British Airway Case Study Essay Example
The British Airways Swipe Card Debacle
Introduction
On July 18, 2003, British Airways (BA) staff held a 24-hour strike (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009). This strike was in protest of a newly introduced system that would electronically record when staff started and fished work for the day. For BA management it was a way to “modernize” its systems, while “improving the efficient use of staff and resources (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009).” Unfortunately, BA staff felt that it would enable mangers a reason to manipulate their work hours and shifts. The poor attitudes and resistance to the change was due to a lack of communication between management and its staff.
Change Perspectives – Key issues The strike that was unauthorized by the labor union was still effective, a wildcat strike as it is commonly called, was caused by what staff felt was drastic changes to the employment system. Specifically, the point of contention was the upcoming introduction of the swipe card system – an electronic clocking-in system to record the start and end of every employee’s daily work (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009). In order to understand the wildcat strike committed by the BA Staff, it is important to note the key issues in each change perspective by the different parties involved.
• Organizational development (OD) - OD is a planned, organization-wide effort to increase an organization's effectiveness and viability. Richard Beckhard feels that OD “aims at improving the effectiveness of the organization in order to help it achieve its mission (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009) and is “long term (generally two or three years) (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009).” BA management did try and improve the effectiveness of the organization, but failed on an “organization-wide” effort to increase effectiveness. This was because of the lack of conviction by staff that this system is ultimately better for the organization. OD focus of the change effort is changing the attitudes and
Introduction
On July 18, 2003, British Airways (BA) staff held a 24-hour strike (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009). This strike was in protest of a newly introduced system that would electronically record when staff started and fished work for the day. For BA management it was a way to “modernize” its systems, while “improving the efficient use of staff and resources (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009).” Unfortunately, BA staff felt that it would enable mangers a reason to manipulate their work hours and shifts. The poor attitudes and resistance to the change was due to a lack of communication between management and its staff.
Change Perspectives – Key issues The strike that was unauthorized by the labor union was still effective, a wildcat strike as it is commonly called, was caused by what staff felt was drastic changes to the employment system. Specifically, the point of contention was the upcoming introduction of the swipe card system – an electronic clocking-in system to record the start and end of every employee’s daily work (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009). In order to understand the wildcat strike committed by the BA Staff, it is important to note the key issues in each change perspective by the different parties involved.
• Organizational development (OD) - OD is a planned, organization-wide effort to increase an organization's effectiveness and viability. Richard Beckhard feels that OD “aims at improving the effectiveness of the organization in order to help it achieve its mission (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009) and is “long term (generally two or three years) (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009).” BA management did try and improve the effectiveness of the organization, but failed on an “organization-wide” effort to increase effectiveness. This was because of the lack of conviction by staff that this system is ultimately better for the organization. OD focus of the change effort is changing the attitudes and