HARVARD CASE STUDY ON TAJ MAHAL PALACE,MUMBAI

The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel is a five-star hotel located in the Colaba region of Mumbai, next to the Gateway of India.

Sitaram Khanderao Vaidya and D. N. Mirza are the architects.

 First opened its doors to guests on 16 december 1903.  Jamsedji Tata decided to build the hotel after he was

refused entry to one of the city's grand hotels of the time, Watson's Hotel, as it was restricted to “whites only”.

ABOUT TAJ MAHAL PALACE,MUMBAI

WHAT HAPPENED TO TAJ ON 26/11 ?

• On 26 November 2008, in a series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai,Taj was also attacked.

• As many as 11 Taj Mumbai employees—a third of the hotel’s casualties—laid down their lives while helping between 1,200 guests escape.

• Almost 31died in Taj.

HOW DID TAJ BECOME A TOPIC FOR HARVARD CASE

STUDY

• The Case was developed by Rohit Deshpande, professor of marketing and branding at Harvard Business School.

• The title given to the case was ‘Terror at the Taj Bombay: Customer-Centric

Leadership’

Waiters ,busboys, and room cleaners who knew back exits and paths through the hotel chose to stay in a building under siege until their customers were safe. 

The telephone operators were calling guests and asking them to switch off lights, turn off mobiles, block keyholes with the room’s key so that nobody from outside could look into the room.

WHAT SERVICE DID THEY PROVIDE ?

 Kitchen employees formed a human shield to assist guests who were evacuating, and as a result lost their lives .

The Taj staff kept calm, according to the guests, and constantly went around offering water and asking people if they needed anything else.

Often during a crisis, a single hero or small group of heroes take action and risk their lives will emerge. But what happened at the Taj was much broader.

Taj employees’ actions weren’t prescribed in manuals; no official policies or procedures existed for an event such as 26/11.

REAL HEROS OF 26/11

 Mallika Jagad

Karambir Singh Kang

 “If the hotel goes down, I will be the last man out.”

There are no apt reasons as to why the employees  from all levels of the hierarchy did it, even when they knew the secret routes and could have saved their lives.

The organizational culture of Taj is such that employees are willing to do almost anything for guests. 

WHY DID THE EMPLOYEES PROVIDE SUCH A SELF LESS SERVICE ?

"They don't look for students who have the highest grades. They're actually recruiting for personal characteristics. They're recruiting for character & not for grades."

In their search to find maids and bellhops, the Taj avoids big cities and instead turns to small towns and semi-urban areas.

Training and rewards systems set up by the taj is designed to encourage kindness.