The Decision-Making Process of Emirates Airline - Term Paper Example

IT INFRASTRUCTURE and Table of Contents Section on Report of the Organization and Decision Making Process 3 Section 1 –Report on Organization and Decision Making Process 4 Section 3 - Sample prototype of a simple dashboard in Excel using Pivot tables and Charts 12 Section 4 - Conclusion and Reflection 15 Bibliography 17 Executive Summery The Emirates Airline is one of the biggest airlines in the Middle East. This company is a subsidiary of the Emirates Group. The company was established in the year 1985 after the collapse of the Gulf Air. It is owned by the Dubai government and its headquarters in Dubai. The airline is the largest and most consistently profitable airline. This company is in the airline industry which is greatly affected by environmental factors such as politics and economics that decrease the number of passengers. Many companies in this industry develop strategies that enable them to be more effective in order to lead in the market area. Customers have more choices in terms of which airline to use and continue looking for the one that will be able to serve their needs. In order to maintain the business success and to attract more customers to fly with Emirates Airline, the airline has taken advantage of information technology in its strategies, products, and services. The aim of this paper is to look at the decision making process of Emirates Airline and see how information technology helps in this process. This paper consists of four main parts as follows; Section 1 on Report of the Organization and Decision Making Process Section 2 on the Study of Systems for Supporting Decision Making Section 3 on the Sample Prototype of Dashboard Section 4 on the Conclusion and Reflection Section 1 –Report on Organization and Decision Making Process Company summery The Emirates Airline is one of the biggest airlines in the Middle East. This company is a subsidiary of the Emirates Group. The company was established in the year 1985 after the collapse of the Gulf Air. It is owned by the Dubai government and its headquarters in Dubai. The airline is the largest and most consistently profitable airline. Core Business Activities This company is well known for its operations in the airline industries. It coordinates one of the longest flights in the world. The company operates over 1,990 passengers per week from Dubai International airport to over 157 destinations in 6 continents. The company also has a cargo service which is mainly undertaken by the Emirates Group’s Emirates Shy-Cargo division. The main products provided by this company are foods which are given to its passenger on flights. Product and Services This company’s products include meals for its passengers. It however, concentrates in its services by providing flights to different parts of the world. The airline also provides cargo services to its passengers and other customers. The company also provides excellent customer service which helps in improving the processes of the company. Management Structure The management structure of this organization is very tall, starting from the chairman, the president the vice presidents, the executive secretaries, the divisional vice president, the senior vice president, the regional managers, the area managers, the department heads, and the supervisors (The Emirates Group, 2014). Decision Making Process Business organizations need to make decisions on products and services and marketing strategies in order to reach their prospective customer and clients, to retain their competitive advantage, and to be able to sustain growth of the business (SAATY, 2000). The Emirates Airline is in a competitive market which means that the types of decisions made here are crucial to the survival of this company. There are different ways of making decisions depending on the size of businesses and the structures of businesses. The decision making process at Emirates Airline is closely related to the company’s management style. The company utilises the strategic management process which is an ongoing process that evaluates and controls the industry and the businesses that the company is involved with. This is by assessing the goals set and also assessing all the potential and existing competitors in the market. Emirates Airline deals with looking at the strategic plan of the company, the developing initiatives, and the resources that aim at increasing the performance of the company. Strategic management style helps in establishing the objectives, policies, and plans of the company in order to achieve the desired competitive advantage in the travel market. This management style encourages decisions to be consultative where subordinates are consulted by their managers before implementation. This style is like the democratic decision making style that has helped to create a good relationship between managers and the employees of the company. This is because they feel as if they are part of the company. Employees of this company feel that they have a strong decision making role. Management at Emirates Airline involves employees and other stakeholders in making decisions. This company encourages its employees to give their own ideas on how the company can achieve its goals, solve problems that affect the company on a daily basis, and on other decisions that may affect the company. This decision making style has helped the company to increase their profits and reduce costs. Steps involved in this decision making process involve; 1. Identifying the decision to be made if it has not yet been isolated. This is by looking at the problem or gap that is affecting the company either negatively or positively. 2. The second step is identifying the possible decision options from every individual in the company. This looks at the decision alternatives that are available; it is more of a brainstorming step. 3. The third step is collecting processing the best information that can guide in making the best decision. 4. The next step is implementing the decision based on relevant information collected. 5. The final step is evaluating the decision made to determine if the decision is appropriate. This is often done by ascertaining the consequences of decisions made. Apart from making decisions based on the strategic management style, most of the decisions that are made at Emirates airline are the data driven decision making process (Sanders, 1999). Data driven decision making process is a technique that depends on data and analytics. Businesses use sales figures, customer surveys, turnover rate, and market research data in making decisions. A good example is when there is a high turnover which leads to a business’ decision to overhaul the hiring and orientation process. Another example is when a business decides to put on hold the process of purchasing new assets after reviewing its profit and loss statements (BELOBABA, 2009). The Emirate airline decides on new routes depending on the rate of demand of a particular route. For example, when looking at the rate of sales, the management team will compare the level of sales in different routes and the growth of sales. This will determine where the company will concentrate on in terms of marketing and where the company will increase the number of flights. Increase in marketing will be done in routes where the sales are low or decreasing while increase in the number of flights will be done in routes where the sales level are high or increasing. The first step of data driven decision making strategy is to collect data, this can be data on the sales or customer complaints. The second step is analysing the data collected to determine the reasons that lead to, for example, a change in the sales data or an increase in customer complaints. This steps also looks at possible decisions that the company needs to take. The third step involves reviewing the possible decisions in order to come up with the best decision that will lead to the success of the company. The final step involves implementing the decision made. Business Value of Decisions and the impact of good and bad decisions on organizations The value of decisions made in organizations is crucial to the success of an organization. Decisions made can have positive or negative impact to the organization, this can make or break a company. A good decision can lead to handsome profits to an organization. This is because good decisions deal with the problems that affect the organization leading to an increase in the level of productivity. Employees also tend to gain confidence in the management team and leads to an increase in their level of motivation. Good decision making increases the efficiency in the way things are done in an organization which in turn leads to an increase in the level of profits and helps the organization move forward. Poor decision making has a negative impact on efficiency, profit, employee morale, productivity which can help competitors gain an advantage, turnover, and on the overall structure of the organization. Employees usually feel frustrated and loose respect on the management team when there is poor decision making. This also damages the morale of employees (Bruijn, 2010). Section two Definition Decision Support Systems (DSS) are interactive software-based systems that help managers in making decisions by accessing a large volume of information generated from a number of related information systems that are involved in organizational business processes such as transaction processing system or office automation system (Power, 2002). This system is an interactive software-based system that aims at helping decision makers compile information that is useful from raw data, business models, documents, and personal knowledge to identify and solve problems, and to make decisions. This software uses a summary information, trends, exceptions, and patterns using the analytical models (Janakiraman, 1999). Generally, the decision support application can gather and present the following information; a. Current business information on asses. b. Project revenue figures based on sales projections. c. Comparative sales data on a period of time. d. The consequences of different decision alternatives considering past experiences and the context in which the decision is being made. How DSS is used in Emirates Airline As crew costs forms the second biggest expenses in major airlines after the cost of fuel, the management of the crew becomes crucial in the overall operation of the airline industry. A decision support system is useful in covering the complete life cycle of airline crew scheduling process in the Emirates Airline. This is useful in building up crew schedules and fixes pre-schedules activities to crew members within a certain planning period. This system also updates crew members when necessary. Software/technology used Another technology that is applied in this company is the profit planning system that aims at setting out a profit target for a period. Profit is crucial to the success of any business because it shows the performance of an entity. In this system, the input is the revenues and the expenses of the company (PEASE, 2007). The difference between the revenues and the expenses gives the output which is the profit of the organization. This company greatly utilizes the internet technology in the way it operates. This has internet-based ticketing that has enabled the airline reduce the costs of labour and commissions altogether in order to improve the performance of the company. This technology also helps the company has access to a wide variety of customers who are in different parts of the world and also improves passengers’ mobile based services. The mobile service is another technology that is greatly used in this company where passengers are informed about their flights and any delays. Today, customers are able to make payments through their mobile phones. The company utilises the Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP) to market its products and services to existing customers and potential customers. This is on top of the usual strategies of offering discounts to passengers who buy tickets early. Effectiveness This technology is effective where it helps the company determines its performance by accurately pricing its products and services. This technology also helps companies focus on the rights activities at the rights time which helps the company keeps its profits high. The gaps in this system is in the setting the prices of products and services because it cannot be accurate. This is because other factors can affect the pricing of products and services like the buying patterns of customers which is always changing. Section 3 - Sample prototype of a simple dashboard in Excel using Pivot tables and Charts Sample Data on Intangible Assets Intangible Assets   Goodwill Service Rights Trade Names 2012 564 162 19 2013 564 162 19 Pivot Table   Data       Sum of Goodwill Sum of Service Rights Sum of Trade Names Total 1128 324 38 Benefits A pivot table is a program that allows organizations to reorganize and summarize rows and columns selected in a spreadsheet or a database in order to obtain a desired report. This report is useful in large amounts of data that needs to be summarised (ROCKOFF, 2014). The person who will benefit from the 3 Pivot table summary include the management team in the decision making process (FERREIRA, 2007). These tables help in tracking expenses in a more efficient manner and helps in spotting any alarming trends in expenses (WALKENBACH, 2007). These tables can be able to solve the problems of monitoring expenses which can differ depending on factors like season. This method can come up with a trend that can show the company on when expenses are expected to be higher because of seasonal effects (Dalgleish, 2006). Pivot Chart A pivot table is a program that allows organizations to reorganize and summarize rows and columns selected in a spreadsheet or a database in order to obtain a desired report (ANDERSON, 2012). This report is useful in large amounts of data that needs to be summarised. To be able to compare data, a pivot chart becomes more applicable. This uses applications in the excel software (ROCKOFF, 2012). In this case, Emirates Airline can be able to compare intangible assets by comparing the sum of goodwill, the sum of service rights and the sum of the trade names over the two years. Section 4 - Conclusion and Reflection Conclusion The Emirates Airline is one of the biggest airlines in the Middle East. This company is a subsidiary of the Emirates Group. The company was established in the year 1985 after the collapse of the Gulf Air. It is owned by the Dubai government and its headquarters in Dubai. The airline is the largest and most consistently profitable airline. This company is in the airline industry which is greatly affected by environmental factors such as politics and economics that decrease the number of passengers. Many companies in this industry develop strategies that enable them to be more effective in order to lead in the market area. Customers have more choices in terms of which airline to use and continue looking for the one that will be able to serve their needs. In order to maintain the business success and to attract more customers to fly with Emirates Airline, the airline has taken advantage of information technology in its strategies, products, and services. Business organizations need to make decisions on products and services and marketing strategies in order to reach their prospective customer and clients, to retain their competitive advantage, and to be able to sustain growth of the business. A good decision can lead to handsome profits to an organization. Poor decision making has negative impact on efficiency, profit, employee morale, productivity which can help competitors gain an advantage, turnover, and on the overall structure of the organization. Decision Support Systems (DSS) are interactive software-based systems that help managers in covering the complete life cycle of airline crew scheduling process in the Emirates Airline. This is useful in building up crew schedules and fixes pre-schedules activities to crew members within a certain planning period Reflection This assignment was education and an eye opener on the importance of good decision making process. From the research conducted, it is clear that good decision is the one that involves every individual in an organization. These are people from top management to the operational level. Input from employees at operational level is crucial and should not be ignored because they know real issues that affect the daily operations of an organization. Bibliography ANDERSON, D. R., SWEENEY, D. J., & WILLIAMS, T. A. (2012). Modern business statistics with Microsoft Office Excel. Mason, OH, South-Western Cengage Learning. BELOBABA, P., ODONI, A., & BARNHART, C. (2009). The Global Airline Industry. Chichester, John Wiley & Sons. Bruijn, J. A., Heuvelhof, E. F., & Veld, R. J. (2010). Process management: Why project management fails in complex decision making processes. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Dalgleish, D. (2006). Excel pivot tables recipe book: A problem-solution approach. Berkeley, CA: Apress. FERREIRA, W. N. (2007). Exceller: a step-by-step guide to creating your decision support systm in Excel. Charleston, South Carolina, Booksurge. Janakiraman, V. S., & Sarukesi, K. (1999). Decision support systems. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India. PEASE, W., ROWE, M., & COOPER, M. (2007). Information and communication technologies in support of the tourism industry. Power, D. J. (2002). Decision support systems: Concepts and resources for managers. Westport, Ct: Quorum Books. ROCKOFF, L. (2012). Data analysis with Microsoft Access 2010 from simple queries to business intelligence. Boston, MA, Course Technology PTR. ROCKOFF, L. (2014). Microsoft Excel 2013 for the business analyst. Boston, MA, Delmar. SAATY, T. L. (2000). Fundamentals of decision making and priority theory with the analytic hierarchy process. Pittsburgh, PA, RWS Publications. Sanders, R. (1999). The executive decision making process: Identifying problems and assessing outcomes. Westport, Conn: Quorum. The Emirates Group, 2014. Leadership. 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