Marriott chain of command

INTRODUCTION

Bill Marriott is the Chairman and CEO of Marriott International. He is 81 years old and manages a US $12 billion lodging empire. Bill Marriott has been a leader in this industry for more than fifty years and has enabled Marriott to grow from a small scale family business into a successful global hotel chain with more than 3000 hotels around the world and more than 151,000 associates. Bill Marriott has been the leader of Marriott since 1956 (Repositioning Marriott for Global Opportunity: July 2009) He received the IABC Excel Award in 2008 and has really progressed fast during his time at Marriott. He became Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors in 1964 and within the same year was named President of the company. He became Chief Executive in 1972 and the Chairman of the Board in 1985. (IABC)

Marriott International has nearly 3200 hotels around the world as well as other brands including Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Courtyard, and Fairfield Inn. The corporation has properties in 66 countries across the globe and its territories range from Armenia to Vietnam. In purely ownership terms, Marriott has exclusive ownership of only six hotels since the corporate strategy was to sell off real estate during the 80s and to have minimum capital investment and minimum real estate risk. Thus, Marriott operates only about half of the rooms in its systems which mostly comprise of the upper end hotels and franchises the remaining hotels. (Gunther: 2009)

BILL MARRIOTT’s LEADERSHIP VISION

Bill Marriott’s leadership vision is fairly simple and straightforward – to make Marriott the number one lodging company in the world. To achieve this, Bill Marriott has always focused on taking care of his customers, to expand his operational knowledge and to develop a highly skilled and diverse workforce. With this leadership vision in mind, Bill Marriott has enabled Marriott to grow and enjoy customer, owner and franchise satisfaction. This vision has been realized through Marriott’s commitment to provide a place for people to grow, to take care of its employees and to take care of its customers. Bill Marriot appears to be an excellent example of a 360-Degree Leader, someone who knows how to influence others from whatever position he finds himself in. (Maxwell, J., 2005)

LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOR OF BILL MARRIOTT

Some of the key characteristics and/or behaviors that have been demonstrated by Bill Marriott during his tenure as a leader at Marriott include the following:

· Placing importance on getting things done.

· Ensuring that the field of play is clearly understood by ensuring that all relevant information about all major aspects of the business is available.

· Analyzing the information and making decisions based on this information. According to Bill Marriot, "I don't believe in analysis by paralysis, but the older I get, the more important I believe analysis is the key to making good decisions." (Analysis is the key to making good decisions: November 2009)

· Following the strategy of achieving more and more. More satisfied customers, more happy employees, more hotels, more profits, more shareholders etc. (IABC)

HOTEL MANAGEMENT - BILL MARRIOT'S LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES

Bill Marriot's core reason for success is the fact that he spends as much time as possible in his hotels. This enables him to gauge the challenges that his employees face in this industry as well as how they are feeling about their employer and their work environment. Not only does he keep close contact with his people, Bill Marriot makes it a point to note down everything on 3x5 cards which clarifies a large amount of things that he observes during his visits to the different hotels as well as identifies the areas of improvement. Keeping in mind the fact that he is a leader of nearly 3200 hotels it is impossible for him to visit all of them very frequently but through his leadership skills, Bill Marriott ensures that his managers follow his leadership strategies and at the same time keep him informed through email or letters as to how things are moving on and what areas need improvement. Thus, a major leadership principle of Bill Marriott is a high level of involvement in the people he is leading and the business he is managing. (The Front Lines of Leadership: August 2008)

He personally visits nearly 250 hotels each year and makes it a point to meet all his associates, guests and managers. He also ensures that he talks to everyone involved in the running of the hotel – from the top associates to the bellman. Bill Marriott’s philosophy is: “If you’re in the service business and your name is above the door, it’s important for people to be able to link a face to the name,” says Bill Marriott. “I want our associates to know that there really is a guy named Marriott who cares about them, even if he can only drop by every so often to personally tell them so.” (IABC)

Another leadership principle of Bill Marriott is his commitment to diversity and inclusion. It was primarily under his leadership that Marriot hotel was among the first companies to include women and follow equal employment opportunity principles. Out of the 3200 hotels of Marriott, 400 are owned by women and minorities. Not only that, Marriott has always made it a point to work with diverse suppliers to ensure equality and diversity. This commitment to diversity is one of the key achievements of Bill Marriott as a leader and since this initiative was taken by him, many women have reached executive level positions at Marriott and run some of the most profitable Marriott hotels in the world. According to Bill Marriott, the women at Marriott are one of the major reasons why the National Association of Female Executives has put Marriott in its top ten lists. Thus, Bill Marriott's leadership principle of giving everyone equal opportunity and being a welcoming and inclusive employer has enabled Marriott to grow even more and has given it considerable competitive advantage. (Marriott’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion: May 2009)

A key leadership lesson that Bill Marriott actively promotes is the importance of delegation. According to Bill Marriott, it is always best to manage operations through delegation and to assign tasks to those who have expertise in that particular area. He is also against the obstacles created by bureaucracy and believes that while it is important for the boss to stay informed, a good leader should have the ability to give a certain level of autonomy to his employees.

An additional leadership principle of Bill Marriott is to listen and learn. According to this very successful leader, listening is the ultimate opportunity to learn and the information obtained through listening is even more effective than that which is obtained from any direct reports or senior staff. That is why Bill Marriott believes in hearing straight talk from his associates.

A good leader always takes care of his employees. This is especially true in the hospitality sector because taking care of employees eventually results in the employees taking care of the customers and this not only keeps the customers satisfied but ensures that they keep coming back to Marriott. This leadership philosophy has helped Marriott earn various best awards from Fortune, Computer World, Hispanic Business etc. (IABC) and the same philosophy has consistently enabled Marriott to be named as the most admired company, the best place to work and the top company for minorities. In fact, this is the same philosophy that had been adopted by Bill Marriott’s parents who once stated “Take care of the employee, and they’ll take care of the customer, and the customer will come back.” (IABC Awards)

A key leadership principle has also been the promotion of democracy through progressive free market practices and a commitment to foster an open and transparent business culture. “Bill Marriott has dedicated his life to the principles of a free and democratic society which he has translated into an organization recognized not only as a global leader in its industry, but as one of the most admired companies," commented Laurence Geller, Chairman of The Churchill Centre. "Bill Marriott has come by his high principles honestly, carrying forward and building upon progressive business philosophies first set forward by his parents and the belief that 'Victory will never be found by taking the line of least resistance.” (Newswire: 2009)

Providing employees the opportunity to grow and a clear career path is another leadership strategy that has really worked for Bill Marriott. He has always believed that companies thrive by allowing employees to grow. That is why a large majority of Marriott’s senior managers and general managers have progressed over the years. In fact, Marriott’s head of North American lodging operations used to be a waiter while the head of all international hotels started as a security guard. Bill Marriott himself started working in the kitchen in Salt Lake City for four years. (Nelson: 2009)

Bill Marriott’s leadership success is also attributed to his legendary attention to detail. He is very vigilant about adhering to standard operating procedures which is one of the reasons why most of his hotels manage everything with flawless execution. Overall, Bill Marriott has focused on three key intangible assets – employee engagement, communication and culture which have enabled Marriott to be different from the rest of the hotels.

According to Leadership in a (Permanent) Crisis in 2009, leadership can generate more leadership deep in the organization. In order to success, Marriott delivered high performance businesses. He implemented a new internet platform and a unique search engine that helped that helped the company grow annual online sales to $4 billion of making Marriott.com. It is now the largest hotel company website in the world. (Harvard Business Review: 2009)

A prime example of Bill Marriott’s excellent leadership style and his ability to deal with a crisis situation is the 9/11 incident. When terrorists attacked New York City’s World Trade Center, the Marriott hotel was totally destroyed. However, because of Marriott’s effective crisis communication and evacuation plans, not a single guest was hurt. In fact, two Marriott associates were killed while trying to help evacuate people indicating the high level of commitment and loyalty which Bill Marriott has been able to command from his employees. Not only that, Bill Marriott visited the site within a few days and also established a Marriott Associate Assistance Fund as well as expanded the company’s leave sharing program. Despite loss in revenues, the leader kept all his employees on the company’s payroll and handled the situation in the best possible manner.

EVIDENCE OF BILL MARRIOTT’s SUCCESSFUL LEADERSHIP

· 100 shares of Marriott in 1953 were worth US $1025 as compared to US $2.9 million in 2004. This indicates a 16.5% annual return over 52 years. . (IABC Leadership in Communication)

· According to the Associate Opinion Survey conducted in 2006, nearly 80% of Marriott associates are satisfied with their employment experience; 81% believe that they have the information they need to do their job well; 75% are moderately engaged with the company; more than 70% of hourly associates responded favorably with respect to questions regarding the effectiveness of their leaders and their relationships with their fellow associates; nearly 90% expressed a favorable attitude toward their leader and colleagues. (IABC Leadership in Communication)