Changing the Culture at British Airways Essay

The article was reported in the National Geographic Traveler Magazine in the December 2012/January 2013 issue. Christopher writes about two separate airlines and the potential of what could make or break a person. He used different points to breakdown what airline companies are doing to the economy. He published the article to make people become more conscious thinkers and look at the entire package/company when it comes the cost of booking with an airline. Let’s look at how the customer service, expenses and hospitality play a factor when choosing an airline. The Good versus the Evil in the air.

All ought all employees should be involved in best customer service delivery possible there should be place for executive service leaders and managers within the organisation. A person who successfully creates a customer-focused culture would have a huge impact on business success through employee retention and customer loyalty.

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

1 This essay will assess how globalisation has impacted on the airline industry using British Airways as an example to illustrate this change had on the industry as a whole. This essay will attempt to show how the airline industry and British Airways in particular coped with thesee change and how neoliberalism thinking allowed and supported this fundamental change to happen.

Before David Neeleman’s non-compete agreement with Southwest Airlines expired, he envisioned the concept of starting a low-fare airline that would combine common sense, innovation, and technology and bring the humanity back into air travel (Gittel & O’Reilly, 2001). In 1998, JetBlue was born. In order for David to fulfill his goal of a “do-it-right” kind of airline, he needed to recruit superior industry veterans who were willing to start from scratch and place an emphasis on employees and customers. Each of these individuals, from the President, General Counsel, CFO, and the HR director, wanted to create an airline that was fun, had

“Your employees come first, and if you treat your employee’s right, guess what? Your customers come back, and that makes your shareholders happy. Start with employees and the rest follows from that” (Byrne, 2012). This quote from Herb Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines, embodies the leadership at the airline. Southwest is the leading low-cost airline based in Dallas, Texas and founded in 1967 by Herb Kelleher and Rollin King. They dare to differ from other carriers because their philosophy revolves around people both internal and external. Communication, culture, and leadership are the cornerstone of their success. This paper explores key leader’s communique tactics, the role communication plays in daily operations, how the mission, vision, and culture reinforce the goals, and the prominence of connecting with internal and external stakeholders. A clearer understanding the role of communication and culture at Southwest are beneficial in developing best practices for any organization.

There might come situations like interpersonal conflict, work-family conflict, job – security, sexual harassment which may reduce which reduce work engagement under which a firm must adopt much programs and policies like job redesign, Family-friendly human resource policies, stress management programs, work-life balance programs which helps in building work engagement.

This case analyses Prof. McPherson’s service experience with respect to two Airline carriers, which was not expected in this age of Network and Information Technology and also the service level expectations from the customers. First we analyze the setting/situation, issues Prof. McPherson experienced and his assumptions; and then try to address them. The bottom line: addressing such situations would improve efficiency, customer loyalty, brand name and increased profits

British Airways faced the worst crisis in its history in the late 1970’s early 1980’s.

HR Policies and Leadership: The advanced employee training techniques and employee engagement is an important element of Southwest’s success so far. The exceptional customer service which differentiates SW from their competitors is attributed to their strong employee base. Herb Kelleher, a transformational leader, led the organization by maintaining a fun-filled culture. By creating a friendly working environment in the organization, CEO of southwest airlines was able to retain the employees in the organization. Employees were not only extrinsically motivated to be in the company but intrinsically motivated to be a part of the Southwest Airlines family. It was demonstrated from the fact that when there was a downturn, managers froze their salary for 5 years just to maintain

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

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.

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.

Study findings show that strong leadership systems focus on customers, motivate employees, and implement their customer service vision. They also focus great attention on gathering the information needed to track customer satisfaction, and employees overall performance. Customer service should be designed and delivered seamlessly from the customer's point of view. Customer-driven operations lead to success. Decentralized, uncoordinated customer service provision makes for a most frustrating experience for customers.

In 1950’s BOAC first introduced a direct flight from United Kingdom to Johannesburg, South Africa. In 1958, BOAC introduced a first transatlantic transport service, using two airplanes named Comet simultaneously flying between London and New York. In 1960’s, other different British transport airlines started competing and having the same services as British Airways do. In 1970’s, BOAC and British European Airways (BEA) joined forces to provide more route service to the customers. In 1974, BOAC and BEA merged to form British Airways. In February 1987, British Airways was privatised and many people have bought the shares for investment. In February 1999, because of the success, BA made an Oneworld® alliance and maximises the connection to airline companies around the world. These are Aer Lingus, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, and Lan Chile. (Curtis, et al. 2003)