Week 3 Case Analysis

1. Build the management-research question hierarchy for Ramada.

Management Dilemma: The difference in number of employees hired at each Ramada

franchise that could potentially be hurting customer satisfaction.

Management Question: How can customer satisfaction be influenced throughout each

Ramada franchise?

Research Questions: What about assessing, hiring, and putting individuals in the right

position with the necessary skills to help continue the quality of service? What about

implementing an employee training initiative to improve the image of the type of quality

service employees should be demonstrating to customers? Lastly, who about assessing

how upper management can motivate employees to provide better customer service?

Investigative Question: Will employees and management be committed to the change?

Measurement Question: What customer service models could be measured to provide a

framework for what model will work?

2. Apply the research process model to the Ramada research initiative.

a. Explain the role and process of exploration in Ramada’s research.

i. The role and process of exploration provided the company with new ideas

and opportunities. It allowed them to research the advantages and

disadvantages of what other companies have been through and make the

best educated decision.

b. What role did secondary data play in the exploration phase of the research?

i. Secondary data is research data that has previously been gathered and can

be accessed by researchers. It helped identify the influencers to customer

satisfaction and helped provide a strategic employee hiring, training and

motivation model.

c. What steps and phases in the process model can you match to the Ramada

research?

i. The main ones include defining and executing the exploration strategy and

valuing the research.

d. What research process decisions were made? (Remember to include research by

outside suppliers.)

i. Ramada called on research firm Predictive Index to identify characteristics

that were indicative of self-motivated performers. Ramada also brought in

American Hotel and Motel Educational Institute to learn what other

companies were doing correctly to identify and hire the right people. Also,

fact-finders approached Carlson Hospitality, owners of restaurant TGI

Friday’s where they wanted to understand what Carlson did to generate

their low employee turnover, and high employee loyalty and commitment.

e. What sampling methodology was used? Why was this appropriate for this study?

i. The sampling methodology was a survey. The survey helped retrieve

information from employees related to the effectiveness of Ramada’s

training methods. In addition, information used to determine what

motivates employees.
 f. Describe the research design and discuss its strengths and weaknesses.

i. The research design was a sampling design. Sampling method refers to the

rules and procedures by which some elements of the population are

included in the sample. Advantage was the response rate and the

disadvantage were the small target population.

g. What role did property owners/managers play in the research design?

i. Ramada’s individual property owners do their own hiring. The process

differs widely from property to property.

h. Why did Ramada choose to conduct the research in a nontraditional, partylike

atmosphere? What are some advantages and disadvantages of such approach?

i. Ramada wanted the environment to influence the employees to feel

comfortable so they could get the responses they need. This allowed

manager and employee interaction. The disadvantages is that management

could receive an out of the ordinary response if the environment backfired

in some way.

3. How are the research findings reflected in the ultimate management decisions?

The research findings are reflected in the ultimate management decisions by showing that

employee motivation is high, customer satisfaction improved, and the employees and

management feel more connected and bought in to the company vision and mission.