OL 633

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Alaska Airlines: Navigating Change

Deyanira Diaz

Southern New Hampshire University

OL 633

Dr. Ellington

Alaska Airlines: Navigating Change

In every successful organization, organizational managers play a vital role in providing employees with the necessary tools to motivate them to work toward achieving the organizational vision, mission, and goals (Avolio et al., 2015)). Alaska Airlines is an airline that has tried initiating changes in its operation to no fruition. However, after Ben Minicucci ascended to power, he ensured that his initiatives were inclusive. Every team member understood their roles and knew they were accountable for failures. Minicucci used the daily meeting as a strategy to hold everyone accountable for the success or failure within the organization. It ensured that departmental heads stayed updated on the change efforts and would stir their teams toward success. This paper reflects what I think should have been done in the change effort through actions such as removing barriers and generating short-term wins.

E. Enable Action by Removing Barriers

Forces, barriers, and hindrances

Based on Kotter’s stages of change 5 and 6, the Alaska Airlines change managers had to develop first-hand exercises to jump-start the change initiative. In stage 5, the managers had to dispose of all obstructions to enable the expansive plan (Kotter, 2012). Eliminating would have been essential in aligning the team toward the proposed change effort. According to Cohen and Kotter (2005), “evaluating boundaries to activity is critical to keeping the undertaking’s direness at high levels (Cohen & Kotter, 2005). Some of the boundaries that needed disposition for Alaska Airlines to push its change efforts included but were not limited to;

· The fight or misunderstanding between the baggage carousel merchants and departmental offices was to be eliminated because it caused staff strain.

· The pilots were to have a candid conversation with the management to ensure that the past issues have been resolved and a way forward.

· Alaska Airlines believed in a hierarchical culture that absolute minimum work was right. The change initiative needed to be successful and practical; therefore, change managers in the airline were required to annihilate this notion and demand significant work.

Resistance

Organizational change initiatives face opposition from most stakeholders. Resistance can be coherent or passionate. Each type of resistance to change within an organization paralyzes any change initiative efforts (Cohen & Kotter, 2005). According to the Alaska airline case, resistance occurred when baggage workers were terminated and re-appropriated. Retained workers opposed the change because they felt sidelined by the managers since they re-appropriated the fired workers. Resolving resistance, in this case, required the managers to hold face-to-face meetings with the parties to seek a way forward. Remaining receptive during progressive opposition is essential during resistance. Cohen and Kotter argue that "leaders who disregard sensitivity to resistance are frequently caught off guard at some point when they think all is going on well" (Cohen &Kotter, 2005). Talking to the workers and establishing why they need to resist the changes will help make the change efforts and talks more reasonable. More so, the staff should be sensitized to the need to align with the organization's vision, vision, and values.

Enable and empower employees

Alaska airline requires the collaborative input of the employees and the staff to push the change drive towards success and fruition. Therefore, change managers need to strengthen the nourishment of the stakeholders and the teams in general. Through this, the workers and the staff will adapt to the changes and accept the cause of action to enable the changes. Therefore, managers should develop actions that will enable and empower employees to help drive the change effort. Some of these strategies would be;

· Training and development of the employees are essential in pushing them towards job mastery achievement.

· Giving the workers absolute rights to engage in the change initiative by permitting them more control. In this case, they will be accountable for any failures or successes within their job prescriptions.

· Exposing them to other successful workers who will act as role models to help them focus on effectiveness.

· Total support to help them ease their tension. They will feel compassion and know that failure does not mean all is done.

· Encouraging employee feedback to understand and gauge where the change is working and where it is stagnant.

F. generating short-term wins

Short-term wins

Short-term wins are essential in change efforts because they show convenience in the change and help to build up the validity that the change will be successful. Short-term wins work as proof or evidence that the change exertion is satisfactory and workable. Therefore, based on the Alaska airline case, the managers had to embrace certain qualities to show that the change effort was the best and for the best achievement of organizational goals. Short-term wins are quantifiable, obvious, and applicable across departments. In this case, the wins will play a significant role in boosting the trust and loyalty of the workers. It will also reduce the baggage carousel waiting time, which would be a plus for the sides of consumers. Therefore, managers should ensure that they reward satisfactory work by developing reward and remuneration incentives, thanking them openly, and prioritizing them during training and development exercises.

Gains

A lot can be gained from short-term wins. First, short-term results help in reducing the adversity of resistance. Therefore, short-term changes will decrease resistance toward the change effort. According to Cohen and Kotter, "short-term results give valuable data about the legitimacy of the vision and the capability of the change exertion" (Cohen & Kotter, 2015). Short-term wins send a great message to the stakeholders that the change initiative or effort is on track. It also convinces those in resistance that the change is worth their support.

In conclusion, the viability of Kotter’s stage 5 and 6 changes depends on the efforts put forth by relevant stakeholders. Organizational change faces much resistance from stakeholders through coherent or passionate resistance. Alaska airline managers must work towards eliminating all obstructions by identifying them and developing strategies. The airline needs to strategically acknowledge and brag about its short-term wins because they are key to persuading resistors that the change is viable and worth undertaking. Employees or the staff that performs well should be rewarded to motivate them to do better.

References

Avolio, B. J., Patterson, C., & Baker, B. (2015). Alaska Airlines: Navigating Change. Harvard Business Review, 1-22.

Cohen, D. S., & Kotter, J.P. (2005). The Heart of Change Field Guide: Tools and Tactics for Leading Change in Your Organization. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.

Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.