DEI AIRLINES

EMBA 17 GROUP 1

Drivers of Change at DEI Airlines

• Reputation improvement.• Service level improvement.• Improvement in financial performance.• Synergy realization - the merger between

Europe Air and Flag Airways.

‘To be the most preferred airline in Europe’

Change Targets at DEI Airlines

• Culture change – from a “transportation culture” to a “service culture.”

• Financial performance – movement from losses to profits.

• Reduction in overstaffed personnel.• Employee morale boost. • Re-orientation on the marketing function in

every area of the business.

Success Measures

• Change in customer perception of DEI Airlines from one of those to be avoided to one of those to consider first via a progressive improvement in customer satisfaction survey indices for the organization.

• Punctuality on scheduled flights. Being on time all the time. No more delays!

• Movement from loss to profitability; and growing profits.• One culture in the organization - Merger of culture between

employees of Europe Air and Flag Airways. Significant improvement in efficiency levels -Improvement in the production efficiency rates of DEI Airlines.

• Employees reaction to change - Motivated employees – Greater than 80% score in employee satisfaction survey.

Key Success Factors• Communication – at all times and in various manners.

The employees need to fully understand the implication of the current situation of the company, the changes required and how these changes will be achieved.

• Milestones should be set and celebrated upon achievement.

• Both senior and junior management must believe and commit to the change.

• There is a need to understand the employees’ attitude and assess the current organizational structure.

• Identification of the key stakeholders.

Key Success Factors (2)

• The effectiveness of the “survival plan” which was embarked upon to reduce staff numbers, freeze pay for a period, close down some routes etc.

• Managers (both senior and junior) being able to embrace the impending change.

• Re-orientation on the marketing function in every area of the business.

Leadership Style

• Rassemblent should adopt the participatory leadership style.

• Organizational members should be involved and carried along at all times. This is because the airline business requires people liaising/rendering services to customers. They need to get it right.

• Management should lead by example – take up front desk roles to show the front desk officers that the service culture is achievable.

• Trainings should be conducted. Scenario plays embarked upon to give officers a wide array of possible services that can be requested by customers and rendered to them. Best practices should be adopted.

Pace of Change

• Culture changes take time. The change should be done in phases.

• Phase 1 – Resolve industrial action issues.• Phase 2 – Cut costs gradually by not replacing staff who leave the employ of

the organization.• Phase 3 – Focus culture change on Europe Air – the short haul service as

improvement in this area will be noticed quickly.• Phase 4 – Upon conclusion of Europe Air, embark on the change in Flag

Airway.• Phase 5 – When both Europe Air and Flag Airways have adopted the service

culture, they should be merged. Their locations and activities brought together. This will also improve efficiency.

• Phase 6 – Embed the change. This involves making the change process part of the DNA of DEI Airlines.

• The change process may take up to five years to be fully implemented and embedded.

Support System & Structures

• A change management team should be set up with change agents in areas of business.

• Staff of DEI Airlines can be sent to Hertz (Rassemblent’s previous place of work) for them to understand the service culture, best practices etc. They then come back to train other officers.

• Upon commencement and adoption of the culture and efficiency changes, this should be included in the performance contracts of officers carrying out roles related to this. This is to ensure compliance.

Winning Commitment

• Rassemblant should make efforts to get the buy-in of the senior management. He needs to understand what may cause the resistance to change and deal with it. After all efforts have been made to convince the resistant party to come on board, and they still do not, they should be exited professionally in order to move the organization forward.

• The junior management who seem to believe in the change can serve as the change champions. They believe in the change and are closer to the employees (organization structure/ reporting lines) than both Rassemblant and the senior management.

• Constant reminders of the changes desired, and progress updates should be communicated to all employees. This will motivate them as they will know where they are coming from, where they are presently and how far they still have to go.

• The leaders should lead by example consistently. There must be no impression that the leaders are not “walking the talk.”

 

GROUP 1 MEMBERS