Introduction
United Airlines is a transport industry that is guided by key competencies in communication and treating customers, and employees with respect and dignity.
However, it merged with Continental Airlines in 2010, resulting in a carrier that battled with information systems, contrasting fleets, and differentiated crew rosters.
CEO Oscar Munoz had no prior experience in the airline industry and had previously worked in cargo transportation rather than customer transport (Edelman & Sanford, 2018). The United Express brand, which is used for shorter flights, is operated by regional affiliate airlines that pay their employees far less than United does.
At the moment, United Airlines is perceived as a company that disregards important stakeholders. Crews are split, and Oscar Munoz has stated that customer service must improve.
One of the biggest problems with the organization’s culture is employee incompetence, as demonstrated when they forcefully removed David Dao from the aircraft against his wishes (Edelman & Jenny, 2018). Employees forcefully remove David Dao from the airplane. The act creates public uproar at United’s staff training, reservation policies, and allegations of discrimination because Dao was of Asian origin.
The company also lack adequate leadership culture. The CEO, Oscar Munoz have failed to adequately engage the employees through proper motivations and trainings on how to handle different situations as they occur. Despite the fact that United Airline brands itself to have communication as one of its core areas, they failed to communicate sufficiently owing to David Dao’s case.
The Airline’s customers may have developed a negative perception of the United Airlines after David Dao’s case. The consumers usually face judgments on how to interact with brands in the future (Guckian et al., 2018). Their views about the primary causes of a company indignity may impact their imminent support intents.
The day after the altercation, CEO Oscar Munoz issues a tone-deaf public announcement in which he refuses to accept culpability, prompting a boycott of United Airlines.
Employees who work for affiliate airlines should be adequately compensated. Outsourced personnel should be rewarded in the same way as United employees because they represent the brand. According to Munoz, this will result in a more united culture and an organization that truly values frontline workers. Munoz should also openly criticize United’s existing policies on overbooked flights and aggrieved customers. Munoz could also release a new pronouncement that is more remorseful for what unfolded with Dao, seeks rapprochement, and takes full responsibility on behalf of his staff, who followed guidelines while admitting those regulations were erroneous.
United Airlines’ overbooking policy should explicitly define the key focus rules for overbooked customers. Employees must also be trained at all levels, from junior to senior.
Customer service training and instruction on how to deal with challenging situations, such as dissatisfied customers, should be provided by the Airlines. Furthermore, all employees should review the changes to the overselling regulation.
The style approach to leadership should be used to train top-level department managers for these new policies. Specific leadership behavior became the focus of study in the style approach, and the emphasis shifted from selecting leaders with the right stuff to training people in skills associated with good leadership (Mumby & Kuhn, 2019). Munoz should be eager to participate in all training and to explicitly document his journey.
Conclusion
Early crisis communication should be handled with caution. According to the author, in the event of a crisis, the organization should speak with one voice and deliver a consistent message, and the response time should be reduced (Wut et al., 2021). The organization’s communication representatives should be at the forefront of communication crisis management. In a public relations communication, the CEO should emphasize a few key points of the incident to dispel any misconceptions that the media may or may not have exaggerated.
The CEO should also present methods for preventing this in the future, such as a new company-wide memo outlining procedures for dealing with similar situations in the future. The memo should express things like a customer-first mindset while also balancing employee needs. Employees could be placed on other carriers’ flights.