How Kolb’s learning styles influence the knowledge sharing in the case of The Ritz Carlton Hotel in Beijing

HTMi, Hotel and Tourism Management Institute, Switzerland
How Kolb’s individual preferenceslearning styles influence the knowledge sharing in the case of The Ritz Carlton Hotel in Beijing
Yang Liu (Vivian)
11th September 2012
Background Information
Dixon stated in 1999, “We have entered the knowledge age, and the new currency is learning.”Intellectual capital and the management of knowledge are playing increasingly important roles in today’s organizational world (Chase, 1997 cited in Jarrar and Zairi,2010). Being strongly agreed with this statement, Alberto et al. (2012) claimed that the only sustainable competitive advantage of organizations, in the future, would be the creation and management of implied knowledge. Therefore, many executives are enthusiastic about implementing the knowledge management (KM) system into their organizations as a new managerial paradigm (Bock and Kim, 2002) to gain the sustainable competitive advantages. Knowledge sharing (KS), as a key element of knowledge management, is defined by Hedgebeth (2007) as a process accomplished by the exchange of knowledge between individuals and enterprises. As aThough, KS can be used as a vital process to improve the effectiveness of KM, and numbers of organizations already brought in the initiatives to encourage the knowledge sharing. It is doubt that if employees are willing to share their knowledge with co-workers and senior staffs (Webster et al., 2008). Being inspired, the author started wondering how the effectiveness of KS are influenced by the individual behavior. In another word, how the personal preferences influence the KS system.The Ritz Carlton is a brand of luxury hotels with 79 properties in 26 countries worldwide (Ritz Carlton, 2012). It is well known by its extraordinary customer service and being capable of exceeding customers’ expectations. The KS system has been consistently applied to manage and maintain the mystique. The company encourages employees to go for extra miles

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