MANAGING CULTURAL CHANGE
Talent Management
British Airways (BA) was formed in 1974 by the merger of the British Overseas Airways Corp (BOAC) and the British European Airways (BEA). BA’s integration did not come without problems. By the early 1980’s BA generated debs in excess of £500m, staff discontent and customer dissatisfaction were common denominators across the operational equation and in 1980 the airline topped a list of airlines to be avoided at all costs.
The appointment of Sir Colin Marshall, chief executive during the period 1983-1995, brought winds of change at the distressed air company. Sir Colin Marshall identified that focusing merely on cost cutting would not
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External agents would transfer best practices methodology from the external business field to BA, which would have a huge impact on employee’s motivation and learning process. These consultants would devise new tools to be used within the organization to eliminate waste, in terms of non-value adding activities, and manage cultural differences in long run (Exhibit: 03).
The agents analyze the gaps and run the change effectively with standard metrics. Effective change agents involve actively in the change implementation process in short run and for long-term follow up. On the flip side, this alternative demands considerable financial investments from BA.
All management levels of BA should engage in the task of eliminating waste, which is time consuming and continually nurtured. This can be efficiently implemented through the creation of a change management team that is a combination of Internal and External change agents. This team would gain the necessary synergies that can address the internal issues and develop the skill-set required to improve productivity.
Exhibits
Exhibit: 01 Identifying the Right Strategy
Source: Managing Multicultural Teams by Jeanne Brett, Kristin Behfar & Mary C. Kern
Exhibit: 02 Internal Change Agent Plan
Exhibit: 03 External Change Agent Plan
Phase
Activities
Metrics
1.Prepare for the Change
Analyze BA Organization
Form the teams
Diversity
Employees work life balance
2.Run the
Macro: The first problem changing the culture at British Airways was the merger of the BOAC and BEA. In 1971, the Civil Aviation Act became law and the board was to control policy over British Airways but both BOAC and BEA remained autonomous, each with its own chairman, board, and chief executive. This caused a split within British Airways throughout the 1970s and in the mid-1980. The second problem BA faced was the threat of privatization. In 1984 the government passed legislation that made BA a public limited company. The third was productivity was bad compared to other leading foreign airlines. The fourth was poor service. Poor customer service
The first step in driving the necessary change within the organization is to secure an outside consultant to serve as a change agent. The change agent will facilitate and guide the organizational development (OD) through process consultation intervention. In this process, it will be necessary to identify sources of resistance through Force field analysis. Once the sources are identified, one-on-one meetings and group meetings will be conducted to educate the employees on the changes and the reasons why change is necessary. This step will find the management team working to re-define the vision of the organization. As part of
By understanding the importance of effective change management we can facilitate our commitment to the development of a successful change management program. By gaining insight into the different factors that can contribute to successful change management, we can guide the design of an appropriate change management program. In the following pages, it
1. Diagnose the problem. 2. Assess the motivation and capacity for change. 3. Assess the resources and motivation of the change agent. This includes the change agent’s commitment to change, power, and stamina. 4. Choose progressive change objects. In this step, action plans are developed and strategies are established. 5. The role of the change agents should be selected and clearly understood by all parties so that expectations are clear. Examples of roles are: cheerleader, facilitator, and expert. 6. Maintain the change. Communication, feedback, and group coordination are essential elements in this step
British Airways faced the worst crisis in its history in the late 1970’s early 1980’s.
The dispute between BA management and Cabin Crew from 2009 to 2011 caused extensive impact throughout the global condition. BA totally lost £150 million and the brand reputation had been affected seriously. It meant that BA has some problems about its change management. This academic report contains
Jet-blue Airways is American low cost airline head quartered near New-York city. It’s foundedin August 1998 by David Neeleman with Joel Peterson as a chairman and David Barger as apresident and CEO. By late 2006,like some other airlines, JetBlue faced some softening demand and high cost due to the increase in fuel prices. Barger realizes that JetBlue needs to take further steps to slow its rate of growth. Barger was not sure about the reductions across E190 and A320. The E190 showedpromising growth opportunities and challenges for JetBlue. At the same time, the A320 wasconsidered as proven plane that had succeededover past 6 years. Most of the airline industries were using hub-and-spoke system and point-to-point services. Due to this service, South West Airlines showed consistent profits. After September 11th, the airline industry experienced trouble due to attack. Looking at the history of Jet-blue, it started with just 10airplanes in 2000 and by 2011 the company planned to have 290 planes in service. To support customers, Jet Blueprovided
The British Airways case study was a very interesting case to read. It proves that not all people can be leaders, especially the chairman, board and chief executives of British European Airways (BEA) and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC.) According to the case study of British Airways, the life at the “old” British Airways was “bloody awful” (Changing the Culture of British Airways, 1990, p. 1).
Prior to the marketing campaign touting BA as “The World’s Favorite Airline,” BA was often referred to as “bloody awful.” The company suffered from poor performance, inefficiencies, an older fleet, and substantial financial losses. Following passage of the Civil Aviation Act in 1971, BA assumed control of two state-run airlines, British European Airlines (BEA) and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), under the name British Airways. However, BEA and BOAC operated autonomously with separate boards, chairman, and chief executive officer that provided a challenge in making change. The level of
what exactly is happening. Change agents are critical as they are the sources of energy and intellect that help organizational members recognize the need for change, see what the future may look like build support, and mobilize the troops to move towards the vision, assess where and how to proceed next . The change phase is analyzed with context to certain theories which fits the best in different situation. In this case we came to know that while the change phase is going on with have to keep certain factors in our mind which are related to the strategies to be implemented during the change phase. The expansion was there but after the expansion they did not focus on strategically planning and the implementation.
3,4- The Airline industry and the market The airline industry is large, specially in the United States, mainly due to the “ Deregulation” of the industry. In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Board was created to control the growth of the air transportation industry. This board had the authority to control entry, exit, prices and methods of competition. In the late 1970 this structure was found inefficient and in 1978 deregulation took place. Due to the deregulation of the industry competition intensified, prices dropped, and the number of people travelling increased. Many new companies emerged and regional airlines saw deregulation as an opportunity to expand. Due to the rise in competition, by 1986 mergers started to take place and in 1987 64.8% of the market was controlled by the four largest airlines. The demand for air travel is determined mainly by price, studies revealed that half of the leisure travellers and on quarter of business travellers did not have a preference for a particular airline, which means that prices determined the
1.1 Change management is described by Armstrong (1) as “the process of achieving the smooth implementation of change by planning and introducing it systematically taking into account the likelihood of it being resisted”. Change, the fundamental constant in any successful organisation, can be adaptive, reconstructive, revolutionary or evolutionary and can happen for a number of diverse reasons:
While working on the inner structure of the company, a huge hurdle was the airline’s image, the proverbial “elephant in the room”. This was an airline that handed out food boxes as you boarded the plane. They had a “bloody awful” image Jick (2011), that needed an overhaul to appeal to the consuming public.
British Airways (BA) is a company that encountered several difficulties back in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The poor performances of the organization, was leading the company to failure. BA was offering a service that even though it accomplished the mission of the company, was not providing customer satisfaction. The organization was not taking into consideration the needs of the costumer and was not providing an acceptable customer service experience. “Productivity at BA in the 1970s was strikingly bad, especially in contrast to other leading foreign airlines” (Jick, Peiperl, 2010, p.28). Due to numerous changes, the company increased their revenues and became a respectful and well know organization.
British Airways is the one of the largest airline companies, and the passengers carry overall in the fifth largest in the world. Most of plans are stay in Heathrow Airport which is the highest of main international airport. The British Airways has a long history and airlines cover 133 countries; include 373 airplanes. The BA Company includes 50,086 workers to be in the service, which is one of the largest employers and employees in the United Kingdom.