Change Management for Jetstar Airways: Issues, Diagnosis and Plan

This report highlights the issues faced by Jetstar Airways and the change management plan to mitigate them. The report identifies the scope, causes, and impacts of the issues and formulates a change management plan based on Kotter's model. The plan includes activities like understanding the urgency, envisioning change, communication, and implementation of CRM in business processes.

Running head: CHANGE MANAGEMENT
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Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Executive summary
The research will be highlighting the different issues that are faced by Jetstar Airways of
Australia and the manner in which the organization might bring forth changes in the processes.
The identification of the issues and the change management plan, as enumerated in the report,
will help in understanding the different actions that might be undertaken by the management of
the organization in order to enhance the systems.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Organizational background..........................................................................................................3
3. Issues faced by the organization..................................................................................................4
4. Diagnosis of scope, causes, effects and impacts..........................................................................5
5. Needs for organizational change.................................................................................................6
6. Change management plan............................................................................................................7
7. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13

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1. Introduction
The ever- changing business environment is based on the assessment of the expectations
of the customers and their preferences. The identification of the preferences of the customers
helps organizations in maintaining their competitive edge while operating in diverse international
markets. Organizations change in order to cope with the technological and other advancements
that are undertaken by the other players in the diverse markets. The concerned organization,
Jetstar Airways, face different issues relating to poor customer support systems and quality of
the services that are offered by the same. It has affected the goodwill of the business against the
other competitors in the sector (de Wit and Zuidberg 2012). Therefore, the organization might
undertake steps to bring forth changes in the systems in order to enhance the operations while
coping up with the expectations of the customers.
The report aims at analyzing the different issues that are faced by Jetstar Airways and the
manner in which they might be mitigated. The report enumerates the scope, causes and impacts
of the issues that are faced by the organization. On the other hand, a change management plan is
being formulated as a part of the report in accordance to Kotter’s change management model in
order to mitigate the issues that are faced by the enterprise.
2. Organizational background
Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd is a low-cost airline headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.
Qantas took the initiative of establishing the Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd in the year 2003 as a two
brand strategy in order to compete with the Virgin Blue. The low cost airline services that were
provided by the organization helped in attracting the attention of the target customers in the

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initial years (Jetstar.com 2018). However, the lack of suitable communication among the
organization and the customers affected the service offerings through delays and harassment of
the customers (Abc.net.au 2014). It affected the brand image of the organization while operating
as per the objectives of the same (Jiang 2013). The management structure of the organization and
the lack of suitable communication among the different departments have affected the efficient
functioning of the same while considering the priorities of the customers. However, the revenue
and the operating income of the business are A$3.636 billion and A$452 million respectively
(Jetstar.com 2018). Therefore, the organization must take steps to develop the processes in order
to facilitate the smooth functioning of the systems and thereby enhance the profitability of the
firm.
3. Issues faced by the organization
One of the immediate issues that are faced by the organization, Jetstar Airways, are based
on the lack of proper communication with the clients, which affected the organizational
knowledge on the preferences and priorities of the customers. On the other hand, the lack of
integrated functioning of the workforce caused several flight delays and discrepancies in the
billing functions of the business. Kotter-Grühn (2015) stated that the lack of proper
communication with the customers affects the PR (Public Relations) which results to a degrading
brand name and market share. The organization aimed at providing their services through
economic pricing structure in order to attract the attention of the customers. However, the lack of
proper services and delays in the flights in busy business schedules has affected the goodwill of
the business.

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4. Diagnosis of scope, causes, effects and impacts
Jetstar Airways aimed at providing economic transportation services to the customers in
order to gain a competitive edge over the other players in the market.
However, the organization faced different issues relating to the lack of suitable customer support
systems, which has affected the goodwill of the business. A survey conducted by the
international airlines portrayed that Jetstar Airways holds the second highest percentage of flight
delays. It has affected the organizational capabilities of holding suitable public relations. The
issues relating to the PR adversely affected the market shares of the organization, which
diminished largely within last two years. Lack of suitable communication mediums in the
organization affected the proper functioning of the systems. Braduţanu (2012) stated that
communication with the customers plays a major role in remodeling the systems as per the
preferences of the customers. It helps organizations in undertaking a well- groomed PR functions
as per the sustainable objective of the same.
On the other hand, in a survey that was conducted by CHOICE on subjects like
punctuality, checking in, customer service, on-board comfort and food safety portrayed that the
concerned organization gained the maximum negative reviews on most of the elements (Jun and
Rowley 2014). Alternatively, the survey undertaken by the ACCC (Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission) delineated that lack of proper training to the employees affected the
workforce efficacy in attracting the attention of the customers through economic transportation
services. Brännmark and Benn (2012) stated that lack of proper communication in the service
providing sector affects the service offerings of the business as the organizational management
fails to understand the priorities of the clients and thereby act accordingly. On the other hand,
Hurn (2012) noted that the continuous innovation in the business processes helps in enhancing

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the operations and thereby adds on to the competitive advantage of the business over the other
players resulting to sustainability. Therefore, the issues that are faced by Jetstar Airways have
affected the smooth functioning of the same while operating as per the diverse needs and
preferences of the clients.
5. Needs for organizational change
Jetstar Airways must undertake the relevant changes in order to enhance the operations of
the same in order to cope with the changing expectations of the customers. Most importantly,
enhanced functioning of the business operations helps in establishing efficient Public Relations
resulting to the growth of the organization in diverse markets. The issues that are faced by the
concerned organization are due to lack of suitable communication with the customers. It has
affected the smooth functioning of the business processes. Therefore, the concerned organization
might take steps to build on their communicability in order to enhance the operations of the same
while operating as per the needs of the customers. Sikdar and Payyazhi (2014) stated that
communication plays a major role in understanding the needs and preferences of the customers.
Communication in the context of Jetstar Airways will be helping the business in understanding
the issues that are faced by the customers. On the other hand, the enhanced communicability of
the internal departments of the business will be helping the same in improving their client
dealings. The change in the organizational culture and customer dealings will be helping the
organization in reframing the processes to avoid situation of flight delays that might cause
disregard in the minds of the customers. Most essentially, the change will be helping the
organization in upgrading their service offerings as per the competitors, which will be adding a
competitive edge to the organizational operations in Australia and abroad (McDaniel and
DiBella-McCarthy 2012). The organization is required to undertake the change in order to

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enhance their operations while understanding the needs of the customers and their priorities.
Changes in the business processes will be helping the firm in undertaking better PR (Public
Relation) activities while operating in diverse international markets. Karaevli and Zajac (2013)
stated that enhancement in the PR functions of organizations helps the same in undertaking the
smooth functioning of the business operations.
6. Change management plan
Change management models helps in enhancing the change initiative that is planned by the business
through utilization of systematic reasoning. The utilization of Kotter’s change management model in the
context of Jetstar Airways will assist in maintaining their efficacy through systematic implementation of
different steps in order to enhance the processes (Sharif and Scandura 2014). The organizational
understanding of the urgency for undertaking the change is one of the most important steps that might be

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considered by the organization in order to initiate the modification activity.
The vision for undertaking the change will be helping the organization in identifying the long term
outcomes through the modifications that might be applied by the organization. Communication of the
vision with the relevant stakeholders who are responsible for the smooth functioning of the processes will
be helping the organization in undertaking consultation and thereby take steps to implement the change.
Building on the change that is implemented and thereby sticking on to the change will be helping the
organization in enhancing their performance while mitigating the concerns. The systematic functioning of
the organization while implementing change in the systems helps in assisting the smooth functioning of
the business operations (Pollack and Pollack 2015). The organization must take steps to set up a suitable
CRM technology in order to connect to their customers. The change management plan that is being
enumerated in this section will forecast the different activities that might be undertaken by the
organization while implementing the CRM in the processes as per the Kotter’s change model.
Goal Activities Timeframe Rationale
Understanding the
urgency for
implementing a CRM
(Customer
Relationship
Management)
Envisioning the
change
 Assessments of the
market situation
through conduction of
surveys
 Formation of concrete
ideas of change in the
different functions
through the assessment
of the key position of
the business in the
markets (Jansson 2013)
5 – 7 months The identification of
urgency for change in
the organizational
context will be
helping the concerned
organization in
identifying the right
time for modifying
the processes in order
to enhance the
sustainable
functioning. On the
other hand,

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 Assessing feedbacks
from the other users of
the CRM technology
envisioning the
change and thereby
planning for the same
will be helping the
concerned
organization in
undertaking
assessments of its key
capabilities and
competencies before
implementing the
change safely within
the time frame (Van
der Voet 2014).
Communicating the
need of implementing
CRM with the
relevant stakeholders
 Communicating the
need of implementing
the CRM technologies
in the organization
through utilization of
emails, newsletters and
social media platforms
to the stakeholders
 Undertaking sessions
with the relevant
stakeholders discussing
2- 4 months Communication of the
change with the
stakeholders of the
business will be
helping the same in
enhancing the change
readiness among the
same. The sessions
will also helps the
management in
undertaking
consultation and

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on the change process negotiations with the
stakeholders in order
to engage the same in
the change processes
more actively.
Establishing team of
customer support
executives and CRM
experts
 Selection of members
for the team
 Delineation of
objectives of the team
2 – 5 months The establishment of
the customer support
team will be helping
the organization in
fulfilling the PR
objectives and thereby
enhance their
goodwill while
operating in the
international markets
Conduction of
training to the
customer support
executives
 Identification of the
technical elements of
the CRM
 Developing resources in
order to brief the
candidates on CRM
 Designing the training
session
 Undertaking the
integrated training
4 – 7 weeks The training on the
utilization of CRM
will be helping the
organization in
enhancing the
operations of the
workforce as per the
objectives of the
business

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session
Implementing the
CRM in the business
processes
 Designing the processes
of the CRM
 Consultation with IT
experts on the usability
of the CRM
 Implementation of the
CRM on the
organizational
processes
5 – 7 months The implementation
of the CRM in the
processes will be
helping the
organization in
undertaking steady
communications with
the customers. It will
be helping the same in
developing the
activities as per the
objectives of the
business.
7. Conclusion
Therefore, from the above analysis it can be stated that the issues that are faced by Jetstar
Airways relating to lack of suitable communication with the customers which affected the PR
functioning of the business. Lack of suitable communication with the customers has affected the
knowledge of the organization resulting to degradation of the quality of service. On the other
hand, the lack of proper communication with the customers led to harassment of the clients in
times of flight delays, which has affected the brand image of the business. The report enumerates
the different changes that might be undertaken by the organization in order to enhance the PR
functioning. The research also enumerated a change management model, which is applied to the

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recommended actions in the change management plan for enhancing the operations of the
business while operating in the diverse markets. Change in the organizational operations and
processes will be helping the same in enhancing the scopes of retaining the customers and
improving the brand image.

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References
Abc.net.au, 2014. jetstar-flights-delayed-due-to-computer-problem. [online] abc.net.au.
Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-20/jetstar-flights-delayed-due-to-computer-
problem/5980876 [Accessed 25 Oct. 2018].
Braduţanu, D., 2012. Identifying the Reducing Resistance to Change Phase in an Organizational
Change Model. Acta Universitatis Danubius. Œconomica, 8(2).
Brännmark, M. and Benn, S., 2012. A proposed model for evaluating the sustainability of
continuous change programmes. Journal of Change Management, 12(2), pp.231-245.
de Wit, J.G. and Zuidberg, J., 2012. The growth limits of the low cost carrier model. Journal of
Air Transport Management, 21, pp.17-23.
Hurn, B.J., 2012. Management of change in a multinational company. Industrial and commercial
training, 44(1), pp.41-46.
Jansson, N., 2013. Organizational change as practice: A critical analysis. Journal of
Organizational Change Management, 26(6), pp.1003-1019.
Jetstar.com, 2018. Jetstar Airways - Australia | Jetstar. [online] Jetstar.com. Available at:
https://www.jetstar.com/au/en/home [Accessed 25 Oct. 2018].
Jiang, H., 2013. Service quality of low-cost long-haul airlines–The case of Jetstar Airways and
AirAsia X. Journal of Air Transport Management, 26, pp.20-24.

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Jun, W. and Rowley, C., 2014. Change and continuity in management systems and corporate
performance: Human resource management, corporate culture, risk management and corporate
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Pollack, J. and Pollack, R., 2015. Using Kotter’s eight stage process to manage an organisational
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Sikdar, A. and Payyazhi, J., 2014. A process model of managing organizational change during
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Van der Voet, J., 2014. The effectiveness and specificity of change management in a public
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Management Journal, 32(3), pp.373-382.

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