WITH the British Airways’ cabin crew strike entering its 17th day (yesterday, Thursday), a report from a leading academic warns that BA’s brand and future success will be harmed by ‘an embedded culture of bullying and authoritarianism deliberately engineered from the top echelons of the company.’
In the report, prepared for the union Unite, Professor Martin Upchurch from Middlesex University Business School says that BA is creating a climate of fear and is displaying aspects of what he describes as ‘macho-management’.
He adds that ‘the use of disciplinary action on such a scale by management on the basis of reported comments or overheard private conversations is unprecedented.’
Professor Upchurch warns of the ‘potentially disastrous’ outcome for BA by the long-running dispute and its impact on crew morale.
As a high quality, full service carrier competing for business passengers on important and busy competitive routes, BA needs cabin crew to display the right attitude towards customers.
Yet cabin crew, who spend 90 per cent of their working time dealing with passengers, will be demoralised and resentful as a result of ‘a bullying behaviour pattern’ imposed on them by management.
Unite publishes the report as two leading academics joined striking cabin crew on Thursday 3rd June at Bedfont FC, the strikers’ base, to show their support and highlight the dangers of BA’s current attack on its own workforce on both the airline’s brand and future bookings.
Professor Darlington, Professor of Employment Relations from Salford Business School and Professor Gall, Professor of Industrial Relations from University of Hertfordshire talked to members at the union’s picket line and criticised the current damage BA’s industrial relations strategy is having on BA, which has already cost £112m in strike action and a further estimated £1.4bn in lost bookings as customers turn to airlines that are not mired in the turmoil besetting BA.
Professor Martin Upchurch’s research was recently presented to five of BA’s top investors.
It also revealed that companies which treat their staff well are more likely to remain profitable in the long term.
A summary of the academic analysis showed:
‘There are aspects of what might be described as “macho-management” by BA, i.e. an embedded culture of bullying and authoritarianism deliberately engineered from the top echelons of the company.
‘The use of disciplinary action on such a scale by management on the basis of reported comments or overheard private conversations is unprecedented.
‘It harbours a culture of management driven authoritarian oppressiveness, and the deliberate creation of a climate of fear clearly designed to intimidate cabin crew union members.
‘At worst, the company resorts to turning on its own staff in a short term effort to cut costs, irrespective of the impact this has on staff morale/commitment, and, ultimately, customer relations and business competitiveness.
‘Cabin crew are the most important “front-line” staff within any airline’s operations in terms of customer satisfaction and corporate brand experience.
‘Their emotional labour is central to an airline’s relationship with its customers, determining not only the immediate customer experience, but, more importantly, the willingness (or not) of a customer to return to the airline as a brand of choice.
‘For BA, as a high quality, full service carrier competing for business passengers on important and busy competitive routes, the need for cabin crew to display attitudinal strength towards customer service is essential.
‘The alternative scenario, of a bullying behaviour pattern imposed on a demoralised and resentful staff is potentially disastrous.
‘The smile and the helpful demeanour will crumble at the first sign of stress, and confidence in the “customer experience” of flying with BA will be the first casualty, closely followed by a decline in competitiveness and profitability.
‘Studies have found that the key to success for US corporations surviving more than a century was their strong commitment to developing people and unfailing ability to share knowledge.
‘These successful firms also outperformed the US stock markets by a factor of 70.
‘Importantly, links between organisation culture, staff training, employee commitment and health and safety need further exploration.
‘The reporting of “errors” may diminish if staff feel vulnerable in their employment.
‘Safety is a part of organisational culture and is a measure of how safety is focused on both by management and employees by both deed and word.
‘Such an embedded culture of safety is difficult to obtain, but easy to lose.
‘Recent survey work reinforces this point, and indicates that organisations with a positive safety climate tend to have fewer accidents.’
Meanwhile, we are on Day 17 of the strike, which is now costing BA £112 million.
The strike is now 14 days longer than the three days which BA promised the City.
Going forward, BA stands to lose £1.4 billion in lost sales as passengers take their custom elsewhere, according to a study by Manchester Business School.
Unite continues to receive reports on the impact of the strike including:
• On June 1st, only one BA flight took off between 1pm and 3pm at Heathrow, bound for Seattle. Normally, early afternoon is a peak travel time for BA.
• BA continues to try to persuade striking crew back to work with inducements.
Crew who are on strike report being called at home by managers who offer plum trips, such as a trip to Narita, a much sought after trip which rarely comes up for crew.
23 crew are being rostered onto these flights, yet only 12 are needed.
Crew suspect that the over-rostering is because BA has no intention of putting crew returning to work on these flights.
They may show for work on the promise of a Narita trip but find they’re sent to a different destination altogether.
• Some 130 volunteer pilots have ‘unvolunteered’ (source: crewforum.co.uk).
• T5 has become a ghost town as passengers either stay away or are put onto other carriers.
BA also continues to operate a diminished schedule. By 6am Thursday morning, according to BA.com:
• BA was attempting to operate 282* scheduled flight departures from Heathrow (LHR)
• BA worldwide (long haul) flight departures from Heathrow (LHR): 74
• BA Eurofleet (short haul) flight departures from Heathrow (LHR): 208
• BA flight cancellations from Heathrow (LHR): 107
• BA worldwide (long haul) flight cancellations from Heathrow (LHR): 19
• BA Eurofleet (short haul) flight cancellations from Heathrow (LHR): 88
• BA departures operated by chartered (wet leased) aircraft from Heathrow (LHR): 16
• Total excludes 40 BA Codeshare flight departures operated by partner airlines aircraft from Heathrow (LHR)