Introduction
Businesses often face various challenges concerning organizational and customer service issues. For instance, the sandwich-and-soup company called “Panera Bread” had a problem with its customers standing in line to place the order for several minutes. However, “Panera Bread” managed to cope with this issue and decrease the time in line from eight to one minute with the help of critical thinking and the application of VUCA concepts (Jargon, 2017). Moreover, while analyzing the situation and trying to cope with issues, one should think critically. In other words, it is essential for a business leader to look at the problem differently and to see the whole picture avoiding the distorted image. Thus, this paper applies VUCA and critical thinking approaches to solve the overbooking problem of United Airlines.
United Airlines Overbooking Problem
In recent years, United Airlines company faced an overbooking problem. According to Ma et al. (2019), “on the 9th of April 2017, UA’s United Express flight #3411 was booked to the capacity but would need to make room to transport four crew members” (p. 3). Moreover, because no one volunteered to give up the flight, it was decided to remove a passenger using the airport security force. The company used the yield management system based on the probabilistic approach to seat booking and helped airlines make flight prices as low as possible (Ma et al., 2019). The yield management system evaluates probabilities of customers’ attendance but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
To address the issue, United Airlines tried to apply crisis communication in the replies to posts on Twitter. According to Ma et al. (2019), United Airlines involved image repair theories in their responses. To repair the image means “to rebuild the perceptions of the audience” (Ma et al., 2019, p. 6). It is necessary to mention that the company used different approaches to the image repair theory: it publicly admitted the responsibility, denied the cause of the delay, and reduced the offensiveness of the passengers’ violent removal (Ma et al., 2019). Therefore, United Airlines decided to respond to the twits by applying the image repair discourse within 24 hours.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is a way of analyzing reality, which encourages people to apply different points of view. As it is claimed by Kallet (2014), critical thinking is a manual, purposeful process in which a person realizes that he or she is thinking partially using the toolset. Moreover, Kallet (2014) highlighted that critical thinking encourages a person to look at the issue differently because the prism one looks at the problem may affect future decisions. Applying critical thinking when analyzing the situation helps prevent a distorted vision of the issue, in which humans cannot see the whole picture (Kallet, 2014). Therefore, critical thinking helps business leaders and other people make the right decisions at the right time by observing the whole situation and looking at the issue from various angles.
As described in the paragraphs above, the United Airlines company had already solved the overbooking problem by addressing customers on Twitter, using the image repairing theory. Critically thinking and applying different approaches in the posts’ responses provides a company with the ability to see the problem from various angles and show these perspectives to its customers. Such a decision suits the critical thinking approach and benefits the company in its attempts to rebuild its reputation because various ways to image repair theory may persuade customers that it was not the company’s fault but the yield management system’s.
Applying VUCA Concepts
Organizational issues and customer service problems are usually considered through such parameters as volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). As it is explained by Mohanta et al. (2020), volatility “indicates extreme and rapid fluctuations in business environment,” meaning the volume and speed of change and the consequences it leads to (p. 6). Uncertainty stands for the lack of knowledge about some situations, leading to the unpredictable development of the company (Mohanta et al., 2020). The complexity parameter indicates the growing number of interconnected parts, networks, and procedures in the organization, leading to difficulty in understanding the cause of the issue (Mohanta et al., 2020). Finally, ambiguity is a parameter demonstrating the lack of clarity and diversity of expectations in the business (Mohanta et al., 2020). Therefore, VUCA concepts allow analyzing any organizational problems by applying four parameters.
Applying VUCA concepts to the Unites Airlines issue, one can claim that after the deliberate analysis of the problem, the company needs to reduce the risks of overbooking in the future and preserve its customers by the image repair posts. In this case, volatility stands for the hardly predicted behavior of customers: even those who often cancel the flights and do not attend them may book the seat and come to the airport in time. Uncertainty is also about the percentage with which the yield management system can be wrong and cause trouble. Complexity stands for the interconnection of the yield management system and the absence of actions to do in crises, such as overbooking. The analysis of an ambiguity parameter will be helpful for airline companies when addressing the crisis: as United Airlines tried to rebuild its reputation through a diversity of approaches.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is necessary to state that critical thinking and VUCA concepts are essential in addressing different customer service problems. United Airlines responded to various Twitter posts for 24 hours, trying to rebuild its reputation by applying the image repair theory after facing the overbooking problem. VUCA concepts provide a deep understanding of the crisis itself and its underlying reasons, such as the possibility of error in the yield management system and the changing behavior of customers. Analyzing the issue with the VUCA concepts may prepare for possible future crises and quick and effective responses.
References
Jargon, J. (2017). How Panera solved its mosh pit problem.The Wall Street Journal, Web.
Kallet, M. (2014). Think smarter: Critical thinking to improve problem-solving and decision-making skills. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons.
Ma, J., Tse, Y. K., Wang, X., & Zhang, M. (2019). Examining customer perception and behaviour through social media research – An empirical study of the United Airlines overbooking crisis. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 127.
Mohanta, B., Nanda, P., & Patnaik, S. (2020). Management of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) Using machine learning techniques in industry 4.0 paradigm. In New Paradigm of Industry 4.0 (pp. 1-24). Springer, Cham.