Abstract
In the fall of 1992, Ritz-Carlton became the first hotel company to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Ritz-Carlton implemented total quality management (TQM) as a means of winning the award and improving its service. Patrick Mene, corporate director of quality, explains issues concerning application of TQM to the hotel industry and applying for the Baldrige award. Measurement was a difficult hurdle, because the industry does not have service-quality benchmarks. Team building was also a time-consuming effort. Ritz-Carlton is now requiring its vendors also to apply TOM or a similar process.
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