The ambiguity for the introduction of the swipe card

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Reference no: EM132285224

The Strike On Friday, July 18, 2003, British Airways (BA) staff in Terminals 1 and 4 at London’s busy Heathrow Airport held a 24-hour wildcat strike. The strike was not officially sanctioned by the trade unions but was a spontaneous action by over 250 check-in staff who walked out at 4 pm. The strike occurred at the start of a peak holiday season weekend, which led to chaotic scenes at Heathrow. Around 60 departing flights were grounded, and over 10,000 passengers were left stranded. The situation was heralded as the worst industrial situation BA had faced since 1997 when a strike was called by its cabin crew. BA’s response was to cancel its services from both terminals, apologize for the disruption, and ask those who were due to fly not to go to the airport as they would be unable to service them. BA also set up a tent outside Heathrow to provide refreshments, and police were called in to manage the crowd. BA was criticized by many American visitors, who were trying to fly back to the United States, for not providing them with sufficient information about what was going on. Staff returned to work on Saturday evening, but the effects of the strike flowed on through the weekend. On Monday, July 21, BA reported that Heathrow was still extremely busy. Their news release said: “There is still a large backlog of more than 1,000 passengers from services cancelled over the weekend. We are doing everything we can to get these passengers away in the next couple of days.” As a result of the strike, BA lost around £40 million and its reputation was severely dented. The strike also came at a time when BA was still recovering from other environmental jolts such as 9/11, the Iraq war, the SARS outbreak, and attacks on its markets from budget airlines. Afterwards, BA revealed that it lost over 100,000 customers as a result of the dispute. The Swipe Cards BA staff were protesting about the introduction of a system for electronic clocking-in that would record when they started and finished work for the day. Staff were concerned that the system would enable managers to manipulate their working patterns and shift hours.

The British Airways (BA) Swipe Card Debacle at the end of the chapter and consider the following:

1. In your assessment did timing or the approach to change cause the ambiguity for the introduction of the swipe card? Explain your rationale.

2. What advice would you have given BA on where they failed to use John Kotter's 8 stage model of change? and why.

3. What advice would you offer BA on which change implementation they should use? and why.

Reference no: EM132285224

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