Pricing denotes a turning point for the Emirates Airline in addition to being a high influence department. The major attention of the pricing department is to satisfy diverse target markets ranging from Dubai to the rest of the world and from the rest of the world to Dubai. While strategic pricing relies on seasons, tactical pricing concentrates on confined and short-range sales as well as classes sold on. There are numerous and different tools employed in pricing as outlined in this report. The practice of settling at a price happens as per different listed steps. Operational pricing is answerable to activity price-work packages. It is vital to comprehend fare codes and read them sagely as they signify a fare found on a ticket.
Introduction
Pricing signifies a landmark corner for Emirates airline as well as a department having a high influence on the group. The major concentration of the pricing department is to satisfy diverse target markets ranging from Dubai to the rest of the world and from the rest of the world to Dubai. Competitive analysis exists in a bid to know the price that competitors hold and strive to match them, and market analysis exists with regard to demographic study. Strategic pricing depends on seasons while tactical pricing concentrates on restricted and short-range sales in addition to classes sold on.
The practice of getting a price occurs as per the following steps, viz. instigating a market analysis and deciding a tactical or strategic price, discussions involving outstation and pricing with the aim of concurring on the price, sending concurrence to head office, filling price in ATPCO, and assessing price policy subsequent to its going live. The factors that influence price include competitive pricing policies, product/services of Emirates airline, economic situation, affiliations, seasons, and market share. This report underscores information surrounding pricing coupled with giving recommendations with regard to the Emirates airline.
Strategic pricing department
Strategic pricing department is accountable for the following:
Bettering Route Productivity via optimal network pricing activities.
Checking, reporting and responding to international competitor action and fare charges.
Developing Pricing System and associated systems from a business viewpoint.
Easing streamlining of Procedures and Processes.
Offering Fare Data to Scheduling New Routes.
Pro-actively discovering chances for fare increases.
Scrutinizing fuel price.
Generally, outstations have a tendency of possessing transactions and a structure; slicing corporate into ranks derived from the profits they make for Emirates, and every rank entail a specific discount proportion on flights to various destinations.
Tools employed by pricing
Airfare
Airfare is critical in promoting fares and as well identifying a corporate or a different private section. Airfare permits outstation to know fares being nominated, and permits pricing to endorse it and be aware of competitor fares, either illustrating cancelled, new and revised. The tool permits the station to gather the right information with regard to market and changes the competitors are making.
Route analysis
Route analysis bears significance when discovering unconstructive and weak routes controlled by inward and outward environment. New route analysis generally considers the fare attributes from competitors, and afterward the team scales fares from competitors in the GDS.
Yield analysis
To know the cabin class doing well on a given route, yield analysis is carried out concerning analysis of standard fares for each cabin class.
AQUA reports
AQUA reports have top selling segments with regard to the amount of coupons traded and profits produced for a particular segment. AQUA reports enclose information on passengers that have already flown. This is a vital tool to get sales for particular periods.
Competitor analysis
Competitor analysis is an excel sheet that is updated monthly and is carried out for the far-east continent. It helps outstations to realize the situation of competitors with respect to prices and location of their stations.
Interline agreements
Interline agreements handle other airlines where it has the accountability of trading documents within a segment and as well soaring to an offline segment with a different airline. Interline agreements engages two or more airlines on a similar route. Interline traffic agreements are of three kinds namely:
Uni-lateral agreement- involves EK trading their ticket accumulation but not different airlines.
Bi lateral interline agreement- entails both route interlines, where different agreed airlines trade their ticket on routes EK flies to and does not fly to.
Multi-lateral interline traffic agreement- contains no carrier concurred upon to possess an interline accord with. If a carrier is a part of IATA, they can trade upon their stock. Prior to making a concurrence, EK verifies the financial conditions and risk management capabilities of other carriers, whilst bringing together a security deposit.
Special prorate agreement is a single year concurrence between carriers having an interline agreement, in support of a fixed segment and secured the booking class.
Round the world agreements- entail agreements centered on international paths.
This agreement has advantages that include:
Better cheaper rates.
Higher revenue.
Improved flights to offline sectors.
Pricing distribution
Pricing distribution is a panel of 28 individuals accountable of deciding the fares in every GDS. ATIPCO company is accountable of allocation of fares in every GDS. They have a tendency of helping outstations with any difficulty with fares.
Staff travel
IATA letter is used in acquiring reductions with different airlines for employees, if EK has no relationship with the other airlines. Z fares have two classifications namely: sub-load and confirmed. CAT wider can be reserved for a period of ninety days and below is a confirmed ticket. CAT 90 is offered for close family with just two tickets booked per year for every relative, the employees and wives obtain unlimited tickets. CAT 99 can merely be flown on economy class. It cannot be refunded and re-routing is prohibited. Six coupons are permitted on CAT C firm, CAT wider, and CAT 99. Annual leave ticket is just four routings permitting on a ticket.
Global Distribution Systems team
In pricing, the Global Distribution Systems (GDS) team is accountable for affiliation upholding with GDS’s or Computer Based System (CRS). Outstations are charged on sectors being traded on GDS’s. Interestingly, the prices of fuel in a nation are paid by the outstations. Fairlogics denotes an online platform meant for cancelling out GDS’s and permitting travel agencies examine and reserve inventories on airlines and was accepted by Emirates in the year 2007 and might be a strong substitute for GDS’s.
MIDT signifies a file that encloses every flight and transaction on an international level and much more appropriate information. For security purposes, operation managers have to set a limit on the number of tickets that can be sold by an agency. The amount of the limit hinges on record and the form of financial deals of tickets issued. The operation manager in every nation should always maintain the price of the GDS low and restricted.
Pricing
Operational pricing are accountable to activity price work packages suggested and demanded by outstations. Remarkable terms to discern are sales period, of the time customers can buy; and travel period, when they have to fly on particular dates. Fare codes have to be comprehended and read sagely for they signify a fare found on a ticket.
For instance, TS1MPCZ1; T denotes the class (RBD), while S signifies special fare, 1M the ticket period, P symbolizes promotion, CZ the nation code, and 1 signifies published. The last digit on can contain different integers, where 1 stands for published fare, 2 for private fare, 3 for corporate fares, and 7 for IATA fare (where no fare is given by EK). The starting letter could be B, U, M, E, W, R, or Y signifying annual fares. When a starting letter is X, L, T, or Q, it denotes tactical fares in the order of lowest to highest.
Outstations must check and agree on cancellation regulations and ticket fees. The first stop over are without charge, and the second onwards are charged. Corporate deals as well fall under the management of the team. Outstations generally use a work package to assess the pricing superintendent in addition to estimations, with respect to clear validations specified by the outstation and market aspects. Pricing superintendent generally cuts down fares to obtainable structure for corporate reductions coupled with when an exceptional request is prearranged by the outstation. Fare regulations have twenty categories.
Global deals serve corporations, which can pool more than $750,000. Nevertheless, pricing and outstation have disagreements with respect to reducing prices. The aim of stations is to trade more, while the aim of pricing is to increase yield. When there is a great EK market share, it is not necessary to reduce the price, and outstations must understand this. With respect to corporate deals, special fares according to their particular pseudo number are filled for travel agencies.
Conclusion
Pricing denotes a landmark corner for Emirates airline in addition to a high influence department. The major attention of the pricing department is to satisfy diverse target markets ranging from Dubai to the rest of the world and from the rest of the world to Dubai. Strategic pricing depends on seasons while tactical pricing concentrates on restricted and short-range sales.
Global deals are meant for corporations that can pool more than $750,000 for firms that cannot pool such an amount cannot operate competitively in the global arena. Pricing and outstation have differences with respect to cutting down prices. While the aim of stations is to trade more, the aim of pricing is to augment yield.
Recommendations
Pricing and outstation have to work together and thus handle their disagreements with respect to price reductions with the aim of maximizing profits. When EK market share is high, prices should not be reduced as a way to make higher profits.
Global deals should not be restricted to corporations that can add up $750,000 to avoid locking out some corporations. The main factor should be capability and reputation instead of fund.
Emirates Airline is currently the largest airline company in the Middle East. This company was founded in the year 1985 (“Emirates Airline Profile”, 2012). The company is the “flagship and national airline of Dubai, United Arab Emirates” (“Emirates Airline Profile”, 2012, p.1). It is based outside the Dubai International Airport.
Emirates Airline Company undertakes the operation of the four known longest flights across the globe and has “the largest order of A380 aircrafts” (“Emirates Airline Profile”, 2012). In the present day, this airline has more than one hundred destinations in over seventy nations across the world and has a fleet of over one hundred and eighty aircrafts (“The Emirates Story”, 2012).
The company has been realizing constant expansion of its network even if it is fully owned by the state. Its growth has been realized through competition and not through state protection (“Emirates Airline Profile”, 2012).
The company has been engaging in competition with the constantly increasing number of international airlines which capitalize on the “open-skies” policy that Dubai has put in place (“The Emirates Story”, 2012). The company’s success can be attributed to its effective marketing that enables it to win the competitive advantage and make profits (“The Emirates Story”, 2012).
Putting place effective marketing strategies and methods have enabled the Emirates Airline Company to be very successful in the global market.
Although the company has not been in business for a long time like most of its competitors, it has witnessed constant growth which has enabled it to become the leading airline in the Middle East and having destinations in all the continents of the world. Beginning from the time the company started its operations, it has been working hard to improve on its marketing in order to gain a higher market share.
The company has been using its innovative power to come up with the best marketing strategies that have enabled it to grow. However, with the ever advancing technology and coming up of new challenges with each coming day, there is need for the company to continue being innovative and keep on improving its marketing strategies to ensure they become the world’s leading airline and be able to remain at the top.
This research will aim at identifying any loopholes that may be in the marketing methods and strategies that have been put in place by Emirates Airline and how to bridge them.
Bridging these loopholes or gaps in the strategies will enable this company to improve its performance beyond the present state in order to meet the ever increasing challenges in the market. Relevant objectives as well as research objectives have been set up in this proposal which will serve to guide this research project.
Objectives
To investigate the Emirates airline’s advertisement and marketing methods and strategies that enable it to gain competitive advantages.
To examine how Emirate Airline’s marketing affects its global success.
To identify the marketing changes that have occured in the company beginning from the time the company was established to the present.
Project Outcomes
Emirates Airline Advertisements and Marketing Methods and Strategies
It has been found out that this company engages in aggressive advertisement in order to increase its market share (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012). As a way to realize customer attraction to the highest level possible, the company advertises itself by using a number of slogans.
The strategies employed by this company are aimed at ensuring that there has been exploitation of a number of issues concerning the business environment. Among these company’s branding slogans has been “Fly Emirates”. Emirates Airline Company has been offered a quite unique environment to market its business operations by Dubai.
Some of the other slogans that have been used by the company in the course of time include “’the Finest in the Sky’, ‘Be Good to Yourself by Fly Emirates’, Fly Emirates – Keep Flying’, and ‘When was the last time you did something for yourself’” (Kumar 2012, p.1).
Basing on the researches that have been conducted in the past about the use of the slogans by business organizations, it has been found out that some of the slogans used contribute quite positively towards the business performance by these organizations (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012).
It is pointed out that customers tend to abide by business slogans which seem to point out or deal with the needs that the company can meet (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012).
In the course of time, the Emirates Airline Company has been using the business slogans to hit back at other slogans used by the competitors which had exhibited themselves as being the best airline companies.
Such business slogans as “’Be Good to yourself’ and ‘when was the last time you did something for yourself’ by the Emirates Airline ensure that customers feel treasured and cared for” (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012, p.1).
Just like most other airlines, Emirate Airline has engaged in diversifying the operations it carries out in various industries that are related. This approach has been used by the company in order to make sure that there is capitalizing on any other potential opportunity.
It is reported that, in the past this company has utilized the “Flex-tracks program” with an intention of planning and fully optimizing the efficiency of a number of business routes as well as load factor (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012).
According to other reports, it has been found out that another strategy used by this company is the utilization of what is referred to as “tailored arrivals” and this strategy has been employed in putting the uplinks to aircrafts on route under control 9 Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012).
For airline companies to bring up the level of their efficiencies of their operations, most of them in different parts of the world bring down the level of costs by making use of aircrafts like Boeing 777-3000ER. Such an aircraft makes use of one engine “to taxi aircraft engine thus increasing the efficiency of the whole process” (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012, p.1).
It is true to point out that the Emirates Airline Company has actually been able to put itself in a quite strategic position within the industry. The constant flourishing of the business market in Dubai and this nation’s constant cooperation with the rest of the world has gone on contributing towards Emirates airline’s improved performance.
However, according to the researches that have been conducted, it has been clear that customer satisfaction levels in a large number of the airline companies have remained low (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012).
As a result of this, customers across the world have turned out to be “switchers”; moving their loyalties from one company to the other, on a constant basis. They move with a hope that they would possibly come across an honest company that they could trust.
In the airlines industry, customer satisfaction involves making sure that the clients are given the services about which they have expectations of obtaining from the company on the basis of the price they pay for these services. This also involves making sure that clients arrive at their respective destinations via the shortest route available in the shortest time and at a minimum cost possible.
Emirates Airline has been making efforts to capitalize on the existing opportunities and this company has been doing this by ensuring that it positions itself as the excellent global carrier since this airline by-passes some of the well-known hubs as it moves to various other destinations across the world (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012)
Another strategy that can be employed in order to realize customer satisfaction has involved finding out from the customers in a direct manner in order to be in a position of getting to know what the actual needs of these customers may be.
The use of technology has as well been implemented to a high level to make sure there is integration of the needs of the customers into the business operations in the shortest time and at a lowest cost possible (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012, p.1).
A number of measures have been taken to make sure that there is receiving by the company’s management of the feedbacks that are given by the clients. These feedbacks may be in line with a number of issues that arise in the company which may be linked to the customer satisfaction either in a direct manner or an indirect one (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012).
As another strategy, this company engaged in launching a global campaign referred to as “Kids Go for Free” which has been very successful. Under this campaign the two parents can travel with two kids who are below the age 16 years without paying for them. A discount is also given to these families at the biggest shopping malls within Dubai (Emirates Airline, 2010).
From this initiative, it can be seen that children are turning out to be most vital client groups in a number of industries. It is reported that the “Kids Go Free” promotion was quite successful in 2009 and served to attract more than twenty thousand travelers originating from seventy countries having Dubai as their destination.
Basing on a particular survey in relation to this campaign, it was found that “the average family of four from Europe could save as much as 3000 pounds by taking advantage of the offer” (Bundhun, 2010). Other than the campaign enabling this company to increase its profitability, it also enabled the families to save large amounts of money.
It is reported that, it was not only Emirates Airline that had knowledge about how important the kids market can be but an increasing number of companies also engaged in launching this campaign in order to increase their performance level as well the “customer awareness index” (McNeal, 1999).
The campaign served in assisting Emirates Airline specifically and Dubai in general, to distinguish themselves as “cost-competitive alternative to other destinations” (Kotler, Bowen, & Makens, 2010).
This promotion left a great impact in that the companies in the airlines industry came to a realization of the way to utilize the products of kids in order to draw the attention of families and give encouragement to the parents to engage in purchasing. This campaign is healthy for the domestic tourism and in the year 2008, it made a direct contribution of nineteen percent to the GDP of Dubai (Bundhun, 2010).
How Emirates Airline Marketing affects their Global Success
Over eight hundred Emirates aircrafts leave Dubai every week to other destinations across the world (Calleja, 2009).
It is reported that this company’s flight form about forty percent of the total number of flight movements from and into Dubai and at some point, the Emirates Airline, was targeting to bring up their market share to about seventy percent by the year 2010 without having to compromise their standing for quality (Calleja, 2009, p.3).
It is also important to point out that value creation and goal achievement are very vital strategic principles in the process of globalization. This company has been constantly undertaking its operation with an aim of making their services better in the global market.
In the recent past, this company realized a fresh milestone as “it touched down to vibrant beats of African drums at Cape Town – its 100th global destination in South Africa and also launched a new service to Brazil; a daily non-stop Dubai-Sao Paulo operation effective 1st July 2008” (Travel Daily News, 2008, p.1).
According to Calleja (2009), “attracting customers is the major strategic global principle”( p.3). This company has all the time been seeking fresh ways to innovate.
The company engaged in opening innovative lounge at the “Brisbane International Airport” thus “unveiling the facility that offers a stunning 360 degree view and is the first airline lounge in Australia capable of boarding passengers directly to the aircraft, including the upper deck of the Airbus A380” (Travel Daily News,2008, p.1).
This brings in convenience to the clients and therefore it is a great achievement especially in regard to offering quality and superior value attainment by the customers in comparison with other companies in the industry.
In its marketing, Emirates Airline has also used what is referred to as “global aviation strategy” (Calleja, 2009, p.3). This marketing strategy has enabled the company to achieve success in the global market. In the course of the last one and a half decades, the “Dubai International Airport” has immensely grown to become among the greatest hubs in the global aviation.
The strategy has been employed by the Emirates Airline Company basing on the fact that “its planes can reach any point on the globe nonstop from Dubai and can connect any two city pairs with just one stop in the Middle East” (International Herald Tribune, 2007, p.1).
This company is reported to be having a geographic advantage over all other companies in the industry and “within eight thousand miles, they can reach something like 80% of the world” (Calleja, 2009, p.3).
Marketing Changes in Emirates Airline Company from its Establishment until Now
There has been integration of a number of strategies in this company’s marketing strategies in the course of time (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012). There is a great correlation between marketing concepts within the airline industry and the marketing strategies which are chiefly utilized in such other industries as the hotel industry and tourism among others across the world.
Just recently, Emirates Airline flourished after making sure the focus of their services is put on the “target market” (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012, p.1). It is reported that at the time the year 2000 was ending, this company had plans to come up with a “very ultra-long-haul service” (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012, p.1).
The plan for this service is that it be situated in the “East coast and the West Coast part of the United States of America” (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012, p.1). There were also plans to have more services in Argentina and Australia.
It is also reported that “Fly Emirates business strategies employed in the recent past have seen the business organization overall output increase and the specific traffic flow rate increase to twenty percent from the year 1999 to the year 2000” (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012, p.1).
Seven years ago, in 2005, this company commenced on its operations of the airline to the New York City and this was on a continuous basis. Emirates Airline strategy put in place in this regard enabled the company to commence undertaking operation of A340-500 flight to JFK airport.
In the course of time, the company has also realized creation of several partnerships with some airlines in the Delter airlines and in the U.S (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012, p.1). The initiation of such operations was undertaken in 2001.The enhancement of the company’s growth has been realized through implementation of various strategies in the past.
By the year 2007, Emirates Airline was able to mark its “new non-stop air operation services between most of its major destinations” (Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012, p.1). The company has also been able to continuously capture traffic to Southern Asia as well as North America.
By the company introducing Airbus A380-800, this served as a great move towards making sure it has a better performance within the business market. The strategy put in place in order to ensure creation of additional space in flights played a big role in enabling the company to achieve significantly higher profits resulting from the flights between Bangkok and Dubai 9 Marketing strategy and customer satisfaction, 2012).
Why the Interest in the Project
Considering that there is continued complication as well as competition witnessed in the airline industry, it is important that the marketing methods and strategies that have been and are currently used by the Emirates Airline Company be examined in order for any gaps that are there in these strategies be established and necessary changes which need to be carried out be implemented and submissions of proposals be made to the management.
Indeed, this research will be beneficial not only to the Emirates Airline Company but also to the investors into the industry as well as shareholders and stakeholders in making sure that they receive maximum gains from this company.
I am also interested in this research project because it will offer very important information that relate to the present situation of the business market in which airlines carry out their operations. This information that will be obtained will also be helpful in the optimization of real performance of the small as well as big businesses.
Questions to be answered
What are the Emirates airline’s greatest competitive advantages?
What are the biggest challenges that Emirates Airline encounter in their operations both in the local and global market in relation to their marketing strategies?
In what ways do the Emirate Airline’s present marketing methods and strategies give a reflection of its future targets within the market?
Research Methods
The methods that will be used in this research will involve the use of primary data as well as secondary data collection. Considering primary data, this will be dependent of data collection from the company regarding the strategies they use with the objective of winning the competitive advantage through customer satisfaction.
The opinion of the clients and the potential clients will be collected. A number of opinions of various stakeholders will be put into consideration. The administering of questionnaires will play a big role in making sure that the different respondents who might be in different locations and those that cannot be reached physically can still take part in this research.
Research design
Since the Emirates airline is a multinational company that serves wide array of clients across the globe, it is imperative to note that it has numerous employees and clients from various locations across the globe. Therefore, a suitable research design will be required as part of methodology in order to address this kind of diversity (Creswell 1994, p. 76).
Therefore, a well designed and suitable research methodology will have to incorporate a thorough research study in order to understand how employees are motivated at the Emirates Airlines. Therefore, the research design that will be applied will take into consideration the number of employees in the company and how employees are represented in the company both regionally and continentally.
In addition, the research design to be employed will address all the major international airports and offices of the company that can be used to facilitate communication. This kind of information will be useful as part of the research design because it will enhance gathering of primary data and subsequent analyses.
Due to the complex nature of the ethical and cultural practices experienced at the Emirates Airlines, a qualitative research design will be utilized in order to map out expenses to be incurred in the process of conducting this research study (Doganis 2002, p.54). Besides, more focus will be laid on the descriptive research method so that the acquired data can be understood.
It is important to reiterate that this kind of research design is highly suitable for the study because it gives more emphasis on the much needed information when the actual research study will be conducted.
In addition, the qualitative approach will be used to carry out the methodology part of this research study. As a matter of fact, there will be a well defined method of collecting data from the field.
Data collection
Data collection is an integral part when conducting any research study. This study aims to collect the much needed data using various methods. However, the mode of data collection will have to be compatible with the research design that was chosen above (Hiatt & Creasey 2003, p.163).
Therefore, the aforementioned descriptive research design will employ survey as one of the methods of data collection. The use of survey method in data collection will be made possible through well designed questionnaires. The latter will save both time and expenses needed to collect raw data from the field.
Some of the suggested interview questions that will be contained in the questionnaire include:
Are you satisfied as an employee at Emirates Airlines?
Would you move away from the Emirates Airlines if you secure another job opportunity?
What are the outstanding attributes of this company? Kindly enlist them.
Do you feel like working with Emirates Airlines on every single day?
What motivates you at workplace?
Primary and Secondary Data Sources That are Intended to Be Used in This Project
The primary data collection will involve obtaining information about the strategies that are employed by this company in order to realize customer satisfaction. A direct response from the interviewees through the use of the questionnaires will make it possible for the researcher to formulate, in sufficient manner, a perfect understanding of how efforts geared towards realizing customer satisfaction can be carried out.
Moreover, primary data will make it possible for the researcher to be in a position of obtaining the up-to-date information that will assist in comparing between the past data sources and the sources which are the most recent.
The secondary data sources will include journals, websites and information in books and sources written on Emirates airline. This information will be very important in the identification of a number of roles that have been played by a number of stakeholders in dealing with all concerns that are linked to different marketing strategies used within the airline industry.
There will be availing of a number of issues concerned with the most effective marketing strategies, which have formerly been used and their success patterns through comprehensive studying of the sources which are available, containing the secondary data.
The sphere of the aviation industry in the United Arab Emirates has been developing very actively in recent years, and one of the factors that influence this factor is government members’ active participation. The interest of the Arab Emirs in strengthening local aviation has different reasons – the need to meet modern standards of passenger transportation, providing the military industry with high-quality equipment, and some other causes. One of the members of the UAE government who directly participates in the country’s aviation development is the Dubai Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
His contribution to strengthening the local air transport system is significant, and flights to different parts of the world on convenient and fast liners have largely become possible due to his role in this field’s development. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum is the recognized leader of the Emirates’ airlines. He regularly expresses interest in the development of this sphere, investing in the improvement of this transport industry and cooperating with the world’s largest airlines. Sheikh’s participation in the development program has become one of the key factors that influenced the strengthening of the country’s aviation and the establishment of diplomatic and trade ties with partners.
Sheikh’s Management Roles
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum is the head of the national Emirates Airlines. The corporation was founded in the 1980s and for several decades, under the leadership of the sheik, it has evolved from a small regional carrier with two leased planes to one of the world’s largest airlines with a fleet of more than fifty aircraft (Alkaabi 2014, p. 232). The business of Emirates steadily grows every year, constantly increasing the available capital and acquiring a large client base. Thus, there is a simple explanation for such intense growth. The airline’s top managers controlled by the sheik have developed the right marketing strategy and organized the network of routes in such a way that Emirates Airlines could fully enjoy the advantageous geographical location of its base Dubai airport and the availability of a rich clientele.
Due to the fact that this large industrial and cultural center of the country is in demand as a tourist destination, the decision to strengthen the aviation sphere was unambiguously correct. Today, Emirates Airlines operates on several dozen routes, including the countries of Europe, Africa, and Asia (Ziadah 2018). Such success has become possible primarily due to the role of the Sheikh as the leader of the organization and his interest in innovations and constant improvement of the existing material base. The role of the Sheikh as an effective manager is significant since Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum regularly strives for improvement and takes part in various exhibitions of products of the aviation industry where he enters into agreements with partners to strengthen and modernize existing products (Albeshr & Ahmad 2015). The active participation of the manager in the functioning of the national corporation is the basis of its prosperity and growth, which is invariably expressed in customers’ approval and the stable demand for the carrier’s services.
Sheikh’s Approaches to Work and His Personality
The approach to work as a leader is one of the fundamental categories that determine the success of any enterprise and its sustainability in the local and global market. In the case of Emirates Airline, the active working position of the Sheikh is proof of his interest in the success of his corporation and customers’ satisfaction in the quality of provided services. In order to assess the quality of the manager’s work and his potential as a competent director, it is essential to consider the techniques that he uses in his work. Also, it is necessary to pay attention to the personal characteristics of the Sheikh in order to have an idea of his character and how certain behaviors affect the overall pace of the company’s work. As the basis of this assessment, the Big Five personality model will be used, which allows considering a particular human from different sides. Finally, it is significant to discuss the leadership style of Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum in order to evaluate the effectiveness of his management approach and to consider the primary criteria that determine the specifics of his particular management style.
Sheikh’s Management Approach
One of the main Sheikh’s approaches to the management of his airline is the constant search for innovations and new ways of establishing partnerships. According to Guéraiche (2017), in recent years, Emirates Airlines has significantly increased the range of countries that are included in the list of destination points for Dubai flights. This attitude towards the performance of the manager’s duties testifies that the key task of Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum is to expand the influence of his enterprise and the possibility of organizing flights to different points of the globe for the convenience of passengers.
Dubai is a city that is actively developing as a tourist destination. Therefore, a significant number of visitors come here annually. Nevertheless, many industrial enterprises of this center of the UAE also have a high level of development, which calls for expanding spheres of influence and forging partnerships. Thus, for example, various exhibitions of aviation equipment are a good platform for the demonstration and purchase of new aircraft. As Kennedy, Amacher, and McLaughlin (2017) claim, the sheik uses this opportunity to replenish the material base of the airline with new models and, despite expenses that are inevitable, strengthens the confidence of both partners and clients in the financial stability of the corporation. Investing in the development of the aviation industry, the emir shows that the UAE is the country with not only a developed oil industry but also the state that pays attention to other relevant areas. The transport system is on the rise, and a competent approach to managing the available resources and control over a large staff of employees makes it possible to form a stable and constantly developing aviation industry.
Personality Description
When describing the personality of Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, it is possible to resort to a special psychological concept called the Big Five model. Its essence lies in the fact that the basis of behavior is five key features that are taken into account when drawing up a general analysis of a particular person’s nature and manner of communication. These characteristics include openness, extroversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness.
From the point of view of openness, the sheik is open to communication and is known for his good manners and respectful attitude to others. According to Thani and Heenan (2017), he is a versatile personality who not only takes part in the political affairs and leadership of the airline but also knows how to spend leisure time enjoyably as a fan of football. This side demonstrates him as an open person who does not hesitate in his interests.
Regarding the characteristics of extraversion, the sheik can hardly be called closed. His post assumes constant contact with his subordinates, which cannot provide closure. Regular meetings with partners involve regular conversations and discussions. Therefore, Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum cannot be considered an introvert focused only on his own personality.
When talking about the conscientiousness of the sheik, his diligence and the desire for constant improvement of his projects should be noted. As Alkaabi (2014) remarks, Emirates Airlines has increased its revenues by several dozen times since its start. A big role in this growth is played by the owner of the corporation. His desire to constantly improve production and provide customers with a high level of transportation proves his conscientious fulfillment of the leadership role that is assigned to him.
Sheikh can hardly be considered prone to neuroticism since this diagnosis provides for an increased level of excitement, anxiety, and nervousness. Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum is a good-natured and calm person that has never been seen in any scandals. His manner of communication with his subordinates and partners is always distinguished by courtesy and straightforwardness, which is not inherent in the neurotic.
Finally, from the point of view of agreeableness, the sheik cannot be considered a fully-led person. According to Ziadah (2018), buying a large batch of passenger aircraft from American partners, the sheik did not show servility and clearly indicated the position and cost of the whole purchase. He does not have weakness and helpfulness, but it should not be considered to be stingy. On the contrary, having good leadership qualities, the emir knows where and how to invest so that it could be rational. In accordance with this general assessment, the sheik can be described as a person who is open and pleasant in communication, having a personal position, and desire to work to improve his business.
Sheikh’s Leadership Style
The leadership qualities of the Emirates’ sheik can be regarded as successful; otherwise, he would hardly have been able to build a powerful and competitive corporation. In addition, Thani and Heenan (2017) note that Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum owns a number of other large industries that are also profitable (golf clubs, equestrian organizations, and other businesses). Such participation in the business sphere should provide for a competent approach to the style of leadership so that all the fields could be monitored, and subordinates could justify the expectations of the leader.
When considering the leadership style of the sheik, it can be noted that he uses democratic principles of doing business and cannot be characterized as an authoritarian manager. According to Kennedy, Amacher, and McLaughlin (2017, p.73), Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum effectively allocates resources, claiming that “we are on alert to face any challenges that may arise on the global economic horizon”. The corporate leadership principle encouraged by Emirates Airlines is a testament to the company’s democratic foundations. Sheikh does not take all decisions individually and relies on the help of employees. This approach to work makes it possible to control many areas of work and not to focus on one particular area, which is especially important when managing a large number of enterprises.
The Effectiveness of the Leadership Style on the Organization’s Performance
The use of a democratic or collegial principle of company management enables the sheik to make full use of all the productive resources that are available to him. The UAE is a country with established traditions and norms of behavior where the leader is considered to be a respected person (Albeshr & Ahmad 2015). However, new trends in business provide for the need for flexible leadership when the company is able to adapt to the current business environment. In the case of Emirates Airlines, the stable growth of the corporation, as well as customers’ satisfaction with the level of service, is largely due to a competently chosen management strategy when specialists work to improve appropriate areas. Accounting for the individual characteristics of employees is an essential aspect of activities. When looking at the example of the organization under consideration, it is possible to claim that Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum successfully copes with the role of the person distributing duties among his subordinates. As a result, diligent employees successfully implement all conceived ideas, and the company receives a stable income while being a competitive and sustainable enterprise.
Conclusion
The participation of Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum in the development of Emirates Airlines significantly strengthens the country’s aviation and contributes to establishing business relationships with partners around the world. Sheikh’s approach to work is characterized by the use of modern trends and controlling all the necessary spheres of his enterprises. According to the Big Five model, Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum is an open and conscientious manager who is able to successfully cooperate with partners and control subordinates’ activities. The type of his leadership is democratic, which helps to establish good relationships with employees and at the same time monitor all the spheres of business.
Reference List
Albeshr, H & Ahmad, SZ 2015, ‘Service innovation by Dubai International Airport: the battle to remain competitive’, Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1-18.
Alkaabi, K 2014, ‘Geographies of Middle Eastern air transport’, in AR Goetz & L Budd (eds), Geographies of air transport, Routledge, New York, NY, pp. 231-246.
Guéraiche, W 2017, ‘The UAE-Tunisia diplomatic relations: a subtle balance between economy and security?’ International Journal of Diplomacy and Economy, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 316-329.
Kennedy, WR, Amacher, AG & McLaughlin, GC 2017, Dubai – the epicenter of modern innovation: a guide to implementing innovation strategies. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
Thani, S & Heenan, T 2017, ‘The ball may be round but football is becoming increasingly Arabic: oil money and the rise of the new football order’, Soccer & Society, vol. 18, no. 7, pp. 1012-1026.
Ziadah, R 2018, ‘Transport infrastructure and logistics in the making of Dubai Inc.’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 182-197.
The history of Emirates Airlines is an example of exceptional success and outstanding approach to business creation, development, and maintenance. For more than thirty years, the company has developed and implemented several advertising campaigns, promoting the Emirates brand in various directions, and all of them have been recognized as successful. However, times change and Emirates Airlines requires a new approach to advertising, promoting its brand, and attracting new clients who have substantially ‘evolved’ since the 1980s.
Summary
Emirates Airlines is considered one of the largest and most successful airlines in the world as of today. The company was created in 1985, having only 10 million U.S. dollars of capital and a team consisting of a dozen people. It was founded in March, and in October, the first flight was performed to Karachi. It should be noted that those $US10 million was the only support the company received from the government of Dubai (Balakrishnan, Michael & Kennedy 2013). The Emirates has operated independently since that time, having protection from the government in terms of competition neither at the beginning of the operations nor today.
The company had started business operations with two leased aircraft: Boeing 737 and Airbus 300. After the inaugural flight, only two new destinations were opened: New Delhi and Bombay. The modern fleet of Emirates Airlines includes 171 aircraft with 232 still to come. In 2012, airlines flew to more than 120 destinations located in almost 30 countries worldwide (Balakrishnan, Michael & Kennedy 2013). The Emirates employs about 45,000 personnel, including 14,000 employees as cabin crew.
Such a breathtaking success is the result of the work of three outstanding managers and leaders heading the company: His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and CEO of Emirates Airline, and the whole Emirates Group, Sir Maurice Flanagan, Executive Vice Chairman, and Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airlines (Balakrishnan, Michael & Kennedy 2013). These top executives have implemented numerous policies and development programs, leading the company to the current market position, but the development of the brand’s image has contributed to the overall success of the Emirates the most.
The brand and its reputation became the key to the success of the Emirates. The company has developed several very successful campaigns starting from 1986 and until the latest one launched in 2012. The first campaign, called “Your Oasis in the Sky” was launched in 1986 to present the company in the targeted markets such as Egypt, India, and the market of Pakistan (Balakrishnan, Michael & Kennedy 2013).
The second campaign launched in 1987 and called “Even Time Flies on Emirates,” was coincided with the opening of the United Kingdom market. This campaign was focused on the quality of the service provided by the company and the speed of transportation assured by its fleet. As the loyalty of the current customers has strengthened, the Emirates executives realized that there was a need for new customers to be attracted. In 1992, the third campaign, “Fly Us Once, Fly Us Always” was launched (Balakrishnan, Michael & Kennedy 2013). The company was focused on the inflight advantages (TVs, luxury food, and other exclusive benefits) of services provided by the Emirates.
The need for constant changes was apparent for the management team of Emirates Airlines. Thus, in 1994, the company launched the campaign called “Finest in the Sky,” inaugurated the accumulated achievements of the Emirates in the sphere of customer service, best-offered services on the market, and similar successes (Balakrishnan, Michael & Kennedy 2013). The campaign was focused on the award-winning reputation of the company and the excellence of the services available to the clients of Emirates Airlines. The vision of the company’s managers has evolved according to the evolution of the customers’ needs.
In 1999, the executive team decided to address the emotions of the customers and based the new campaign “Be Good to Yourself Fly Emirates” on the emotional appeal (Balakrishnan, Michael & Kennedy 2013). They have emphasized the importance of details in everyday life and managed to show the Emirates customers how the company values their time and comfort. The campaign appeared to be very customer-centric and won several awards.
Being a significant air transportation market player, Emirates Airlines launched the new campaign in 2002, called “Keep Discovering” (Balakrishnan, Michael & Kennedy 2013). Its emphasis was on the opportunity to try something new provided by the company. The company wanted to show how strong it was at that time and how the multicultural and multinational corporate environment helped the Emirates to provide its customers with the best services possible.
Finally, in 2012, Emirates Airlines launched the new campaign, called “Hello Tomorrow” (Balakrishnan, Michael & Kennedy 2013). The uniqueness of the campaign was in the idea of shifting the position of the Emirates from the usual air transportation company to more than that, to a lifestyle brand. The creators and developers approached this task in a rather unusual and, at the same time, simple manner. The campaign was not positioned as a traditional campaign, used by the Emirates in the past. It has become a brand platform that should facilitate communications, operations, and other processes conducted under the brand of Emirates Airlines.
Evaluation
The overall success of the Emirates is easy to explain if to trace the approach to the building of its relationships with its customers. The company is extremely customer-centric, and it values its customers as the most significant asset. All campaigns under the Emirates brand were built using different concepts and methods, but none of them used the image of a plane or cabin, or something similar.
It means that the stake on the emotional appeal and trust to the company a customer should obtain before and during ones’ first flights was correct and sagacious. Another strategically smart and time-relevant approach to advertising the Emirates brand was its luxury and exquisite quality (Graham, Papatheodorou & Forsyth 2010; Balakrishnan, Michael & Kennedy 2013). People, who decided whether they should use the services of Emirates Airlines or not, saw in the advertising campaigns that the company offered great services and customers’ approach, so using this company’s services should have been worth of money spent. The general concept of the advertising campaign was to make a customer think about comfort, new experiences, care of the personnel, and other things during the flight rather than the cost of it. Such an approach appeared to be extremely successful.
The continuous development of new information technologies and the growing popularity of the internet has brought the new generation of customers with values different from the values of the people born in the 1960-70s (Hetter 2012; Johanson 2014). This new generation does not value luxury and style so extensively promoted by the company in the past as the major advantages of an airline. These people value time, new experiences, and new information. In other words, the generation of ‘globalistas’ (the customers of the new breed, according to the Emirates) needs an airplane to get from this point to that, and that it is. Emirates Airlines, the company that has built its image on the quality of services, has faced a serious challenge this time.
Current Issues
The major question arises if to think about the issue that Emirates has. The question is about the efficient methods of advertising services to people who perceive airplane travels as the necessity to transport oneself from point A to point B but not as the event with luxury food, beverages, and entertainments. It applies to the intercontinental flights as well. The problem of Emirates Airlines in the successful implementation of “Hello Tomorrow” platform is that most people today do not care about how many languages can be used by the Emirates personnel to smile to their customers (one of the slogans, used within the concept of the platform).
Old-school customers, real admirers of the Emirates’ approach to building relationships with customers on services’ quality, are still loyal and regular guests on the Emirates’ planes (Coats 2012). They promote the services of the Emirates better than any advertising campaign can. However, the amount of such customers steadily declines year after year (The World Bank 2016). ‘Globalistas’ require different, alternative approaches to advertising airlines’ services.
Recommendation
Considering the focus of the Emirates executives on maintaining the reputation of the brand and the increase of the market share in all markets, I choose the low-cost flight’s creation and promotion alternative as from an organizational point of view it will solve the problem of attracting new customers from the social group known as ‘globalistas’ and have this impact on Emirates: increase sales and market share, improve the corporate image, and increase customer satisfaction substantially. Emirates Airlines should develop a targeted sub-campaign aimed at attracting new customers from the generation of ‘globalistas’.
It can be done by developing low-cost programs that would be promoted as the alternative to luxury and expensive services of the Emirates. The specialized campaign should show that young people (usual students from all over the world) could use Emirates’ services as easy as people who can afford first-class travel. The only difference would be the comfort of the flight. On the other hand, the emphasis of the campaign should also be made to the highest quality of the overall set of services such as the attitude of the personnel and other factors, making the service of high quality. The campaign should take place in the cities that generate the traffic of young people and the customers who prefer cheaper flights.
These activities should broaden the audience and add another side to the brand’s value – democratic, fun, easy-going, for example. The loyal, respectable customers of Emirates Airlines should still be loyal to the company that cares about all potential customers equally, paying special attention to any possible needs. It is good for the image and the revenue of the company.
Conclusion
Summing, the paper explored the history and the current situation of Emirates Airlines’ brand development. It evaluated the conducted campaigns and outlined the issues Emirates currently has. The appropriate recommendation was provided and explained thoroughly.
Reference List
Balakrishnan, MS, Michael, I & Kennedy, M 2013, ‘Emirates Airlines – the evolution of a brand platform’, AIB-MENA, pp. 1-30. Web.
Emirates Airline is one of the companies of the bigger Emirates Group. Having more than 200 aircraft and planning to increase the number of planes in the fleet, it demonstrates the tendency towards growth and strengthening influence and presence in the civil aviation industry (Emirates 2016). It means that the company faces the necessity to involve more flight crew personnel.
Employing new people should follow a particular procedure – granting licenses to potential cabin crew personnel. This process is managed by the Flight Crew Licensing Department that gathers all the necessary documents and preserves their copies. The process has remained unchanged since the foundation of the Emirates Airline in 1985. Even today, in the era of the newest technologies, everything is done manually, and all documentation is kept in paper form.
In 2015, the United Arab Emirates Government decided to simplify the procedure and launch an electronic licensing platform offered by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). It aims at making the process of receiving permission to work as a cabin crew member in the UAE easier (General Civil Aviation Authority 2016).
Nevertheless, the transition towards a paperless environment and embodying the electronic system is not a compulsory measure, so each company is free to choose whether it needs to follow the overall tendency. For this reason, it is necessary to investigate the issue and decide whether it would be beneficial in the case of the further growth of the Emirates Airline.
That is why the proposal is to focus on the following research question: how would the transition towards a paperless environment affect the performance of the Flight Crew Licensing Department at the Emirates Airline?
To find the answer to the central research question, the investigation is aimed at achieving such research objectives:
to provide the theoretical background for the subject under investigation, i.e. to distinguish the major advantages and disadvantages of a paperless environment, to speculate on potential limitations of such shift, to make estimates of the popularity of this approach to managing operation of the airline companies, to formulate transformations required to bring it to life based on the experience of other firms involved in similar business activities;
to determine the primary functions of the Flight Crew Flying Department at the Emirates Airline and the procedure of licensing flight crew members;
to define the key performance indicators used for assessing the productivity of the Flight Crew Departments;
to suggest how setting up a paperless environment would change the performance indicators;
to gather the opinions of the Flight Crew Licencing Department employees and analyse whether they are interested in implementing the changes and how they will affect the effectiveness of the procedure;
to hypothesise on the possible ways to accomplish the transition towards a paperless environment based on the experience of other companies involved in similar business activities and specificities of the Emirates Airline;
to speculate on the potential advantages and disadvantages of launching a paperless environment with regard to the specificity of the Emirates Airline;
to calculate the potential costs of the move to electronic systems of licensing;
to draw the overall conclusion about the influence of the potential switch to a paperless environment on the performance of the Flight Crew Licensing Department at the Emirates Airline.
Literature Review: Paperless Environment in the 21st Century
This literature review aims at providing a theoretical background necessary for a better understanding of the nature of a paperless environment and determining the level of the subject investigation. It will focus on such areas of research as defining the essence and peculiarities of a paperless environment; determining the industries that actively implement it in their activities, i.e. estimating the popularity of the approach to organising business; speculating on the advantages and disadvantages of going paperless; finding out the specificities of a paperless environment in aviation; and communicating the limitations of the electronic systems of doing business.
There are no restrictions in the geography of researches. However, to achieve the maximum level of accuracy, only the studies published no more than sixteen years ago, i.e. later than 2000, will be taken into consideration.
The nature of going paperless
The idea of going paperless emerged in the 1960s with the invention of computers. Then, it was a dream that one day, people would be able to put aside their piles of paper reports and various documents and have them gathered in one place – at their arms’ length. However, five decades passed for the dream to become a reality. It was not before 2001 that the companies started implementing e-services to their business activities (Technological comebacks: not dead, just resting 2008).
This approach is as simple as it sounds. All printed reports and sources of information are digitalized. Information and documents are stored in the computers’ hard drive memory or with the help of the cloud services that has become possible recently. The only thing that should be kept in mind is that it is nearly impossible to become absolutely paperless if a company functioned on a paper basis; this transition just offers the potential of using less paper (Friedman 2005).
Advantages of a Paperless Environment
Going paperless offers numerous advantages. First and foremost, it is a perfect opportunity to cut the company’s operational costs and free some space in the office because of getting rid of paper piles and eliminating the need to replenish the supplies of paper and printer consumables. Second, going paperless helps save the environment by slowing the pace of deforestation through minimizing the amount of paper consumed in the working place and decreasing the overall demand for paper in the global economy (Akwukuma & Obi 2013). Third, it guarantees the safety of the documents in the case of natural catastrophes that would easily destroy printed information.
Of course, the computers would suffer too, but the opportunity to store the information with the assistance of the newest cloud services solves this problem (Mongeon 2008). Finally, it offers an opportunity to keep cooperation and reaction time to a minimum by creating a single database of corporate information that can be accessed from anywhere around the globe and manage the documents easily (Keary 2000; Polimeni, Burke & Benyaminy 2010).
Disadvantages of Going Paperless
Nevertheless, there are still some disadvantages. Going paperless requires vast investments in upgrading software and hardware of an organisation. However, evidence proves that it guarantees paybacks in the nearest future (Medina & Andrews, 2009). In the case of small companies, it might be close to impossible to implement an e-system because of its high price. Moreover, most e-services require a subscription, i.e. permanent payments.
In addition to it, e-storage is not always the safest place to store corporate information because of the danger of hack attacks (Laise 2007). For this reason, there is a need to develop a perfect security and verification system that would grant access to information only to those who can be trusted.
Limitations of Introducing a Paperless Environment
There is a broad range of limitations to introducing a paperless environment. First of all, there is a psychological barrier that should be overcome. In fact, an organisation’s management should realise that most people are used to paper, so it would take some time to make them change their minds and investment in training them to use the newest technologies (Veazie 2012). Second, the transition to a paperless environment requires a comprehensive strategy and a strong leader to be successful and effective. Third, it requires time and much effort to be accomplished because it not only implies scanning the printed documents but also developing a single policy that would cover all actions of an organisation’s members (Notte & Skolnik 2010; Seale 2007).
Finally, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for implementing e-systems (Stapley 2013). It means that every company should understand the need to design a unique plan for moving to a paperless environment with regard to its resources, employees, and needs because one might need to run totally paperless companies while the others might be satisfied with a partial embodiment. It also implies the need for selecting the right software that can be challenging bearing in mind a great variety of similar applications (Hattingh 2001).
Scope of Implementation
Going paperless has become a common practice since the generation familiar with the Internet and newest technologies became involved in business activities (Technological comebacks: not dead, just resting 2008). Moreover, its popularity was strengthened with the growing green consciousness and the desire to save the planet. That said, it has gained popularity in nearly every industry from automobile construction to air conditioning companies, providing healthcare services, and fighting fires (Simpson 2014). It is used not only for storing corporate data, reports, and schedules but also patients’ medical information and prescriptions (Zagami 2014).
Educational institutions also choose to go paperless providing learning materials as well as scheduling and test results online. That said, electronic systems for storing data and information are used in every sphere of human activities. What varies is the range of their implementation from its partial to absolute embodiment.
Paperless in Aviation
Aviation industry has not become an exception to an overall tendency of going paperless. However, the scope of implementation of a paperless environment in this segment is still not broad enough and, for the most part, is limited to e-tickets. It should be noted that the transition towards the electronic tickets has not been accomplished yet because of the psychological factor mentioned above. Simply speaking, customers prefer paper tickets and do not trust electronic systems (Rice 2014). What gained momentum in the aviation industry is a transition towards a completely paperless cockpit (Wagenen 2014). This breakthrough was motivated by the safety issues and the need to save data in the case of fires or catastrophes (Gamauf 2008; Wagegen 2014).
As shown, literature on setting up a paperless environment in aviation is scarce and limited. It can be explained by the fact of scares implementation of e-systems in aviation. That is why there is the need to conduct additional researches that would cover the impact of e-services on aviation in general and flight crew licensing in particular.
Methodology: Research Philosophy
This section of research proposal will focus on defining the research philosophy with a special attention to ontology and epistemology, their peculiarities, and potential limitations of the chosen research methods.
In general, research philosophy is defined by a researcher’s worldview, i.e. what he or she finds significant and wants to investigate. It affects the choice of research methods and data collection tools (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill 2012). Research, in most cases, centres on ontology and epistemology that are interconnected and help understand the researcher’s position.
Ontology, generally speaking, is the way a researcher sees the world and reality. It is what an individual believes is a nature of all things and developments, how they operate and interact (Saunders et al. 2012). Epistemology, on the other hand, is knowledge. It falls within the cumulative literature and data on the subject under investigation and the general accomplishments of all researchers (Scott 2014).
Epistemology is based on two perspectives: positivism and interpretivism. Positivism centres on collecting and analysing data while interpretivism rests on estimating people’s feeling and beliefs on the subject under investigation (Raddon n.d.). They are both effective tools for conducting research.
This research will be pursued as a deductive research. It means that I will start with theory and experience of implementing a paperless environment in big companies, finding out how it affected their performance, and then move to a potential solution suitable for the Flight Crew Licensing Department of the Emirates Airline. So, I will proceed from the general theory to the specific practice (Saunders et al. 2012).
This research will be conducted based on pragmatism and critical realism. Pragmatism is a valuable tool because it might be used for determining the implication of theory on practice (Agerfalk 2010; Baskerville & Myers 2004). It means that this method will be exploited to define the primary ways of implementing a paperless environment in industries and drawing potential channels of launching it in the Flight Crew Licensing Department of the Emirates Airline. It will be supplemented with the application of critical realism. This method is beneficial for distinguishing the possible limitations of embodying a paperless environment in the department under investigation (Mkansi & Acheampong 2012).
My idea about the research is that only a mixed approach can help succeed in pursuing it because it will help determine valid knowledge and find the ways to apply it to practice. Moreover, because I have some experience of working with the Emirates Airline, I cannot ignore it. In fact, this experience can be beneficial for determining possible ways for the transition to a paperless environment because I know how the company operates from the inside.
Crafting a Research Design
This section of the research proposal aims at designing a research with specific attention to choosing research methods and data collection tools that will help address the research question and research objectives.
There are two methods of conducting a research – qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative aims at collecting statistical data and drawing conclusions based on analysing this information. It is often referred to as positivist. Qualitative centres on particular qualities of an organisation, its characteristics. It is a method of interpretivism (Saunders et al. 2012). Each method has its advantages and disadvantages as well as limitations with regard to the specificity of my research.
Qualitative method, for example, is beneficial for estimating the structural changes that the companies usually undergo when they move to a paperless environment and the employees’ perception of this transition. However, it cannot be used for calculating the costs of such shift. It is where quantitative method could help solve the problem. Its primary advantage is that it can be applied to analysing solely statistical information and drawing conclusions based on it. However, it does not take into consideration internal changes; all it views is numbers. For these reasons, choosing only one method is limiting because it would not benefit me in reaching the final objective of my research.
It is also possible to apply a combination of these two methods and convey a research based on a mixed approach. It is just the way I plan to organise my work. To find the answer to the central question of my research, I should accomplish numerous research objectives. The answer to the research question (“how would the transition towards a paperless environment affect the performance of the Flight Crew Licensing Department at the Emirates Airline?”) cannot be given using only qualitative or only quantitative approach because it aims at addressing both statistical and emotional implications of the transition towards a paperless environment.
The work will be divided into three parts. First, I will gather all necessary statistical information. It can be achieved through analysing the reports of the Flight Crew Licensing Department. Significant attention will be paid to the number of currently employed cabin crew personnel and the workers of the department. What is more significant for the objectives of the research is the average speed of gathering information necessary for being licensed and the time for analysing it.
This data will be compared to the data of other companies operating in the aviation industry that have already implemented a paperless environment to find out what is its influence on the productivity rate of the Flight Licensing Crew Department. The primary focus will be made on determining whether the use of the electronic systems accelerates the process. This part of the research will be conducted on a quantitative basis. The data used for it is reliable because it will be taken from the department’s official reports.
The second part of the research will focus on assessing the emotional aspect of the transition towards a paperless environment. It will be based on designing questionnaires with close-ended questions that will be sent to every employee of the Flight Crew Licensing Department of the Emirates Airline. The primary objective is to define whether people are interested in such transition and willing to learn how to operate the new system. The emphasis will be made on the age of the workers, how often they use the newest technologies in their everyday lives, what is their level of knowledge about a paperless environment, and some more similar questions. The objective is to obtain as many answers to the questionnaires as possible to define the general mood in the department.
The final part of the research will focus on drawing the overall conclusion for the chosen company taking into consideration the information obtained in the course of the first two stages of the investigation. It will include two aspects – financial calculating the costs of the potential transition and the ways it will influence the statistical performance of the company and emotional providing the tendency in the employees’ moods and whether they are interested in the changes. The conclusion will state whether the costs outweigh the potential benefits in the case of the Flight Crew Licensing Department of the Emirates Airline.
Reflection and Resources
Conducting this research and interpretation of its results both statistical and theoretical will require additional skills and knowledge. It might be advantageous to apply the Kolb’s Learning Cycle to make reaching the research objectives and answering the research questions possible.
Kolb’s experiential learning system rests on breaking the learning process into four distinct stages generally referred to as doing, reviewing, concluding, and planning. The first stage is ‘doing’ or the stage of concrete experience. It implies that an individual either faces a new experience or reinterprets the existing knowledge. In the case of this research, it can be viewed from two perspectives – first, employees face the challenge of the transition towards a paperless environment and, second, they could reinterpret their existing experience to cope with the potential difficulties. The same can be said about me as a researcher – I face the necessity to develop new skills required for conducting the research, but I can re-evaluate the knowledge I have and find the ways to use it in my investigation.
The second stage is ‘reviewing’ or reflective observation. It comes down to reflections on the new experience, i.e. studying the peculiarities of a paperless environment and possible difficulties I might face in the course of the research. The third stage of the learning cycle is ‘concluding’ or abstract conceptualisation. This phase is about crafting new ideas based on what I have learned. It means that I will search the channels of applying new knowledge to constructing the ways of solving the research question. Finally, there is the stage known as ‘planning’ or active experimentation. It is taking practical steps to reaching the research objectives, i.e. conducting the research itself (Schultz, McEven & Griffiths 2016; Abdulwahed & Nagy 2009).
Ethical Considerations
There are some ethical considerations that should be kept in mind while conducting a research and drawing conclusions. They are applicable to both qualitative and quantitative parts of the research. First and foremost, it is necessary to obtain the consent of the senior management to convey the research, use the official data, and communicate with the Flight Crew Licensing Department of the Emirates Airline personnel. The plan for obtaining consent is providing the senior management with the research proposal and making them realise that this research might be beneficial for the company’s further prosperity.
Moreover, confidentiality of the obtained information and objectivity of estimations should be guaranteed. It means that the answers to the questionnaires will be stored in confidentiality, so no one will know the names of the respondents. Surveys will be conducted with respect to human dignity (Milton 2013). In addition to it, all estimations of the company’s statistics and drawing general conclusion will be made objectively ignoring my personal experience of working with the Emirates Airline. Finally, it is vital to guarantee that my research is original, with no plagiarism, and all ideas are either mine or properly cited if borrowed from other researchers (De Vries, Anderson & Martinson 2006).
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Organizations must establish, endorse, and embrace measures, which respond to internal and external business challenges. This paper discusses Emirates Airlines as an organization based in United Arab Emirates (UAE) with worldwide publicity. The company makes flights globally and survives among the best airlines in the realms of operations, services, expansion, creativity, innovation, customer focus, management, and leadership skills.
Concurrently, the company, through its leadership, has adopted numerous approaches in order to tackle both external and internal challenges since its inception in 1985 (Graham, 2010). The discussion regarding this topic hase been supported by relevant management and leadership theories on various contexts and concepts. This ranges from the definition of emerging issues to the impacts of technology within the organization. Evidently, airline venture is a rapidly growing industry with stringent competition among its players.
This requires involved organizations to formulate, ratify, and nurture strategies that would allow them to capture considerable market shares, stay buoyant in the market, and compete favourable with other players. This has been the mandate of Emirates Airlines with respect to its management, growth, customer focus, and response to both internal and external challenges. As noted before, its management and leadership have hatched varying methods/approaches to respond to, manage, and counter challenging issues.
Defining emerging issues, challenges, and approaches
There are numerous issues that have forced the Emirates management to adopt various managerial strategies to stay competitive within the industry. Notably, one of the issues that have forced the management to react swiftly is competition within the industry. Competition is an external factor, which must be handled by internal approaches.
The company must restructure its internal provisions in order to respond to stringent external challenges. To handle this matter, the management has decided to provide competitive services to their clients. Additionally, the company has increased its operational capacity and worldwide destinations in the recent past to serve the increasing number of clients. This was meant to capture additional customers, create avenues for expansion, give additional services, and add competitive advantages.
The management schemes to improve its services, offer flexible flight schedules, gives provisions for return tickets, buy more capacious planes, embrace technology, and refurbish Terminal 3, which is their main flight station in Dubai. These approaches by the management and leadership of Emirates have allowed the company to realize global visibility, increase its activities, and augment its revenues.
Evidently, competition is a critical phenomenon in every industry. It requires tactical approaches like the ones enacted by emirates to storm the airline industry. Changing the operational cultures to respond to the emerging external and internal challenges within the company remains critical.
Concurrently, competition is both a short-term and long-term challenge that must be handled with promptness and precision. Emirate Airlines recognized this provision within the industry. Hence, it had to enact appropriate approaches with regard to the issue. The need to compete favourably requires the ratification and nurturing of various competitive advantages within the company. This contributes to what will make clients prefer the company to the rest.
The approach by the Emirates’ management to uphold these factors helped the company to grow and attain its periodic and long-term objectives in the realms of business. Considerably, the company has the capacity to handle numerous clients and schedule numerous flights to various destinations with limited hiccups.
Another issue that the Emirates Airlines management has been dealing with is diversity within its workforce. The company’s management and leadership have set stringent measures and approaches to handle the issues relating to diversity. Evidently, Emirates Airlines operates globally and has employees of various cultural orientation, sex, race, religion, and beliefs.
These are internal factors within the organization and they have long-term impacts on the fates, businesses, and operational capabilities of the company (Graham, 2010). One of the approaches taken by managements to handle this challenge is the creation of a viable working environment that would favour all genres of employees.
This move has always promoted productivity, distinctiveness, creativity, novelty, and dynamism among employees. Various employees of Emirates Airlines are able to work anywhere in the world following the culture of diversity that the company embraces. Crucially, recognizing the importance of diversity enables organizations to scrutinize their moves and gain the acquired business norms and operational growth.
Another issue in this context is the emergence and use of new technologies within the airline industry and beyond. Current business uses technologies to enhance their operations, promote transactions, and stay competitive among other rivals. The efforts to enact technological issues and prospects in Emirates Airlines are evident and considerable within the company. The management and leadership have approached these issues with positivity and enthusiasm.
The company has embraced numerous novel technologies within the industry and beyond to enhance customer services, meet the global market demands, and stay dynamic with their services. Technology has been applied in the booking processes, production of airplanes, communication aspects, flight coordination, and other provisions relevant to the industry. The fact that the company has established strong customer service provisions is crucial in this context.
Additionally, another issue that the company management has to handle during its development and global expansion is the territorial legislation that governs flights globally. Different countries and airports have varying legislation that might hinder the operations of Emirates Airlines and other competitive companies. The approach taken by the management is to promote coherency, territorial tolerance, and consents among governments, private sectors, and the industry players to promote global businesses.
Another important issue tackled by the management to ensure that the business remains relevant in the market and meet its financial obligations is their approach to the global economic crisis. The recent economic challenges have reduced travelling transactions, exchange rates, financial obligations and other options that are useful to the business in question.
The Emirates’ management and leadership have approached this challenge with novelty, dynamism, and creativity needed to counter the economic hiccups. The reduction of flight prices in order to capture numerous clients has worked miracles among the concerned parties (Graham, 2010).
Additionally, the provision of flight offers to increase the frequency and volume of flights has worked considerably in increasing the revenues of the Emirates. This has occurred through its management and leadership. Conclusively, there are numerous issues emerging with regards to approaches taken by the Emirates’ management. These are meant to handle the witnessed challenges.
Organizational structure, allocation of roles and responsibilities
To avoid managerial issues, mismanagement provisions, and other contentious emergencies that might disfavour the growth of the company, Emirates has divided its sectors into airport services, engineering, tour businesses, hospitality sector, and catering provisions among others.
Each sector is headed by an executive manager who reports to an overall company management. There is an overall CEO who oversees the entire activities of the company. An approach in management has helped in the delegation and execution of duties in a hierarchal manner. Every employee is answerable to his or her immediate manager and the trend continues similarly in the entire organization.
The challenges of job satisfaction and responsibility that might distract the company’s operations are being handled by this trend. The organization has stringent management style to ensure it approaches its managerial challenges with professionalism and appropriateness. Precisely, the management has enacted stringent approaches to curb all the emerging managerial challenges that might affect the company.
Emirates Airlines is a worldwide organization with agents and offices in numerous countries. Its organizational structure, allocation of roles, and division of responsibilities has favoured the company’s operational mechanisms to avoid management mishaps, which might affect the organization.
As an organization, which has developed and continues to expand internationally, the company has approached its managerial challenges with appropriate mechanisms and protocols meant to prevent any loopholes that might arise in the execution of duties and international relationships.
Evidently, the issues of poor management have forced numerous organizations to wreck their objectives. This is an internal challenge that can cause both short-term and long-term problems within the company. To manage this issue, the Emirates management has ratified appropriate work protocols and performance assessment criteria for the management crew and all staff to keep records of each individual’s viability, competency, and work potency.
Performance appraisal occurs periodically and consistently as a culture of the organization (Graham, 2010). Notably, tracking the performances, responsibilities, and appropriateness of employees is a viable approach within a company. It helps in keeping the records straight and suitable. This move has helped Emirates Airlines to stay competitive in its workforce, appropriate management, proactive managerial reactions, and ratification of new business trends.
Concurrently, the aspects of leadership have helped Emirates to curb numerous business challenges as indicated before. An appropriate leadership aspect is a viable approach towards curbing both the internal and external business challenges within the company. It is from the management that the company can attain its viability, prosperity, and global presence.
As denoted before, Emirates has emulated a hierarchal leadership styles to ensure that duties and responsibilities are allocated appropriately to various positions within the organization. This relates to the aspects of responsibility management, which renders every employee responsible for their own deeds. Every management faction must account for everything in his or her docket (Graham, 2010).
This helps in scheming the business strategies, expansion desires, and accountability issues within the company. Precisely, the issue of poor management is a rampant phenomenon in various companies. Emirates Airlines has approached this challenge with novelty, appropriateness, and credibility to ensure that the company stays competitive in the realms of management.
A recognizable external issue in this context is globalization, which has engulfed the entire world and demands every business to acquire new operational trends, transactional mechanisms, and marketing approaches in order to remain afloat in the market and in the global limelight. Emirates Airlines has managed to approach globalization with criticality, novelty, and appropriateness demanded within the airline industry.
Its ability to embrace modern technologies, customer focus, and worldwide business trends are enough to signify this claim. Its management and leadership have approached globalization challenges with positivity to ensure that the business remains relevant and competitive in the global market.
Additionally, employee motivation is a critical phenomenon and a massive internal challenge within the workforce of any organization. Emirates leadership has approached the issue through the creation of appropriate employment provisions that help in motivating employees.
The aspects of good pay, flexible work schedules, diversity tolerance, incentives, performance recognition, and periodic appraisal are some of the measures embraced by management to ensure that their employees are motivated, remain competent, uphold relevancy, and be able to work in any environment.
Additionally, creation of appropriate organizational cultures has helped in curbing numerous internal and external business challenges within the company. The management has scrutinized and enacted appropriate organizational culture to help in attaining desired objectives within the organization.
Change management
Emirates’ leadership has adopted viable change management strategies in order to realize remarkable results. Change ratification is a critical challenge to numerous organizations. Evidently, the company has realized this stipulation. Thus, its management commits to making appropriate change management procedures to ensure the materialization of the desired changes.
An approach provided by management observes the John Kotter’s change management principles from inception to completion. Kotter advocates for an urgent creation of the need for the desired changes. This must trigger the entire company stakeholders to understand the essence and significance of the mentioned change (Kotter & Cohen, 2002). He concludes by integrating the change management provisions into the culture of the organization.
Emirates’ management and leadership have accepted the aspects of change as a routine within the company. Precisely, to approach the challenges of change embracement with appropriateness, Emirates management has adopted change ratification tolerance and culture within its operations. This has ensured the dynamism, relevancy, and appropriateness of the business with the current business trends.
The impact of technology
Technological issues have affected numerous organizations globally. Emirates Airlines in UAE is no exception in this context. Nonetheless, technology has changed business operations, transactional mechanisms, service provisions, and communicational aspects within the airline industry.
Emirates management and leadership have approached the challenges of technology with positivity to their impacts in the growth, expansion, and prosperity of the organization (Graham, 2010). In this context, the management has enacted and embraced technological aspects (as a culture).
The approach that the company has given technological provisions has helped in prospering it to its current status. The leadership is usually positive to the aspects of technology. This has transformed the business tremendously and rendered it viable for expansion. The strategies set by the management and leadership towards this provision have similarly contributed significantly.
Conclusion
Emirates Airlines is globalized organization in the airline industry. It has its headquarters in Dubai, which is one of the seven emirates forming the EAU. Its management and leadership have established, ratified, and embraced various approaches in response to key internal and external business challenges. In this context, there are numerous issues that frequently emerge within the business and industry at large. These require appropriate responses from the management.
The issues of competition, diversity, globalization, technology, political matters, economic crisis, and territorial legislation among others have contributed to the witnessed approaches taken by the organization to remain competitive, relevant, and buoyant within the industry. Additionally, leadership styles, motivation issues, viable organizational cultures, and change management skills are some of the lucrative approaches enacted by the Emirate Airlines’ management to curb the witnessed challenges.
References
Graham, A. (2010). Aviation and tourism: Implications for leisure travel. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Kotter, J. & Cohen, D. (2002). The heart of change: Real-life stories of how people change their organizations. Boston: Harvard Business School Pub.
In April 2013, Qantas and Emirates made an alliance that was anticipated to lasting for a decade. Qantas aspired that the alliance would help it to counter the fierce competition that had prevailed in the global aviation industry. Two years down the line, the alliance has resulted in benefits and challenges. Qantas is still struggling.
While strategies such as a change of route from Singapore to Dubai and the codeshare agreement have benefitted both passengers and shareholders, there is a need to review the alliance agreement and amend it where relevant to fit the current performance of the companies in the market.
Introduction
In April 2013, Qantas and Emirates formed a non-equity alliance with one of the objectives being to unite towards expanding their network coverage. Initially, Qantas had joined several alliances such as One World Alliance to give clients a wide range of travel options.
Qantas’ goal has always been to maintain an impressive shareholder value in the global market. One of the means for achieving such goals was through creating an alliance with Emirates Airline, which is one of the best airlines in the globe. Emirates Airline also stands out in the alliance. Nonetheless, the alliance has witnessed various challenges.
Aims/Objectives
This paper seeks to assess the Qantas-Emirates coalition with respect to production and operations management.
Scope
Specifically, the paper offers:
My advice concerning risk and rewards of the Qantas-Emirates Alliance
Operations management implications for the Qantas-Emirates Alliance
My advice concerning the future of the Qantas-Emirates Alliance
Recommendations concerning the way forward for the alliance
Qantas-Emirates Alliance Assessment
By forging an alliance, both Qantas and Emirates were going to face several risks and rewards. In the case of Qantas, the international airline company has suffered many losses. Any strategic alliance is anticipated to preventing further losses.
Globalisation and the amplified demand from the middle-class clients have increased and altered the nature of competition in the aviation industry. Thus, a change in the marketing and operations management was essential. Emirates Airline, which is a global giant in the aviation industry, flies to several destinations unlike Qantas (Hornett 2012).
According to Baker (2012), one of the rewards for joining with Emirates will include a better competition positioning in the global market and increased access to international destinations. One of the provisions for the Qantas-Emirates Airline is that Qantas will transfer its flight hub from Singapore to Dubai. This move presents a number of risks and rewards. Over the years, competition has been growing in the Singaporean route.
Hence, the move to Dubai route will avert competition while at the same time lowering the operations costs. Due to its financial struggles, the company needs to invest in all platforms that can cut its operations cost such as the alliance.
Mules (2013) says that the codeshare agreement is likely to reward Emirates than it benefits Qantas, depending on how the idea will be implemented. The codeshare will allow the companies to sell tickets on each other’s flights. Since Emirates has a higher customer base than Qantas, it is likely to have more sales in relation to Qantas.
Thus, Qantas must be ready to face this risk. Furthermore, Qantas will have to incur an extra cost of moving from Singapore to Dubai. This move is a huge risk considering Qantas’ financial challenge. Despite Qantas-Emirates Alliance being a good agreement, Qantas should have reconsidered its stopover destination. For instance, Cathay via Hong Kong would have been a great route (Kingsley-Jones 2013).
Operations Management Implications for the Qantas-Emirates Alliance
The alliance comes with drastic implications for the passengers, as well as stakeholders. For the clients, one of the major changes is the route change. Through the alliance, Qantas has dropped its Singapore-Frankfurt route. Instead, it will have A380 flights stopovers at Dubai.
This strategy will help passengers to move easily to other destinations such as Europe and Africa via Emirates through the codeshare agreement of the alliance. Nonetheless, the company will retain some of its daily flights travelling to Hong Kong and Singapore (Kelly 2013).
Furthermore, the alliance will help Qantas and Emirates’ passengers to enjoy services of both airlines under one umbrella since they will have a wider platform to earn and redeem their points. Passengers will be assured of quicker trips to Europe and an interesting airport, namely Dubai. Passengers stand to benefit from the alliance.
While the alliance will eliminate competition between Emirates and Qantas, there is an increase in airfares due to the reduced competition (Caswell 2012). Investors from Qantas are assured that the alliance by Qantas and Emirates will see the former move its stopover to Dubai to reduce the operations cost since trips from Dubai to European destinations will be shorter than from Singapore to Europe.
Furthermore, the codeshare agreement will reduce the labour costs for both Emirates and Qantas since services that would have been served by one company in a given destination will be served by another company while still enjoying the benefits. For instance, Emirates’ passengers who travel to Australia will be served by Qantas Airways, hence saving in the operations and labour costs (Kelly 2013).
Advice concerning the Future of the Qantas-Emirates Alliance
Qantas has recorded losses of up to $450 million. While improvements have been made since its alliance with Emirates, it still maintains the loss trend. Emirates must ensure that it is in the right alliance. One of the objectives of the production and operations management is to ensure that the company offers services that are of proper quality, quantity, and time conscious.
The services have to adhere to the policies and goals of the company. The instability of Qantas may harm the alliance, particularly the codeshare treaty. Qantas has recently retrenched over 5,000 employees in an effort to cut down on operations. Reducing staff members may result in poor service delivery, thus harming Emirates through the codeshare agreement (Rhoades 2014, p. 32).
In the case of Qantas, it is evident that Emirates Airline is a giant in the aviation industry. It might appear that the contract marginalises Qantas. For instance, Qantas now gets less revenue from clients who travel to most European destinations from Australia because passengers are taken to Dubai where they take Emirates to their European destinations.
Qantas only receives a commission through the codeshare agreement. For a struggling company, Qantas needs to maximise on output while minimising input. Thus, Qantas-Emirates Alliance needs to be re-evaluated (Hutchinson 2013).
Conclusion
This paper has evaluated the Qantas-Emirates partnership with respect to production and operations administration. So far, the situation on the ground seems otherwise in the case of Qantas-Emirates Alliance. Nonetheless, the future remains uncertain for the alliance if Qantas keeps on struggling.
Recommendations
To keep up with the competitive global aviation industry, Qantas needs to work closely with its competitors. On the other hand, to maintain a huge share in the global market, Emirates needs to work closely with other airlines to reach its diverse network of clients.
However, before and after joining an alliance, the companies must ensure that they are in a gain-gain agreement. Hence, both companies’ management departments need to review the situation to ensure that the alliance is not part of the downfall.
References
Baker, C. (2012) Qantas Makes the Jump. Asian Aviation Magazine. 10(8), pp. 16-17.
Caswell, M. (2012) Qantas teams up with Emirates and ends BA tie-up. Business Traveller (UK/Europe Edition).1(1), p. 8.
Hornett, G. (2012) Dubai to benefit from airline pact. MEED: Middle East Economic Digest. 56(37), pp. 18-21.
Hutchinson, A. (2013) Qantas and Emirates team up to route flights through Dubai. Travel Trade Gazette UK & Ireland. 3045(1), p. 5.
Kelly, E. (2013) Emirates and Qantas Take Off. Asian Aviation Magazine. 11(4), p. 8.
Kingsley-Jones, M. (2013) Legacy carriers ponder Gulf tie-ups with caution. Airline Business. 29(7), p. 8.
Mules, R. (2013) The Long Haul: The QANTAS – Emirates Alliance. BusiDate. 21(3), pp. 2-4.
Rhoades, D. 2014. Evolution of International Aviation: Phoenix Rising. Vermont: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Strategic management entails the establishment of long-term objectives and goals based on the vision embraced by the organization (Hill, Jones & Schilling 2014). For instance, if an organization identifies diversification as its strategic plan, all the decisions and operations it undertakes need to focus on diversification as the main aim. Thus, the integration of a strategic management approach to decision-making is crucial since it fosters the prioritization of decisions that result in the attainment of long-term goals and objectives (Morschett, Schramm-Klein & Zentes 2015). Nonetheless, several internal and external factors influence the effectiveness of strategic management in an organization. Thus, this paper concentrates on the various aspects that affect strategic management in contemporary corporate environments.
Articulation of the Mission Statement
The mission statement should be precise and clear since all stakeholders need to understand it before putting their inputs towards its realization. The mission statement is also informative and inspirational to the important stakeholders, including customers and employees (Dess, McNamara & Eisner 2016). For the enhancement of precision and clarity, the mission statement needs to avoid including monetary amounts, numbers, percentages, ratios, goals, or objectives. Instead, the mission statement should embrace a qualitative approach that communicates about the company’s techniques, strategy, and operations.
The inclusion of pecuniary amounts, statistics, fractions, ratios, or objectives in the mission statement makes it less inspirational. Employees and customers find inspiration in well-articulated words and phrases that provide information about what the organization intends to become in the future (Hill, Jones & Schilling 2014). Thus, the inclusion of quantitative elements in the mission statement renders it less motivating.
Further, the mission statement needs to be realistic. As such, the statement should communicate a pursuit that is achievable to stakeholders. The realistic nature of a mission statement makes the audience believe in it, hence committed to its realization. The inclusion of numbers, ratios, and figures among other quantifiable components may make it appear over ambitious and unrealistic.
Moreover, the integration of quantitative components in a mission statement undermines its flexibility (Dess, McNamara & Eisner 2016). The dynamism of the organizational environment requires companies to consider the regular alteration of their approaches to coping with new trends. As such, numbers, ratios, and percentages among other numerical representations create rigidity in the mission statement.
Political Trends Affecting Emirates Airlines Significantly
The airline sector plays a considerable role in streamlining transport. Political differences usually affect the operations of airline companies since security issues create disruptions (Morschett, Schramm-Klein & Zentes 2015). The recent political skirmishes in the Middle East have affected the operations of Emirates Airlines, resulting in increased costs. For instance, the recent limitations on the Yemen airspace, owing to the political disruptions caused by ISIS, triggered Emirates Airlines to use longer routes, thereby making the airline company incur greater operational costs.
Besides, the political turbulence experienced in the Middle East affects oil prices (Hill, Jones & Schilling 2014). The fluctuation of oil prices destabilizes the cash flows of players in the air travel sector. Particularly, the falling prices of oil in other regions that are not affected by political tensions in the Middle East has made Emirates airline experience higher operating costs compared to its rivals (Dess, McNamara & Eisner 2016). The oil price issue has undermined the competitiveness of Emirates Airlines on several occasions. Thus, there is a need to establish a strategic plan that can facilitate the adaptation of the company in its political environment. Additionally, the dark political trend experienced in the Middle East affects the tourism industry adversely. Tourists and business people avoid destinations that are marred with political conflicts combined with religious extremism. The case influenced Emirates to record low passenger numbers traveling to destinations such as Dubai, thereby straining the profitability of the leading airline player significantly.
Staffing Strengths and Weaknesses
Staffing is one of the crucial aspects of managing an organization. Having a strong staffing approach is essential for spearheading the productivity of the workforce. An example of a company with a strong staffing approach is Delta Airline Inc. The airline’s player embraces the essence of creating a diverse workforce to meet the varied needs of workers from different backgrounds (Dess, McNamara & Eisner 2016). The accommodation of different employees is crucial for bolstering their productivity in such an industry.
The Emirates airline is also commended for its efficiency in customer relations and service (Hubbard, Rice & Galvin 2014). The excellent service provided by the employees denotes the job satisfaction they realize. The provision of services to customers promotes the business excellence element of operations. Dish Network Corp. is one of the companies that display weaknesses in its staffing approaches. Employees working for the streaming industry player complain of long working hours without holidays (Hill, Jones & Schilling 2014). Compulsory overtime undermines the welfare of the workers and consequently their productivity. Dillard’s Inc. has recently been under fire for offering poor sales incentives to its employees. The retail industry player compensates its employees based on hourly sales instead of introducing commissions. The issue demotivates employees, thus undermining their productivity.
Market Penetration, Market Development, and Product Development
Market penetration infers to the increased sales an organization acquires by enhancing its competition with rivals to improve its market share (Hubbard, Rice & Galvin 2014). Huawei is one of the smartphone companies that have seen considerable penetration in the recent past denoted by 7.3% market share in 2015 from a 5.5% share in the previous year. The penetration offers stiff competition to its top rivals, namely, Apple and Samsung.
Market development entails the establishment of a business strategy that concentrates on fulfilling the needs of new market segments. In the recent past, PepsiCo, Inc. introduced an array of nutritious beverages to fulfill the dynamic needs of new customer segments, thus posing stiffer competition to Coca-Cola. Consequently, Pepsi engaged in market development by providing beverages to the health-conscious segment of its market.
Product development infers to several steps adopted by a company to facilitate the designing and establishment of newly rebranded offerings. The film industry has seen drastic changes in the way the product appears to customers. In the recent past, DVDs replaced tapes before online platforms were established to facilitate the accessibility of films in softcopy versions. Product development makes the product or service suit the changing trends in the market.
The BCG Matrix
The BCG matrix facilitates the assessment of product lines to evaluate business growth opportunities. ‘Cash cows’ and question marks form two of the BCG matrix quadrant. Investors find ‘cash cows’ more desirable relative to the question marks. Large companies in stable and competitive markets represent the sources of income. On the other hand, companies in markets with high growth potential, yet having weak competitive edges, represent the question marks (Dess, McNamara & Eisner 2016).
The potential of reaping profits in the ‘cash cows’ is usually higher compared to the question marks situation. Importantly, ‘cash cows’ operate in stable markets. Thus, they have a significant return on investment. Conversely, the weak competitive edge of players in the question marks quadrant makes it difficult for them to make substantial profits amid the potential for growth in the market. As such, the lack of competitiveness disappoints investors.
Nonetheless, several limitations make the BCG matrix ineffective in analyzing product lines with respect to business opportunities. The matrix disregards the influence of synergies in fostering the performance of business units. Additionally, the BCG matrix is biased since it regards high market share as the sole actor that triggers business success. Further, the matrix identifies growth as an important indicator of attractiveness in a market. Moreover, the ‘dogs’ could also earn as much as their counterparts in the ‘cash cows’ quadrant (Hill, Jones & Schilling 2014).
The Divisional Structure of Operations
I would prefer employing the divisional structure of operations in the three restaurants I would open after graduating. The divisional structure of operations entails the splitting up of operations into units that focus on specific aspects of the products or services offered by the organization. The divisional structure offers the individual functional units with an opportunity to conduct their research among other efforts to foster success (Dess, McNamara & Eisner 2016). The divisional approach is applicable in the operations of at least three restaurants, owing to its strengths in a competitive business environment.
The divisional approach to operations fosters accountability. Clear accountability of the different units in the restaurant instills a sense of responsibility. The accountability of the different departments that make the restaurants will be integral in assuring that every manager pursues the success of his or her department, thus resulting in the overall success of the businesses. Further, the divisional approach to operations is integral since it inspires departmental coordination. The cohesion that results from the accountability of different departments of the restaurants has the potential of reinforcing coordination. Departmental coordination is important in the running of businesses such as restaurants, owing to the stiff competition in the industry.
The divisional approach also broadens the skills development aspect of the workforce. Collaboration between departments allows team members to engage in inter-professional relationships that provide opportunities for broadening skills. In turn, the improvement of skills would foster the productivity of the employees, thus steering the success of the three restaurants.
Variables in a Business Code of Conduct
The code of conduct in a business environment sets the rules that guide the behavior of employees as they execute their roles and responsibilities. The code of conduct or ethics is made up of several variables that make it effective in shaping up the organizational culture. Thus, I would consider the following variables in the establishment of a business code of conduct:
Principles also form an important element of the business code of conduct (Hill, Jones & Schilling 2014). The integration of principles in a code of conduct reinforces the values upheld by the business organization. The principles usually seek to underline the aspects of customer satisfaction, profitability, and unceasing improvement. They offer employees with the credos they need while executing their tasks.
The inclusion of values is important in a code of conduct for adoption by employees in a given business organization. The values define the approach to dealing with different stakeholders, including customers and suppliers. Importantly, the values underscore the essence of respectful interactions among employees and other stakeholders in their day-to-day undertakings.
The establishment of the business code of conduct would also consider the integration of the management support aspect (Hubbard, Rice & Galvin 2014). Particularly, this management support aspect provides the employees with platforms of reporting cases of misconduct without exposing the privacy of the reporters. As such, the variable would be essential in fostering the commitment of employees while fostering their conduct.
The inclusion of the personal responsibility variable is also essential in a business code of conduct (Frynas & Mellahi 2015). The personal responsibility aspect underlines the moral and legal consequences of failing to observe individual accountability. This aspect is crucial for reinforcing the core values of the business organization. Further, the variable ensures that employees account for their daily actions.
Moreover, I would also include the compliance variable in a business code of ethics. The adherence to the rules provided in the code of conduct facilitates the compliance of the organization with the rules and regulations governing the industry. Observing the legal requirements when conducting business is important in any given environment.
Reference List
Dess, G, McNamara, G & Eisner, A 2016, Strategic management: Creating competitive advantages, McGraw-Hill Education, New York, NY.
Frynas, J & Mellahi, K 2015, Global strategic management, Oxford University Press, New York, NY.
Hill, C, Jones, G & Schilling, M 2014, Strategic management: Theory, an integrated approach. Cengage Learning, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Emirates is one of the largest legacy airlines in the world and dominates many of the markets in the Middle-East and Asia due to its hubs and partnerships with various international and regional carriers. One of the future existing strategies of Emirates consists of appealing to the family segment of the airline industry consumer base (Hornblass 2016). This is accomplished through travel packages that offer discounts and other freebies to families (for example reduced pricing for children and preferred seating arrangement).
The sustainability of this strategy is based on the number of families that ride together on Emirates Airlines. On average, nearly 15 to 20 percent of an average airline flight consists of families. By appealing to this particular market segment, Emirates positions itself as the possible “go-to” carrier for families that want to take regional or international flights (Chen, Albuquerque and Grewal 2016).
The acceptability of this strategy is based on the ability of Emirates as a legacy carrier to leverage its larger operational capabilities to offer discounts to families. In comparison, low-cost regional carriers are unable to offer the same deals since their profit margins are more restrictive (Aguinaldo 2015). This makes such a strategy more feasible for Emirates since it can approach a particular market segment that other carriers cannot use in the same way.
Table 1: SAF Model.
Existing Future Strategy
Potential Future Strategy
Sustainability
Nearly 15 to 20 percent of an average airline company flight consists of families; by appealing to this particular market segment.
Based on rising regional and global demand for affordable short range trips.
Acceptability
Low-cost regional carriers are unable to offer the same deals since their profit margins are more restrictive.
Main company could deal with the regional and international hubs while the branch company could handle smaller regional flights.
Feasibility
Emirates as a legacy carrier can leverage its larger operational capabilities to provide discounts to families.
Based on the current financial capability of Emirates as well as its extensive experience.
In light of this future strategy by Emirates, another potential opportunity that the airline could pursue is to create a subsidiary company that specifically caters to low-cost flights (Flottau 2013). The sustainability of this approach is based on rising regional and global demand for affordable short-range trips. India, which is the largest passenger market for Emirates, is continuously expanding with many new cities developing due to the prevalence of the local IT industry.
Table 2: Force-Field Analysis.
Forces for Change
Proposed Plan
Forces Against Change
Current increase in consumer demand for low-cost carriers.
Family targeted marketing and developing a low-cost subsidiary for regional flights.
Presence of entrenched competition.
High percentage of family passengers.
High cost of purchasing fleet for low-cost operations.
This makes the idea of creating a low-cost subsidiary company more acceptable since the main company could deal with the main regional and international hubs via its A380s while the branch company could handle smaller regional flights using smaller A320s (Aydemir and Haytural 2016). The feasibility of this strategy is based on the current financial capability of Emirates as well as its extensive experience when it comes to developing regional hubs (see Table 1).
Main Body/Findings
Current Situation
Presently, Emirates has concentrated its efforts on maximizing the number of passengers it has per flight via the use of the Airbus A380. The problem with utilizing this type of aircraft as the future of its fleet is that smaller regional airports in Asia and the Middle East simply cannot handle them due to their size (Kwoka, Hearle, and Alepin 2016). As a result, if Emirates continues on its path of replacing most of its fleet with A380s, it will be locked out of short-distance regional flights, even in markets where it has a dominant position.
Table 3: SWOT Analysis.
Strengths
Legacy carrier status.
Greater brand visibility compared to small regional carriers.
Better finances which enable it to update its fleet to the newer A380s.
Weaknesses
Size of A380s makes them unsuitable for smaller regional airports that are increasing in number.
Expansion is dependent on partnerships with other carriers which mean it will operate in already saturated markets.
Substantial increase in consumer demands for cheaper regional flights.
Opportunities
Families may view the marketing approach of Emirates in a positive light resulting in an increase in the number of consumers that choose Emirates for its family rates.
Potential for Emirates to leverage its brand popularity to enter into the low-cost airline company market under a subsidiary.
Threats
Increase of small, low-cost regional carriers in its traditional markets.
Expansion of other legacy carriers into new markets which could result in Emirates being left behind by the competition.
Another factor to consider is that legacy airlines are unsuited to compete with their low-cost counterparts when it comes to regional flights (Raut, Kamble, and Jha 2014). The study of Chen and Hu (2013) clearly showed that consumer preference when it comes to regional flights is often influenced by price and not the amount of comfort that a flight has (see Table 2). Low-cost airlines also have the advantage of having newer fleets which are more fuel-efficient compared to the aging fleet of Emirates (Chen and Hu 2013).
Aside from this, Emirates has been establishing partnerships with airlines such as Qantas and Malaysian Airlines so that it could utilize its hubs and facilities for its expansion into new international markets (Voight 2014). While this strategy is effective, Emirates needs a way to differentiate itself from its partner airlines in such a way that people would choose Emirates over a more well-known local carrier.
Addressing the Issue
Based on the factors that were mentioned involving smaller regional terminals, Emirates has a choice of either giving up on short-distance regional flights or diversifying its current business model to account for the competition from low-cost airlines. One potential solution is to create a subsidiary airline that operates under the low-cost carrier business model (Chen and Solak 2015). This can be accomplished by diversifying its fleet by purchasing smaller planes such as the twin-engine A320, which is well suited for smaller regional airports.
Evidence of the effectiveness of this type of strategy can be seen in the operations of Qatar Airways, one of the main rivals of Emirates, which utilizes a combination of large-bodied and small-bodied aircraft for regional and international flights (Vilkaite-Vaitone and Papsiene 2016). Emirates can implement a similar strategy; however, instead of placing it all under a single legacy carrier model; it can use legacy flights for its international and central regional hub flights while a low-cost option will be utilized for its short distance flights within specific territories (Thomas and Kummer 2015).
When it comes to the company’s international expansion strategy, the focus on family ticket packages does have a considerable amount of potential. However, there is nothing to prevent other legacy carriers within the same region from implementing a similar strategy. Emirates would need to determine if it can handle a price war in markets that it is just expanding into or if such an approach should only be used in its home markets where it is more established. This type of marketing plan could be the boost Emirates needs to compete in multiple international markets that have their own entrenched airline companies; however, there is no guarantee of its success given the amount of competition the company is likely to face (see Table 3).
Evaluation
The potential effectiveness of the regional flight strategy is based on the brand recognition that Emirates already experiences in its Middle Eastern and Asian markets. For example, Emirates is the most utilized carrier in India which gives it a substantial amount of brand recognition (Ball 2015). By creating a low-cost subsidiary under the Emirates brand, the carrier would be able to compete with entrenched low-cost carriers that are already present in the Asian and Middle Eastern markets (Vinod 2015).
Another factor that should be considered is the presence of multiple regional hubs that Emirates has already developed within various countries. These regional centers can act as the drop off point for short-distance regional flights which passengers could utilize as means of affordably connecting to international flights heading out of the country.
The current marketing strategy of Emirates involving the targeting of families has potential due to the percentage of family passengers (15 to 20 percent) that make up an average flight (Flottau 2015). However, unlike the previous regional flight strategy that has a barrier to entry (i.e. the financial and operational capacity of Emirates as a legacy carrier), this marketing approach can be entered into by other legacy carriers in the markets Emirates wants to expand in (Mules 2013).
As such, the best way to maximize this plan would be to offer prices that are substantially lower than their rivals who utilize a similar approach so that sufficient brand awareness can be developed in these new markets (Flottau 2014). Prices can be slowly increased one it has been determined that sufficient consumer patronage has been developed (Squalli 2014).
Conclusion
Emirates needs to carefully consider its current approach when it comes to the A380s as well as its marketing strategy focusing on family ticket packages in new and traditional markets. The company cannot limit itself primarily to legacy-based operations when low-cost carriers are on the rise. It needs to diversify what it is capable of surviving. Not only that, but it also needs to consider what other strategies it could implement in its market approach involving families to make it unique enough that other airline companies cannot easily replicate it.
Recommendations
The first action that Emirates should undertake is to hold a trial period for its marketing promotion that focuses on family tickets. A promotional period would allow the company to determine if any issues need to be addressed or if improvements can be implemented to make the program better. The second action that Emirates should undertake is to conduct a feasibility study regarding the recommended shift of operations into a mixture of legacy and low-cost airline company methods.
Similar attempts were made in the past to combine the two methods by other carriers. Emirates needs to examine what steps these companies took to understand what would be essential for the airline company. Emirates airlines have to examine what operational processes work, what procedures result in failure, and what business procedures would be the most effective for it in the long run.
Reference List
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Organisational changes are normally instigated by opportunities or challenges in the manner in which an organisation conducts its business. However, other additional cause of change also exists. This includes instances of organisational management changes in which the incoming management team has new ideas that would enable any organisation to secure better success. Change may also emanate from replacement of a CEO of an organisation. Amid all these triggers of change, Burnes (2009) insists, “The main two are problems and opportunities – current or future – real or perceived” (p.23). One can distinguish and classify all organisational system changes into two broad categories- soft and hard changes.
According to George, “hard’ concerns material assets (things) and ‘soft’ concerns people” (1982, p.91). In design, analysis and implementation of either change, conversation style coupled with the content of the conversation are essential in fostering cute success of various change processes. In many instances, hard change embraces change of organisational technological structures, which are easier to design and implement in comparison to soft changes. This is because “soft problems are hardest to manage” (Burnes 2009, p.27). This makes soft problems predominantly hard to handle and align with the changes to the organisational culture. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and apply hard and soft system changes in an example on Emirates Airlines. The paper approaches this challenge by discussing the stages or phases of both hard and soft changes, changes in Emirates Airlines, and then sums up by looking at how these changes may be implemented in Emirates Airlines.
Hard system changes
Hard system changes are accomplished by deploying a model of change referred to as “hard systems model of change” (Senior & Fleming 2005, p.312). This model entails a methodology for development and design coupled with management of change. Its origin is traceable from “methods of analysis and change associated with systems in engineering, operational research and project management; that is where there is emphasis on means and ends with which particular set goals are to be achieved” (Senior & Fleming 2005, p.312). This approach is critical in permitting systematic mechanisms of determining various organisational change objectives and or goals in a rigorous manner. This leads to the creation of various change options and appropriate actions necessary to facilitate the implementation of change. The process of hard systems change is covered in three main phases that are normally overlapping in nature.
These phases or steps are- description, options phase, and the implementation phase. According to Senior and Fleming (2005), the description phases embrace “describing and diagnosing the situation, understanding what is involved and setting the objectives for change” (p.313). In the options phase, various options that are deemed vital in inducing change are generated, and most appropriate options selected coupled with conducting a thorough scrutiny of repercussion of every option. The implementation phase encompasses “putting feasible plans into practice and monitoring the results” (Senior & Fleming 2005, p.313). However, all the three phases can be subdivided in into a number of stages. Each stage requires a number of necessary actions to ensure that they are successful in aiding to achieve the overall desired change.
Soft system changes
Soft system change entangles changing the culture of doing work for organisational employees. Since people are normally reluctant to change their manner of doing work, in organisational settings, soft systems are hard to implement. Amid these hardships, various models for implementing soft system changes are prescribed by various scholars of organisation system management. One of such models is organisational development (OD). OD is pegged on four principles. The first principle views people as organisms that must operate harmoniously within an organisation. The second principle goes further to assert, “Organisations are occupational and political systems as well as rational resource allocation systems” (Tarr 2009, p.67). This implies that, for an organisation to achieve its goals and objectives, it must be controlled to meet the desired change.
The third principle states that all people working for an organisation function in a simultaneous manner with all the aforementioned systems in the second principle. The forth principle states that a “change is most likely to be acceptable where people are basically successful but have tensions and failure in some part” (Tarr 2009, p.78). To implement OD, a number of change approaches are vital for deployment. All these approaches have distinctive characteristics. They include planned strategy cutting across a range of disciplines such as organisational theory, political science, behavioural science and sociology among others. Another critical characteristic of OD change approaches is that “the fit between the change process and the challenge makes the difference between success and failure” (Tarr 2009, p.78). Lastly, external facilitators are required to ensure that managing and planning the change process is conducted in the most appropriate manner. An OD model is schematically shown in the figure below.
(Senior & Fleming 2005, p.353).
Change in Emirates Airlines
Emirates Airlines encompass one of the reputable airlines organisations operating in the Asian continent. The organisation has been in operation for more than two decades. The government of Dubai owns it. The “company flies to ninety destinations found throughout the world and manages to reach about sixty different countries in the world” (Butler & Keller, 2000, p.5). Throughout the years, the company has encountered a myriad of changes. These changes include environmental, legal political, economic, social, and technological changes. Economic and technological changes act as strikingly significant changes that have enhanced rapid growth of the company. It is important that they be discussed further in this section in the attempt to propose some system changes in the emirates airlines. This is necessary since many of effective changes that may enhance performance of an organisation, whether soft or hard systems changes, capitalise mostly on opportunities.
Economic changes
Asian pacific area, especially, the United Arab Emirates has been experiencing a constant growth of economy. Many of the countries that are located in this region have their economies maturing up. The fact that these economies are growing at a fast pace implies that the income per capita is also increasing. Consequently, many people are able to afford air transport. This truncates into the tremendous growth of the airline. In this context, Tayeh (2006) reckons, “Markets are changing rapidly and more governments in the region are streamlining their economic policies so as to suite the Airline industry” (p.2). Economic challenges associated with global financial crisis experienced in the recent past have resulted to a tremendous decline in the world airline traffic. Nevertheless, “the middle eastern regions have improved especially for emirates” (Doganis 2001, p.7). This growth is associated with the incredible growth of the city of Dubai as both tourism and business hub. This growth is enhanced by creation of international iconic projects such as the theme park that takes after Disney world.
Technological changes
In 1990’s, the whole world experienced an ardent technological boom that was accompanied by sophistication of many organisational systems. This technological improvement has had the impact of making clients more informed about their air transport service quality. Therefore, as Doganis (2001) notes, “Airline companies have to deal with the advent of better informed clients since most people are now more knowledgeable about the reputable companies” (p.3). For example, the availability of internet to many of the people across the world enables them to understand the weaknesses and strengths of various companies, airline companies included. This impact on airline industry is exemplified by the fact that “many clients tend to shy away from airlines with numerous stopovers in comparison to those with one or have direct routes” (Doganis 2001, p.). Clients can have ample knowledge of all these issues simply by a click of a button on the personal computers or mobile phones. This issue has affected the emirates airlines. Tayeh (2006) ascertains this impact and further argues, “Emirates Airlines has been affected by this issue because it needs to ascertain that it offers better services to its clients and that it can meet future demand “(p.11). To enhance the performance and continued success of the Emirates Airlines, it is crucial to consider further investment in technological systems as part of hard systems changes.
Hard system changes
Stemming from the above discussions, the fact that most people have access to improved communication gadgets such as personal computers and internet enabled mobile phones, the Emirates Airlines can take advantage of this fact and conduct changes on its communications or public relations. This change being hard system organisational change needs to be methodologically developed in three phases: description, options, and implementation.
Description
The technological situation facing the company is that, with the creation of social media such as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook among others, people can share their experiences much more easily. Where the experiences are in disfavour of the organisation, it is likely that such commentaries may shy off potential clients who have not had a firsthand experience of the company’s flight experience. Additionally, with the growing demand for better services, the Emirates Airlines invest in infrastructures and planes that meet the requirements of various clients. While the company may be doing this practically, the same information may not be following to the potential clients who rely heavily on the internet information searches.
The difficulty of enhancement of a better flow of information about the most current attempts of the organisation to provide infrastructure that meets the most recent needs of clients is evidenced by conducting a search of the Emirates Airlines. A lot of information pops up. This information does not directly start by addressing the most recent acquired technologies at the organisation. The objective of communications changes is to ensure that the company leaps most from the easiness of acquiring organisational information to enhance the improvement of the company’s clientele levels. The performance measure for this objective is the number or percentage increase of the clientele upon implementation of various possible options to tackle this organisation’s system change.
Options
Attempting to resolve the challenge of enhancing better information flow to potential clients, a number of options are available. For the case of unfavorable commentaries in the social media, the company may need to follow commentaries of its clients through these social media in an attempt to develop policies that will ensure and enhance customers’ satisfaction. Another option is to consider ensuring that the company’s wiki pages remains updated all the time. The company may also consider setting certain keywords that guide search engines into producing the recent endeavour of the organisation to improve customer service and customer service satisfaction as the first search results whenever the words ‘the Emirates Airlines’ are keyed in into any search engine.
In these options, active involvement of the communications or public relations people within the Emirate Airlines is required. The option involving following the commentaries of clients on the social media works by embracing the concepts of two-way communication system. This is because social media permits people to give their feel about certain issues that are of public interest. For the case of internet search results, no such feelings can be expressed between differing people through enabling media opposed to social media. To implement the option requires just the input of public relations personnel within the Emirates Airlines to work. Based on the objective performance measure identified before, it is likely that considering the provision to changes of search results about the company to appear first in the search engines is likely to produce more impacts. This is because many people acquire information about an organisation they would like to contract for service provision this way.
Implementation
In the implementation of the system change, it is important to note that the rate at which people enroll and participate in information exchange across the social media is increasing. Consequently, even though many people would perhaps treat individual commentaries about their experience with the Emirates Airlines flights as personal, provision of company position about these feelings is vital. For this reason, the implementation of this option requires a company to maintain an up-to-date page or a wall on social media. This way, the company may make it possible to make clarifications and reduce volatility of inaccurate information that may circulate across social media and plunge it into organisational crisis. For the case of improvement of precedence of search engines results, all that is required is a committed communications staff. Both of these options require resources commitment for their successful implementation. It follows then that they are both constrained by financial availability. Thus, their degree of attractiveness is plausibly measured by percentage gain in terms of profitability of the organisational financial performance. This is dependent on the magnitude of rise in clientele when they are implemented by the Emirates Airlines.
Soft system changes
Soft system changes the hardest change to implement within an organisation. This is because they involve changing the manner in which people do work or even think about an organisation. However, when such changes are implemented, they increase the chances of success of an organisation in multifold. This is accomplished in a number steps. These are “diagnosis of the current situation, development of a vision of change, gaining commitment to the vision, development of an action plan, implementing change, and assessment and reinforcement of change (Senior & Fleming 2005, p.353). These steps are discussed in this section coupled with their application in the context of the Emirates Airlines.
Current situation diagnosis
Lots of complains have been raised by people terming themselves as clients of the Emirates Airlines who have had bad experience with the company. Some people claim that they have lost their baggage with some citing bad experience with the airlines cabin crew while others complain of flight delays. A further treatment of these complains is given by Asghah (2012). Many of the people raising these complains cite poor or relaxed management as being the cause of the reasons why they are made to go through humiliating situations (Asghah 2012, Para 16.). To make sure that the clients understand the contexts and various capacities of the company to satisfy their demands and have them understand that not every demand that they place on the airline customer service can be honored. It is critical that soft system change be designed and implemented.
Vision of change
Accruing to the economic advantage it has, the Emirates Airlines has incredible opportunities of growth if it rectifies the challenges it is facing currently related to customer service. Consequently, a vision of change is required to “give the organisation a picture of what the future looks like after the change is implemented” (Tanner 2011, p.125). To manage the customers’ complains and turn around them to act as strengths as opposed to acting as threats, the vision of change needs to reflect a picture of airline clientele, which ardently appreciates and recognises that the company handles people of valid cultural background. Hence, it is not every food or beverage that they would want that could actually be supplied to them. In the vision of change, it is also crucial to articulate the perspectives of ensuring ardent communication to clients to make them understand that, apart from cultural perspectives that may influence what clients consume, the airlines may not also satisfy all the cliental demands based on demographic factors such as age. This is particularly significant for people travelling with their infants.
Commitment to the vision
In a service sector, a company such as the Emirates Airlines deals with people who have valid altitudes and way of interpreting issues. In the communication process between the airline employees and the clients, it is likely that detriments to effective communication occur. On the other hand, employees feel undermined by rude customers or over demanding customers. Consequently, for successful commitment to the vision, it is necessary that the organisation commits resources to educate and train its cabin crew on cultural perspectives of various people especially when the Emirates Airlines acquire new destination as the company furthers its attempts to make global flights. This is an attempt to inculcate a strong spirit of multiculturalism in customer service, which needs to be accompanied with the perception that ‘customer is always right’ among all service providers in the airline.
Action plan
To realise the vision of change discussed above, the following action of plan is proposed.
Ensure that customers are in immediate contact with the clients. Management is responsible in creating policies that may immensely improve customer service and reduce complains raised by the clients. Consequently, in all management levels, it is vital that managers are exposed to customers and chat with them constantly. This action plan is inspired by the argument that work normally takes place at the point where the customers encounter with service providers. Where a manager spends some time with the customers awaiting to board a plane, the customers can develop a great deal of confidence and adequacy of the services provided by the cabin crew on board the plane with.
Involve the cabin crew in planning standards of customer service. The Emirates Airlines cabin crew is the people who are in daily contact with the customers. They are the ones who really know what is required on the ground by the customers. Whenever business changes occur, they are the first ones to know. Thus, they can bring all these changes on board when customer’s services policies are being designed and assessed.
The top leadership needs to portray to all people working in the company that customers are the first priority in the organisation and that they are always right. The direction of an organisation is stipulated by leaders in a manner that is consistent to the culture of the organisation in question. In this context, Morrison and Winston (1997) reckons, “If the top leaders expect great service for every customer every time, then they will naturally do what it takes to create a culture that breeds such service” (p.34). This insight is significant for the Emirates Airlines since to deliver high quality customers service in a consistent manner, leaders of the organisation needs to make this quest a priory and then the employees can follow suit.
Implementing change
At the heart of implementation of change, it is crucial that every customer, a mid his or her cultural background and attitude, to be an important asset of the Emirates Airlines. Convenience, safety, and comfort of these customers need to constitute the paramount concern of the organisation. Safety here does not only imply the capacity of the airline to move the customer from point A to B, but also the belongings of the customer including their baggage. For the case of long delays, a rapid mechanism of providing essential services such as accommodation at the cost of the company is vital. Other critical issues for implementation include mechanisms of guaranteeing the baggage liability to the clients, ticket refunds, and improvement of a two-way form of communication while handling issues of concern about the service provisions of the company by customers. Management must take proactive roles in ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of these changes.
Assess and reinforce change
The system changes, as discussed in the prior sections, demand the leadership arm of the Emirates Airlines to take proactive roles. In the assessment process and in the reinforcement process, it is crucial to provide a mechanism of evaluating the effectiveness of the responsible persons with the implementation of the change plan. For this purpose, performance management and contracting is suggested for assessing changes upon their implementation. To do this, customers need to be provided with mechanisms of giving feedback on what they feel about the quality of the service provided by the airlines on arrival.
Conclusion
The Emirates Airlines immensely believes that the adoption of concepts free market strategies is the cutest drivers that may make the company succeed in the future uncertain world. Consequently, it has refrained from mergers coupled with acquisitions. However, since the company plans to expand and reach global markets, it is significant that it embraces global operation rules adopted by the companies in the industry across the globe. In this light, the paper has proposed changes of customer service provision as soft system changes and technological changes as hard system changes.
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