Crisis Management in Organizations: United Airlines 2017 Crisis

Crisis Management in Organizations: United Airlines 2017 Crisis
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Crisis Management in Organizations: United Airlines 2017 Crisis
Organizations are formed to attend to consumer needs satisfactorily. However, unforeseen mishaps along the way conflict the organization with its clients (existing and potential), employees, regulators, investors, and the public (Nizamidou, 2018). This work focuses on United Airlines' crisis of 2017, its response, and comparison to current crisis management in other countries.
* Identify and Briefly Explain a Past Crisis of an Organization
One of America's largest airlines, United Airlines, faced a very trying moment in 2017. On 9th April 2017, a passenger in one of its flights was violently dragged off the plane. The incident took place at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois. The man, reportedly a doctor, was one of United Express Flight 3411, getting ready for takeoff from Chicago to Louisville that Sunday evening (Sini, 2017). Dr. David Dao was dragged off the plane for refusing to surrender his seat for flight personnel.
The overbooked flight was trying to make room for four of its personnel (Gunter, 2017). The airline offered an inducement of up to $800, and three passengers willingly surrendered their seats (Gunter, 2017). Dr. Dao declined, citing that he was a doctor and had patients that he needed to attend to the following day. Security was called, and then the scuffle ensued. Dr. Dao was roughly ejected from his chair and mercilessly dragged down the aisle, resulting in a concussion, broken nose, and two missing teeth. Some passengers took videos and shared them on Facebook and Twitter, attracting a public outcry against the airline.
* Actions that United Airlines took to deal with the Crisis
The unfortunate event left United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz ashamed and embarrassed (Lazare, 2018). He apologized on a Twitter statement and promised to address the issue and follow up with the aggrieved passenger (Sini, 2017). The airline took swift action and enacted some guidelines that year. Recent studies show that service crisis recoveries impact the performance of firms (Rasoulian, 2017).
United Airlines passed a guideline indicating that they would not use law enforcement officers to eject already seated customers (Lazare, 2018). This will be done if it is a matter of security and safety only. Furthermore, United stated that unless safety was at risk. They would not require already seated customers to give up their seats (Lazare, 2018) involuntarily. The airline would consider alternative options to facilitate flying both passengers and crew if such a glitch arises.
The Airline also adjusted its ticket booking procedures to curb overbooking situations. This move helped significantly as involuntary denied boardings were reduced by 94% (Lazare, 2018). Moreover, to resolve customer issues promptly, a new app was unveiled. Gate agents and flight attendants would use this app to reimburse customers on the spot in a disservice (Lazare, 2018). As a result, efficiency will increase as disservices are handled promptly.
In addition, the Chicago Department of Aviation sent the involved officers on paid leave (BBC, 2017). United Airlines also increased its payout to customers who voluntarily gave up their seats to $10,000. They also adopted a new policy that enabled customers to be paid $1,500 for a lost bag (Lazare, 2018). United also launched an initiative dubbed core4 to involve all its frontline employees' training (Lazare, 2018). This guideline was adopted to make the airline more customer-centric.
Reaction to United Airlines' Response to "dragging" crisis.
Firms strengthen relationships with their customers by taking a holistic view of the customer experience. Recent studies suggest that service quality determines clients' emotions and relational behaviors toward an organization and its services (Arguello, 2019). In line with this thought, I think United Airlines' actions are positive and consider the customer's interests. United's selfishness was the primary cause of this crisis. The responses and guidelines adopted were essential and will cultivate more positive reactions from its clients.
* Relationship between the United Airlines Crisis and the talks given by the Guest Speakers
Strong levels of trust and respect are some of the key contributors to an efficient relationship between corporates and society (Richards, 2021). Executives of corporates often try to minimize and deflect the outrage directed towards them whenever there is a scandal (Khan, 2017). The normalization of this corporate misconduct led to the corporate image's damage and worsened public trust in that corporation. For example, the CEO of United Airlines, Mr. Oscar Munoz, mainly focused on the operational metrics of United and forgot about the inhumane treatment of their client, Dr. David Dao. The United Nations International Trade Center was able to deal with the covid-19 crisis in Myanmar and built an even stronger relationship with the locals due to these values (Richards, 2021). These helped them succeed with the projects they set up to help the local Kayans cope with the pandemic.
The emergence of a crisis uncovers new opportunities, which can bear good results for an organization when well exploited with a favorable approach (Klopp, 2021). A crisis, therefore, is a tool with which a company can advance its ideas or values, depending on how well they adapt (Klopp, 2021). United Airlines adapted to the dragging crisis by adopting several guidelines. The airline adopted these guidelines to prevent the reoccurrence of the same problem and ensure that they are well placed and equipped to respond to crises of the exact nature. Furthermore, a crisis provides a period to be innovative to better address the challenge at hand (Schmidt, 2021). The crisis provided United Airlines the opportunity to develop its app.
The United Airlines' crisis mainly originated from the company's need to transport some of their crew members to a collection point for work. This caused stress to their system, as their flight was full, requiring them to ask passengers to forfeit their seats. 'Crew sharing' program can help mitigate these types of problems (Khan, 2017). In addition, approaching a crisis collaboratively as a team creates a solid foundation to respond to a crisis (Richards, 2021). Collaboration and shared responsibilities are some of the ways that positively helped The United Nations International Trade Center in Myanmar respond and cope with the covid-19 crisis.
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