Case Study 2- British Airways Strike
Michiko Bird & Melissa Pollock
MAN 4741-02874
1. From each change prospective, what are the key issues to understanding the wildcat strike?
Initially, employees were feeling a lack of respect from British Airways (BA). When the company introduced the implementation of swipe cards for clocking in and out at work, a 24-hour strike was initiated in response to the change. This was a key factor in the wildcat strike. Employees were concerned about a manager’s ability to manipulate their work hours because of the new system. The loss of approximately 13,000 jobs in the past two years did not help employee’s perception of the new change, and they wondered what would happen to them next? Employees did not have adequate …show more content…
They used a top-down approach, management dictating the use of the cards, without much focus on how the new change would impact the employees, both at work and in their personal lives. Due to this, restrospection framework came next, which can be seen when Rod Eddington, chief executive of British Airways, told BBC Radio, “With the gift of hindsight, it’s difficult to disagree with you.” (Akin, Dunford, & Palmer, …show more content…
This would include identifying the problem and then engage employees in conversations pertaining to the issues of the current process, discussing the concerns of the current process and how a new process (card swiping) would be beneficial to the employees, understanding and acknowledging the proposed new process (card swiping), providing timeframes to roll out the new process (card swiping), directions on the use of it as well as reemphasizing the benefits, and lastly, implementing the change (installing the card swiping
Michiko Bird & Melissa Pollock
MAN 4741-02874
1. From each change prospective, what are the key issues to understanding the wildcat strike?
Initially, employees were feeling a lack of respect from British Airways (BA). When the company introduced the implementation of swipe cards for clocking in and out at work, a 24-hour strike was initiated in response to the change. This was a key factor in the wildcat strike. Employees were concerned about a manager’s ability to manipulate their work hours because of the new system. The loss of approximately 13,000 jobs in the past two years did not help employee’s perception of the new change, and they wondered what would happen to them next? Employees did not have adequate …show more content…
They used a top-down approach, management dictating the use of the cards, without much focus on how the new change would impact the employees, both at work and in their personal lives. Due to this, restrospection framework came next, which can be seen when Rod Eddington, chief executive of British Airways, told BBC Radio, “With the gift of hindsight, it’s difficult to disagree with you.” (Akin, Dunford, & Palmer, …show more content…
This would include identifying the problem and then engage employees in conversations pertaining to the issues of the current process, discussing the concerns of the current process and how a new process (card swiping) would be beneficial to the employees, understanding and acknowledging the proposed new process (card swiping), providing timeframes to roll out the new process (card swiping), directions on the use of it as well as reemphasizing the benefits, and lastly, implementing the change (installing the card swiping