Element 011 Management Report

Executive Summary

The report is going to critically reflect a change process that is witnessed in an organization. In this context, the report will focus on the various aspects of change management and its importance in an organization. The organization chosen for this purpose is British Airways, which is quite famous for its change management process in the UK. The various steps taken by the senior authorities of the organization driving a transformation within the organization will be taken into account along with the loopholes of the process. Suitable recommendations will be provided following these drawbacks.

Table of Contents

Element 011 Management Report 1

Introduction. 3

Discussion. 3

Reflection on the change process. 3

Relevant theories and paradigms of change management 4

Recommendations on the lessons learnt 5

Conclusion. 6

Reference. 7

Introduction

The report will provide a brief overview of the change management process that has been seen in the procedural activities of the organizations. Many organizations undergo a change management process for the betterment of their business in the competitive external environment. The report will focus on British Airways, which has been successful in bringing about a change management process for the upgradation of its business. The different kinds of activities performed by the organization will be taken into account concerning the change management process. The lessons learnt from this process will be summarised and suitable recommendations will be provided. The facts will be backed up with relevant theories and models.

Discussion

Reflection on the change process

Organizational change is a very important component in the functioning of an organization as it helps an organization to survive the intense competition in the market and hold a competitive position for itself. Through an organizational change process, a company generally opts for structural, strategic, cultural, or technological changes (Jayatilleke and Lai, 2018). Many reasons could be associated with this change process, such as adaption to the fluctuations of the market, digital transformation, upheaval of the procedures, or expansion of the reach of the company. Many organizations might bring about this transformation for solving internal conflicts of the business.

A typical example of a change management process can be observed in British Airways, which is the largest airline in the UK. The organization is a resultant of four companies, which have conveniently merged up together to form the biggest airline of the UK (Rasnacis and Berzisa, 2017). Initially, the company faced many kinds of problems owing to its massive size and the management found it very difficult to handle the procedural activities immediately after the completion of the amalgamation process (Osei and Chen, 2018). The company could not utilize its resources optimally and a large number of valuable resources had been wasted in ineffective operations. This created a need for transformation in the business.

The company decided to go for the privatization of its services and appointed a new chairperson on the board. The new chairperson, Lord King, decided to introduce a change management program through the transformation and reshuffling of the current activities of the organization (Puustinen, 2020). As a result of this, the company enjoyed positive momentum in its functioning and also witnessed promising financial figures in the business. The first step taken concerning the change process was the standardization of the customer service. The company was incepted in the year 1974 through the collaboration of four companies, that is, BEA, BOAC, Northeast Airlines, and Cambrian Airlines. During this time, the company had high levels of staffing, which made it oversized.

Due to the massive amount of human resources, the company faced a shrinkage in customer bases and lost a high number of valuable customers. This aided the financial losses of the company as the high number of staff was not in tandem with the number of customers and the cost was greater than profit (Kirrane et al. 2017). This issue was detected by Lord King, who decided to restructure the organization for optimizing the workforce with the number of customers. The change process also helped the company in regaining its hard-earned reputation.

King reduced the workforce from 59,000 to 39,000 for boosting up the profit of the organization. He eliminated unprofitable routes and also modernized the fleet. Within two years, many board members have been replaced by new ones under the supervision of King. He also appointed a new marketing expert for creating new marketing channels in the country (Doppelt, 2017). King also announced layoffs of many employees and have always been very transparent with the employees regarding the benefits of such an initiative. He created a sense of urgency within all the members of the organization and trained them suitably to embrace the change process.

Relevant theories and paradigms of change management

The different kinds of theories and models related to the change management process can be described below.

1. ADKAR model – This model has been found effective by many organizations including British Airways. The model describes five important stages of the change development process. These five stages are awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement (Jackson and Tozer, 2020). This model is based on the idea that employees should be empowered and supported while going through this transitional process of one stage to another. Awareness talks about the need for bringing about change within the organizational processes. Desire relates to the emergence of the change process and is a participant in the process. Knowledge describes the way of bringing about the change and ability relates to the ability to incorporate the change into the business. Reinforcement talks about the retention of the change and creating productive results out of it.
2. Kubler-Ross model – This model is entirely employee-centric and helps the employers to take care of the employees and empathize with them. The model outlines five important stages that are prominent in the behaviors of the employees while they go through the transitional process. The five elements are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Denial relates to the unacceptance of the employees while they try to resist the change process. Anger relates to the resistance provided by the employees (Mills, 2017). Bargaining talks about the negotiation that is carried out between the management and the employees. Unsuccessful negotiation results in the depression of the employees. Finally, acceptance is observed when employees accept the change and embrace it for their betterment. However, some of the employees might not be ready to embrace change and therefore, might resign from the organization (Gligorovski, 2017). This model can be related to the change process of British Airways as the feelings, fears, and needs of the employees have been considered in this model.

Recommendations on the lessons learnt

Many lessons could be learned following the change management process of British Airways.

1. The company decided to bring about a change in its leadership when it decided to appoint Lord King as the chairperson of the board (Palmer and Clegg, 2017). Lord King reinstated a lot of valuable resources into the business, which was previously being wasted by the management. It can be learned that resources are important assets and should be used in an optimal way of generating handsome returns. Human resources should be kept in the perfect size and should be proportional to the number of customers for cutting down costs and increasing profits (Moore and Taylor, 2016). Restructuring is needed whenever an organization is over-staffed and human resources should be managed properly.
2. British Airways detected inefficiency in the existing process of the organization. Lord King, therefore, decided to reduce the level of staff and also the production costs. This change was termed as fine-tuning. Lord king gave proper justifications to the employees for such retrenchment and termination of the employees. He was also looking for the privatization of the airlines (Özgeldi, 2016). This shows the dedication and commitment of the leaders towards the feelings of the employees. It can be learned that employees are important resources of organizations and should be taken proper care in situations of change management.
3. Lord King appointed a steering group for improving the customer service of the airlines. A marketing policy group was formed, which initiated the re-organization of the company. Many other program courses were introduced under the name of “Putting People First”, which helped the employees to serve the customers efficiently. All the courses were conducted by the steering group that was appointed and it also intervened with the company decisions (Olins, 2017). The main motive of all the courses is to improve the brand image of the company. Other companies can effectively initiate such courses or programs for the enhancement of their goodwill or brand image.
4. The Chief Executive of the company pointed out the rigid culture of the upper management and subsequently appointed a top management team to strengthen the customer-centric culture of the business (Goyal and Patwardhan, 2018). The transformation took place in the core functional areas of the business such as management, culture, strategy, and operations. This provides a direction to the other companies regarding all the aspects of the change management process and the extent of their importance in the organizations.
5. Another important lesson that can be learned from the organization is the appreciation and appraisal of the employees (Shaikh, 2020). The company decided to distribute awards among the frontline employees, who have put in efforts for the success of the business (Simamora and Bekti, 2017, October). Other employees were also appreciated at regular intervals by the newly formed management of the company.

Conclusion

From the above report, it can be concluded that the change management process is an integral part of an organization and leads an organization to the pathway of success. Change management can be carried out in many ways concerning the core functional areas of an organization. British Airways had decided to balance its cost structure with the profit by standardizing its customer service operations. This can create a benchmark for other organizations, who wish to bring about change in their operational processes in the upcoming days. Supporting theories and models have been provided about the stated change management process.

Reference

Doppelt, B., 2017. Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for business, government and civil society. Routledge.

Gligorovski, V., 2017. Overview of the Implementation Models of Changes and Their Utilization in Macedonian Companies. Ecoforum, 6(3), pp.0-0.

Goyal, C. and Patwardhan, M., 2018. Role of change management using ADKAR model: a study of the gender perspective in a leading bank organisation of India. International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 18(3-4), pp.297-316.

Jackson, S. and Tozer, J., 2020. A VISION FOR DATA SCIENCE AT BRITISH AIRWAYS. Impact, 2020(1), pp.15-19.

Jayatilleke, S. and Lai, R., 2018. A systematic review of requirements change management. Information and Software Technology, 93, pp.163-185.

Kirrane, M., Lennon, M., O’Connor, C. and Fu, N., 2017. Linking perceived management support with employees’ readiness for change: the mediating role of psychological capital. Journal of Change Management, 17(1), pp.47-66.

Mills, A.J., 2017. Man/Aging Subjectivity, Silencing Diversity: Organizational Imagery in the Airline Industry. The Case of British Airways☆. In Insights and Research on the Study of Gender and Intersectionality in International Airline Cultures. Emerald Publishing Limited.

Moore, S. and Taylor, P., 2016. ‘We planned a dispute by Blackberry’: the impact of restrictions on the use of social media in industrial action in the light of the British Airways dispute-2009-11. Industrial Law Journal, 45(2), pp.251-257.

Olins, W., 2017. The new guide to identity: How to create and sustain change through managing identity. Routledge.

Osei, W.A. and Chen, C., 2018. Implementing Change In Organisations: A Study on Limiting Factors for Managers in the Service industry.

Özgeldi, M., 2016. Role of Human Resources in Change. In Organizational Change Management Strategies in Modern Business (pp. 216-229). IGI Global.

Palmer, G. and Clegg, S. eds., 2017. Constituting Management: markets, meanings, and identities (Vol. 71). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.

Puustinen, A.J., 2020. Sustaining an engine of change: a case study on management systems implementation.

Rasnacis, A. and Berzisa, S., 2017. Method for adaptation and implementation of agile project management methodology. Procedia Computer Science, 104, pp.43-50.

Shaikh, A., 2020. Understanding Change: A Critical Review of Literature. Annals of Contemporary Developments in Management & HR (ACDMHR), 2(2), pp.40-44.

Simamora, N.S.P. and Bekti, R., 2017, October. CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND LOCAL CULTURE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF LAKE TOBA. In e-PROCEEDINGS (p. 124).