Managing Change and Leadership: A Case Study of British Airways

Managing Change and Leadership: A Case Study of British Airways

Introduction

Managing organisational change is the process of making the plans and decisions, then taking the actions required to implement those plans and decisions to bring about a new, different set of behaviors in a group of people working together in an organisation (Stacey, 2002). This is no simple task. To manage organisational change, first a set of goals and objectives must be established. This is necessary to provide unified criteria for success once achieved. Next a plan must be made in sufficient detail to describe what steps must be taken and how those actions must be implemented to move the organisation toward the achievement of its goals and objectives.

Although the preceding steps seem clear and straightforward, they are not. Often people—management and companies do not understand how to effectively manage, because the causes and effects of their actions are separated by so much time that the relationship between them is obscured and no learning results. To effectively manage organisational change, four points must be accepted as valid:

There is much to be learned from studying the past—or many mistakes will be repeated.

People are the most important factor in success, yet we often mistreat them and seldom value them enough.

Technology is essential but not sufficient for success without the involvement and cooperation of people.

Knowledge is power. Education and information combined with experience is the source of knowledge. (This is the basis for a new competitive advantage.) (Stacey, 2002)

In organisations today, getting people to change is still the greatest obstacle to managing organisational change. It is often necessary to move people out of their “comfort zones” before they will even consider changing. Consider the following groups of people. Frequently the largest challenge is to get executives to understand that the leaders of British Airways must change or the whole initiative will fail because it lacks their understanding and support when things get tough.

Middle management ranks often face the most difficult dilemma in managing organisational change, because they are caught in the middle between hourly employees who aren't sure why they should change in the first place and top management who thinks it doesn't really need to change if everyone else will.

People often say that the only thing in life that people can be certain of is change (Stacey, 2002). The last half of the twentieth century brought great changes to organisations and organisational leadership. The initiation of total quality improvement programs (efforts designed to decrease production errors and waste or to improve services), the impact of globalization, changing demographics and worker values, a greater emphasis on participative and higher employee involvement strategies, new information, and manufacturing technology were just a few of the trends that caused organisations to focus on change management, which is the practices, models, and theories that leaders use to help individuals and groups adapt to changes in their environment (Stacey, 2002).

British Airways

Ans: British Airways has a worldwide network, is one of ...