Implementing Change
Companies in the contemporary world are usually faced with uncertainty while trying to implement new technological approaches in their services to enhance their customer service and boost their sales. Change is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous, and this makes most of the companies lag in implementing new operational measures in their processes. Panera Bread Co. is one of the companies that have been successful in implementing technology in its operations. However, its decision to implement change was not swift or without consequences. The company had been experiencing long customer queues, which prompted it to change its operations. The Panera issue was clear; their customer service process was not efficient enough to ensure that they attended to customers on time without keeping them on queues for a long time (Jargon, 2017). The company was also sure about how to go about this issue. Thus it decided to implement online customer service, which permitted customers to place orders online and get notified when their orders were ready. Nonetheless, the company had to endure several cases of flat revenues and losses before starting to gain profits from their new change. This report highlights a customer service issue at United Airlines and how this airline could implement a similar approach employed by Panera to address the issue.
United Airlines was busted on social media after one of the passengers left a review regarding how horrible their customer care services are. According to this customer, their flight 1043, which was scheduled on Sunday, August 12, at 4 pm was canceled without their notice and any further directions (Tripadvisor, 2018). The action presented an incident of lack of communication and poor customer service from UA. The passenger identified by the name Isabel was supposed to travel with her husband named Mike from Aruba to Newark. According to Isabel, the couple received emails alerting them that there could be flight disruptions due to bad weather. On calling the airport, they were informed that their flight was still on schedule. They decided to go to the airport at 1230 so that they could have enough time to check-in and board their plane. After arriving at the airport, they confirm and see that their flight is still scheduled (Tripadvisor, 2018). After two hours, Isabel’s United app shows her that their flight has been moved to 6 pm at a different gate. Again, there were no announcements that were made at the airport. Besides, no one at the gate new about this abrupt change since they are not United reps by contracted agents from GenAir. The reps inform the passengers to call United, which is impossible since they are in a foreign country with no service on their phones. After moving to the new gate, Isabel and her husband notice that their plane has been given to a new set of passengers whose plane had been canceled the previous day due to technical issues. At 530, the couple’s flight was canceled, and they had to be taken to a renaissance hotel and only given $10 vouchers to spend (Tripadvisor, 2018). The couple had to use their own money since northing at the hotel was less than $20.
The critical thinking framework highlighted by Michael Kallet could be applied to this incident to show what the company should do to avoid similar problems in the future. Kallet’s framework consists of three elements, including clarity, conclusions, and decisions (Kallet, 2014). From Isabel’s horrible experience with United Airlines, it is clear that the issue resulted from poor communication from United. After identifying this as the main problem, United Airlines should come up with a list of the things they could do to ensure that the problem is not experienced in the future. For instance, it could choose to embrace the use of an online customer care platform whereby passengers could track any news regarding their flight, including any changes so that they could have timely feedback. After settling on this solution, the organization can then decide to test it on a United prototype to see its impacts. The solution cannot be expected to become efficient immediately since it will be new to the staff and the passengers meaning that there could be errors resulting from its use. However, the airline should ensure that it addresses the issues and remain with a perfect model of the solution, which will provide quality customer care services in the future.
Nonetheless, applying change is not an easy process, as highlighted by the VUCA framework. Based on this framework, change is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. For instance, although it is necessary that United implements the move, it is still essential to know that change is quick and unpredictable (Chawla & Lenka, 2018). In this case, the company could fail to identify if initiating an online customer care platform is the right change to implement or if there would be another better way based on the volatility of change. Secondly, there will be uncertainty if introducing online customer care will help the company increase its profits and improve its services. Besides, this change involves other complex ideas, which should also be considered (Chawla & Lenka, 2018). For instance, it might be confusing to understand whether the platform will solve the grievances or every customer or some will be left out. Last but not least, change is ambiguous, meaning that they could be working towards employing this change when, in the real sense, the issue is something else.
In conclusion, implementing change is a process that is inevitable for any organization in the contemporary world. Just like Panera, the implementation of change could sometimes lead to undesirable outcomes such as losses before starting to make profits. Therefore, United Airways should introduce an online customer care platform to ensure that it does not experience a similar issue as that faced by Isabel and her husband.
References
Chawla, S., & Lenka, U. (2018). Leadership in VUCA environment. Flexible Systems Management, 213-224. doi:10.1007/978-981-10-8926-8_16
Jargon, J. (2017, June 3). Panera bread solves the problem of long lines with mobile app. Retrieved from https://www.marketwatch.com/story/panera-bread-solves-problem-of-long-lines-with-mobile-app-2017-06-03
Kallet, M. (2014). Think smarter: Critical thinking to improve problem-solving and decision-making skills. John Wiley & Sons.
Tripadvisor. (2018). United Airlines horrible customer service – Review of United Airlines – Tripadvisor. Retrieved from https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g1-d8729177-r612956239-United_Airlines-World.html