Performance Management at Flight Centre Australia: Case Study Report

This report analyzes the Flight Centre Australia case study, focusing on performance management challenges, particularly regarding employee compensation, delegation, and coaching. The report begins with an executive summary and an introduction outlining the context of the case, which involves accusations of underpaying staff and charging customers extra fees. The analysis then delves into the need for improved performance management, drawing on relevant academic literature to explore current trends and issues in the field. The report discusses the importance of performance management systems in aligning individual and organizational goals, highlighting issues such as managing employee performance, the role of feedback, and the impact of low-cost solutions. The report identifies key issues, including unsatisfactory pay levels, and proposes recommendations based on key result areas, such as implementing a continuous feedback system, adjusting employee wages, developing reward systems, and monitoring employee performance. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and recommendations, providing a comprehensive overview of the case and potential solutions.

Running head: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Executive Summary
The report is based on the analysis of performance management based systems of a modern
organization. The company which has been taken into consideration for analysis is Flight
Centre Australia. The case study is based on the issues which have been faced by the
company related to the issues that faced by Flight Centre Australia based on pay levels of the
employees. The levels incentives of the employees and extra costs which are charged from
the customers are also major issues in the case study. The ways by which the performance
management system of the organization can be improved has been analysed in the report. The
analysis has been concluded by the recommendations based on the key result areas of the
performance management system.

2CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Description of the case...................................................................................................3
Need for the improvement of performance management, delegation and coaching in
the business................................................................................................................................4
Current issues and trends which affect performance management of organizations.....6
Four key result areas based on recommendations..........................................................8
Conclusion......................................................................................................................9
References....................................................................................................................10
Appendix......................................................................................................................12

3CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Introduction
The report will be based on the analysis of the case study related to the Flight Centre
Australia related to the issues and criticisms which were faced by the company due to
mismanagement of employees. The most important part of the case study is based on a major
issue which had taken place in the organization due to low payment provided to the
employees. The fares that were charged from the customers were found to be high and on the
other hand, the salary levels of employees were quite low (Abc.net.au 2018). The analysis in
the report will thereby be based on the ways by which the performance of employees can be
managed by the organization in an effective manner. The ways of improving the coaching,
delegation and performance management based activities will be analysed in the report.
Flight Centre Travel Group has acquired the position of the biggest retail based travel
organization in Australia. The organization was established in the year 1982 and the
headquarter is located in Brisbane, Australia. Flight Centre Travel Group has established
more than 2000 outlets and different kinds of business under different corporate and retail
based brands. The company has thereby started its wholly owned operations in different
countries like, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, United Kingdom, South Africa, China,
Singapore, Mexico and United Arab Emirates (Flightcentre.com.au 2018).
Description of the case
The case study which has been considered in the report is related to the Flight Centre
Australia which has been quite unfair to the employees in terms of wages which have been
provided to them. The organization on the other hand charges extra amounts from the
customers for the services that are offered to them. The work culture that has been developed
within the organization is also not effective for the employees and their work processes. The

4CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
investigation was mainly based on opinions which were provided by the staff of the
organization (Abc.net.au 2018).
As discussed by Buckingham and Goodall (2015), a major accusation that was raised
against the company was based on the extra amounts which were added to the total booking
amounts that were made by the customers. The total price of the booking was thereby
revealed to the customer after adding extra amounts with the amounts that were depicted
before. This revelation based on addition of extra prices was made by a process staff of the
company. The wages that were offered to the employees of Flight Centre Australia were also
not satisfactory and beyond the minimum wage levels which have been set in Australia. The
report will be based on the analysis of these issues and recommendations based on the ways
by which these can be solved with the help of proper performance management.
Need for the improvement of performance management, delegation and coaching in the
business
According to Campion, Campion and Campion (2015), performance management
system is able to play a major role in the ways by which the individual and the organizational
goals can be attained by the employees. The performance management based system in the
organizations are able to monitor and track the performance based levels of the individual
employees, the organization and the different departments. The systems of performance
management are thereby based on the ways by which the job based and organizational
competencies can be obtained for the successful performance in the job. The different
important parts of the performance management system based process include, list of
accomplishments, objectives and goals, results from the 360-Degree feedback based
processes, ratings provided by supervisors and the development plans of individuals.

5CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
As argued by Cappelli and Tavis (2016), the performance management based
activities that have been developed by Flight Centre Australia are based on the challenging
environment which is developed within the organization. The case study has stated that the
workplace fun based activities which have been conducted by the management of the
organization are related to the alcohol based parties which are arranged for them in order to
motivate the employees. The motivation is provided to employees is based on the “Buzz
Nights” which are introduced by the company every month in order to increase the levels of
fun.
The Global Gathering which is arranged by the company can be attended by the top
performers of the company. The pay levels which are however provided to the employees
have proved to be unsatisfactory for the employees. The parties and other activities were
provided to the employees as a compensation for the long hours of work. This was considered
to be an important part of the culture that has been established in the organization (Cardy and
Leonard 2014).
According to DeNisi and Smith (2014), the improvement of performance
management system of the organization will be based on providing the appropriate levels of
compensation to the employees based on their work levels. The lack of proper monetary
motivation can be considered to be an important issue faced by the organization in the current
environment. The lack of effective levels of pay has been able to affect the ways by which the
management is able to motivate the employees. The employees had to thereby start the
marking up process in order to increase the levels of income made in organization.
As argued by Ferron Vilchez and Darnall (2016), the commissions which are thereby
offered to the employees have acted as an important part of the income levels of employees
of the organization. The improvement of the delegation and coaching based activities will

6CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
lead to proper performance of the employees of Flight Centre Australia. The proper
delegation of the employees of Flight Centre Australia in different activities will play an
important role in the improvement of performance management based systems.
The delegation of tasks will be done based on the expertise and competency based
levels of the employees. The different steps which are considered to be key parts of the
delegation process include, Do, Tell, Teach, Ask and Support. The management of Flight
Centre Australia can thereby implement this process in an effective manner in order to
develop the performance management systems of the employees (Ishizaka and Pereira 2016).
Current issues and trends which affect performance management of organizations
According to Kroll and Moynihan (2015), the organizations in the modern business
environment mainly focus on the human resources and employees in an effective manner.
The performance management systems are thereby considered to be highly important for the
organizations in order to become much more focussed, competitive and effective in nature.
The different issues which are faced by the modern organizations based performance
management include,
 Managing the performance of employees.
 Criteria based on the good system of performance management.
 The role played by feedback.
 The management process and the method of performance assessment.
 Functions of the performance assessment.
 Measuring the performance.
 Importance of the self-assessment process.
 Rewarding the performance.

7CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
 The huge number of low cost solutions (McDonnell, Gunnigle and Murphy
2018).
As discussed by Mone and London (2018), the organizations operating in different
sectors aim at changing their approach towards the performance management based activities.
The changes which are made in the performance management systems of the organizations
are quite evident in nature and are evolutionary as well. The performance management based
systems of the modern companies thereby need to highly flexible and agile in their operations
within the organizations.
According to Nguyen et al. (2017), the existing practices which are implemented in
the organizations need to be changed according to changes which take place in needs of
people. The changes need to be implemented within the organizations in order to foster the
culture of high performance in an effective manner. The eight different trends which exist in
the performance management systems of the organizations are as follows,
The process of performance management is always expected to evolve in an
effective manner as the focus has started shifting from the annual evaluation of
performance levels to the continuous monitoring of the performance of
employees. This has a major effect on the performance management based
systems of different organizations.
The system of performance management has been linked to the corporate
values and culture of different modern organizations. This has played a key
role in developing the best levels of performance of the employees (Shields et
al. 2015).
The approaches which are implemented for various parts of the workforce are
different for various types of jobs.

8CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
The process of performance rating needs to be abandoned as it has not proved
to be quite useful for the proper management of the employees and their
performance as well (McDonnell, Gunnigle and Murphy 2018).
The rewards which are provided to the employees need to be differentiated
based on their levels of performance. The objectives in this case are
considered to be questionable and the objectives are also delivered effectively
with the help of proper collaboration of the teams (Tantardini and Kroll 2015).
The management needs to develop a system which is based on continuous
feedback and the frequency, quality and focus of the interactions between
employees can be tracked easily.
The technological opportunities can thereby be used for the purpose of
allowing personalized and immediate feedback of the employees.
The managers need to become effective leaders and lead the teams in an
effective manner with the help of proper mentors or coaches (Taylor 2014).
The major part of the trends that are followed in the performance management system
is based on the levels of communication and the capabilities of the organization. The
challenges and trends which are a part of the performance management system are related to
the changes which take place in the external environment in which organizations operate
(Tantardini and Kroll 2015).
Four key result areas based on recommendations
Key result area 1 – The first key result area of the recommendation based on
improvement of performance management is based on the proper implementation of
continuous feedback system within the organizational operations.

9CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Key result area 2 – The second key result area of the performance management
system is based on the changes which can take place in the wages which are offered to the
employees of Flight Centre Australia based on capability of employees.
Key result area 3 – The third key result area of the performance management system
of Flight Centre Australia is based on the proper development of a system of rewards which
will be provided to top performing employees.
Key result area 4 – The fourth key result area of the performance management
system of Flight Centre Australia is based on monitoring the performance based levels of the
employees in an effective manner.
Conclusion
The report can be concluded by stating that the performance management based
system of Flight Centre Australia can be improved in order to develop the wages which are
offered to the employees. The rates of turnover in the organization can also be reduced with
the help of effective pay based levels and proper incentives as well. The development of a
proper performance management system is thereby highly important for the effective
operations of an organization like the Flight Centre Australia. The work environment and
culture of the company can also be developed in an effective manner with the help proper
management of the performance based levels of the employees. The organization thereby
needs to improve the system of performance management on a continuous basis in order to
develop an environment in which the employees can provide the best levels of performance.

10CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
References
Abc.net.au 2018. Flight Centre accused of 'ripping off' customers, underpaying staff in 'cult'
workplace. [online] ABC News. Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-22/flight-
centre-accused-of-ripping-off-customers-underpaying-staff/10051474 [Accessed 9 Oct.
2018].
Buckingham, M. and Goodall, A., 2015. Reinventing performance management. Harvard
Business Review, 93(4), pp.40-50.
Campion, M.C., Campion, E.D. and Campion, M.A., 2015. Improvements in performance
management through the use of 360 feedback. Industrial and Organizational Psychology,
8(1), pp.85-93.
Cappelli, P. and Tavis, A., 2016. The performance management revolution. Harvard
Business Review, 94(10), pp.58-67.
Cardy, R. and Leonard, B., 2014. Performance Management: Concepts, Skills and Exercises:
Concepts, Skills and Exercises. Routledge.
DeNisi, A. and Smith, C.E., 2014. Performance appraisal, performance management, and
firm-level performance: A review, a proposed model, and new directions for future research.
The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), pp.127-179.
Ferron Vilchez, V. and Darnall, N., 2016. Two are better than one: The link between
management systems and business performance. Business Strategy and the Environment,
25(4), pp.221-240.

11CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Flightcentre.com.au 2018. Cheap Flights, Hotels, Tours, Cruises and Holidays - Flight
Centre. [online] Flight Centre. Available at: https://www.flightcentre.com.au/ [Accessed 9
Oct. 2018].
Ishizaka, A. and Pereira, V.E., 2016. Portraying an employee performance management
system based on multi-criteria decision analysis and visual techniques. International Journal
of Manpower, 37(4), pp.628-659.
Kroll, A. and Moynihan, D.P., 2015. Does training matter? Evidence from performance
management reforms. Public Administration Review, 75(3), pp.411-420.
McDonnell, A., Gunnigle, P. and Murphy, K.R., 2018. Performance management. In Human
Resource Management (pp. 262-279). Routledge.
Mone, E.M. and London, M., 2018. Employee engagement through effective performance
management: A practical guide for managers. Routledge.
Nguyen, T.T., Mia, L., Winata, L. and Chong, V.K., 2017. Effect of transformational-
leadership style and management control system on managerial performance. Journal of
Business Research, 70, pp.202-213.
Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P.,
Johns, R., O'Leary, P., Robinson, J. and Plimmer, G., 2015. Managing employee
performance & reward: Concepts, practices, strategies. Cambridge University Press.
Tantardini, M. and Kroll, A., 2015. The role of organizational social capital in performance
management. Public Performance & Management Review, 39(1), pp.83-99.
Taylor, J., 2014. Organizational culture and the paradox of performance management. Public
Performance & Management Review, 38(1), pp.7-22.