Emirates Airline and Its Operations - Coursework Example

OPERATION MANAGEMENT OF EMIRATES AIRLINE and Table of Contents Executive Summery 3 Introduction 3 Information and Analysis 4 Current Operations 4 Operational Management Activities 5 Capacity Planning 5 Manpower Planning, acquisition, and control 5 Scheduling 6 Managing for quality 7 Material Control 8 Cost Control 8 Training and development for employees 9 Facility location and layout planning 10 Conclusion 10 Recommendations 10 Bibliography 12 Appendices 14 Executive Summery Emirates Airline was founded in the year 1985 and started small after the collapse of the Gulf Air. This company is owned by the government of Dubai. The first flights were to Karachi then later to India. The airline soon expanded and started operating worldwide. The airline is now one of the largest and most consistently profitable airlines. It has been largely successful due to its competitive strategies. The main aim of this airline is to maintain a global brand by maintaining its reputation and the quality of services it provides. The success of the airline revolves around its customers because their perception of the airline is what determines its success. Introduction Operational management (OM) is an organization technique of organizing its operations in order to achieve the objectives of the organization (HOFFMAN, 2009). This process helps organizational management plan operations in a way that will make sure that things run smoothly. Increase in competition between companies today has helped then realised how crucial this activity is and are investing in efficient operations (WILD, 2003). This paper takes an analysis of Emirates airline and its operations. It also looks at the challenges that the company faces in its operations and gives recommendations on how to improve its operations. The paper also gives a conclusion based on the analysis. Information and Analysis Current Operations Below is a summary of the operations in Emirates Airlines Operational Management Activities Capacity Planning Capacity planning is the process of determining the capacity of production that an organization needs in order to meet the changing demand of a product or a service in the market. An effective capacity planning looks at the maximum amount of work that an organization is able to complete in a given period of time in conditions of delays, material handling problems, and quality problems. This is crucial because differences between demand from customers and the capacity that the organization has results to inefficiency which in turn leads to unfulfilled customers. Emirates Airline has been able to achieve this by forecasting its customers travel behaviours. This is usually easy for many airline companies because most of their customers have the same behaviours. The demand is high during summer when many people travel a lot for vacation trips. People also travel to destinations when there are big events like the Olympics. Manpower planning, acquisition, and control Manpower planning, acquisition, and control are part of human resources management. This makes sure that the right employees are available in a company when needed. This process also makes sure that organizations get the maximum amount of benefit from its employees (DRANSFIELD, 1998). To survive in a competitive market, organizations need to identify and forecast their human resources needs. Organizations need to access their past trends, evaluate their present situation, and project what human resources will be needed to achieve the organization goals. Once they have done this, organizations recruit the required employees to fill vacancies. Acquisition involves attracting qualified candidates to apply for vacant positions. This process can be through advertisements, recommendations, educational institutions, e-recruiting, and professional organizations (PRICE, 2011). Employee control is the process of managing current and future employees in order to achieve the objectives of the organization. After finding the human resource needs in the organization, Emirates Airline posts the vacancy online. Candidates complete an online application form and apply for positions. Short listed candidates then go through an interview process. Successful candidates receive communication advising them of the output (The Emirates Group, 2014). The company controls its employees through trainings and by laying out rules and procedures to be followed by employees. However, the company faces the challenge of finding the right type of employees through e-recruitment. The company needs to make sure that the image of the organization is not damaged by the type of employees it employs. To be able to overcome this, the company needs to invest in training new and current employees so that they perform as expected. Scheduling This involves setting the number of hours and days an employee works in a period of time. There are no requirements regarding scheduling and the number of employees that employees can be scheduled to work (MATHIS, 2012). Job scheduling depends on an organization. Service organizations operate on a flexible schedule. This allows employees to work hours that differ from normal working hours of other companies. In Emirates airline, pilots and air hostess operate on a flexible schedule. This is because they travel from one country to another meaning that they experience time change. They work during the hours when they are flying with breaks in between once they reach the destination. Other employees in the airline work in shifts. In this process, there is the risk of facing challenges when balancing the time between work and personal activities. The company needs to schedule work in a way that employees are still able to rest. This will increase employee job satisfaction and therefore increase the performance of the company. Managing for Quality Quality management is an organized approach of guiding practices and principles in an organization in order to help the organization grow. Managing quality helps organizations increase the quality of goods and services that they provide. This also assists in increasing the quality of staff (KELEMEN, 2002). Quality management includes all procedures that are crucial in attaining the required quality in an organization and also procedures that help in attaining the aim of the quality. The airline industry is no exception to this. This industry is very competitive and companies try to keep pace in the world by providing quality services. This helps companies improve in their competitiveness. Since the introduction of the concept of quality management and the rapid expansion of the service industry and the increased focus on customer satisfaction, quality and quality management has become part of every organization (NANKERVIS, 2005). Emirates maintain the quality of goods and services it provides by increasing the level of innovation. Its slogan “Emirates: keep discovering” further proves its commitment to innovation in order to maintain a healthy competitive market. The airline associates quality with the idea of excellence. It realized that the reputation of the airline revolves around the quality of service it provides. The airline maintains the quality of goods and services to meet the expectations of customers. The company’s strategy is also to hire more staff so that quality is not compromised. Being an international airline, Emirates airline operates in different markets. The company deals with different customers who have different expectations. The variation of customer expectations and quality levels gives challenges to the airline in achieving the quality expectation of all customers. To be able to overcome this problem, the airline needs to encourage its customers to give feedback on the services provided and areas of improvement. Feedback will help the company know what customers in each market expect. The airline can then make improvements according to customers’ expectation. Material control Material control is the system that makes sure that there is a system which makes sure that the required quantity of materials is available at the right time with the minimum capital investment. Material control covers the stock control, purchasing, scheduling, receiving, storing, and issuing materials. Material control is crucial to any organization because materials represent important assets and is part of the largest single item of cost in most businesses. Emirates Airline works with suppliers from different parts of the world where it operates. The company manages its material by using an inventory control system that makes sure that materials are available at all time to avoid delays in the operations of the airline. The airline has been able to succeed in this because they are able to plan in advance the demand of materials by looking at the number of customers who have booked a flight. The company has also been able to determine the seasonal demand from travellers which also helps in controlling materials and at the same time minimizing waste. Cost Control This is a strategy of controlling business operational expenses. Businesses look at the expenses that they incur in a given period of time. They then look at the costs that are not reasonable or those which can be reduced. For any organization to be successful, the expenses need to be reduced so that they do not deplete the profits. The company controls its costs by increasing efficiency. So far, it has been able to succeed by training its employees so that no wastage is seen in operations that would lead to delays or poor quality of food. The company has also been able to buy products in bulk which entitle then to discounts that also helps the company control costs. Training and Development for Employees Training and development of employees is crucial to the success of any organization. With the increase in competition, continuous training is crucial in helping employees improve on their performance which will in turn help in enhancing the performance of the organization (Noe, 2012). Employee development looks at the long term performance of an organization and at the same time aims at inspiring the lives of employees. Emirates Airline faces a lot of competition from big airlines like the British Airline. To be able to survive in this industry, it applies the strategy of satisfying its customers. This is by making sure that the quality of services provided is equal to the expectations of the customers. Training and development makes sure that the airline services equal to customers expectations. Emirates Airline concentrates on training its employees in order to fulfil the objectives of the organization. However, challenges are seen in training where employees are not able to train continuously. This is because it is hard to train on job especially for air hostess and pilots. To be able to overcome this, the job schedule should include off-job trainings. They need to be scheduled in a way that a year does not passes by without retraining an employee. Facility Location and Layout Planning Facility location and layout planning is where an organization is physically located and the way the business facility is arranged. The location of a business is crucial to the success of any business. A good location is one which is easily accessible to customers and its employees. Emirate Airline is an international airline that is located in major airports around the world. This offers easy accessibility to its customers. The company has also taken advantage of technology by giving customers the choice of managing their travels online. They are able to reserve, book, and manage their travel. However, the problem with this location is exposure to other competitors operating in their airport. To be able to mitigate the risk of losing its customers to competitors, the airline needs to make sure that it provides excellent services at all times. This is by training employees on a continuous basis on how best to deal with customers. This will help the airline maintain its competitive advantage and its customers (ZANJIRANI, 2009). Conclusion Finally, having discusses the operational management of Emirates airline, it is clear that the company has good strategies in its operational management. Even if it faces a number of challenges, the company has been able to attain high class status. With improvement in some areas in the analysis, the company will be able to maintain its competitive advantage for a long time. Recommendations In order to improve the performance of the company below is a summary of the recommendation; 1. The airline needs to encourage its customers to give feedback on the services provided and areas of improvement. Feedback will help the company know what customers in each market expect. The airline can then make improvements according to customers’ expectation. 2. To be able to overcome this, the company needs to invest in training new and current employees continuously so that they perform as expected. 3. The company needs to schedule work in a way that employees are still able to rest. This will increase employee job satisfaction and therefore increase the performance of the company. Bibliography Bibliography Dransfield, R., 1998. Human resource management. Heinemann: Oxford. HOFFMAN, K. &. BATESON. J., 2009. Services marketing: concepts, strategies & cases. s.l.: Cengage Learning Services. KELEMEN, M., 2002. Managing quality: a multi-disciplinary approach. London: SAGE. MATHIS, R. L. &. J. J. H., 2012. Human resource management: essential perspectives. Sixth Edition ed. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning. NANKERVIS, R., 2005. Managing services. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. Noe, R., 2012. Employee Training and Development. 6th ed. s.l.:McGraw-Hill Higher Education. PRICE, A., 2011. Human resource management. Andover: Cengage Learning EMEA. The Emirates Group, 2014. Emirates Group Careers. [Online] Available at: https://www.emiratesgroupcareers.com/english/Careers_Overview/group_security/recruit_process.aspx [Accessed 18 01 2014]. WILD, R., 2003. Essentials of operations management. 5th ed. London: Thomson Learning. ZANJIRANI, R. &. HEKMATFAR. M., 2009. Facility location concepts, models, algorithms and case studies. London: Heidelberg. Appendices OM- Operational Management Read More