Taj Hotel is honoured to be part of Harvard study
By IANSFriday, January 28, 2011
MUMBAI - The Taj Hotel is honoured to be part of a Harvard Business School case study following the inclusion of the heroic response of its employees during the 26/11 terror attacks here, a hotel spokesperson said in a statement.
“We are honoured to be a part of the Harvard Business School case study in which the spirit, loyalty and resilience of our employees during the crisis has been recognised as an exemplary display of leadership,” the spokesperson said.
The multimedia case study ‘Terror at the Taj Bombay: Customer-Centric Leadership’ by professor Rohit Deshpande of the Harvard Business School (HBS) documents the bravery and resourcefulness shown by rank-and-file employees during the attack.
“The Tata group has a long standing association with HBS. Deshpande, during one of his engagements with the group, felt that the story provides a great opportunity to showcase unique leadership in crisis management and in this he saw the potential of a great case study coming out from one of the new emerging economies.
“The details were shared with HBS to form a multimedia case study and the case was first presented in the fall of 2010 where senior management from Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces were invited to be present for an interactive session with the students,” he added.
The study focuses on how most employees of the hotel stayed put at their positions during the attacks and how they saved several guests of the hotels, thereby jeopardising their own safety and with some sacrificing their lives.
Ten Pakistani terrorists killed 166 people in an audacious attack in Mumbai on Nov 26, 2008. As many as 12 employees of the hotel are said to have been killed in the attack, though the exact figures have never been revealed.
One example of the resilience of the employees was by Karambir Singh Kang, the hotel’s general manager. He led from the front by continuing to supervise rescue operations at the hotel and helping numerous guests to escape even after losing his wife and two sons in the attack.
The study says the level of loyalty and dedication cannot be replicated elsewhere.
