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.
