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Changing the Culture at British Airways
Discussion Board 1 – Thread
Michael Grice
School of Arts and Sciences, Liberty University
Author Note
Michael A. Grice
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Michael A. Grice
Email: mgrice4@liberty.edu
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Changing the Culture at British Airways
Successful leaders often lead with a certain spirit and enthusiasm for innovation and
change. Although they may make this process seem smooth and painless, we all know growing
pains are associated with any growth, change, or reformation an organization may go through.
Although this part of change may be less that desirable, the few moments of less than
comfortable requirements will offer the return of competitiveness in the market and a growing
customer base. British Airways is an excellent example of how, when handled well,
organizational change can lead to monuments growth for the company and its employees.
Historical Background of British Airways
British Airways as a company is just over a century old as their origins can be traced back
to the year 1919. Given the age of the company, it goes without saying that the modern-day
British Airways has experienced various changes and iterations of processes making it a
significantly different looking company. Until the point where British Airways began to undergo
significant organizational change, the company was a state governed organization (Coller, 2016).
Later in 1971, the government mandated a merge of two companies, British European Airways
and British Overseas Airways, which led to years of the newly formed company operating in a
way that caused them to struggle to turn a profit. In 1981, the company experienced additional
change (this time in leadership) when John King was positioned as the chairman of the
organization and is the individual who was responsible for setting large scale change into motion
that would serve as the survival plan for the company. The changes that were implemented
focused on financial goals, where the utmost priority was avoiding bankruptcy by reducing
operational costs and reducing the workforce – both of which are strategies that are employed by
organizations today (Heinz, 2021). Next, in 1983 Colin Marshal was appointed as the CEO of the
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organization, which seemed to be a very strategic move as he was already known as a strong
leader and businessman who was well versed in management strategies such as Continuous
Improvement (Heinz, 2021). Under this style of leadership, the company focused on creating a
nurturing environment for employees (Cozmuta, 2021).
What Made This a Successful Transformation
The most characteristic change that occurred during the transformational era of British
Airways was the transition from being under state ownership to a privately owned and operated
company (Coller, 2016). The values that were placed at the center of this transformation that
stood out to me were those that placed emphasis on empowering employees as well as improving
a customer centric operation. These are very relevant to the work that I do as the organization
I’m currently working within is working overtime to improve both customer access and
employee satisfaction and engagement. Although we have a different name for our strategy, it
still rings very similar at a foundational level to the Putting People First (PPF) and Total Quality
Management (TQM) programs that were implemented within British Airways (Heinz, 2021).
These two programs each had a separate initiative it hoped to accomplish; the PPF initiative
focused on engaging employees, where the TQM program focused on customer service and
process management (Cozmuta, 2021). The transformation was so successful for British Airways
that it was given the title, “The New Name in Aviation”, and has been recognized by competitors
as being the lifeline of British Airways and what catapulted them into the position, they are in
now within the aviation industry. There were two strong lessons that can be gleamed from this
transformation; first, the importance of engaging employees and customers was clearly
demonstrated here. Second, and most importantly, the success of British Airways reinforces the
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need for organizational change as it directly correlates to the success of the organization –
regardless of how quick or momentarily painful the process of the change may be.
Conclusions
Overall, I was pleased with the experience that was outlined within the British Airways
case study this week. Although we don’t know with certainty what the denomination of the
leadership at British Airways was, we can certainly see that they did act in accordance with some
of the foundational pillars of our Christian faith. I was brought back to Philippians 2:3, which
reminds us that our motivations should not be driven less by our own benefits, but by the benefits
of the whole instead. In this case, we saw that the leadership at British Airways was doing
everything they could to keep the company operating. This allowed for employees of all levels to
retain employment and their livelihoods. The only issue I saw with the plan was the need that
was placed on the reductions in force (RIF) that was carried out as part of the operating cost
reduction strategy. I have faced the possibilities of being involved in a RIF a few times within
my corporate career and it certainly is not a great feeling, so I can feel for the employees who
were affected here. It’s also worth noting that employees who have been notified as being an
affected employee by a RIF will experience and have self-reported a significant decrease in
engagement and job performance post-notification (Chaddha, 2016). Overall, I believe this
British Airways transformation really set the standard for how corporations implement large
scale change.
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References
Chaddha, V. (2016). Corporate restructuring and its effect on employee morale and
performance. International Journal of Research in IT, Management and Engineering, 6(05),
6-14.
Coller, K. E., Helms Mills, J., & Mills, A. J. (2016). The british airways heritage collection: An
ethnographic 'history'. Business History, 58(4), 547-
570. https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2015.1105218
Cozmuta, A. (2021). Selling ‘The World’s favourite airline’: British airways’ privatisation and the
motives behind it. Business History, , 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2021.1926991
Heinz, Art. (2021). Managing Organizational Change: A Multiple Perspectives Approach. (3rd
edition). McGraw-Hill Education
King James Bible. (2021). King James Bible Online.
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/ (Original work published 1769)
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