the industry. In this paper, there will be a discussion about the organizational culture at Gaylor Palms’ Hotel, requirements for an organization to have an effective culture and if Gaylor Palms Organization culture was effective, and what characteristics/elements of culture are most significant relating to ensuring strategic success for Gaylor Palms’ Hotels. Organizational Culture at Gaylord Palms’ Hotels The organizational culture at Gaylor Palms’ hotel started out with the owners allowing the opening manager to provide an unusual way of leading the company and turned into a case study on how culture should be used within the organization. The way that the culture was used allowed for the employees to feel safe while establishing different informal controls while providing success. By studying organizational culture and expressing different ideas to the company that allowed employees to be given more freedom, the manager was able to grow a culture that would become successful in Orlando and then be placed in each of the other three Gaylor Palms Hotels. “The general manager believed that the mission of the Gaylord Palms should be to create, sustain, and model a high level of customer service orientation everyday by all of its employees” (Ford, Wilderom, & Caparella, 2008). The organization did a few things

3 that allowed it to be successful, it created meaning for its members, established informal controls, and ensured that success of the Gaylor Palms’ strategic choices. Each area will be explained in the next paragraphs. Creates Meaning for its Members When creating a successful company, having a strong organization culture is required. Having a strong type of strategic thinking can give employees a sense of being and help develop them. “There are two major categories of organizational influences on the development of an individual's strategic thinking as identified in the learning model: those concerning the immediate work group and those concerning the organizations typology and culture” (Goldman, 2012). By utilizing this information, the opening manager was able to create a better set of culture using this information and making it work for the organization. He then used this to be able to create meaning for the employees and members of the organization and leveraged the culture to keep the employees happy. “Current employee turnover is below 28% in Orlando and 33% overall, which are far below its peer competitors in the hotel industry (Ford, Wilderom, & Caparella, 2008). Employees that are happy with work and care about the culture they are in make them feel safe and want to be in the organization. With the employes feeling safe in the organization and not wanting to leave the organization, the next thing that happened was the culture created informal controls. Establishes Informal Controls One of the things that the opening manager did was believe in the culture that he was developing. “He believed that the more a customer-culture can guide employees, the less need there is to rely on traditional management controls such as policies, procedures, and direct

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4 managerial oversight” (Ford, Wilderom, & Caparella, 2008). By allowing the culture to guide employees, the organization saw success throughout the opening and how the operation was done day to day. Additionally, when going through the hiring process, the organization had a rigorous way of interviewing members, looking for 1 of 10 managers who had the right leadership principle that the company wanted. “In the hiring process the Palms’ management invented several ways to signal the intended culture and its potential fit to those it sought to hire” (Ford, Wilderom, & Caparella, 2008). By doing this, they knew that the managers would hire people that wanted to be there just as much as they did. It allowed the company to know that people believed in the company’s culture and values and that they were being hired by an organization that wanted them to be there as much as they wanted to be there. Ensures Success of Gaylor Palms’ Strategic Choices Having a strong level of culture in the hotel, Gaylor Palms in Orlando has been highly successful in terms of how well they operate and how well they are liked by their customers. "Expressed in total REVPAR (revenue per available room), Gaylord Palms is ranked as first in its competitive group, they are evaluated as "excellent" with top box scores in the 60% area, and they have every major award that can be earned in the hotel and convention industry business (Ford, Wilderom, & Caparella, 2008). The organization is operating better than its competitors and strives to be better every year by making goals for success. Additionally, the culture allows for the organization to keep its employees making decisions that lead to the success of the organization. “A customer-driven culture can be a competitive advantage over other hotels as it competes for both customer and employees” (Ford, Wilderom, & Caparella, 2008). This competitive advantage gave the organization a stronger front for building strong employee decisions but also built a culture where employees knew their decisions would lead them to

5 being more competitive and successful. The last thing that the company did was to send all members who were hired to attend a two-day training course, of which 60% of the instruction time was dedicated to teaching the organization’s culture. By having each employee go through this training, they knew that the employees would embrace the company’s culture quicker, which would lead to them being more successful within the organization. How Do These Values Relate to The Organizations Culture With the manager studying organizational culture, there seems to be two separate ways that the values of the company can relate to its culture. The first way is for the corporate strategy to be linked in with its mission statement. “Corporate strategy is the pattern of decisions in a company that determines and reveals its objectives, purposes, or goals, produces the principal policies, and plans for achieving those goals” (Elms, Brammer, Harris, & Phillips, 2010). Using the mission statement and goals in the organization, the corporate strategy can be tied into the organization’s culture and allow for the employees to build to succeed in the completion of the goals or success of the mission statement. Additionally, having a strategy that builds the culture of the employees makes them feel safe. “There are different types of culture like there are different types of personality… in the academy culture, employees tend to stay in the organization while working their way up the ranks as the organization provides a stable environment in which employees can develop (McNamera, 2000). Furthermore, the culture allowed the employees to be able to work in a way that produced intangible results. “This is important within service organizations, particularly as employees serving guests must rely on their interpretation of how their values fit the service mission to drive behavior and guide decision making” (Ford, Wilderom, & Caparella, 2008). The employees felt like they did not have to go to management to decide on what needed to be done and it allowed them to make

6 decisions based on their own behavior instead of following rules or protocols. This makes their employees feel safer at work and their beliefs matter in the company, which improves the culture between all employees within the organization. Requirements for an Organization to Have an Effective Culture To be able to have a successful and effective culture, organizations must be able to collaborate with their people and make choices that benefit everyone. While looking at the case study, you can see that Gaylord Entertainment cares about their employee’s satisfaction. “The Gaylord Palms scores three times the overall industry averages on three key measures it uses to assess its employee satisfaction (Ford, Wilderom, & Caparella, 2008). Communication is another requirement for effective culture. For the Gaylor Palms Hotel, the manager realized that everything that leaders said, did, and wrote would cue culture for all other employees (Ford, Wilderom, & Caparella, 2008). Without communication employees cannot build trust or provide information between each other, especially between employees and managers. Communication between employees is important and so is the ability for members to know what the company values. “Another way the company communicates what it values is by printing up pocket or wallet cards for employees to carry with them detailing the Gaylord values for easy reference” (Ford, Wilderom, & Caparella, 2008). Finally, another requirement for an organization to have an effective culture is to hold employees accountable. Accountability and trust are particularly important, especially as the company wants to allow its employees to not have to have direct supervision. Supervisors need to be able to trust that employees are going to do the right thing and be accountable for their actions. These values are particularly important for the organization and help the company to ensure strategic success.

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7 What Characteristics/Elements of Culture are Most Significant Relative to Ensuring Strategic Success for Gaylor Palms’ Hotels Gaylord Palms Hotel developed a powerful system of culture and there are a few characteristics and elements that are significant to ensure strategic success. Corporate culture can be looked at as a system… the process is based on assumptions, values, and norms…the concept of culture is particularly important when attempting to manage organization-wide change (McNamara, 2000). This is seen in the way that the organization started the Gaylord Palms Hotel and the way that they started building a successful culture in the organization. “Thinking of culture as software of the organization, he felt it needed to be strategically designed to align the organizational needs (i.e., mission) with the software’s capability (i.e., culture’s specific content)” (Ford, Wilderom, & Caparella, 2008). Another element to culture to use to ensure success is rewarding or celebrating different achievements. “Early in its culture creation, managers developed a set of rituals and celebrations designed to reinforce the missions and its values... for example, one ritual was designed for celebrating promotions” (Ford, Wilderom, & Caparella, 2008). Building camaraderie between employees and celebrating success builds trust between everyone and allows for open communication up and down the chain of command. Conclusion The Gaylord Enterprise Organization was fortunate to be able to have a manager that used scholarly information and previous experience to build an outstanding culture at the Gaylord Palms Hotel in Orlando. The organization built a strong level of culture to be able to hire the right people, build a massive brand, and spread the culture to three other hotels. The Gaylor Palms Hotel used its culture to be able to have a prominent level of success throughout the company by selecting the best candidates for the job, winning lots of awards, have the lowest

8 level of turn over, and obtaining the highest marks of satisfaction from customers. By using lessons learned, organizations can learn from the company and make themselves better. In this paper there was a discussion about the organizational culture at Gaylor Palms’ Hotel, requirements for an organization to have an effective culture and if Gaylor Palms Organization culture was effective, and what characteristics/elements of culture are most significant relating to ensuring strategic success for Gaylor Palms’ Hotels.

9 Reference Page Elms, H., Brammer, S., Harris, J. D., & Phillips, R. A. (2010). New directions in strategic management and business ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly , 20(3), 401-425. Retrieved on October 2 nd , 2023, from EBSCO – Business Source Complete. Ford, R. C., Wilderom, C., & Caparella, J. (2008). Strategically crafting a customer-focused culture: An inductive case study. Journal of Strategy and Management , 1(2), 143-167. Retrieved on October 1 st , 2023, from ProQuest. Goldman, E. F. (2012). Leadership practices that encourage strategic thinking. Journal of Strategy and Management , 5(1), 25-40. Retrieved on October 1 st , 2023, from ProQuest. McNamara, C. (2000). Organizational culture and changing culture. Free Management Library. Retrieved on October 1 st , 2023, from http://managementhelp.org/organizations/culture.htm

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