Please see instructions attached and posts
According to McGraw-Hill, the atmosphere was very much focused on creating something that did not already exist during old British Airways. It was also noted, success for the majority of those working at that time had less to do with money and more to do with “flying the British flag.” Life at old British Airways viewed its sole responsibility as ensuring that planes took off and landed on schedule (McGraw-Hill, 2021). However, McGraw- Hill also noted, the level of productivity was fine. efficiently, but not always effectively. There were many people working for other people and many people watching over those working for other people.
In addition, it was noted by McGraw-Hill, while government support reinforced the operational culture, a deceiving string of profitable years in the 1970s made it even easier for British Airways to neglect its increasing inefficiencies. Moreover, between 1972 and 1980, BA earned a profit before interest and tax in each year except for one and this was significant, because if the airline was returning profits, it was not easy to persuade the work force, or the management for that matter, that fundamental changes were vital. All these factors above were what made it difficult for change to be implemented.
According to Ivy Panda, the critical factors in the successful transformation of British airways was the appointment of two people who kick started the transformation, namely John King, appointed as chairman and Dunlop Gordon, the new Chief Finance Officer. Dunlop started this transformation by retaining a variety of services and utilizing effective techniques to provide exceptional services, the airline has altered its reputation.
Stakeholders in British Airways outlined several procedures and measures to restructure the business. The chairman took several actions to carry out a strong plan. The first was to cut back on the workforce. The next step was to freeze wage raises (McGraw-Hill, 2021).
Romans 5:1-21 says, ‘therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Moreover, considering these words, I would have led my transformation with calling on God for guidance. I believe that is where our strength lie is making profound change.
Reference
Liberty University Custom: Create (2021). Leading Organizational Change. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Create.
IvyPanda. (2021, July 22). British Airways: Efficient Organization Transformation. https://ivypanda.com/essays/british-airways-efficient-organization-transformation/
BUSI 642
Discussion Reply Assignment Instructions
You are required to reply to 2 other classmates’ threads; each reply must be 250–300 words. Each thread and each reply must include at least 2 scholarly sources (published within the last 5 years)
in addition to the course textbook and relevant biblical integration. All citations and references must be in current APA format. Do not repeat the same sources, use of the text or Biblical integration from your former posts.
What was life like at the “old” British airways? What was difficult about
making change?
The biggest difference between the old British Airways to the new is an
emphasis on customer service and employee empowerment. In the old
days, “you had an organization that believed its job was simply to get an
aircraft into the air on time and to get it down on time” (Liberty University
Custom: Heinz, 2021, p. 434). While this is a vital aspect of what the
company does, it did not allow for emphasis on customer experience and
satisfaction, which was what was driving their revenue at the end of the
day. Additionally, employee jobs were so segregated that one task had to
go through the hands of multiple people causing it to take much longer
and for employees to feel less engaged in their work. “Job satisfaction is
the employee’s sense of gratification and fulfillment at the workplace. The
feeling of individuals toward segments of the job and the job as a whole.
The delightful emotional feeling or attitude that results from an
individual’s gratefulness for their own job, work atmosphere, and earned
payment” (Ganji et al. 2021). When this is low, it leads to unsatisfied,
unmotivated workers who are not working at their best. Though partly
caused by the broken systems and command chains, when these two
factors are coupled together, it creates a highly inefficient and broken
system.
What were the critical factors in the successful transformation? How did
they transform themselves?
The main critical factor of the successful transformation at British Airways
was the change of focus. Rather than only focusing on the back end
basic function. They worked heavily on both customer and employee
satisfaction to make British Airways a place that people wanted to be.
“Variability in service quality can be driven by factors such as availability
of employees, emotions of employees, equipment conditions, and
weather. Importantly, a high range of variability in service provision has
shown to be a critical factor in a customer’s evaluation of service quality,
leading to negative customer responses”(Cho & Dresner, 2022). Prior to
the change, customers only had stories of their terrible experiences, and
employees were embarrassed to be associated with the company. Once
the company took the time to invest in the needs of both its employees
and customers, making sure both had what they needed to be successful
and have positive experiences, the company took a drastic turn for the
better. Customers began to enjoy their time with the airway and book
more frequently. At the same time, employees were more empowered to
see their jobs through and make decisions without always having to pass
everything off to another level. The company itself was at risk. There
would have been more risk in not making a change than in changing. The
company was hemorrhaging money and taking huge losses, this type of
loss was not sustainable, and the company would have had to close for
sure unless something drastically changed for their good. So in finding
their key weaknesses and improving them along will selling off some of
their less profitable areas and assets, they were able to create a huge
positive impact.
What I would have done differently?
I think it is clear by the results they had that they made good choices in
the turning around of the business. I would make sure that they did not
stop the transformation after the positive results. It seems that after the
initial successful seminars, they continued to attempt the same with less
positive results. They made great progress and got the company back on
a profitable track, but now they have to start planning and innovating to
ensure they don’t fall back into the same place. If I were them, I would
begin with either a four-frame model or star model to continue to plan,
examine, and implement change within the company. They cannot
become complacent. The Bible speaks of many examples where we are
not meant to be complacent in our faith. This also translates to our
businesses. Complacency is the killer of growth. A few of their verses are
as follows Proverbs “For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, And
the complacency of fools will destroy them” (Proverbs, 1:32, NASB).
Revelation “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish
that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot
nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16, NASB) and
Proverbs “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, But the soul
of the diligent is made fat (Proverbs 13:4, NASB).
Reference
Cho, Min, D.-J., & Dresner, M. (2022). The impact of predicted quality
and customer cost on quality assurance behavior. International Journal of
Operations & Production Management., 42(4), 409–439. https://doi.org/
10.1108/IJOPM-07-2021-0456
Ganji, S. F. G., Johnson, L. W., Sorkhan, V. B., & Banejad, B. (2021). The
Effect of Employee Empowerment, Organizational Support, and Ethical
Climate on Turnover Intention: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction.
Iranian Journal of Management Studies, 14(2), 311–329.
Liberty University Custom: Heinz, A. (2021). Leading Organizational
Change. McGraw-Hill/Create.
New American Standard Bible. (2020) https://www.biblegateway.com/