Air Canada Organizational Behaviour - Essay Example

? 24 March Air Canada team system Air Canada is the biggest full-service airline in Canada. Air Canada has made a number of achievements in its way to becoming a leader in the industry. “It started with Air Canada’s kiosk strategy, through which the company led the industry in deploying “off-site” kiosks at different points in the travel ecosystem, beginning with hotels and eventually considering other possibilities such as car rentals, convention centers and airportbound train stations—just about any place that travelers gather” (“Air Canada: On a never- ending push”). Air Canada claims that it provides its employees with the opportunity of being part of an innovative and diverse team. On their website, Air Canada states their values in these words, “underpinning our Mission and Vision are core Values that inform all we do as individuals and collectively at Air Canada. These values serve as touchstones to guide our actions” (“Mission, vision & values”). This paper discusses the team system of Air Canada. Before evaluating the team system of Air Canada, it is customary to have a brief insight into the types of teams and the process of group formation. Teams are of various types that include but are not limited to permanent teams, temporary teams, task forces, committees, and self-managed teams (“Types of Teams”). These teams differ from one another depending upon the roles and responsibilities of the team members and the team’s life. Permanent team, as the name indicates, is not formed for a particular time. It stays as such even after the task has been accomplished. On the other hand, temporary teams are formed for a certain length of time, and get dissolved after the task has been accomplished. Task force is a kind of team that is developed as per the need of the hour. Organizations tend to form task force to accomplish special tasks. They are commonly employed to find solutions to very complicated problems. Committees are also assigned particular tasks and they may be temporary or permanent. Members of a committee normally share similar views, opinions and attitudes. Self-managed teams differ from other teams in that there is no leader. People decide upon matters through mutual consensus. Bruce Tuckman has proposed a five staged-model of group formation. The five stages are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning (Neil). In the stage of forming, group members unite and interact with one another. In the storming stage, group’s problems are identified and a leader is chosen. In the norming stage, members remove their individualistic differences and agree upon common goals. In the performing stage, group members practice crafts to achieve their common goals identified in the previous stage. In the adjourning stage, group members start departing causing the group to disperse. Air Canada has traditionally provided its workforce with full support to achieve their best potential while working in teams. Air Canada places a lot of emphasis on providing both its customers and employees with safety. Although there is no obvious relation between safety and teamwork, yet safety plays a fundamental role in the development of teamwork. More specifically, it improves the workers’ motivation so that the teams become more effective. Factors that hinder the effectiveness of teams include lack of motivation, group think, lack of clarity about the team goals, dysfunctional conflicts among the team members, lack of communication or poor communication, lack of leadership, and most importantly, lack of accountability (McClain). Feeling safe, employees are able to optimize on their potential to display good teamwork spirit. Open and timely communication is one of the values that are embedded in the organizational culture of Air Canada. Frequent and effective communication among the team members is one of the most fundamental essentials of the development of teamwork. A team cannot exist without communication and interaction of the members. Air Canada facilitates its employees with the necessary technology and other opportunities to ensure that the system of communication is open and transparent. The very transparency helps the development of trust among the employees. This trust creates a bond between the team members. The following paragraph provides insights into some specific cases of team development and functioning in Air Canada. Robert Milton joined Air Canada as COO in 1992. At the time of his joining, Milton found that the airline had different parts which operated separately which had more worth than the overall airline. Milton suggested an examination of the functional areas of Air Canada so that the unrealized value in divisions could be identified. Milton took charge of the airline as the CEO in 1999 and that was when he took steps to realize his idea. A strategy team was formulated by Milton in 1998 for the review of the business structures of the company. This is an example of the task force. Milton asked the group, “How do we do something that will protect the employees and enable the shareholders to do well and the businesses to do well on a sustained basis?” (Milton cited in Rosenthal, Bova, and Thomas 4). The team reviewed the operations of the airline and all of its facets. Milton and the strategy team he had formulated placed a lot of emphasis on the improvement of subsidiaries to enhance the holding company’s value. “Since we all knew what we wanted to do and needed to do, we only had to meet as the whole group once or twice in the whole period. We worked fast” (Brewer cited in Rosenthal, Bova, and Thomas 8). This tells that awareness of the team goals is fundamental to the team’s effectivess and timely achievement of the goals. In December 2010, the customer service offered by Air Canada proved its excellence when the London’s Heathrow Airport was closed by an unanticipated winter storm. The team of Air Canada accepted the challenge and did their best to inform their customers. Customers needed to know about the alternate travel arrangements. The team of Air Canada maintained a constant uninterrupted communication system with the customers and updated them on the effects of the storm on the schedule of airlines. Customers were provided with an alternate channel of communication with the team of Air Canada i.e. Twitter. This is a potential example of the effectiveness of the current team system of Air Canada. The effectiveness of its team system has earned Air Canada a number of rewards in the past. “In 2009, Air Canada received the following awards: “Best in Business Travel”, “Best Flight Attendant in North America”, “Best In-flight Services in North America”, “Best Airline in Canada” and “Best Airline in North America”” (“Air Canada”). Concluding, Air Canada has an effective framework for team development in place. An employee’s association with Air Canada lends him/her the feeling of association with an iconic symbol of Canada. People all over the world are united by the Air Canada family. Executives in the Air Canada share a unique set of values and a strong sense of direction with the subordinates. Although the teams in Air Canada have been tackling their challenges well, yet if I were the leader of Air Canada, I would tend to develop a culture of self-managed teams. Members of self-managed teams tend to be more responsible and dedicated to their job as compared to any other team because there is no one to guide them. Members take the load themselves which adds to their knowledge and training at the workplace so that the whole workforce at every level in the organization structure is transformed into an asset for the organization. Works Cited: “Air Canada.” 2009. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. . “Air Canada: On a never- ending push to make life simpler for the customer.” 2011. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. . McClain, Robbin. “What Hinders Team Effectiveness?” 27 June 2011. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. . “Mission, vision & values.” 2009. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. . Neill, James. “What are the Stages of Group Development?” 15 Aug. 2004. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. . Rosenthal, Jean W., Bova, Francesco, and Thomas, Jacob. “Air Canada: Selling the company by the slice.” 15 Oct. 2007. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. . “Types of Teams.” 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. . Read More