Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Need for major changes
• 2.1 Privatization
• 2.2 Financial losses
• 2.3 Poor customer service
• 2.4 Stringent culture
• 2.5 Lack of initiatives
• 3. Changing the culture
• 3.1 Efforts to “Humanizing” the culture
• 3.2 Changing leadership style
• 4. Customer care initiatives
• 5. Changes to reduce costs
• 6. Changes in employee management
• 7. Changes in the hierarchy
• 8. Changing brand image
• 8.1 Advertising campaigns
• 8.2 Promotional campaigns
• 9. Changes in the safety services
• 10. Innovative programs
• 10.1 Putting people first
• 10.2 Managing people first
• 10.3 A day in the life
• 11. Evaluation
• 11.1 Criticisms
• 11.2 Effectiveness
• 12. Conclusion

Description

The organization that has been chosen for the case study is British Airways. The case study highlights the organizational changes that were implemented in the early and mid 1980s to transform British Airways from an under-performing and least preferred international carrier into the one of the most profitable and admired airlines. In the early 1980s, the reputation and overall brand image of British Airways were deteriorating steadily (“Corporate Identity and Corporate Brand Alignment: The Strategic Positioning of British Airways in the 20th Century”). A number of external and internal pressures created a demand for urgent and drastic changes in the way the airline was being operated (“Corporate Identity and Corporate Brand Alignment: The Strategic Positioning of British Airways in the 20th Century”). From the point of view of the organization, innovative and fresh ideas were necessary at that point of time in order to survive in the competitive market. In order to achieve this purpose, a new chief executive officer and was employed to design an effective survival strategy for the organization. Also, a new set of managers were appointed at various key departments to execute the strategies properly (“Corporate Identity and Corporate Brand Alignment: The Strategic Positioning of British Airways in the 20th Century”). Major changes were implemented to alter the culture that existed within the organization (“Corporate Identity and Corporate Brand Alignment: The Strategic Positioning of British Airways in the 20th Century”). The new management team followed a systematic approach to introduce a new culture within the organization. The entire transformation was a complex and comprehensive process that lasted for roughly twelve years and involved a number of key initiatives, including but not limited to the culture change initiatives. The process that was followed to implement the changes closely resembled the strategies recommended in planned organizational development change intervention theories (“Corporate Identity and Corporate Brand Alignment: The Strategic Positioning of British Airways in the 20th Century”). As a first step, the administrators implemented strategies to reshuffle and change or “unfreeze” many of the existing cultural trends. This was achieved by a number of programs, training and interactive sessions with the employees. Besides, major initiatives were also taken to change a number of other aspects of the organization. The next step involved thorough efforts on the part of the management to ascertain that the changes become an inherent part of the functioning of the organization. The strategies followed by the management team have received both criticisms and widespread appreciations from both inside and outside the organization.