Description
This case is about the revolution in production of media for dramatic expansion while endeavoring participatory media. The successfully navigate change process by clearly values and integrate those values throughout all of its properties and across all levels of media exchanges. The key was top management providing the necessary resources and support in order to implement the desired changes in media in the ever-expanding organizations. By moving quickly developing new technology through culture changes employees shifted into more productive professionals. Please answer the following:Why did Visual Catch change the industry? Can you explain the importance of perception in this case?Describe how Catch&Release used social cognitive theory to changed corporate cultures?What reinforcement activities were chosen to support the growth plan?
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Case Study 4.1: Kempinski Hotels
Kempinski Hotels, headquartered in Switzerland, is Europe’s oldest luxury hotel group,
specializing in five-star properties that include the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, the Hotel
Taschenbergpalais Kempinski in Dresden, and the Çiragan Palace Kempinski in Istanbul.
Founded in 1897, the Kempinski brand has an intriguing story to tell. “Our employees have
been a part of creating history around the world,” the website reads. “From historic buildings to
the most avant-garde of modern architecture, our properties are the setting for some of life’s
greatest moments. We’ve witnessed historic meetings between world leaders, celebrities
taking sanctuary in the world of calm we create for them, and created incredible memories for
guests on a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ journey.”
In 2008, Kempinski was ready for a journey of its own: its portfolio of hotels was set to double
by 2015, and its workforce was expected to grow from 7,500 to 37,500. How could Kempinski
expand so dramatically without losing the soul that made it so unique?
Mia Norcao, vice president of corporate communication, realized that it was time to do some
serious company soul-searching. Did employees understand the Kempinski brand? Were they
armed with the knowledge and loyalty they needed to be true ambassadors to guests and to
the world?
Norcao was part of a team that devised and implemented an elaborate plan to give every
Kempinski employee a solid, intuitive understanding of what Kempinski was all about. The
challenges were monumental. First and foremost, what was Kempinski all about? Despite its
long, rich history, corporate values had never been consistently articulated—not in the Geneva
-based boardroom, and certainly not at the front desk of any of its hundreds of hotels. Once
those values had been identified, how could Norcao and her team communicate them to
employees throughout the organization, given their widely varying levels of responsibility and
education and the dozens of different languages they spoke?
Norcao knew she needed resources and buy-in from every level of the organization, starting
with the top. “This last task was especially crucial—top management [the management board
and regional presidents] had to commit their time and assign company resources to this
program if we were to be successful with senior management on a group wide basis. They had
to understand the link between delivering a consistent brand promise and guest experience,
and actively managing our corporate culture,” Norcao said. Explaining the benefits in dollars
and sense was important. “We were able to demonstrate in business terms that when
employee engagement is higher than 60 percent, total shareholder return can almost double,
and conversely that if engagement drops below 25 percent, total shareholder return can be
negatively impacted.” Norcao’s team showed that the organization already had 29 percent
engagement—compared to the industry standard of 21— a solid start but with much room for
improvement.
Once the top brass was on board, Norcao and her team conducted intensive interviews across
the organization. Listening to the staff who lived the Kempinski experience every day helped
shape what would eventually become five core values: “Being people oriented, being
straightforward, encouraging entrepreneurial performance amongst staff, having the freedom
to create traditions and being passionate about European luxury.” The DNA of Kempinski’s
corporate culture had been identified. Now came the hard part: implementation.
How to reach every member of the organization in a meaningful way? How to make an
impression on the concierge in Cairo and the maid in Munich? Clearly, an all-saturating, trickledown approach was needed. But what was the model? “Our aim throughout was to create a
corporate culture, which would empower staff to know instinctively what would be an
appropriate way at Kempinski to solve a challenge, work with colleagues or serve our guests—
not to limit them with strict rules,” said Norcao.
Her team eventually opted for storytelling. “All cultures in the world have some form of storytelling tradition,” Norcao said. Stories were collected from employees about emotional or
memorable happenings at the hotel that represented one or more of the five core values.
Campaigns were designed around the best of them, with “artwork and colors [that] were
associated with each value, so that all collateral could have a consistent visual language—
important again in helping illiterate staff identify values or stories.”
Norcao started a storybook as her team built a wealth of tools to support managers:
presentations, games, activities, session plans, Q&As, plus posters and brochures. A storytelling
mini-site, “myStory”, was constructed to collect touching, personal stories from employees all
over the world. “The myStory space is among the most visited areas online and we’ve collected
nearly 300 stories,” Norcao commented. “This is very positive in an industry where most staff
don’t have time to regularly access a computer. Anecdotal evidence from sessions shows that
staff often believe some or all of the original stories are about their hotel, which exhibits their
pride, and belief in and ownership of these stories.”
Today, Kempinski’s growth plan is well underway, with more than 70 hotels worldwide and
counting. “When I look back at the road we’ve traveled,” Norcao continued, “I’m amazed to see
how much we’ve accomplished with a relatively small budget but using a powerful storytelling
approach to propagate our core values. . . . As part of my role, I spend time with senior
managers when they first arrive at the company and often ask for their initial impressions of
Kempinski (before mentioning our values) and am reassured that we haven’t lost our soul—
they always remark on how friendly, welcoming and practical everyone is. Some have even
already heard of our values and can tell me their own stories.”
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