British Airways - Managing Business Activities to Achieve Results - Case Study Example

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT Unit Task interrelationship between the company functions and processes. Business processes refers to the collection of interrelated activities and tasks that are aimed at creating a service or a product for the client base of a company. The processes at British airways include, operation process, supporting process and management process. Management process at the British airways entails corporate governance and strategic management. Strategic planning in the management process includes financial objectives, business plans, risk management, continuity planning, quality control, contingency plan, disaster recovery, and finally IT threat. On the other hand operations processes involves the core functions of British airways which include transporting of passengers and cargo faster, safely and comfortable.1 Other activities also included in the operational process include marketing, purchasing, sales, and manufacturing. These processes have seen the company grow tremendously in terms of the supporting activities, human resource management, and technology advancement and in the procurement departments. Another component that has seen the growth of British airways is their organizational structure which is flat structured. The departments in this organization include investment and alliances, planning, commerce, engineering, flight operation, IT, finance, human resource, and law. The functions of British airways on the other hand refer to the services and products offered by the airline. This ranges from international to domestic carriage of mail and cargo, and auxiliary services. 2The company comprise of British airways, BA connect limited, British Asia airways, and others. The mission and objectives of the company clearly demonstrate the purpose of the company. In the mission statement the company is out to be the most exclusive and first choice airliner for every airline traveler.it is also aiming at becoming the world’s first global airline. This can only be achieved if the processes are applied efficiently in order for the company to conduct its operations as usual. Processes and functions of the company tend to go hand in hand as they are interdependent in achieving the goals of the company. Good processes tend to help the company realize its goals and thus improving the functions and growth of the company. For example good processes like good management practices and marketing practices that the airline has maintained by building customer loyalty. The structure of British airways has adopted the McKinley 7S model which includes style, skills, staff, systems, shared values, structure, and strategy. This structure has a role culture that aids the company in conducting its business.3 This involves a politicized approach, the specialist, cooperation, competition, functionalist, and the service oriented. Transformation system is the methodology used in mapping the processes of British airways. The success of the company is mostly attributed to the prudent use of their processes. For example the airline has been among the leading airlines in providing comfort to its customers. The company also uses utilizes its resources effectively thereby broadening the reasons for its existence and functions. The company has also applied its operational management in transforming inputs such as labor, capital, equipment, and land to their advantage thus demonstrating a complete interrelationship of processes and functions of the company. Task 2: Development and implementation of operational plans. In the development and implementation of operational plans, development of clear objectives is a key prerequisite. These goals should be reliable throughout the business functions. Therefore, in this situation the company will have to effectively plan for future occurrences. The main reason for planning in advance is to help in identifying any changes and also track cost and keep any future adversities under control.4 Making plans at different levels and therefore assigning individuals responsibilities to help with realizing or achieving the objectives of the company. Every activity assigned to the individual includes the deployment of resources which are normally converted in day to day performance with policies and quality of behavior. Considering a time when insecurity has been on the rise and especially terrorism. Most airlines are coming up with measures to ensure the safety of their clients and staff at any given moment in case of an attack. It is therefore important that British airways emulate their competitors in order to establish a competitive advantage. Bearing this in mind it is important to develop objectives and goals that are SMART. That is objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic and time bound. Therefore, with an objective of trying to increase security to combat terrorism, a specific goal would be to increase security in order to ensure safety of passengers and staff during flight sessions. A measurable aspect of this objective will be to ensure that searches are thoroughly done. Use of metal detectors to be increased and security men added in order to beef up security in the airports and even on the cabin. Hand luggage of passengers could also be reduced in order to manage the amount of luggage per passenger. This will ensure proper management of cargo which may pose threat to the lives of the passengers. Additionally anti-terrorism drills would be beneficial to help curb the rising insecurity in the aviation industry. Achievable aspect of this objective would be an additional security staff with funds that can sustain the move. The realistic aspect of this goal is that terrorism is real and it is being witnessed the world over. Therefore, in trying to counter it the company must be in a good financial position to handle the matter. Task 3: systems and monitoring organizational performance Performance appraisal is one of the management tools that have been applied by British airways in the analysis of performance, evaluation, monitoring and improving effectiveness in individuals. This method usually aims at assessing the performance, potential, and development needs of employees. It is a good indication of the company’s performance. In the quest to achieve strategic objective it would be better if British airways measure human resource performance in business. The main core of the company being service delivery this method of assessment will be beneficial to the company as it will encourage members of the staff to continue working towards giving quality.5 The use of IT as a quality system will see the service production to the customers improve. For example encouraging online flight bookings encourages faster service delivery thus having a positive impact on the total quality management on services delivered by the company to its customers. The company should manage risks and costs by analyzing the market and considering what service to be offered and at what times. The company has also focused on prevention approaches of business management rather than the corrective which has proved to be quite costly when compared to the preventive approach. The systems applied in the management of companies tend to interrelate with the organizational performance in that effective and efficient systems will lead to greater organizational performance. For example through the performance approach, the use of IT and offering of refresher courses to the staff of British airways has seen the airline become the leading airline in the industry. Therefore, it would be appropriate to continue integrating quality systems with organizational performance to realize maximum benefits from the services offered to the customers by the airline One other aspect of organizational performance that has seen the airline lead in the aviation industry is the formal structure that poses rules and procedures that enable swift operations considering its size and scope globally. Some of the changes that the airline experienced in its management structures are the reduction in the management layers between the chief executive and the frontline.6 This has led to the company having a small collection of staff who is working in parallel with the formal structure having responsibilities that cut across dissimilar functions. This has to some extent interfered with service delivery because of lack of specialization. Task 4: Health and Safety of British Airways Company. Health and safety is the discipline that deals with ergonomics and occupational medicine or health promotion. Health and safety programs have been able to show beneficial effects in the corporate world by impacting positively in various departments of the workplace. The direct business profits and productivity such as reduced compensation claims and reduced absenteeism thereby proving to be efficient in the management of business activities to achieve results. Indirectly, health and safety tend to reduce employee absenteeism, reduced staff churns and improved corporate reputation. Occupational medicine tend to rely on the principle that people perform better when they are physically and emotionally able to work thus improving productivity which in turn lead to higher profits. If British Airways Company endorses good health promotion practices, then the company is bound to increase its productivity and thus increase revenue and profit.7 Therefore the following procedure will demonstrate how to carry out risk assessments. This process involves identifying the potential hazards in the workplace environment and determining the level of significance of the hazard both potential and actual. Controls are then developed to ensure that the risks of harm and injury are eliminated, minimized and isolated. Identification of potential hazards is the other step involved in risk assessment in companies and organization. In identifying potential hazards for British airways the following resources ought to be used; occupational safety and health service guidelines and trade based codes of practice together with other publications like safety alerts and approved codes of practice. Hazard profiles for specific trade groups in the industry, for example the clients/customers, employees and the management team of British airways.8 Workplace experience and consultation such as safety and security trainings with employees/workers and volunteers in the task to be undertaken are also other components of hazard identification. In assessing risks a risk class is determined for every potential hazard identified at the workplace. A risk form is then designed to help in managing the risks identified. In the various classes risks will be categorized into high, medium, and low risk. Higher risks are those that have the potential to kill or disable an individual permanently while medium risks refer to those that are in a position to cause serious injury or illness and is likely to cause a temporary disability. Lower risk is those that have the potential to cause minor injury which may not disable but call for a first aid. Selection and use of the risk class will then be determined. All class A and B which are referred to as significant hazards and associated risks are then recorded on a detailed Job Safety Analysis record. Volunteer manager or employee’s responsibility is to ensure all introduced hazards are communicated to the safety and security manager. Class C risks also classified as lower risks are supposed to be minimized as possible and then recorded in the current hazard register and not in the Job Safety Analysis. The current safety and security measures are mainly focusing on operational flying, the working environment, and the assets utilized by the company. Little focus has been put on the safety and health of the customers and employees attending to the customers. More efforts should be directed towards ensuring that the passengers boarding the fleets so that in the case of an emergency or an accident the chances of survival and evading serious injuries are increased. It is against this backdrop that the report goes forth to propose the following staff guide on health and safety in the workplace at the British airways. In this health and safety policy the public will also be given equal priority to that of employees and volunteers. Therefore the proposed guidelines on health and safety for British airways are as follows; British airways are committed to maintaining and providing a safe and healthy workplace for its entire staff and to provide training, information, and supervision in order to achieve the above. British airways will take full responsibility for health and safety procedures. However, employees are also required to comply with the company’s health and safety policy as they take responsibility of their welfare at the workplace. Therefore, the following guidelines require employees to take part in maintaining a safe and a healthy workplace through; Adhering to the correct equipment and procedures. Getting involved in the health and safety systems at the workplace. Wearing personal protective equipment at all times during working hours. Ensuring all forms of accidents and incidents are reported.9 Helping new visitors, employees, and trainees to understand the existing safety procedures and their application. Dumping of waste products should be done according to the policies regulating industrial waste management. Bibliography Drucker, Peter Ferdinand. Managing for results: economic tasks and risk-taking decisions. Routledge, 1999. Figge, Frank, Tobias Hahn, Stefan Schaltegger, and Marcus Wagner. "The sustainability balanced scorecard–linking sustainability management to business strategy." Business strategy and the Environment 11, no. 5 (2002): 269-284. Lambert, Douglas M., and Martha C. Cooper. "Issues in supply chain management." Industrial marketing management 29, no. 1 (2000): 65-83. Leymann, Frank, Dieter Roller, and M-T. Schmidt. "Web services and business process management." IBM systems Journal 41, no. 2 (2002): 198-211. Porter, Michael E. "What is strategy?." (2000). Möller, KE Kristian, and Pekka Törrönen. "Business suppliers value creation potential: A capability-based analysis." Industrial Marketing Management 32, no. 2 (2003): 109-118. Osterwalder, Alexander, Yves Pigneur, and Christopher L. Tucci. "Clarifying business models: Origins, present, and future of the concept." Communications of the association for Information Systems 16, no. 1 (2005): 1. Walter, Achim, Thomas Ritter, and Hans Georg Gemünden. "Value creation in buyer–seller relationships: Theoretical considerations and empirical results from a suppliers perspective." Industrial marketing management 30, no. 4 (2001): 365-377. Read More