Managing Quality at British Airways: A Comprehensive Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the quality issues faced by British Airways, a major international airline. It identifies customer dissatisfaction and poor service as key problems, citing a record fine and negative customer reviews as evidence. The report utilizes the Gap Model to pinpoint specific areas of failure, including knowledge gaps, policy gaps, delivery gaps, communication gaps, and the customer gap. It examines British Airways' resources, competencies, and capabilities, emphasizing the need for efficient resource utilization and effective employee training. The report recommends the implementation of Kaizen and Juran's Trilogy methodologies to improve business processes, enhance customer experiences, and boost overall performance. The conclusion underscores the importance of addressing quality issues to maintain a competitive edge and ensure customer satisfaction.

Managing Quality in
Hospitality, Tourism and
Events

INTRODUCTION
British Airways is one of the world’s largest airlines and is also considered as the number
one European airline across the North Atlantic. The company is headquartered in London,
England and is the second largest airline in United Kingdom (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2018). The
company is significantly transforming the customer experience through investment (British
Airways, 2020). The company has been facing a lot of issues, unsatisfied customers being one of
them. The report focuses on one quality issue that the company has been facing and the reasons
behind it. It also provides an understanding of the company’s competencies and capabilities.
Suitable recommendations regarding how can the company improve the quality of its services
are also provided.
MAIN BODY
Quality Issue
British Airways is a world-famous airline company that was earlier known as “the
world’s favorite airline”. But the company has been facing issues relating to poor service and
unsatisfied customers and a record fine of £183m that began in 2018. The company even
increased the number of passengers but the operating profits still remained the same. As a result,
the company has been receiving poor reviews from customers on Skytrax and other online
review websites. A passenger wrote a review regarding the company not returning the refund of
a cancelled flight (British Airways, 2020). The company has been holding on to the money
illegally.
The Gap Model is a business tool that can be used by companies to identify the gap
between the customers’ experiences as well as their expectations (Horner, 2017). The model is
explained below in context to British Airways.
Gap 1: The Knowledge Gap – This particular gap can be a result of the management
having no idea about the expectations of the customers and also a lack of communication
between the employees as well as the management of the company.
Gap 2: The Policy Gap – Poorly defined levels of service, failure to update them
regularly as well as a lack of customer service standard can lead to this gap. It basically arises

when the management of a company fails to understand the needs of customers and provide them
different services instead.
Gap 3: The Delivery Gap – This gap usually arises when a company fails to match the
supply with the demand or there is a lack of teamwork in the company to deliver products or
services.
Gap 4: The Communication Gap – The communication gap is a result of the company
over promising to its customers and then failing to deliver the same to them (Manners, Kruger
and Saayman, 2016). In context British Airways, the company had overpromised its customers
regarding services offered in the flight that it failed to provide them with.
Gap 5: The Customer Gap – Many companies may not identify this gap and can come up
when the customers misinterpret the quality of service they receive. It can also rise because one
of the four gaps stated above.
Illustration 1: Gap Model
Source: Gap Model of Service Quality, 2018

Resources, competencies and capabilities
Due to unsatisfied customers, British Airways has been facing a lot of problems including
not being able to gain a competitive advantage in the market. So, if the company wants to
maintain its position of being “the world’ favorite airline”, it will have to utilize the different
resources like employees, different channels of marketing etc. in the most efficient way. The
company should use various channels to communicate with its employees regarding the services
that have to be provided to the customers. This cam be done by opting various channels so that
there is no communication gap regarding the same. The company is financially capable of doing
so and addressing the complaints and feedbacks of the people.
As per the customer reviews on Glassdoor, the company should focus on streamlining its
management (British Airways Reviews, 2020). The company should also provide effective
training to its staff and the policies should be made consistent (Pielichaty and et. al., 2016).
Effective and proper management of its finances as well as handling customers effectively will
help the company in gaining a competitive edge over other airlines in the industry. Regular
training sessions will ensure a boost in the capabilities as well as competencies of the employees
in the company. Thus, the company should focus mor on the competencies of its staff and
capabilities of the financial resources to stand out in the market. This will also help in gaining the
trust of customers by satisfying their needs effectively. Since the company is widely known, it
has a competitive advantage against other brands in the market. Also, it is financially very
capable to handle and turn around the situation.
Recommendations
After analyzing the above issue, respective company, the British Airways is
recommended to implement the concept of Kaizen in its system, which refers to business
activities that constantly improves all the business functions and also, involves all employees of
the company. The approach consists of five elements, namely- personal discipline, improved
morale, teamwork, suggestions for improvement as well as quality circles. If the company will
incorporate Kaizen in its system, it will be able to remove or eliminate issues from their root
(Todd, Leask and Ensor, 2017). It encourages the employees to come up with ideas and share
their thoughts so that the company can act on them.

Since Kaizen is based on the theory that small improvements can lead to big changes in
the processes of business, the British Airways will not only be able to attain its goals and
objectives but also provide a long-lasting experience to its customers and retain them for a long
period of time. The employees will perform the tasks together as a team and help them in
acquiring leadership skills. The overall efficiency of the company will improve, employees will
be engaged to their jobs and will therefore address the needs and feedbacks of the customers in a
refined way. As a result, the company performance as well as profitability will increase.
The company can also use Juran’s trilogy in order to improve overall quality of its
products as well as services. There are three processes in this model, which are explained below
–
 Quality Planning – Planning is an important if the company wants to achieve the overall
quality of its product and achieve organizational goals and objectives.
 Quality Control – Time to time checks and inspection should be carried out in order to
remain informed and control the different processes.
 Quality Improvement – Any kind of error or mistake in the processes identified are
corrected and improved. Also, all the processes are interrelated with each other.
Illustration 2: Juran's Trilogy
Source: Juran’s Quality Trilogy, 2019

CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that organizations come across different
issues and problems. In order to address the effectively and stand out against competitors, they
should adopt proper approaches and models. It can also be said that a proper and careful
utilization of resources and available finances can improve the overall performance as well as
productivity of the company. This can further lead to an increase in the profitability as well as
revenues so that the company can retain customers.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Higgins-Desbiolles, F., 2018. Event tourism and event imposition: A critical case study from
Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Tourism Management. 64. pp.73-86.
Horner, S. ed., 2017. Talent Management in Hospitality and Tourism. Oxford: Goodfellow
Publishers Limited.
Manners, B., Kruger, M. and Saayman, M., 2016. Managing live music performances: a demand
and supply analysis. Event management. 20(2). pp.147-163.
Pielichaty, H. and et. al., 2016. Events project management. Taylor & Francis.
Todd, L., Leask, A. and Ensor, J., 2017. Understanding primary stakeholders' multiple roles in
hallmark event tourism management. Tourism Management. 59. pp.494-509.
Online
British Airways Reviews. 2020. [Online]. Available through:<
https://www.glassdoor.co.in/Reviews/British-Airways-Reviews-E3462.htm>.
British Airways. 2020. [Online]. Available through:<
https://www.iairgroup.com/en/our-brands/british-airways>.
British Airways. 2020. Available through:<
https://www.airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/british-airways/>.
Gap Model of Service Quality. 2018. [Online]. Available through:<
https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2018/03/gap-model-service-quality/ >.
Juran’s Quality Trilogy. 2019. [Online]. Available through:<
https://www.whatissixsigma.net/jurans-quality-trilogy/>.