Managing People in Aviation: Maximizing Performance for Success - Essay Sample

Introduction

Management is all about guiding limited resources towards a specific course. In any organization, the most crucial asset is the human being. A good manager is one who knows and appreciates the value of people. It is through people that an organization can run smoothly. Proper management involves motivating employees to ensure that they perform their jobs well. The aviation industry is one of the busiest and most demanding of all sectors. With the nations of the world getting closer together to form a global village, air travel, which is the fastest among all types of transport, stands out as the most preferred. An increase in global trade and the spirit of exploration are some of the main reasons why people travel so much, benefiting the aviation industry. In such a busy setting, precision is essential; hence, it is necessary to have employees entirely focused on their jobs for a single minute wasted could cause a company a considerable loss. Keeping employees on their toes in terms of service requires excellent management skills. Apart from being extremely busy, the aviation industry exhibits many rapid changes and decision-making in management since not only is the competition cutthroat, but there is also no room for mistakes. Only a remarkable leader can manage and steer employees into the same direction in such a setting. Companies in the aviation industry should invest in good leadership if they are to excel.

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Effective managers have in mind the kind of leadership style that works for them best for better team and organization management. Appropriate leadership styles enable a manager to form connections with team members while building respect and trust for better team engagement and excellent relationships in the workplace. An inappropriate leadership style leads to a drop in performance. Depending on the nature of the business and ethos of an organization, management can pick a suitable leadership style from the popular exercised such as transactional, transformational, autocratic, and situational leadership. The focus of this essay is British Airways and how their choice of leadership style impacts employees in the line of changes made by the company.

Among the well-known air travel companies in the world is British Airways. British Airways Plc is the largest airline in the UK's international scheduled airlines. Globally, it is one of the leading airlines. Its headquarters is in the city of London but is significantly present at Gatwick and Heathrow. British Airways is part of IAG, which stands for International Consolidated Airlines Group. IAG is a multinational airline company that was formed in 2011.It is Anglo-Spanish and was formed as a merger between Iberia and British Airways, both flag bearers of Spain and the UK, respectively. Its operation headquarters are situated in London while its registered office is in Madrid. IAG is, therefore, the parent company of British Airways. Being part of IAG, British Airways has access to franchise partners, joint business, and codeshare, which enables it to operate extensive networks. British Airways operates in over 150 nations with destinations above 1000. It offers employment to around 42000 people in the world. British Airways is determined to be an airline of choice offering services that are personalized. It also aims at attaining reliability with a mind-set that is digitalized (British Airways, 2019). Staff roles include cabin crew, pilots, engineers, corporate and support staff, ground operation, and cargo staff, airport customer service staff, and contact center, staff. All these employees work together to coordinate the smooth day-to-day operations, enabling easy and comfortable journeys of customers. For the success of its operations, British Airways needs competent leaders with an appropriate leadership style to coordinate all functions successfully.

British Airways management uses transformational leadership, which influences individual and organizational outcomes in the bid to be competitive. Alqatawenh (2018) explains that an organization does not fully rely on managers, but the leadership style used. Alqatawenh (2018) considers the transformational leadership style as the best for organizations dealing with change. The style is appropriate for change management because it gives a leader the ability to keep employees at par with the organization's ultimate desires. For successful change management to happen, transformational leadership does it best. Change is all about moving an organization from one position to the most desirable position. A clear strategy is key for organizations to obtain their visions. Transformational leadership is the best option for any organization demanding change because it transforms employees' attitudes and behavior towards the said change.

British Airways cares about its employees and appreciates its value. British Airways work transformation demands focus, which lies in the creation of diverse, rewarding, and challenging work environment. Managers' grade-based reward programs changed into broadband schemes meant to associate rewards to capability and performance. The group also has a Bravo recognition program that permits management to identify employees for their achievements and efforts. British Airways also contains diversity initiatives meant to foster relationships among its staff despite the different religions, cultures, and backgrounds. Employees at this airline company kept on par with the company's plans, industry, and customers through internal communication from the management. The internal communication channels include face-to-face communication, regular briefings, workshops, personalized intranet, online forums, newsletters, and mobile messaging. All these communication channels aimed at encouraging employees to share and question ideas with their managers. British Airways uses a survey, the Speak Up! Attitude survey, which improves employee satisfaction as the staff feels proud of the service they do and can proudly advocate for the company's products. The survey is not only meant to produce employee suggestions but also include those comments in the airline's decisions and change management. Managers harbor the responsibility of ensuring that they make plans founded on the survey findings in a transparent manner. The surveys are also meant to be a regular practice by the management (British Airways, 2009).

From the 2008-2009 annual report, it is clear that British Airways values its employees and the contributions they make. British Airways exercises transformational leadership and that is visible through how they treat their employees. The modes of communication they use indicate that management seeks to motivate employees towards attaining the company's vision. The survey they conduct enables employees to have a sense of belonging, which in turn motivates them to put extra effort in achieving the company's goals. With such practices, even in times of change transition, the employees can be able to cope and accept the changes easily incorporated.

British Airways operates in a highly dynamic environment where changes made to the company are the most prompt in a bid to keep up with the ever-changing airline operations. Recently, British Airways has adopted the use of technology to enable excellent services to its customers and smooth operations for its employees. In 2017, British Airways introduced mototok tugs to enhance punctuality (British Airways, 2019). Mototok tugs were for short-haul pushback of aircraft at Heathrow. The introduction of these tugs was a necessary implementation to reduce delays due to pushbacks, which in turn increased punctuality. Time is everything in the aviation industry, and for British Airways to have made it a world-renowned airline, they know the value of punctuality in their operations. Knowing how employees are key in British Airways, such a decision must have been advocated for by the employees, which enabled an easy transition since the employees were already at par with the decision. The decision to acquire the mototoks was a success, and that is why British Airways aspires to get a more powerful version of the mototoks.

British Airways would not be considering the option of acquiring bigger and better mototok tugs if transformational leadership was not working in their favor in convincing employees of the adoption of the new technology. The management at British Airways has used transformational leadership to rile employees into the idea of smooth operations with enhanced technology. The airline has a large workforce with many functionalities, and it is crucial to get them all working together. Pilots and cabin crew depend on the engineers, customer service, contact centers, support, ground operations, and cargo staff members for flights to embark on their set destinations on time.

The use of mototok tugs has no doubt improved employee performance, motivated them to achieve organizational goals since they can have smooth operations with the use of such a technology. There is enhanced performance among employees considering they work in a chain, and they all depend on each other. To understand the impact mototok tugs have on the performance of employees as British Airways, it is essential to comprehend what pushback is and its importance. Among all airport procedures, the most important is pushback, and it is where an airplane by use of external force is pushed back from the gate of an airport to create room and convenience for other planes. It is possible for aircraft to power back or reverses; however, the risk of damage to the terminal equipment or building is high, and there is a possibility of engine damage as those engines close to the ground can suck in the sand. Tugs are for pushback instead of planes performing power backs to avoid damage. Pushbacks are important in airport operations because there is constant air traffic increase as airports face capacity-related problems. To avoid flight delay, smooth and faster operation of pushback is important, for it affects all employees involved. A pushback delay can cause the failure of the entire team. The introduction of mototok tugs has also given a chance to management to analyze employee skills and determine their training needs. With the introduction of this technology, the management was able to recognize skilled technological geniuses among its workforce while identifying the employees who need training in that area.

Conclusion

In conclusion, companies in the aviation industry should invest in good leadership if they are to excel. British Airways uses transformational leadership through encouraging and motivating employees to achieve the organization's vision of being an airline of choice, delivering personalized services. Employees are an integral part of British Airways, and the company ensures to let their staff know that they are in high esteem. British Airways management uses open communication channels that enable free discussions to conjure employees' opinions on matters and decisions related to the company. Management ensures to incorporate the employees' views in the decisions they make for the company. The outcome of such a practice is the motivation of employees as they feel a sense of belonging and, in turn, put extra effort into ensuring they achieve the organization's goals. The use of transformational leadership has worked well for British Airways in change management. The group introduced the use of mototok tugs in pushback operations in a bid to enhance punctuality. The change was a success because the company aspires to acquire more powerful mototok tugs. The transformational leadership style in use at British Airways is no...