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Daniela Gonzalez
Dr. Funk
10/21/20
MNGT 370
WestJet Airlines
The founders of WestJet airlines were Clive Beddoe, Don Bell, Mark Hill,
and Tim Morgan. In 1994, Clive Beddoe came across an idea to own his private
jet facilitates. This private jet would be for his weekly business travels from
Vancouver to Calgary. Before this idea, Clive Beddoe was the president of the
Hanover Group of companies. Tim Morgan owned Morgan air and operated it
(former pilot with the Canadian regional airlines). Since Tim was a former pilot,
he managed the flight operation's maintenance and became a senior vicepresident. Don bel another partner, was the owner of a full-service computer
company, eventually became senior vice-president while working with Beddoe.
Bell oversaw the airline's customer service areas, including reservations, IT,
customer service, and frontline service. Lastly, Mark Hill was a Calgary
businessman who later become a vice-president and oversaw strategic planning.
Furthermore, Bell and Beddoe were the ones who created bottom-up management
services. They also partnered up with David Neeleman, president of Morris Air,
to write a business plan. Beddoe and his team thought this would be a great idea
to offer this type of transportation to businesspeople who made the same trips.
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This business plan attracted many investors who raised the needed capital
worth millions within a month. In July 1995, WestJet's first staff members moved
into the company's first office in downtown Calgary (Ken, and Gerard, 53). In
November 1995, the company purchased two Boeing 737-200, and a year later,
they bought a third one. In the first stages of WestJet's operation, it flew its jets to
Kelowna, Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Later, the company
expanded to Ottawa, Moncton, and Hamilton. In 1996 WestJet went from 2
planes to 21 in 2000. By 2001 WestJet employed 2,327 people and had 94
aircraft. The state revenues in 2001 were over $400,000 in stock value.
WestJet's main problem was how to maintain its thriving culture while
expanding it. Although the company is famous for it, some issues are explained in
the text. Siobhan Vanish, director of public relations and communications,
described the culture as relaxed, fun, and youthful (Ken, and Gerard, 55). In the
call center, the representatives had the authority to override fares, not charge fees
for cancellation and bookings, and waive fees for unaccompanied minors (Ken,
and Gerard, 55). The culture is just very unprofessional, and they do not have
their priorities right. Beddoe also stated, "I don't direct things- I just try to
persuade. We set some standards and expectations, but do not interfere how our
people do their jobs." The senior manager trusted the representatives to look out
for the company, which is very unprofessional when that should not be their job.
The Senior manager should be the one to look out for the company or anyone else
above them. Although their culture, in the time being, helps them save money in
hiring additional people, it will hurt them in the long run. Supervision is essential
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for a company, significantly since WestJet is growing rapidly and extending its
branches.
One course concept relating to WestJet would be bottom-up management.
There were too many representatives responsible for big tasks that the managers
should have managed. By making the bottom-up approach, it allows one to decide
with a broader pool. The representatives are involved, and there is a bunch of
knowledge vs. just one. Although having a bottom-up approach in some cases is
good, in this case, it is not. WestJet is drastically growing and will need
professional people hired that focus on specific tasks.
One recommendation to solve WestJet's problem would be a matrix
organizational structure. The matrix approach combines aspects of both functional
and divisional structures simultaneously, in the same part of the organization. The
matrix structure evolved to improve horizontal coordination and information
sharing. It has a dual-line authority, and some employees must report to two
supervisors (Daft, 2018). The matrix structure has different departments operated
by various individuals who specialize in that. Every worker would have a specific
job to carry out. This would solve the problem because there is not enough
structure in the business. The management needs to step up and take control, as
they should. Another recommendation would be for them to do a SWOT analysis
of the company. With this analysis, they would use strengths to pursue
opportunities and minimize threats that the business may encounter. This could
work for WestJet Airlines because they can focus on their team's and company's
strengths and weaknesses and control it more efficiently.
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The best recommendation for WestJet would be the Matrix organizational
structure. The matrix structure would fit better for the company because it would
give everyone a proper manager to talk/report to, and each employee knows what
task theirs are. The Matrix structure gives everyone a nice clean hierarchy, and it
allows each department to concentrate on what it specializes in. These duties
would be distributed so each worker would carry out a specific job and would be
able to do it while making all the required steps. The lower-level people would
complete their routine tasks, whereas the top managers would do strategic
planning, thus creating higher efficiency and quicker decision making. There is a
big advantage when doing a Matrix structure because everyone has a proper
manager to report things or talk to.
In conclusion, WestJet is a company that is growing rapidly. Their culture is
what makes them successful, and their passengers’ journey special. The attitude
of employees will attract tons of business. WestJet is one of the most unique
airlines, with how they approach their work and travel environment differently.
However, to keep such complimentary views on this company, they must form a
more structured one to prevent the company from failing. Having a Matrix
organizational structure is their only hope. Furthermore, WestJet will always
assure their customers that their service will not change nor their culture, as it is
their number one priority.
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Works Cited
Ken, Mark D., Gerard, Seijts T. “WestJet Airlines.” The culture that breeds a
passion 38.3 (2001): 52-61. Print.