Report on Management Communication Strategies for Qantas Airlines

This report analyzes the communication failures of Qantas Airlines, particularly focusing on a social media campaign that backfired and led to negative public perception. The report, written as an official letter from the Executive of government and corporate affairs, identifies issues such as engine troubles, leaked photographs, and union negotiations. It details how ineffective communication strategies, including inappropriate social media engagement, damaged the brand's image. The report proposes several actions to rebuild a positive public perception, including the effective use of social media, building customer trust, and providing timely and quality services. It suggests implementing instant messaging services, offering discounts, and providing value-added services. The report concludes with a timeline for implementing these strategies, outlining short-term and long-term goals to improve communication and customer relations within the next year. The recommendations emphasize the importance of proactive communication and addressing customer concerns to enhance the airline's reputation.

0
MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Management communication
Name of the student
University name
Author’s note

1
MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
To: The Qantas Management
From: Executive of government and corporate affairs at Qantas airlines
Date: November 25, 2011
Background
Qantas had been dwindling upon the operational aspects owing to a number of recent failures.
Some of which could be highlighted over here such as – aircraft engine troubles, leakage of
controversial photographs, contact negotiations gone wrong with some of its unions and thousands of
customers being stranded after many grounded flights. In order to deal with the dwindling customer base
Qantas airlines had recently launched a contest to garner sufficient customer attention. Qantas had
launched a survey with the help of a social media server that is twitter. Through the contest, the
customers were given the chance of winning one of 50 pairs of Qantas first class pyjamas and luxury
amenity kit. As we all know, the access to the contest was provided through a hashtag #qantasluxury
(qantas.com 2018). However, the contest had negative implications for the Qantas airlines as the link
was hijacked by the customers, which was mostly used by them to provide negative comments regarding
the brand and its services. The wave of negative comments had done much worse to the brand than good.
Additionally, ineffective communication approaches had been employed by the company which further
agitated a particular class of customers. Hence, inappropriate management communication approaches
had been employed on the part of the company where entries were made like- “ Wow! Some very creative
tweets out there. Keep the entries coming”. The public discontent was also expressed through viral
YouTube parody. Therefore, being the executive of government and corporate affairs at Qantas Airlines I
had to take things in my stride. In this official letter, I will try to highlight the numerous actions which
could be undertaken in order to build a positive public perception about Qantas. One of the most
important aspects which need to be highlighted by me over here is the correct and appropriate use of
social media. The social media has a strong and wide outreach in influencing the perceptions of the
target customer segment (Luo and Zhong 2015). Therefore, any negative review on social media can
affect the target customer segment in a wrong way.
Message:
We will be conducting a meeting in order to discuss the effective strategies which could be
implemented in order to deal with the social media hassle faced by Qantas recently.

2
MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Future actions to build positive public perceptions of Qantas
A positive public perception of a brand can be built using a number of steps such as – showcasing the
brand values, building a loyal trust in the customers towards the brand, engaging more actively with the
target customer segment, strong and consistent messaging, which also helps in developing a positive brand
perception. As mentioned by Jin et al. (2014), the social media could be optimized in order to develop
positive perception of a brand in front of the target customer base. In this respect, the brand values refer to the
special features present within the product set of a company, which provides it with a competitive advantage
over others. As mentioned by Theaker (2017), the value of a brand is directly proportional to it customer
loyalty rate. The higher the customer loyalty rate, the higher is the brand value associated with the product.
The customer loyalty is again based upon serving the customers on time with quality based services (Ngai et
al. 2015).
The aim of the Qantas airlines is building a strong customer trust. For building a strong customer
trust effective message based interaction needs to be implemented. There have been incidents where the
customers waiting to board the Qantas flights have been waiting for hours; to receive the news that the flights
have been cancelled (qantas.com 2018). In case we follow a practise where the customers will be informed
through messaging services directly regarding any flight cancellations; it can help us to save the time of the
customers. Additionally, fast and timely services such as arrangement of alternate travel options in case the
passengers misses the flight can help in resolving the issues faced by the target customer segment. We will
also need to ensure that the customers are provided with quality based services when travelling through the
Qantas flights. In this case, special emphasis needs to be provided upon the food as well as comfortable travel
options.
Important factors for Qantas to consider when using social media
The Qantas airlines need to consider a number of factors while using social media. As mentioned by
Pearson (2017), using close ended questionnaires can be a positive way out. The close ended questionnaire
ensures that the customers are not able to expand upon individual market survey questions placed.
Additionally, the yes and no answered by the target market customers can be utilised in the designing of
stoichiometrically significant results. Additionally, as an organization we will have to interact in a friendly
and communicative manner with the target market audience (Wheelen et al. 2017). This will help in building
an effective and trustworthy bond with the customers. The communication approach should be centred on
solving the issues of the target customer profile than instigating them further through sharp replies (Montalvo
2016).

3
MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Course of action suggested to Qantas management
A course of action could be suggested over here which will be followed up by the Qantas
management in order to prevent the chance of future hassles. Some of these are following an instant
messaging service with the customers, where the customers will be informed regrading any small change
within the course of action of the airlines (Munar et al. 2014). We can also provide the customers
additional discounts on the air tickets along with providing them with value added services such as large
comprehensive meals, goodie bags for the children etc.
In order to communicate effectively with the customers an effective communication template
could be designed for the customers which has been further represented though a timeline.
Timeline:-
Plan of action To be achieved in
0-3 months 4-6 months 7-9 months 10-12 months
Implementati
on of instant
messaging
services
   
Telephonic
intimation to
customers by
providing
effective
communicativ
e training to
executives
  
Resolving of
the customer
query using
multilingually
trained
ground
support staffs
 
For further information contact: https://www.qantas.com/au/en.html

4
MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
References
Jin, Y., Liu, B.F. and Austin, L.L. 2014, ‘Examining the role of social media in effective
crisis management: The effects of crisis origin, information form, and source on publics’
crisis responses’, Communication research, vol. 41, no. 1, pp.74-94.
Luo, Q. and Zhong, D. 2015, ‘Using social network analysis to explain communication
characteristics of travel-related electronic word-of-mouth on social networking
sites’, Tourism Management, vol. 46, pp.274-282.
Montalvo, R.E. 2016, ‘Social media management’, International Journal of Management &
Information Systems (Online),vol, 20, no. 2, p.45.
Munar, A.M. and Jacobsen, J.K.S. 2014,‘Motivations for sharing tourism experiences
through social media’, Tourism management, vol. 43, pp.46-54.
Ngai, E.W., Tao, S.S. and Moon, K.K. 2015, ‘Social media research: Theories, constructs,
and conceptual frameworks’, International Journal of Information Management, vol. 35, no.
1, pp.33-44.
Pearson, R. 2017, ‘Business ethics as communication ethics: Public relations practice and the
idea of dialogue’, In Public relations theory , Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 111-131.
qantas.com 2018, qantas.com , Available at : https://www.qantas.com/au/en.html [accessed
on 7 May 2018]
Theaker, A. 2017, ‘What is public relations?’, In The Public Relations Strategic Toolkit ,
Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 17-27.
Wheelen, T.L., Hunger, J.D., Hoffman, A.N. and Bamford, C.E. 2017, Strategic management
and business policy, London:pearson, pp.56-85.

5
MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION