Organizational Change In British Airways: Successful Organization Change

Organizational change, particularly large-scale change, becomes part of the company’s history; therefore, it is crucial that senior leadership plan the change thoroughly. Planning may include understanding the current state of the organization, the external and internal environment, and identifying the organization’s long-term vision simultaneously. Choosing the right approach is significant in the change process as it may be true with British Airlines’ wildcat strike blunder. This blunder is now added to British Airway history where they lost 40 million pounds because of an oversight. Ideally, changes in the organization will have minimal employee impact and operational disruption; however, this is not the case with British Airways when

According to Quiros (2014), leaders must take a holistic approach when implementing change; this includes transitioning people from the past to allow a new beginning. Quiros statement is true, specifically in British Airways’ wildcat strike. Management has failed to look at the organization holistically, rather focus on implementation because it is a great idea. Taking a step back to look at the organization may have prevented the 40 million pound loss. The organization decreased 1,300 of their employees during the course of two years, leaving a low morale in the organization. Current employees will question the future of their imminent employment termination. Absenteeism will soon follow as the employee morale goes down. Absenteeism caused the delayed flights which should have been known by senior leadership, and may have led to delayed process implementation. Finally, management’s oversight also included timing where the implementation will take place five days from management’s announcement. The busy summer season should have been a factor in their execution

The sense-making approach of unfreezing, changing and freezing (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009) was inappropriate in this scenario. Management has made a decision to reduce their workforce continuously; however, the change does not end with the layoffs, rather, it is a continuous change as they continue to reduce employees and focus on the existing employees’ morale. Middle management predominantly executes sense-making approach by as aligning the company objectives with their employees (Banker, 2012). The sense-making approach may have been the culprit of the communication breakdown between employees and British Airways CEO regarding absenteeism. The processual approach was much more fitting with continuous layoff that will allow them to pursue their next implementation. Processual approach is on-going and focused on long-term results while sense-making approach is a prescriptive change. The sense-making approach might have worked if processual approach was established first during the reduction in force, prior to introducing the swipe card implementation. Preferably, British Airways should have engaged in change management approach first to address the system change in a large scale. Organizational development approach would have assessed the entire organization and discovered that the low morale may