Scotia Airways report

4. Briefly describe the elements of the formal and the informal organization. Give examples of each.

Air Canada is Canada 's largest full-service airline and the largest provider of scheduled passenger services in the Canadian market, the Canada-U.S. trans-border market and in the international market to and from Canada. In 2010, Air Canada improved its reputation as one of the world’s leading international air carriers. Significant progress was made on executing and delivering on its four key priorities and this, coupled with improving economic conditions, allowed Air Canada to record operating income of $407 million in 2010, a $677 million improvement from 2009. Air Canada’s financial strategy is to continue to improve both the level and sustainability of its

WestJet Airlines is a Calgary-based discount airline founded in 1996. Starting with only three aircrafts in 1996, the company is now “Canada’s leading high-value low-fare airline.” The management of WestJet Airlines assumes that the success of the business is anchored in the culture of the corporation and the welcoming service provided to its customers. Beddoe, the president and the CEO of WestJet, is proud of the airlines performance and the customer service it offers. He believes that the corporate culture was the key to success and the company’s attainment. WestJet’s culture is very entertaining, hassle-free, unperturbed, and relaxed. The ratings of the customer satisfaction are higher than those of the other airlines. Top management

This paper seeks to examine how WestJet’s culture contributed to their growth and success through the

Like any airline, Air Canada aims to be the best in the industry. Its objective is for the continuous improvement of employee engagement and customer experience. In its pursuance for the global champion status, Air Canada strategically identifies and implements reduction of cost and initiatives for generating revenues and pursues growth opportunities that are internationally profitable (Air Canada - The Official Website", 2017). It also leverages competitive advantages for appropriate enhancement of margins, largely by increasing connecting traffic through new and existing international gateways and effectively expanding and competing in the leisure market to and from

The biggest issue with Air Canada is their need to always innovate to be the best airline that they can be and connect Canada to the world. Some of the major factors that play a part in Air Canada’s problem is that they are always in competition with any company that provides transportation whether it be an airplane or transportation company. They strive to uphold their status as the leading innovator in the field through the use of Information Technology systems. Another factor that plays a part of Air Canada’s problem is that 95% of their IT services are now being outsourced while only 5% of the services remain in-house. This could result in major issues which will be discussed later in the analysis. Another problem that arises is that the contracts that are being made with companies that do not fully benefit Air Canada. They require them to share information with their competitors which hurts them in the long run and challenges their core competencies. The key to sustaining the competitive

Despite the benefits of having organizational goals, the concept in itself includes complications. Rianey (2014) suggests that the complications include “that goals are always multiple.” Due to the number of goals an organization may have, research indicates that differing goals is quite common amongst organizations. In the AMC’s case, the separation between the national and individual chapters have created the appearance that the organization as a whole has a number of goals, although more likely than not these goals are more associated with an individual chapter. Rainy (2014) argues that these differing goals often times create goal conflicts within an organization, leading to organizational ineffectiveness. With this in mind, it is quite clear to see the ways that the organization can be impacted by the multitude of organizational goals impacting the ability of the organization to be impactful.

Once considered the gem of the Canadian Crown Corporations, Air Canada was afflicted by a storm of financial problems in the early nineties. This onslaught of financial difficulties, which had been created largely by the Gulf War and the Canadian recession, increased Air Canada’s losses increased at worrisome rates. Then, after suffering losses upwards of $218 million in 1991, the Board of Directors recognized the need for a corporate overhaul and consequently appointed Hollis Harris as the Chief Executive Officer the following year. Harris, a 37-year veteran in the highly competitive American airline industry, was given the challenging task of returning the struggling airline to profitability. When he was appointed, many Canadians were outraged that an American would lead a privatized Canadian company and feared this decision to be a step towards the impending Americanization of the Canadian culture. Others’ speculated that Harris was appointed for the sole purpose of training and mentoring Air Canada’s future leader . However, these individuals were all proven wrong when Harris’ transformed the reeling airline into a leading competitor in the global airline industry. His American background, which was condemned by many, played a significant role in the expanding Air Canada’s international reach. His experience in the aviation sector combined with his extraordinary leadership skills, helped reduce costs and placed Air Canada on the path to financial recovery. Finally,

The success of WestJet Airline over a course of time has been exponential and remarkable. Over the span of 15 years, the company has expanded tremendously, operating in 18 countries with a fleet of over 90 aircrafts having nine thousand employees. Being a “high-value low-fare budget airline” it aims at delivering “world-class guest experience”. The key driver for the success of WestJet is the use of Information Technology. WestJet’s core value has always been around IT with highly competitive and technical employees, providing them an edge over its competitors.

Since the deregulation of the airline industry in 1987, the freedom to enter and exit any market, to charge any price and to offer any services has immeasurably altered the way airlines operate. (http://publications.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/BP/bp329-e.htm) In addition, Innovation in technology has also helped the airline industry to be successful. Guests can now book their tickets online, check their flight status, check-in online and receive various kinds of help through the online portal. WestJet chose to be partner with SabreSonic CSS in the year 2009. SabreSonic was founded in 1960 and is world's leading provider of integrated solutions and services for airlines and airports. Sabre Airline Solutions has helped companies generate more revenue by optimizing performance in 14 key areas of airline operations. More than 300 leading carriers

In view of the fact that culture is what made the company successful, with it being misplaced, it would be difficult for WestJet to accomplish their purpose – customer satisfaction. The involvement culture of WestJet helped it in achieving high employee performance, increasing revenue, and escalating customer service satisfaction. WestJet’s culture is based on trust and respect among all. If anything interferes the structure of which the company’s was first developed it will in fact result in tragic failure. Every role in a company is essential for the stability and the overall performance of the company. Perhaps, in order to understand how the culture of the WestJet can be affected is by having a better understanding on WestJet’s culture. One of the highlights of the culture of the company is its strengths. The culture is very democratic and employees feel valued. The CEO has

In this research scope, the operation management of WestJet and Air Canada is discussed in the context of their operation in Prince George Airport in 2011. In which, both WestJet and Air Canada have only one route, from Prince George to Vancouver, which operates nine times daily.

Air Canada’s early strategy was to grow the business, with minimal concern about their staff members and customers. Without any benefits or rewards their staff felt underappreciated. Their customers felt as though their feedback wasn’t being heard but in the eyes of Air Canada as long as their business was expanding, they were satisfied.

Blau and Scott (2016) devised a set of qualities they argued delineated a formal organization from a truly informal organization. They quickly confirmed that social organizations would not conform to the characteristics of a formal organization. Formal organizations emerge when there is “an explicit purpose to achieve certain goals” (Blau and Scott, 2016, p. 175). Size and complexity as well as the existence of an administrative structure help to portray a formal organization. Other factors that characterize a formal organization include the intensity of the bureaucracy and hierarchy within the organization. Of note, Blau and Scott indicated that “formal organizations are man-made” (2016, p. 177) unlike social or informal organizations. Unexpectedly, they confirm that “informal organizations arise in every formal one” (Blau and Scott, 2016, p. 175). The formal organization is “the organization”, not the informal one that exists within; however, it is vital to understand the nature of the informal organization and attached social relations and unofficial norms (Blau and Scott,

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.