As far as the staffing and cancellations. I believe both
situations are just as important, but if there is no no staff
how can you ensure the safety of the passengers on the
flight? Either you can limit the flights so that staff can
accommodate the passengers, they could conduct more interviews or
make cancellations. making poor choices in the business means
you lose profits, when the point is to make profits there’s
not too much room to mistakes unless you’re willing to learn
from them and improve .Not all businesses treat their customers
this way, but they’re scenarios where things like this have
happens. Some businesses start off satisfying customers and having
great customer service and keep it that way by hiring good
and determined employees. Then there’s the companies who no
longer care of the standards because they are not there and
only reaping the benefits of others labor. I do not believe
this is how businesses view their customers. I definitely do not
believe that all businesses run their companies this way. What
United did was very uncalled for and inappropriate and no
business should run that way. I do not believe that an
airline's need to staff or cancel a flight is more important
than passengers needs to travel to their destination but in their
case how they handled the situation shows that they do believe
it is more important to staff or cancel a flight. I cannot
imagine how Dr. Dao feel or actually experiencing such a
thing has had a impact on him. If an airline makes a
poor choice like they did in Dr. Dao's case customers would
not want to fly with them anymore and can make sales and
ratings go down tremendously. Stocks will more than likely most
definitely go down a lot I am almost certain. This is such
a tragic thing to have someone go through when they are
just trying to get to their destination. I don’t think that all
businesses run this way. I don’t believe that United put their
customers first which is the only way they have a business.
I understand there are sometimes different circumstances that can
put customers behind the well-being of their staff but in the
situation I don’t see it. For business around smoothly they
have to have customers that keep paying them. If a customer
is no longer paying that company the company will eventually
go under. If we treat our customers disrespectful or cancel
their orders this will give negative feedback from customers to
the business therefore intern have a negative outlook on the
company.Not only do you have to worry about the customers
you have to worry about the stockholders and the shareholders
that help keep your business going. If their shareholding or
stocks plummet what makes you think they’re going to continue
paying into the company. I think most businesses go by the
approach that customers are always right even though sometimes
they aren’t. After reading the example "Did United Sacrifice a
Customer’s Well-Being to Its Own Needs", I can see where
businesses such as big corporations like United to put their
employees and needs before customers. This is definitely not the
first time that united has cancelled a passengers seat or
rescheduled a flight to make sure that their needs are met
first. They do not really look at the inconvenience they cause
passengers and will usually just offer flight credit or some
type of payout as an apology. An airline's need to staff or
cancel a flight is important but not as important as the
needs of the passengers. There is always a second option
when you are trying to figure out a solution to a problem
and united should have tried to come up with a solution
before forcibly removing a passenger from their seat. If a
situation such as the one in the example happens then stock
plummets and public opinion of the company is forever stained.
There would definitely be a decrease in sales because customers
are scared it could happen to them. I do not think this is
how businesses view their customers. I think United was in
the wrong one hundred percent, and their apology was a joke.
I get the need to staff a flight so they needed to fly
several crew members on a flight, but what if Dr. Dao's
was in the same position. What if he was flying to
Louisville for a work related manner, and need to be there
by a certain time. They did not care what he needed, it
was what they needed. There were many other ways to go
around what they did. How did they decided he needed to
get off the flight since no one volunteered? Why him, what
did he do or say to be targeted? Why was he forcibly
dragged off the plane and bloody? By him saying he will
not get off the plane means he needs to be dragged off
and bloody. I don't care how bad you need someone to get
off because it was over booked and you need space for
workers, no one should be treated that way. Who would want
to fly with a company that does that, then give a fake
apology days later. If they were sincere, they would of
apologized right away, and some how made it up to him.
When an airline makes a poor choice and now in day when
there is a recording of the incident, a lot can happen to
the company. You will lose business for one, stocks will tank,
and important people can lose their jobs and or the company
can get sued. I see the generalization of how business view
their customers as a broad brush stroke. Most businesses start
with the best of intentions, filling a niche that often times is
related to customer dissatisfaction in their given industry. As
these businesses grow, choices are made, and many times
businesses lose track of where they came from. A great
example of this is Wal-Mart, as it was started to give
access to quality, low cost goods to those in rural locations.
As Wal-Mart expanded, it grew from a rural department store,
into a regional and eventually nationwide competitor. To gain
more and more market share, changes began to evolve, and
the original vision begins to blur. The fast expansion and
changes internal to Wal-Mart happen around when the company
turns public, which I believe is a very common theme of
where I believe we see marked changes in most companies
views towards customers or "profit first." I would also say that
this change is easy to see when a business is bought, or
a founder passes away, I would like it directly to the loss
of a central vision or mission.Again, any business can make
the choice to put profit over customers at any given time. I
am fortunate enough to work for a multi-billion dollar company
that is still family run, despite competing in many major
cutting edge markets in our given industry. I would like to
think that if we ever were to go public, our mission and
vision has been so solidly engrained from the top down that
we would transition very easily and unchanged, but after reading
the example today, I find myself having doubts.
The particular example of today's lesson has two sides. One
side values the single customer, who would be able to travel
as intended, but an entire flight crew would be disrupted,
playing havoc on other travelers plans. The other side values
the employees travel, and making sure all flights can take off
on time, while seriously impacting the attitude, stress, plans, and
eventual physical well being of a single passenger.
I believe the airline industry as a whole has greatly changed,
and rather than the luxury of the skies, the turn towards
profits has turned the industry into glorified bus rides, and this
may be a large factor in how the airline approached this
situation. When we view customers as cattle, it is easy to
lead them to the slaughterhouse. Examining the situation, I
believe United was right to want to make sure the additional
flights were not impacted, however, they were very far away
from a proper solution. Looking at the poor choice in this
particular example, a much more agreeable solution might have
been to pay for united personnel to fly on a competitor's
airline, in order to ensure both outcomes are met successfully.As
for the examples fall out, the impact that poor decisions have
is immense, not only in that relationship, but future ones as
well. With customers unwilling to purchase tickets, or even
shareholders selling their shares at a discount to quickly get
out of investment in the business, stock prices will fall. The
short sighted returns are lost for much larger, long term losses.
I do not feel that most businesses view their customers like
United Airlines did to their passenger, Dr. David Dao in 2017.
I feel there are many companies who value their customers.
They provide services and rewards to the customer which in
turn, gains trust within the customer. Customer service is critical
for businesses. Amazon, for example, provides excellent customer
service. Orders arrive in an average of 3 days. You can
now return a shipment at stores that Amazon has partnered
with instead of mailing it back. There are many promotions
and rewards when you become an Amazon Prime member.
I understand an airline needs enough staff to for their flights.
Maybe the company can look into raises to pay their staff
more or provide flexible schedules. The company should input
some perks to their staff to hire more often or not have a
turnover rate. A paying passenger's need to travel should also
be just as important to the airline. The passengers, in a
way, are keeping the airline in business. Without customers
buying flight tickets and luggage fees, the airline would not
have much income coming in.
I understand that it is easy to see the problem from the outside,
and I understand that businesses have a lot on their plates while
trying to keep their doors open, care for their employees, and
satisfy their customers, but there are different ways to solve
problems, and they did not pick the best one. Unfortunately, many
businesses view their clients in this light and believe that leaving
one disgruntled customer is not as awful as canceling another plane,
which could result in many more unhappy consumers.Each person has
their own wants, and the airline's needs are vital as well, but
they must remember that their business is their CUSTOMERS, and
that by meeting the demands of their customers, the airline's needs
will be met. What powers do they have to decide who will fly
and who will not? My airline changed my flight schedule, but they
offered something to compensate me, and I accepted it. They may
lose some money with me, but their reputation allows them to
gain more than what they lost. I think that most companies
view their customers as one of the most important parts of
their business because without them, there would be no business.
They are three partners and without them the company would
not be able to maintain its business without them. In larger
companies they sometimes the partners forget to follow the right
procedures when handling certain situations.
I think that there were no right or wrong decisions in
whether an airline’s needed to staff or cancel a flight is
more important than passengers’ needs to travel to their
destinations if they follow their rules and regulations and do
not break the law, and the safety of everyone well-being. I
have been in a couple situations that i have had delays and
had to get off due to staff calling of sick due to covid
or just was running late and we would have missed the
connecting flight. So, we had to wait until the next one was
very unfortunate but there was nothing we could do.I think in
some case in this incident that happened on the airline, it
would bring bad publicity for the airlines which will cause
people to not want to buy tickets and to choice a different
airline. A lot of time most flyers choice their flights off
how someone else loves there airline and reputation. Same for
investor if the negativity of the company is down it will
cause them not want to invest in the company. As with
most things, and most people there are "good" and "bad"
companies. I do not believe that this is an example of how
most or even half of some companies treat and value their
customers. I also believe that it does happen more frequently
in larger companies/corporations than it would in say a mom-and-
pop shop, restaurant, or other business. It seems to me that
most companies would be aware that their customers are the
only reason they exist.
I personally don't believe that lack of planning or availability
of staff should affect the way a company treats their
customers. I have never personally experienced or witnessed this
kind of "company first" mentality. However, it seems to be
occurring more and more frequently in recent years. Although I
know that overbooking and weight restrictions are a reality, I
don't believe that the extremity to which the airline staff
escalated things was appropriate or ethical.
The effect that the event such as the one involving Dr. Dao
and the "bad press" of the entire situation could cause
stakeholders to sell out their stocks which would in the end
devastate the airline financially. Had the boycott become a
reality, United would have lost millions in revenue as well as
cost their affiliates a lot of money. There is always a
correct and ethical way to handle a situation such as the
one United faced, even if there is not always one correct
solution to the situation. I do not think all companies think
about their customers. I feel a lot of companies think that
the customers are a huge part of their company because if
they didn’t have customers, they would not have business. Which
is why customers should be treated with certain respect meaning
dealt with, with kindness and pleased to a point.
I personally have been told I and my children couldn’t take
the flight do to over booking/weight restriction. That they would
rebook the next day free of charge. So although I think it’s
common that they “over book”, it’s how they handled it, I
think could have gone differently. He should have been able
to fly on that flight because he had already bought his
ticket whereas they short staffed and needed that staff member
there which is not his fault.
By someone coming out about the incident that happened on
the airline, it would bring bad publicity for the airlines which
will cause people to not want to buy tickets. Which also
affects the outside company that also advertises their discounted
prices. As well as the media would have coverage. I think
that most companies view their customers as one of the most
important parts of their business because without them, there
would be no business. I think that it is important to uphold
all promises and expectations to the customers and be willing
to do whatever you can do, within reason, to appease your
customers. Of course, there are processes and procedures that can
limit what can be done but the goal should be customer
satisfaction. In my opinion, Dr. Dao should have been allowed
to travel on his flight regardless of the needs of the airline
because there was an expectation and obligation set when he
purchased his ticket. The airline should have been able to
foresee the staffing issue and address it without affecting their
paying customers. I understand that another entire flight would
have been cancelled if the staff were not on that flight, but
Dr. Dao was already in his seat ready to travel. Since the
airline failed to staff correctly, they should have to eat the
repercussions of cancelling a flight. Customers, being an external
stakeholder, will stop doing business with companies with a bad
reputation of making poor choices. The media will profit off
the backlash of these incidents and competitors will gain more
business. The loss in business can affect the financial institutions
that back the company. The third-party companies that sell
airline tickets for that company can also lose profits. I do
believe that this could have been handled much differently by
United Airlines. I can understand that it was very important to
get the staff to the other location because if the staff is
not there to operate the aircraft then instead of one passenger
not being able to get to their destination it would have been
an entire flight. A canceled flight means a loss of revenue
for United Airlines but I believe this all could have been
avoided. All of the blame for this situation goes towards
United Airlines over a scheduling error if you know you need
10 crew members on that flight then you not sell 10 tickets.
Even though I do understand why Dr. Dao was being asked
to give up his seat I do not blame the doctor for refusing
because he had purchased the ticket and expected to get a
flight in return. As for me I would be real careful when
flying not to book a United flight but also I would say
this would hurt the stock and have a negative effect for the
stakeholders. I feel that in this case with United airlines did
sacrifice a customer’s well-being for its own needs. I do not
think that all businesses view their customers in this way, it
was that currently of technology the video effected the opinion
more by the evidence that was showed, and it showed the
side of the customers point of view more and not the
airlines point of view less. You must look at all the
evidence legally and morally and form your own opinions and
stated which side you are on either with united or Dr Dao
base off the evidence that you have, and, in this case, Dr
Dao seemed to be morally and legally right in this case.
There were no right or wrong decisions in whether an airline’s
needed to staff or cancel a flight is more important than
passengers’ needs to travel to their destinations if they follow
their rules and regulations and do not break the law, I do
believe that in hindsight it could have been managed a little
bit better than what the airlines had done to the customer. I
believe that when you buy a ticket to fly, than you are
signing up to aby by all rules and regulations of the airlines
and it stated that they could remove him, than the airlines
were in the rights to remove him from the plane, just
maybe in a different way than what was shown on the
video. I had encounter delay flights before, but not too this
extreme and I had asked to show my rights as a passenger
and it showed my rights when purchasing an airline ticket,
customers agree to the rules and conditions of the airline’s
services and the airlines accommodated me according to their
rules and regulations.I believe that what may happen if an
airline makes a poor choice, as in Dr. Dao’s case, which
affects its external stakeholders by jeopardizing its stock price.
Again, I do not think most businesses look at their customers
this way has in the video with Dr Dao and United Airlines.
I think some big companies and corporations see the needs of
their customers as more important than accommodating the pilots
over the customer’s needs. The external stakeholders are affected
by a business decision with the external stakeholders that are
groups outside a business or people who do not work inside
the business but are affected in certain way by the decisions
and actions of the business. Examples of external stakeholders
are customers, suppliers, creditors, the local community, society,
and the government. The company's reputation is at stake and
is an intangible asset and a source of competitive advantage
against rivals because the company will be viewed as more
dependable, credible, trustworthy, and responsible to its employees,
customers, shareholders and financial markets and you do not
want to jeopardize this in any way whatsoever. I feel like it
depends on the company and how big they are. When it
comes to huge businesses, I feel like they don't care as
much or treat/view their customers in this type of way. I
feel like it's important for companies to staff appropriately with
customers’ needs in mind. You cannot lose focus on the
customers’ needs otherwise you will lose their business. Therefore,
it is more important to focus on the customer needs. Although,
I think no matter what they also have to focus on the
customers safety on the flight. When something this drastic
happens and it makes it to the public like it did, it can
really impact the business. Now I know United is worth
several billions of dollars, but it is still important to treat
your customers well. 1. Because there are other airlines that
will gladly take the passenger and you will lose that business
forever. 2. Just like Dr. Dao's said, the company’s stock went
down. 3. You'll get tons and tons of negative reviews when
something bad goes viral and it will turn future customers
away. I don't agree with the way things were handled and I
agree with some of the class viewpoints stating that not all
businesses treat people in such a way that happened in 2017.
In my honest opinion, I don't think a flight should be
canceled unless there are problems with the plane itself or bad
weather. I do believe mistakes do occur and there should be
a system to focus on the prevention of overbooking flights. I
say that because, about 5yrs ago I took my first flight and
didn't know anything about first-class, priority, etc. Once I saw
things for myself to me it just didn't make any sense. On
my first flight felt like everyone around me knew my funds
weren't that big upon the role call to board the plane. In
my mind I thought there were special planes for different
classes, it's according to what you're willing to pay to get
the top of the line.
So, I say that to say this: The system with United Airlines
could be rerouted in a different format and analyze ways to
make things better for the people as well as the staff. It
is important to have flight attendants on board as well, don't
get me wrong but the whole perspective of things needs to
be addressed differently therefore, stocks won't be affected. All
sorts of things can possibly happen if poor choices are made
such as losing customers and being the headline of news and
that's never good for anyone unless it's a great acknowledgment
of success.
believe the safety of the passages is the most important issue
that needs to resolve. If the flight needs to be cancelled due
to staffing issues that would directly impair the safety then the
correct choice would be to cancel the flight. The world is
always watching in this digital age! When you make a poor
choice, especially one that goes viral the entire world knows
about it all the time. of course, with the general public
actively avoiding this company like what happened with Dr. Dao,
stakeholders will choose to leave in favor of where the public
will take its money.
I believe businesses truly look at their customers’ needs
appropriately/differently. I will explain: each company is different,
so they tend to request feedback and recognize needs of
customers in different ways. Each company adjusts their
environments and customer service based on the needs of the
customers. Airlines tend to cancel a flight over having the
limited number of staff, which is the right decision. This can
become an issue when people need to travel, and plans are
cancelled due to staffing shortage. Yet, it is the right decision,
as ultimately the customer’s needs (in flight), are taken into
consideration when an airline makes an adjustment and cancels
such as this. It causes issues for employees dealing with
unhappy customers, but ultimately it is the right thing to do.
Taking risks, especially in an airline, can cause catastrophic
affects from losing a business to losing good employees. Also,
impactful of the overall “name” of a business can be severely
impacted. Recognizing these types of situations will occur and
having a process of communication with higher leadership before
it happens again. What could happen? Money loss, customer
loss, employee dissatisfaction. The reading is situational and can
occur in different businesses. United did not take care of their
customers in the reading. These larger companies tend to think
they can act in a certain way, because of the amount of
business they will continue to take on. This decision could
have further implications and should not happen again. Yes, I
think United did sacrifice a customer’s well-being for their own
needs and personal gain. This behaviour is a direct example of
how some businesses with power, tend to treat their customers.
However, the reason these companies get away with this type
of behaviour is because of their global position in power. I
remember this incident when it took place and I remember
seeing Dr. Dao being dragged off. Think about the emotional
damage caused because of the power held at that moment by
the airlines. As for the airline’s need to ensure their flight
attendants get to their destinations, I’m sure that played a role
in the force and aggression that was used on Dr. Dao.
Theory X was clearly in control with this situation.If we were
to look at another company like T-Mobile, we would see a
different approach. Yes, a totally different situation; no planes
involved, no unruly passengers, etc. However, when someone calls
to explain an issue with T-Mobile, it wouldn’t matter how
much you yelled of screamed at them on the phone, they
would tend to keep their cool. By the end of the
conversation, you would probably end up with $20 in credit.
This type of approach towards customers, although sometimes isn’t
realistic, it tends to work. When companies’ employees’ create a
situation like the one with United, the public tends to react
quickly, thanks to social media.
