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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 298 282 CE 050 785 AUTHOR Burgess, Charles; Zhu, Guangli TITLE The Marriott Philosophy at Work: A Study of Corporate Success with the Handicapped. Project TROPHY. Transition Research on Problems of Handicapped Youth. INSTITUTION Washington Univ., Seattle. Coll. of Education. SPONS AGENCY Department of Education, Washington, DC. PUB DATE 88 CONTRACT 300-85-0174 NOTE 80p.; For related documents, see CE 050 783-784. PUB TYPE Information Analyses (070) -- Reports - Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC04 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Business Responsibility; Career Education; *Corporate Support; *Disabilities; *Education Work Relationship; *Employment Practices; Employment Programs; *Job Development; *Job Training; Mental Retardation IDENTIFIERS *Marriott Corporation ABSTRACT This monograph examines the Marriott Corporation, which has won numerous awards for its involvement in creating employment situations for the handicapped. Part 1 examines the Marriott Corporation in its wider economic, political, and religious contexts, including its founding by a Mormon family. Part 2 addresses centre/ features of the Marriott handicapped employment program, with a focus on the mentally retarded worker. A discussion of work in the "least dependent environments considers hiring the handicapped, training the handicapped, and the individual worker approach versus the enclave approach. The benefits of the system for everyone involved are also highlighted. Appendixes include a description of the Marriott Corporation Handicapped Employment Program, a list of awards the corporation has received, and a listing of over 50 selected sources. (YLB) / XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*XXXXXXX3MMX3MX X Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made M N from the original document. M XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*MX*30000000(XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX300000(XXXXXXXXXXXXXXM US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (Mice of Educanonai Research and Improvement UCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER sERICI Tha document has beenreproduced as treceived from the person ororganizallon ongmating (1 C Minor changes nave beerrase to improve reproduction quality, Ns docu. Points of view or opinions staled ,n tofficial ment do not necessarily represent OERI posdron or policy Al- THE MARRIOTT PHILOSOPHY AT WORK: A STUDY OF CORPORATE SUCCESS WITH THE HANDICAPPED CHARLES BURGESS AND GUANGLI ZHU FOREWORD BY WILLIAM J. SCHILL University of Washington Seattle, Washington, 1988 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 0 efrM.S1==., TRANSITION RESEARCH ONPROBLEMS OF HANDICAPPED YOUTH Contract Number 300-85-0174 RFP 85-107 William J. Schill, Principal Investigator THE MARRIOTT PHILOSOPHY ATWORK August 1988 Transition Research on Problems of Handicapped Youth University of Washington 300 Miller Hall, DQ-12 Seattle, Washington 98195 (206) 543-1836 , Li FOREWORD Much of the effort to place handicapped youth in jobs can be considered supply side effort. Educators worry about what skills and abilities youth need to acquire in order to be acceptable to employers. Demand side effort to place handicapped youth concerns itself with encouraging employers to consider the giandicapped when searching for new hires. Tax inc-ntives are an attempt by the federal government to increase demand. This monograph examines a corporation which haswon numerous awards for its involvement in creating employment stations for the handicapped. The hope is that this examination will provide insights into ways concerned citizens and educators can approach employers to increase demand for handicapped employees. The activities that led to this monograph were supported in part by the U. S. Department of Education (Contract 300-85-0174). However, the opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the U. S. Department of Education andno official endorsements by the Department should be inferred. Additional copies of the monograph in printed form or on MS/DOS floppy discsmay be obtained from the address below. William John Schill Principal Investigator Project TROPHY 300 Miller Hall, DQ-12 University of Washington Seattle, Washington 98195 r- i D -..1.1R. INTRODUCTION The Marriott Corporation enjoys a well-deserved reputationas one of the strongest and best managed companies in two related businesses: the food and lodgingindustries. Its 97,000 hotel rooms make it a leader in the hotel field. Its postcrash market value, estimatedat $4 billion, is ten times its value in 1979. The Corporation is also a national leader among employers of handicappedpersons. Its handicapped hiring programs stand as models ofsuccess. Other employers have promoted "sheltered workshops" and have found that, in enclzvesapart from the public and separated from "normal" workers, the handicappedare a productive force.But the Marriott Corporation's work with the handicapped--includingeven the severely mentally retarded- - has regularly made them a part of the integrated workforce. Much ofthe work in food service and hotel maintenance is low-level skill work, called "secondarylabor" by the economists and "dead-end work" by the laity. The employeeturn-over rate is notoriously high. The Marriott Corporation has found the handicappedto be a dependable and stabilizing factor within the company. Handicapped employees,managers will point out, usually find satisfaction with jobs that are reputedly dull.They take pride in their employment. There is said to be a mutual profitabilityto the handicapped program: benefits accrue to the Corporation and to the employee alike. Why is the Marriott Corporation so far ahead in its handicappedhiring program? It is only a partial answer to note that the Corporation is a government contractor subjectto Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Vietnam Era VeteransReadjustment Assistance Act of 1974, which require "government contractorsto take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified individuals withdisabilities and Vieatnam era veterans." As a government contractor Marriott is requiredto have a handicapped program; but the government does not require thatprogram to be of any special size or intensity. Rather, the Corporation has takenfa special stand. The handicappedprogram has become part of what we have called the Marriott philosophy. Theprogram remains effective even while the Corporate headquarters gives Directors of Human Resourcesat each property a long leash with which to develop theprogram. Our profile of the Marriott Corporation seeks to examine some of the premisesupon which the program is built. Before we begin, a word is in order about the development of the Marriott enterprise. Sixty Years of Growth In 1927, what was to be the Marriott Corporation beganas an A&W root-beer stand in Washington, D. C. run by a young man fresh from Utah, J. Willard Marriott. To makeup for the seasonal lag in trade that year, Marriottwon an unusual concession from A&W that permitted him to sell food as well as drink. Twoyears later, tireless work by Marriott and his wife Alice resulted in the incorporation, under Delaware law, of hisenterprise known as the Hot Shoppes. The new business not only survived the crash of 1929 but continued to prosper throughout the depression years. Soon there were six Hot Shoppes ingreater Washington. D. C. and iicw shops were opening in Baltimore and Philadelphia.Drive-in service was added. To insure profits, Marriott implemented strict finarcialcontrols over INTRODUCTION his operations, organized food preparation with standardized menus, and supplied his restaurants from a central commissary. By 1937, the Marriott enterprise had expanded into the commercial airline trade. Marriott began serving the first airline meals on a regular basis. With his box lunches he literally started the airline catering business. In 1957, Marriott attached 360 guest rooms to his Hot Shoppe adjacent to National Airport and created the Marriott Twin Bridges Motor Hotel. Not only did the Twin Bridges offer drive-up registration, free parking, and swimming facilities among other amenities, it also provided a meeting and convention center, thereby pioneering in the modern hotel convention-trade business. Marriott was now in the hotel business as well as the restaurant business. And in 1953 Marriott went public. The business underwent some major changes in the 1960s. In 1964, the name of the business was changed to Marriott Hot Shoppes, Inc. and J. Willard Marriott, Sr., soon curtailed his daily role in the company by appointing his son, J. Willard ("Bill") Marriott, Jr., to the presidency of the corporation.Three years later, under the even more aggressively ambitious leadership of Bill Marriott, the company became simply the Marriott Corporation. The senior 'Marriott's skepticism of the stock market no longer guided the company's fortunes. J. W. Marriott, Sr., died in 1985, at the age of 84. His older son, Bill Marriott, born in 1932, continues as chairman of the board and president of the corporation. His mother, Alice Sheets Marriott, is a vice-president of the corporation.Bill Marriott's brother, Richard Edwin Marriott, meanwhile, is vice-chairman and executive vice-president of the Corporation. The sense of the Marriott enterprise as a family operation continues.It constitutes the Marriott philosophy. Much of the success of the Corporation in integrating the handicapped, including the mentally retarded, in its regular workforce is a tribute to this philosophy. Accordingly, our study has two parts. In Part One we examine the Marriott Corporation