Crisis Management and Communication in British Airways

This study discusses the crisis management and communication strategies used by British Airways to handle the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic and other crises. It outlines the different types of crises faced by the company and critically analyzes the response strategies taken to handle them. The study emphasizes the importance of effective communication and stakeholder analysis in crisis management.

Crisis Management and
Communication

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Outline of the issues faced relating to crisis management..........................................................3
Critical analysis of response strategy taken to handle the crisis.................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The crisis management is been defined as the application of different strategies in order
to assist company and willing to some sudden and the negative events. The companies operate
within the external environment and there can be any kind of change taking place anytime.
Hence it is necessary for companies to evaluate the use of crisis management in order to
overcome the negative impact. The present study is based on British Airways which is a Flag
Carrier Airline Company situated in UK. The current study will outline the different types of
crisis being faced by the company. Along with this the response strategies that are the way in
which company handles the crisis will also be outlined.
MAIN BODY
Outline of the issues faced relating to crisis management
Crisis is all about a great difficulty faced by anyone and they have to make more efforts
in order to handle it. Like many other big companies’ British airways also face a worst crisis due
to covid-19 pandemic. In order to deal with this situation, the company has taken major steps to
find out solutions (MA, Pande and PK, 2021). As per the high demand of sustainability, the firm
has to contribute so that they can tackle the situation. By the time, they are more focused on
achieving targets such as carbon emissions. In addition to this, the firm has also invested in
sustainable aviation fuel to power a number of flights.
While offsetting carbon, the firm has reduced their emissions by purchasing equivalent
carbon reductions from a various project. They have invested a lot in this reduction scheme for
aviation. Due to rapid changing in trends in this industry, the firm has to keep updating advanced
technologies like sustainability. The size of pandemic has affected the working efficiency of the
complete your great extent. The reason behind this fact was that due to the pandemic there was
an economic shut down and because of this no one was allowed to travel from one place to
another (Zhao, 2020). Hence as a result of this airline companies have to suffer a lot because
business was a shutdown as no one was ready to travel from one place to another. And this
affected the operational efficiency and the financial position of the company to a great extent.
The present case of competitive environment there are different types of crisis being
faced by British Airways. Earlier as well there are many different crisis which were faced by

British Airways and affected the working efficiency. The earlier crisis which was faced by
British Airways because the turmoil after the worldwide IT failure. This it failure was a huge this
option to flights relating to Heathrow and Gatwick. In accordance to the CEO of British Airways
the major cause of the crisis was a power supply issue and no evidence of any cyber attack. This
crisis has also affected the working efficiency of British Airways and affected the issue to a great
extent (Coombs and Laufer, 2018). Hence with analyses British Airways realise that
communication plays a crucial role within the crisis management. In crisis management,
communication is proper then this can resolve too many of the crisis negative impact can be
reduced.
Along with this another type of crisis with might be faced by British Airways is related to
the natural disaster. This is particularly because of the reason that the natural activities are not in
hand of the company. Hence this can result in some of the crisis for British Airways. For
instances the flood can cause crisis within the working of British Airways as well (Jin, Reber and
Nowak, eds., 2020). This is because of the reason that flights to different country is been
cancelled and as a result of profitability of the company can be hampered. Hence it is necessary
for company to continuously analyse the market to find proper information relating to the crisis
and try to manage it with using the response strategies.
Critical analysis of response strategy taken to handle the crisis
With the above analysis it is clear that crisis management is very important in order to
overcome the losses the company is currently facing. The crisis or not in control of the company
and as a result of these negative effects is being faced by the business (Wodak, 2021). Hence it is
very crucial for British Airways to undertake the use of some crisis management strategies so
that the efficiency of company can be improved. These response strategies involve the following-
The first and foremost crisis management strategy used by British Airways focus on
sustainability. This is particularly because of the reason that in case the operations will not be
sustainable then this will affect the working efficiency of the company to a great extent. The
approach of sustainability is very important because it focuses on future working of the company
(Apuke and Tunca, 2018). The sustainability of the company focus on the complete development
of the company and this improves future working of the company.
Along with this another response strategies taken for effective handling of the crisis was
focusing on effective communication. The reason behind this fact is that communication helps

the company in providing and sharing information from one place to another. This assist
company managing the crisis. The reason behind this fact describe the communication and
involves sharing of information from one person to another and when all the information is
shared clearly and in simple manner then it provides a base to other people to decide. Hence
proper decisions can be taken relating to the working and operation of company and this can
result in reduction of crisis (Imad, Elbuzidi and Chan, 2021). For effective communication there
are different models and theories which can be applied by British Airways. The best suited
communication model involves the use of Berlo’s SCMR model. This involves four different
stages that is sender, channel, message and the receiver. The sender send a message via the
channel and this message is being delivered to the receiver with help of this channel. This
channel can be any kind of method like written or oral verbal or any other kind of channel. With
the help of this channel the messages clearly and effectively communicated to the recommended
party.
Further in addition to this another response strategy was to undertake the use of
stakeholder analysis matrix. The reason this fact was that when stakeholders will be happy and
satisfied then they will try to remove the crisis at any cost. This will assist British Airways in
managing the crisis in better and effective way and it will not affect the popularity and efficiency
of the company. Along with this while managing good relations with stakeholders it is necessary
that proper communication is being undertaken with them as well. The reason behind this fact is
that when the communication will not be good and effective then this will be affecting the
working efficiency of the stakeholders (Bukar and et.al., 2020). Ultimate the crisis will not be
managed in proper manner. Hence it is necessary that effective management of crisis must be
proper and clear communication with stakeholders. This proper and clear communication will
help for British Airways in managing and maintaining the crisis and the response strategies in
proper manner.
Stakeholde
r
Power/
Interest
Key
Interest &
Issues
Communicatio
n Vehicle
Frequency
Owner The owners They are The Once in a

have high
interest and
high power
within the
working of
the company.
interesting
issues for
the owner is
each and
every aspect
within the
company.
The reason
behind these
factors that
every small
aspect
affects the
owner and
their
decision-
making.
communication
vehicle for
communicating
with the owner
is to use the
form of written
communication
through email.
week
Top
managemen
t
The power
and interest of
top
management
within the
company’s
high.
Top
managemen
t is
interested
within each
and every
issue of the
company.
The reason
underlying
this factors
that all the
The
communication
vehicle is in
form of written
and verbal
communication
. The written
communication
can be done
with help of
email and
verbal
The frequency
of
communicatio
n is daily

decisions
after the
owner will
be finalized
by the top
managemen
t only.
Hence they
are
interested
within each
and every
issue being
faced by the
company.
communication
is being done at
time of
conferences.
Employees The power of
employees is
low but the
interest of
employees is
high within
the
organisational
performance.
The interest
and the
issues of
employees
are of
priority
because in
case they
will be
having any
issue then
this will
affect the
operational
The
communication
taken place
with the
employees is in
form of written
and verbal
communication
that is through
email, letters
and by verbal
communication
.
The frequency
of
communicatio
n is daily

efficiency
and
ultimately
the
company
will be
suffering.
CONCLUSION
In the end it is concluded that crisis management involves the different strategies which
can be used for minimising the effects of vices. The above discussion concluded that term British
Airways was suffering with the major crisis of covid-19. Hence for minimising the effect the use
of communication model and stakeholder analysis was assistive to the company. Also it was
informed that the crisis management is very important for computer be served because it affects
the efficiency and negative manner.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Apuke, O. D. and Tunca, E. A., 2018. Social media and crisis management: a review and
analysis of existing studies. LAÜ Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi. 9(2). pp.199-215.
Bukar, U. A. and et.al., 2020. Crisis informatics in the context of social media crisis
communication: Theoretical models, taxonomy, and open issues. IEEE Access. 8.
pp.185842-185869.
Coombs, W. T. and Laufer, D., 2018. Global crisis management–current research and future
directions. Journal of International Management. 24(3). pp.199-203.
Imad, A. R., Elbuzidi, K. J. S. and Chan, T. J., 2021. Crisis Management and Communication
Approach: A Case of Boeing 737 MAX. Journal of Arts & Social Sciences. 4(2). pp.7-
14.
Jin, Y., Reber, B. H. and Nowak, G. J. eds., 2020. Advancing crisis communication effectiveness:
Integrating public relations scholarship with practice. Routledge.
MA, S., Pande, N. and PK, S. K., 2021. Role of effective crisis communication by the
government in managing the first wave Covid‐19 pandemic–A study of Kerala
government's success. Journal of Public Affairs. 21(4). p.e2721.
Wodak, R., 2021. Crisis communication and crisis management during COVID-19. Global
Discourse: An interdisciplinary journal of current affairs. 11(3). pp.329-353.
Zhao, H., 2020. Explicating the social constructionist perspective on crisis communication and
crisis management research: a review of communication and business journals. Journal
of Public Relations Research. 32(3-4). pp.98-119.