Page 143 - The New Gold Standard

Build a Business Focused on Others
the organization and they wanted us to go through the process to
make sure that we were fully aligned across the organization for
the growth we were anticipating.” Once again, Ritz-Carlton
won the Baldrige Quality Award, making it the only service sec-
tor applicant to receive this prestigious award twice.
While Ritz-Carlton has not applied for the award since 1999,
leadership continues to bring in external, third-party evaluators
to measure the company against the Baldrige criteria. From the
Ritz-Carlton leadership perspective, being examined by outside
observers leads to a high-performance management system that
is designed around systematic processes, a customer focus, reli-
able data, and continuous improvement. In 2005, the leaders at
Ritz-Carlton identified 12 high-leverage opportunities for im-
provement, including how to provide business continuity in the
event of emergency, methods for listening and learning, and
long-range projections for action plans. By taking an incremen-
tal approach, each year leadership seeks to progressively close
gaps and elevate excellence not only in specific business perform-
ance areas such as leadership and fiscal metrics but also in the
dynamic interface between all the moving parts that are neces-
sary to achieve continual success.
Baldrige examiners identified limitations in Ritz-Carlton’s
social responsibility efforts. The Baldrige feedback report noted,
“Although Ritz-Carlton has a rich set of programs that establish it
as a leader in the area of public responsibility and citizenship,
there is a gap in their approach to measuring and monitoring ef-
fectiveness in this area. For example, the organization has proac-
tive recycling and waste management programs, yet the measures
in these areas focus on costs rather than the associated environ-
mental benefits. In addition, the decentralized nature of many
community support activities results in some inconsistency in
methods for tracking these activities. These gaps in measure-
ment may prevent Ritz-Carlton from fully realizing the level of
public recognition that matches its actual contributions toward
the environment and the community at large.” In response to

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