Athithi Devo Bhava at its best, the heroic response by employees of Mumbai’s iconic Taj Mahal Hotel & Tower during the 26/11 terror attacks has now become a case study at Harvard Business School. The study focusses on the staff’s selfless hospitality towards guests that went beyond their call of duty.
According to a report by PTI, the multimedia case study ‘Terror at the Taj Bombay: Customer-Centric Leadership’ by Harvard Business School professor Rohit Deshpande documents “the bravery and resourcefulness shown by rank-and-file employees” during the attack.
The study mainly focusses on “why did the Taj employees stay at their posts (during the attacks), jeopardising their safety in order to save hotel guests” and how can that level of loyalty and dedication be replicated elsewhere.
A dozen Taj employees died trying to save the lives of the hotel guests during the attacks. The fact that is drawing attention to the Taj employees is that hotel employees would obviosly have knowledge and access to service exits and therefore had every opportunity to flee the scene and yet they stayed back, putting their guests at top priority.
