communicating in a crisis : the case of jet airways
DESCRIPTION
This gives you a clear idea on how to communicate in an organization to employees when surrounded by a crisis. It also elicits examples on what a business leader's role is. Jet air-ways case study simplifies this HR leadership role.TRANSCRIPT
Communicating in a Crisis Communicating in a Crisis and the Role of a Business and the Role of a Business
Leader:Leader:The Case of Jet AirwaysThe Case of Jet Airways
PRESENTED BY:N.Krishna chaitanyaArijit ghatakJerome jernix
About the Jet Airways:About the Jet Airways: Jet Airways (India), one of the leading domestic
airlines started off as air taxi operator and has grown exceptionally to a level of operating 370 flights per day.
Jet gave importance to team work esp. between senior management and HR. Thus provided a high quality professional service to customers.
Retrenchment & Reinstatement Retrenchment & Reinstatement Drama and turbulence in aviation Drama and turbulence in aviation sector:sector:
In October 2008, as the 1st phase of retrenchment to streamline it’s operations 850 employees were sacked and followed by 2nd phase of 1100 employees belonging to various departments on the next day.
This was undertaken without giving prior notice but was given only a month’s remuneration.
Thus Jet received criticism and employees protested.
Naresh Goyal , Chairman of Jet reinstated a day later that he was aware of the situation through media and retained all the sacked employees.
The problems started taking a new turn with serious salary cuts due to bad phase of aviation sector.
Fuel price rise made financial crisis much worst by the end of 2008.
Insecurity and rise of NAG: Insecurity and rise of NAG:
The retrenchment and then the reinstatement saga had bred insecurity among the employees.
The airline pilots did not have any union and being contract employees could be shown the door anytime.
This led to the formation of the National Aviators Guild the NAG. On July 24 2009, the NAG -National Aviators Guild- was registered by the Regional Labour Commissioner.
Vengeance of Jet & revolt of NAG:Vengeance of Jet & revolt of NAG:On July 31, 2009, the two senior pilots of Jet
Airways, who were both office-bearers of the newly formed NAG, were dismissed through a single-line e-mail to quit without mentioning any reasons.
The pilots appeals and requests went in vain.Thus NAG issued a strike notice on Aug 24,
2009.Therefore, Jet suffered severe losses during
the strike despite of compensation work done by crisis management centre.
The Talks:The Talks:Finally, the talks between Sanjay
Nirupam, representatives of the pilots and Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal were fruitful and all the sacked employees were taken back.
The negotiations ended with the formation of a grievance committee consisting of both pilots and administration members to hear such cases.
Questions Questions Analyze the HR problems faced by Jet
Airways in 2008.
Jet focussed mainly on high managerial employees and team work rather than solving the problems of pilots and other members of the staff.
Understand the rationale behind Jet’s decision to lay-off employees and the reasons behind its later decision to take back the sacked employees.
Jet in order to survive financial crisis have undergone retrenchment which adversely affected them by criticism. Thus under great political and media pressure took back the decision.
Understand the importance of communication in an organization and analyze whether there were any loopholes in Jet’s organizational communication network.
No proper communication between the high level management and employees at lower level. Thus created a havoc in aviation sector.
Understand the rationale behind the pay cuts initiated at the company.
As the Jet was undergoing a serious financial crisis and to sail through this turbulent phase , they had to cut the pays in-order to survive.
Understand how environmental variables could affect a company’s HR policies.
Due to the severe financial crisis, their compensation was at stake.
SUGGESTIONS:SUGGESTIONS:Retrenchment and reinstatement made
employees suffer in fear of losing the job which might have affected their productivity.
They should have created a pleasant and free work-force environment to motivate employees in the financial crisis.
Instead of setting-up a crisis management centre, they could have reinforced that money in focussing the employees on vision and mission of ‘their organization’.
