EasyJet Airlines: CSR and Sustainability in Business Management

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Contemporary developments in business and management
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Executive summary
Business management can be termed as development of organizational structure that is organized
in a manner so that the business functional can be performed easily without any resistance. This
study deals with various external influences that impact on an organization in its functioning and
the numerous approaches of the organization that enables it to deal with those factors. This report
highlights the corporate social responsibilities and sustainability approaches of the chosen
organization Easy Jet, an airlines company based in UK. This report also critically evaluates the
responses of the organizations to the CSR issues and provides recommendation o further
improve the services offered by the organization.
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Table of Contents
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................5
Give a brief overview of the primary external influences to which the organization is subject and
briefly explain the particular importance of each to the organization.............................................5
Task 2.............................................................................................................................................10
Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability......................................................................10
Analyze its relevance to your chosen organization and how it influences policies and decision-
making within your chosen organization or industry-sector.........................................................11
Critically evaluate the effectiveness of the organization’s response.............................................17
Demonstrate some areas for improvement in the response of the organization............................18
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................20
References......................................................................................................................................21
Appendix 1.....................................................................................................................................24
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Introduction
The business strategy of a company is the utilization of the resources like capital, human
abilities, production and technology in an efficient and organized manner so as to achieve the
highest potential of the organization. Effectively managing all these assets helps in managing the
sales prospects of the business. Business management mainly deals with developing an
organized planning structure for the company regarding all its functionalities. This planned
process enables the manager to thoroughly keep track of the productivity and establish growth in
the competitive market. Handling the finances and evaluating the positive and negative outcomes
of the business processes is also a part of business management. Relationships among the
employees and the employer also play a critical role in the development of an organization.
Hence, the present study focuses upon different management practices followed in the airlines
organization EasyJet is analyzed. Based on these management practices, organizational decisions
are made. The external and internal factors which influence the organization’s growth are also
discussed. The corporate social responsibility programme of EasyJet is taken under
consideration. The policies and methods undertaken by the company to tackle the different issues
faced by EasyJet are also assessed. The areas of improvement are also targeted on the basis of
the above evaluation criteria so that the company is enabled to perform better in its future
endeavors.
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Task 1
Give a brief overview of the primary external influences to which the organization is
subject and briefly explain the particular importance of each to the organization.
Any business organization is impacted by the macro environmental factors in aspects like
development and growth. These factors can influence the business in both positive and negative
perspectives. The analysis of these external factors can be performed through the help of
PESTLE which are political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental elements,
that eventually influences organizations like EasyJet airlines.
PESTLE analysis
Political factors There are several policies which are to be followed by organizations like
Easy Jet in order to maintain the safety features of the passengers during
any unfortunate circumstances like accidents or hijacks (Schoemaker,
Nijhof, and Jonker, 2006.). Relationships of UK with other countries
may create several policies guiding the airlines to operate accordingly.
Any negativity among countries causes loss of passengers and hence de-
growth in the revenue structure. Restrictions in visa policies in order to
fight terrorism further reduced the passenger participation rate in the
airlines sector. The policies are formulated in order to connect increased
number of airlines which can make organizations like Easy Jet to stand
out in the competition. Policies like taxation, standard of ownership,
customer protection and competition management come under the
political factors of external influences.
Economic factors The recession period has impacted the airline organizations like Easy Jet
in low economic growth. Due to low purchasing power, the general
public preferred to stay away from expensive air travelling (Renwick et
al., 2016). It also affected in low employment generation, reduced
salaries of the employees and even less publicity of the travel industry.
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Increase in fuel expenditure also resulted in more complications within
the organizations. The high fuel prices and low capital resources
pressurized the companies to brainstorm new strategies to deal with the
crisis. Easy Jet is a low cost carrier; hence its profitability rose
extensively as people started spending low for travelling shorter
destinations (Portales, 2001).
Social factors The continuous changes in the demands of the consumers have resulted
in developing new strategies regarding the operations of the airlines
industry. Currently low cost airlines are known to face a boom in their
respective market as more and more public are inclining towards getting
better and additional benefits at cheaper rates (Zu and Song, 2009).
Passengers from the business category have reduced travelling which
resulted in massive losses for the airlines industry. Conditions like
charging more price rates for obese persons due to their increased seat
reservations come under the social causes. Other social factors like
technological innovations have hampered the performance growth of the
airlines as facilities like video conferencing saves both money and time
of the consumers which would have been spent earlier on travelling. In
the contrary, globalization has helped in the profit generation of the
airlines as more executive officers prefer travelling through flights. Even
senior citizens have started flying between places (Falkenberg and
Brunsæl, 2011).
Technological
factors
Buying tickets through the internet has become a trend due to the current
technological developments. Accessing all the relevant information
regarding the air travels, expense reports and even cancellation enquiries
can be obtained through the internet. Many airlines industry like Easy Jet
has developed their own mobile applications in order to ensure customer
satisfaction and thereby increase in customer base (Waagstein, 2011).
Passengers generally prefer airlines who can provide them improved
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service but at cheap rates. All these data can be accessed through the
mobile applications or the websites of the concerned airline industry.
Technological advancements has also helped the airlines in developing
new features which will consider the safety measures of the passengers as
well as enhance their fulfillment levels through recreational gadgets. The
travel industry also prefers publicizing their facilities and price structure
through social websites. This enhances the participation rate of the
customers and reduces the work that is done manually. Ignoring
technological applications in this service industry can severely affect in
reduction of customer base and hence profit generations.
Legal factors The legal factors are the external influences of an airline industry such as
laws are specified in order to take care of the health and safety measures
of the customers. Passengers generally look for airlines which ensure to
protect them in times of disasters and also at cheap rates. Even laws
regarding discrimination or any ill treatment towards senior citizens and
other passengers are also structured in the regulatory guidelines of the
airline companies like EasyJet. Any kind of maltreatment with the fellow
passengers may result in the termination of the airline operations. Digital
innovations like cloud programming and other software developments are
implemented in the airports which help in passenger tracking as well as
verifying passenger credentials (Dodd and Supa, 2011). It can be said
technological advances has reduced cost of operations and enhanced
customer satisfaction. Taking the help of digitalization, The concerned
organization has been more flexible and adaptable to the changing
customer needs.
Environmental
factors
There are laws which order the airline companies such as EasyJet to
follow certain guidelines so that the environmental conditions are not at
stake. The fuels that are used in the operations of the flights are
environment friendly and do not induce carbon containing chemicals
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which are major contributors of air pollution. The aircrafts should be
constructed according to the green revolution theories to safeguard the
environment from any further hazards. Although these environmental
friendly protocols can incur extensive costs but the environmental safety
should be the main concern of the organizations (Cochran and Wood,
1984). There can be lot of sound pollution in forms of noise through the
operation of aircrafts due to their speed. Noise Abatement
Procedure(NAPs) are the protocols articulated in order to reduce the
noise of fan blades of the airplanes while traversing over residential
zones and other sound sensitive areas (Fuentes-García, Núñez-Tabales
and Veroz-Herradón, 2008). NO2 is the main pollutant which is emitted
by the aircrafts and is responsible for increasing ozone which further
plays a strong role in global warming. Large aircrafts pollute the
environment to a wider extent as compared to smaller ones.
There are even government policies which regulate the taxation of the airlines sector which
further determines the demand of the consumers. Variations in weather conditions also affect the
customer base and profitability of the company. As the airline industries are the source of
connectivity between countries in a short span of time, there performance evaluation is highly
essential so as to further improve the future of the industry (Balabanis, Phillips and Lyall, 1998).
With proper developments and innovations there will more profitable tours that would be
undertaken by the executive and potential classes of the country. According to the PESTLE
analysis companies can identify the drawbacks and loopholes of the management policies
depending on which the organization can make considerable changes in their policy making,
economic structure, social demands and other important areas. Unfortunately the owners of the
company cannot reduce the external factors on their own as because the entire economy is
responsible for the changes. It is the duty of the managers to maintain the unity factor amongst
the employees and also carefully reduce the panic which gets developed in times of uncertain
changes (Jenkins, 2009). In an organization, it is imperative to have difference of opinions
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among the members but a clear set of goals and definite purpose can help the company like Easy
Jet to overcome all the casualties.
The objectives and management strategies should be precise and should not lack clarity. All the
superior managers of the company should to be expected to maintain efficient communicative
bridges among all the employees so that they never feel isolated or not given respect. This kind
of flexible work culture among the individuals of an organization like Easy Jet encourages them
to work efficiently in dealing with the issues arisen out of external factors evaluate din the
PESTLE table (Lin-Hi and Müller, 2013). Innovative solutions must be developed which will
help the company to stay ahead among its competitors. A company can establish itself only if it
is able to swiftly identify the external influential factors. Due to the recurring changes which is
inevitable in any organization, the proficiency in the managers and his fellow employees is
highly required without which it will not take time for the company to turnout as a complete
failure.
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Task 2
Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a practice, that is performed by business organizations in
order to become socially accountable to the organization itself, to all the stakeholders of the
organization and the public (Crowther and Seifi, 2018).
Through performing CSR practices the business organizations become more responsive to the
effects of its own business operations on the society regarding the aspects including
environmental, economical and social.
There are four categories that are considered in corporate social relationship. These are,
economic responsibilities, legal responsibilities, ethical responsibilities and philanthropic
responsibilities. The respective categories are mentioned below:
Economic responsibility: The focus of economic responsibility is to facilitate the growth of the
business. This is achieved by maintaining balance with economic decisions. By committing to
economic responsibility an organization can make improvements in its business operations as
well as can be engaged in sustainability (Grayson and Hodges, 2017).
Legal responsibility: Every business has to operate under certain laws and regulations. It is the
responsibility of every business to operate within a boundary that is protected by such laws. This
is the legal responsibility.
Ethical responsibility: The ethical responsibility of any business organization is to maintain a
fair labor practice for their workers as well as their suppliers that is achieved by equal pay, work
and good compensation (Flammer, 2015).
Philanthropic responsibility: Philanthropic responsibility include donation of money and
resources for the purpose of charity. Organizations can make donations regarding many aspects
including national disaster relief, human rights, education programs etc. in underdeveloped
countries (Crane et al., 2019).
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Sustainability can be defined by the ability to become supported, sustained at a particular level
regarding the three components that are namely the social, environmental and economic
component (Clayton and Radcliffe, 2018). The focus of sustainability is to meet the requirements
of present while thinking about the future generations so that they can fulfill their requirements.
Sustainability inspires business organizations to make decisions for a prolonged time in terms of
years or decades while not focusing on making profit without taking account about its business
operations that may hamper the economy, society and environment (Crane and Matten, 2016).
Analyze its relevance to your chosen organization and how it influences policies and
decision-making within your chosen organization or industry-sector.
CSR and sustainability approaches of the organization
The organization Easy Jet is very determined towards its corporate social responsibilities. The
approaches of CSR and sustainability of the organization mainly focus on the safety and security
of its customers, employees and the suppliers. Some of the approaches that are followed by the
concerned organization are mentioned below:
Safety and security approaches: Safety and security of the customers and all the workers is
very important for any company that operates in the sector of airlines. Safety and security is the
top priority of Easy Jet and it is achieved through the provision of a safe environment to the
customers and the employees. The management of safety is performed through various business
practices and highly depends on the organizational structure. This responsibility is taken by the
chief executive of the organization and also by the managers. The security team of Easy Jet
organization also works jointly with the regulatory and government agencies so that the risk of
security and the vulnerability among the customers can be minimized. The organization also
performs a fatigue risk management program so that the crew of the organization can smoothly
operate the flights while maintaining the safety (Claire, 2017).
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Fig.1- Outline of Risk management process of Easy Jet
(Source- Corporate.easyjet.com., 2019)
Hence, to ensure the maintenance of the safety and security of all the stakeholders the
organization has decided to invest in fatigue research with the Netherlands Aerospace Centre and
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). The organization also strictly prohibits
any disruptive behavior of passengers or employees on the flights. For ensuring that the
environment is well maintained the organization provides proper training to its crews. The
organization has also invested so that new safety related technology can be installed to the fleet
of aircraft.
Environmental approaches: The organization Easy Jet is very responsive toward the
environmental impacts that it has through its operations. The organization is improving its
technologies so that it can efficiently use fuel through which, fuel consumption and wastage can
be reduced to a certain level. It is also known to develop its equipments so that the carbon
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