Introduction
Virgin Australia is an American based airline which was established in 2000 and they are smoothly run their airline functions in 2012. In the corona situation, Virgin faces major issues and problems that may impact their business operations and also create such consequences in which they can close the airline at any time. The report describes the examination of different issues in the case study by using management concepts, methods, and models. The case study organization is Virgin Australia airline has executed different changes and reforms that will be described in this report. Virgin also recognized a wide range of alternations and tactics for the execution of proposed planning for coping of issues and problems by company. The main purpose of this assignment is to understand the human resource development strategies that are being implemented by the company for overcoming and dealing with the resistance of change and make improvements in process in a complex time. Certain key factors are driven for the requirement and demand for the changes with the assistance of theoretical tactics. The recommendation points also discussed which helps in understanding what needs to do and which function should be performed by virgin Australia. Some changes are required to be discussed by the company and implemented effectively.
Changes and reforms which have implemented by virgin Australia
Virgin Australia airline is an Australian based company which has become a regular airline facility in the year 2012 but after the spiral of 7 years of becoming daily services. The firm has currently got to voluntary management due to the adverse influence of COVID 19 on the operation of an organization (Al-Taie et al., 2019). It has been analyzed that Virgin Australia has also executed different may alterations and reforms within an airline to dealing with the condition of the collapse of a company due to the coronavirus. The respective airline also executes a wide range of reforms and analyzes key changes in the operation or function of the management process. Besides this, the business has directly impacted as the airline that was closed for some time in Australia to stop the spread of pandemic like coronavirus. Virgin Australia has adopted and used main reforms such as reconstruction which attract desired customers towards the airline.
During the lockdown, the entire airline industry has face loss and this will directly impact on their business operations and income level. Virgin Australia has faced a loss of around $350 million that need proper changes in the method of doing business in this country. There are various changes which are required to be conducted by the virgin airline that includes:
• Changes in the structure of fare prices for domestic flights to the customers and this will help in attracting new customers as well.
• Focus on competition and develop an accurate strategy to deal with such rivals
• Need to lower the prices of flights
• Alterations and reforms in management operations and procedures of airline which maintain whole business functions
Such changes and reforms in the management process assist Virgin Australia to engage with major crisis and collapse of the firm in lockdown time. The crisis of the company can be deal with the contribution of staff and other management members to cope up with the voluntary administration in a better manner (Badenhorst, 2015). Such changes can impact airline growth and this will increase the goodwill of virgin among people.
Changes and strategies that have been proposed for future implementation
The alterations and strategies are proposed for the future execution to cope with the condition of voluntary management of Virgin Australia airline due to the collapse of an organization after the 7 years of the spiral. It is important for the company is to focus on developing effective strategies and policies that will help them in enhancing growth and development levels. These tactics are required for managing the resistance that arises in the pandemic time of 2020 (Camilleri et al., 2019). In the airline, change management will be used to understand the issues, and as per this company can make proper changes that provide success. Virgin Australia requires a proposed bonus, incentives, recruiting champions, and redefining the cultural values and shifting the burden for the alterations that are being executed for the company. The airline needs to implement such strategies for properly dealing with major issues that arise due to COVID 19 and this will influence different sectors or industries. With the help of such strategies, a virgin can easily focus on its target growth and gain higher success in the market place. Implement changes will assist an organization in managing and handling different impacts that arise due to improper management.
Along with this, virgin Australia low their flight price rates which attract a large number of people towards their airline services and facilities. The domestic flight rates are lower as compared to other airline has set by a virgin. This is important for the company is to maintain and manage the flight services or facilities where all the passengers can comfortably seat. For future execution, the airline needs to concentrate on management procedures in which managers deal with complaints of passengers and as per the situation of COVID 19, they are developing some strategies and actions taken (Hatak et al., 2015). When a company identifies the demand and requirement of customers then they will get success and make happy to their passengers in this coronavirus condition as well.
Key factors driving the need for change
The virgin Australia Company are having various key factors that are driving the need for change. There is a range of key factors that are driving the need for the changes in the company which can help the company in stabilizing the growth and development which are adversely impacted by the COVID 19 crises and lockdown in Australia (Hottenrott et al., 2016). The pandemic has affected Virgin Australia in a great manner which is demanding for the changes in the working culture of the organization and the strategies for the tactics being used to develop the business on wider ranges. The key factors for the changes are as follows:
Competitors: the competitors of virgin Australia have acquired the major part of the company in the market place which is giving high competition to the company for thriving in the period of a pandemic (Imran et al., 2016). The pandemic has resulted in the total loss of the income and the employees are engraved in loss and disappointment which is harming the company. The competitors like Qantas airlines are driving the need for change in virgin Australia to compete in the market.
Advanced technology: the advanced technology is driving for the changes to be adopted in the virgin airlines as the competitors are affecting in the growth and development due to the use of technology of modern era which is needed to be adopted by the virgin airlines to increase the stability in times of pandemic (Zhang et al., 2017).
Strategic policies: the current strategic policies of Virgin Australia have failed to provide the expected results which will give wings to the company’s growth and development in the past years and now it is destroyed by the pandemic (Lee, 2020). This is driving the need for change in the organization to increase the stability and benefits for the company.
Operational management: the operational management of Virgin Australia is thriving for changes and also at the same time driving the need for the changes in virgin Australia to improve the performance of the workers in virgin Australia. The changes will boost the morale of employees to improve and enhance the business on international levels.
Identify human resource development strategies that have been implemented
The conditions of virgin Australia in the pandemic period are moving the company towards the voluntary administration with the hope to overcome the crisis of pandemic in Australia. The company has hardly been hit by the pandemic which has resulted in the loss of the human resources of high skills to the competitors. The human resource development strategies are implemented to the virgin Australia to overcome the resistance from the changes in the organization to develop and grow at higher rates (News18, 2020). The human resource development strategies will help virgin Australia is competing with competitors like Qantas airlines which is the highest competitor of Virgin Australia in the Australian market. The human resources are required to be used for future activities for the growth and development of the company. The human resource strategies for development can be used for analyzing the market growth and development which will provide the answers for the better approach for the customers to increase in the market shares and also helps in tackling the resistance between the company and the changes being made.
The future implementation requires the company to complete for the strategies of the market place to compete and overcome the situations which are leading the company towards the voluntary administration after the 7 years of spiral in the industry to thrive for the existence of the company (Reynolds, 2015). The human resource development strategies are very crucial which will entertain the customers of the virgin Australia with the services of the company to implement in the market to engage the customers with the company to create more chances for the development and strategies for the human resource will help the virgin Australia in gaining the advantages in the market place for gaining future growth and strategies for development. The employees are the main assets of the business in which they are required to be trained for the specific behaviour to attract customers towards Virgin Australia to have more chances to compete with other companies in Australia for the development.
Assess the organization’s change management strategies and provide appropriate recommendations
According to the case study organization’s change management strategies can apply a varied range of strategies for the improvement in the business activities and situation of the Virgin Australia airlines in the marketplace.
Providing safety gears: the pandemic has awakened the fear of getting infected in the people. Virgin Australia should provide protective gear such as sanitizers, gloves, and masks for the customers of virgin airlines to be safe in the pandemic zones (Srisaeng et al., 2015). This will improve the engagement of the customers with the company and the customers will be more attracted to the Virgin Australia airlines.
Hygiene & disinfection: the hygiene and disinfection of the whole plane can be done after every flight to ensure the safety and security of the customers in the airlines of Virgin Australia (Theguardian, 2020). This action will provide a sense of security in the customer to travel in Virgin Australia which is very strategic and improve the market situation of the company in dealing with the competitors. These wills enhance the growth and development factors for the company in dealing with the situation of voluntary administration of Virgin Australia.
Conclusion
The report concludes the issues and challenges being faced by Virgin Australia due to the effect of the pandemic in Australia as per the spread of COVID 19 from china. The strategies and business opportunities for Virgin Australia is concluded in the report for tackling the changes in the management of the company to provide effective services to the customers and enhance the business of Virgin Australia. The human resource management strategies are also concluded in the report which is the key factor for the driving of changes in the company to attain the maximum advantages in the period of pandemic and COVID 19.
References
Al-Taie, A., Disfani, M., Evans, R., & Arulrajah, A. (2019). Collapse and Swell of Lime Stabilized Expansive Clays in Void Ratio–Moisture Ratio–Net Stress Space. International Journal of Geomechanics, 19(9), 04019105. https://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%29GM.1943-5622.0001488
Badenhorst, C. (2015). Identifying and managing the impact of NeuroLeadership during organisational change (Master’s thesis). https://unitec.researchbank.ac.nz/handle/10652/3124
Camilleri, J., Cope, V., & Murray, M. (2019). Change fatigue: The frontline nursing experience of large‐scale organisational change and the influence of teamwork. Journal of nursing management, 27(3), 655-660. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jonm.12725
Hatak, I., Floh, A., & Zauner, A. (2015). Working on a dream: sustainable organisational change in SMEs using the example of the Austrian wine industry. Review of managerial science, 9(2), 285-315.
Hottenrott, H., Rexhäuser, S., & Veugelers, R. (2016). Organisational change and the productivity effects of green technology adoption. Resource and Energy Economics, 43, 172-194. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0928765516000051
Imran, M. K., Rehman, C. A., Aslam, U., & Bilal, A. R. (2016). What’s organization knowledge management strategy for successful change implementation?. Journal of Organizational Change Management. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JOCM-07-2015-0130/full/html
Lee, E. (2020). Airline woes: A case study in capitalist irrationality. Guardian (Sydney), (1928), 2.
News18, (2020). Virgin Australia Collapses Under Coronavirus Strain, Largest Carrier Yet to Go Under. News18. [Online]. Available at: https://www.news18.com/news/auto/virgin-australia-collapses-under-coronavirus-strain-largest-carrier-yet-to-go-under-2586563.html [Accessed: 11th October 2020]
Reynolds, N. S. (2015). Making sense of new technology during organisational change. New Technology, Work and Employment, 30(2), 145-157.
Srisaeng, P., Baxter, G. S., & Wild, G. (2015). Forecasting demand for low cost carriers in Australia using an artificial neural network approach. Aviation, 19(2), 90-103. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3846/16487788.2015.1054157
Theguardian, (2020). Virgin Australia collapse: creditors meet amid speculation of steep losses for investors. Theguardian. [Online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/30/virgin-australia-collapse-creditors-meet-amid-speculation-of-steep-losses-for-investors [Accessed: 11th October 2020]
Zhang, Y., Wang, K., & Fu, X. (2017). Air transport services in regional Australia: Demand pattern, frequency choice and airport entry. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 103, 472-489.