Managerial Decision Making
Contents
iii. Evaluating Alternatives 3
i. Identifying and Diagnosing the Situation
The problem is that British Airways announced various responses to COVID- 19 after the pandemic sending the industry into free fall. British Airways announced retrenchment for substantial assets and cost reduction. The airline also announced the exiting or discontinuation of services offered by Boeing 747. The decision to ground fewer fleets and job cuts was affected by the national policy to maintain employment. The British Airways retired Boeing 747 and pulled out of LGW permanently. The decision affected about 12 000 jobs constituting about 28% of British Airways workforce (CGTN, 2020). British Airways announced reduced work patterns and job cuts due to travel restrictions (Liebler & McConnell, 2016).
ii. Generating Alternatives
With the global pandemic, COVID-19 paralyzing nearly all the sectors across the globe, British Airways is no exception. The travel restrictions impacted the company’s operations and profitability, thus requiring the organization to implement a cost-cutting decision (Shodiev, 2020). As such, the organization published reports indicating job cuts employees.
The organization may incorporate innovation. Innovating is a strategic renewal of the organization during tough economic times. British Airways should prepare for new ventures to enter new markets and set up joint ventures. The organization should also focus on passenger aircraft into cargo transporters to capitalize on the urgent delivery of medical equipment (Tarki et al., 2020). The approach reduces the costs, and in some cases, enhances employee morale.
British Airways should consider implementing a preservation strategy. The operator ought to address the respective government agency to solicit subsidies and implement preservation moves such as intensifying price competition. Another crucial alternative is implementing crowdsourcing ideas both from employees and other airlines that have successfully cushioned the impacts COVID-19 on its airlines.
iii. Evaluating Alternatives
British Airways’ decision model is based on innovative logistics solutions, low-cost pricing, and efficient operations. The decision alternative adopted focuses on the future, customer experience, and enhancing employee’s motivation. The departments that should evaluate the alternatives include the British Airlines Pilot Association, British Airlines human resource department, the financial and operation, and the financial department (Rhys, 2020). There are also some interested stakeholders such as political parties that are not satisfied with the British Americans’ layoff claims. All these stakeholders must be incorporated.
iv. Make a Choice
As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, the British company is considering some sort of financial actions like employee layoff to cushion the financial impacts of Coronavirus. The British Airlines company has alternative options to effect or make a rational decision making about the issue. The most viable alternative is crowdsourcing ideas from employees. Opening up the floor for ideas and comments from employees may be overwhelming; however, it is crucial for enhancing employee participation (Punzel, 2014). The concept of crowdsourcing should begin by the company articulating the priorities it can take with proven positive impacts on cash flows, lower risk profiles, lower capital requirement, and higher chances of saving jobs. The approach brings all the stakeholder’s viewpoints on board, enhances leadership abilities, and maintains control.
Crowdsourcing ideas from stakeholders enhance organizational performance, culture. It engages all individuals from the firm, nurtures an innovative culture, combat disturbances with employee brainpower, and embrace new ways of driving growth via innovation (Noveck, 2015).
References
CGTN. (2020, July 17). COVID-19 pandemic forces British airways’ 747 fleet into early retirement. CGTN Africa. https://africa.cgtn.com/2020/07/17/covid-19-pandemic-forces-british-airways-747-fleet-into-early-retirement/
Liebler, J. G., & McConnell, C. R. (2016). Management principles for health professionals. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Noveck, B. S. (2015). Smart citizens, smarter state: The technologies of expertise and the future of governing. Harvard University Press.
Punzel, T. (2014). Risks and decision making. GRIN Verlag.
Rhys. (2020, May 30). Why are the British airways unions snubbing redundancy consultations? Head for Points. https://www.headforpoints.com/2020/05/27/british-airways-unions-snub-redundancy-consultations/comment-page-2/
Shodiev, T. (2020). The impact of the global crisis on the economies during the corona virus pandemic and mitigating measures. Journal of Advanced Research in Dynamical and Control Systems, 12(7), 290-299. https://doi.org/10.5373/jardcs/v12i7/20202011
Tarki, A., Levy, P., & Weiss, J. (2020, March 25). Viewpoint: The coronavirus crisis doesn’t have to lead to layoffs. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/viewpoint-the-coronavirus-crisis-doesnt-have-to-lead-to-layoffs.aspx