Changing the Culture at British Airways
Changing the Culture at British Airways
Changing the Culture at British Airways The British Airways case study was a very interesting case to read. It proves that not all people can be leaders, especially the chairman, board and chief executives of British European Airways (BEA) and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC.) According to the case study of British Airways, the life at the “old” British Airways was “bloody awful” (Changing the Culture of British Airways, 1990, p. 1). There definitely was a crisis happening in that airline. They didn’t seem to have a cohesive culture and it seemed as if they continued down this path they would no longer have a business either. British Airways had this divide between BEA and BOAC. According to the study, both state-run airlines had their own chairman, board and chief executives. My impression is that this division played a huge role in why this airline was failing—they were together, yet separate. Having two chairman, two boards and two chief executives can cause confusion especially when communicating to front-line managers and employees. Everyone is getting a different message, one chairman’s vision is different from the others and it would be the same way for the board and the chief executives. This can cause significant inefficiencies for a business. In this particular situation, the philosophy was all about the money and not about the employees or the customers. They had such a military mentality. Former Director of Human Resources, Nick Georgiadis said it well,
“Put those two together and you had an organization that believed its job was simply to get an aircraft in to the air on time and to get it down on time” (Changing the Culture of British Airways, 1990, p. 3).
At the time, BEA and BOAC had no reason to change this mindset because they were still profitable and being inefficient was not something they felt needed to be addressed. One senior manager even noted,
“Productivity was not an
Changing the Culture at British Airways The British Airways case study was a very interesting case to read. It proves that not all people can be leaders, especially the chairman, board and chief executives of British European Airways (BEA) and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC.) According to the case study of British Airways, the life at the “old” British Airways was “bloody awful” (Changing the Culture of British Airways, 1990, p. 1). There definitely was a crisis happening in that airline. They didn’t seem to have a cohesive culture and it seemed as if they continued down this path they would no longer have a business either. British Airways had this divide between BEA and BOAC. According to the study, both state-run airlines had their own chairman, board and chief executives. My impression is that this division played a huge role in why this airline was failing—they were together, yet separate. Having two chairman, two boards and two chief executives can cause confusion especially when communicating to front-line managers and employees. Everyone is getting a different message, one chairman’s vision is different from the others and it would be the same way for the board and the chief executives. This can cause significant inefficiencies for a business. In this particular situation, the philosophy was all about the money and not about the employees or the customers. They had such a military mentality. Former Director of Human Resources, Nick Georgiadis said it well,
“Put those two together and you had an organization that believed its job was simply to get an aircraft in to the air on time and to get it down on time” (Changing the Culture of British Airways, 1990, p. 3).
At the time, BEA and BOAC had no reason to change this mindset because they were still profitable and being inefficient was not something they felt needed to be addressed. One senior manager even noted,
“Productivity was not an
Cited: Kotter, J. P. (1990). Changing the Culture of British Airways. Harvard Business School Case 491-009, 1.