ABC Airlines In Australia - Reflective Essay Assessment Answer

Assignment Task

Introduction

In my quest to understand how a real service organization works, I picked on the organization I work for known as ABC Airlines. ABC Airlines organization culture can be categorized into four main components such as action with integrity, respect for the passengers, strive for excellence and Service to customers. These components are entrenched within the belief and vision of ABC Airlines Inc. Therefore, in my reflection, I came up with a flow chart that discusses the significance of service encounter at ABC Airlines and an analysis of the adopted management structure at the airline.

Significance service encounter and managerial implication

My perception about the service encounter has been the act of dynamic interactions between a service provider and a customer with the intervening factor being the management of the organization providing services. The strategic structures that the airline uses to manage her services is an evidence of the significance of service. The in depth understanding of an organization can help someone understand how quality service is attained for customer satisfaction within an organization (Seo, Lee, & Kim, 2012). I happened to have worked with ABC Airlines, which is a real service organization. My stay at the airlines helped me understand how this organization operates in order to satisfy the customer’s needs. This is very important as it reflects on that particular moment that a customer or client interacts with the service provider directly. To start with, ABC Airlines organizational structure is hierarchical. I came to learn that structure has two basic features, that is; front stage and back stage at both the customer’s and company’s side. The two basic features were hierarchical in terms of structural organization (Tseng, Lim, & Wong, 2015). I was told that the hierarchy feature is all about the command being more or less vertical if a schematic diagram were to be drawn like in the flow chart above. On the customer’s side, the hierarchy starts with passengers getting their hand luggage or checking in with the help of qualified staff. They then get into the bus and eventually board the plane. On the other side at the back stage, qualified airline engineers work behind the scenes in controlling the processes that lead to quality service delivery like servicing the plane. In addition, crew members were always timely enough to help the passengers board the bus and be driven to the plane (Toni De, 2012). Furthermore, the crew members would assist the passengers in boarding the flight. For example, I saw elderly people being assisted stepping onto the staircases of the plane. This was actually awesome and reinforced the aspect of quality service delivery as envisioned in the Airlines objectives.

I was so much fascinated and interested in learning about the managerial implication of ABC Airlines hierarchical management. This made me develop a second schematic drawing on the company’s managerial side as seen in the above flow chart. Like the customer’s side, the company’s side had both front stage and back stage (Beckman, 2016). For me this ensured efficient and effective management of the airline. To start with, at the front stage there was the general aspect of checking and controlling the queues by qualified personnel. In order to ensure that passengers do not tire on the queue, the airline management has ensured that there are comfortable seats in the waiting lounge. This makes the customers happy and relaxed and eased the potential flight fatigue. The second phase of managerial implication is flight airport maintenance. I came to appreciate the effort of the airline’s management in terms of maintaining infrastructures at the airport to ensure quality service delivery. I noticed that cleaners were all over the waiting bay collecting and disposing plastic bottles, paper bags and many other wastes from the travelling passengers. Moreover, at the airport hangars, aeronautical engineers were busy servicing the planes before they take off. I was made to understand that immediately upon landing, the initial step of servicing the plane would start. Another servicing of the plane would be done before the plane takes off so as to make sure that nothing is left to chance. I dug into the airplanes library to read some newsletter and fact sheets which outline the statistics of accidents of planes due to mechanical failure. From the fact sheets, the incident reported on plane accidents due to mechanical failure were less than 5%. This was absolutely incredible! From my research on plane accidents through the internet, other airlines had over 10% accidents caused by poor maintenance of their planes (Andersén, 2010). I must commend the ABC Airlines for doing a great job. No wonder the airline keeps on getting an influx of customers annually. My fear is that with this incredible influx, the facilities at the airport will be overcrowded leading to poor quality service. I raised my concern with one of the manager, operations at the airline. He assured me that the company is in the process of expanding both her domestic and international terminals to keep up with the ever increasing number of customers. I must confess that the services offered in the airplane are first class. The management of the airline has ensured that passengers are served with snacks and soft drinks. In addition, light food can be provided upon request, especially for ailing passengers, children and the elderly.

The strategic structures that the airline uses to manage her services is an evidence of the significance of service encounter as outlined above. At the backstage of the company’s side, there is the aspect of staffing. The airline management recruits highly qualified individuals to ensure quality service delivery to the customers. The recruited staff usually comes from distinguished aviation schools. The processes at the airline are computerized and some of them are automated. There is an information technology department that keeps on the information of all the passengers. For example, the personal details of the passengers are keyed into the computer and then stored in the airlines database for easy retrieval. This has reduced cases of loss of passengers’ luggage at the airport. The airline staffs ensure that there is nothing left on the plane when the passengers alight. I realized that staff ensures that every lost my luggage is kept in a store and then they track the customer through the address recorded on the luggage. Moreover, with the current rise in acts of terrorism and plane hijacking, the capture of biometric data at the airline has minimized such events as compared to the past 10 years. The implication is that the management of ABC Airlines is efficient and effective. This has to be credited for satisfying their customers.