1 Topic: Map British Airways stakeholders Paper Type: Essay Word Count: 900 words Pages: 4 pages Referencing Style: Harvard Education Level: Graduation Map British Airways stakeholders [Writer s Name] [Institute s Name]
2 Map British Airways stakeholders Introduction The Stakeholders refers to the organisation, person or a group that has a direct or indirect interest as it can be impacted or impact the actions of the organisations. The stakeholder can be defined in 3 groups Internal, External and connected stakeholders. This paper deals with the Ethical concerns of British Airways Stakeholder and how does it respond. Discussion This part discusses the ethical concerns raised by internal and external stakeholders of British airways. BA is facing ethical issues over largest emission of Carbon which is disturbing the atmosphere. The challenge is faced from the environmental agency which falls in the category of external stakeholders. One of the Investment firm Standard life states that British Airways was responsible for 17% of the total carbon emissions in UK (Bourne, 2009). BA has taken steps to deal with this ethical issue. It has proposed solutions for aviation policy of post-kyoto with the support of AEA (Association of European Airlines) IATA (International Air Transport Association) and group of companies AGD (Aviation Global Deal). These proposals relate to the development of environmental projects. Under this policy, all airline companies will equally participate. The responsibility for Revenue collection is taken by UN body. BA is offering youth and education development programs and sustainable Heritage & Tourism. BA is also providing funding support in the form of merchandise, excess baggage, free flights, fund raising events and cargo space. Many of the BA local and foreign staff is participating in charity related projects.
3 In order to deal with ethical issues raised by Communities, general public, Governments and environmental agencies, it has started reporting over the Environmental performance. BA has also adopted latest technology which includes engines, airframes and alternative fuels. BA has also implemented programs to change the climate, reduce Waste & Noise and improve the Air Quality. BA has adopted a strategy to contribute fully in reducing carbon dioxide emission until 2050. In terms of Waste, BA is focusing on recycling and reusing the disposal waste. BA will also reduce the noise level in the nearby communities of Airport. It will also improve the Quality system of travelling for the Airports it serves (Thomas, 2011). In the past, BA has also faced ethical issue with one of its Food supplier Gate Gourmet, customers and its employees. When BA faced dispute with Gate Gourmet, around flights of 100,000 passengers were cancelled and the customers has to suffer because the tickets were not transferred to other flights and neither reimbursed. The main reason for the flight cancellation was thousands of employees went for Strike which was troubling the passengers. The ethical concern here is that BA fired the official labors and hire unofficial labors (Thomas, 2011). Apart from the Customer s perspective, the ethical issue was that customers had to travel back home without any compensation. BA should have reimbursed a specific percentage of the Ticket amount. The restructuring plan adopted by BA lead to thousands of job losses. Some of the ethical concerns faced by BA in dealing staff is that management has asked staff to work 1 month without pay. This was unacceptable to the staff and worsens the relationships of BA with staff and unions. BA should have compensated staff or can also introduce the Flexible working patterns at workplace (Robert, 2011).
4 BA was also indulging in unethical practices while dealing with customers. BA has liaised with Credit Card Company s under which the customer s can only use their payment methods while buying air tickets. This is an unethical practice as those credit card customers who are using their visa cards for paying tickets are do not gain the benefit as the cash payment results in higher compensation. BA has dealt this issue by implementing frequent flier programs that entitles the customer to receive compensation (Robert, 2011). However, there is another ethical concern as when the customer reaches to purchase the ticket, the customer is provided with incentive to stick to specific tickets category under frequent flier programs. The customer cannot come back if the selected air services are poor. This indicates BA s involvement in malpractices. Stakeholder Mapping: The Stakeholder of BA can be assessed using the Mendlow s Matrix of Power and Interest obtained by stakeholders. The Four combinations of BA stakeholders according to their interest in the organisation and power are defiled below: Low Interest/ Low Power: Charities (BA has a policy of donating to registered charity organisations). High Interest/ Low Power: Creditors/ On Air Internet Service. Low Interest/ High Power: Government/Regulators, Customers High Interest/ High Power: Employees, Competitors, Suppliers, Financial Institutions and Local Communities.
5 Conclusion The primary objective of the BA is to engage actively with its stakeholders. It has developed forums for staff s consultation and communication which includes British Airways forum and British Airways Trade Union Council (BATUC). The Company has also developed active communication programs with investors such as regular Investor Days in which the plans are shared with analysts. The social and environmental policies of BA are also communicated with suppliers are they are also asked to comply with the environmental safety regulation and requirements.
6 References Bourne, L, (2009), Stakeholder Relationship Management: a Maturity Model for Organisational Implementation, Surrey: Gower. Robert A. Phillips, (2011), Stakeholder Theory, London: Published by Edward Elgar Publishing Thomas Punzel, (2011), Risks and Decision Making: Using the example of British Airways, Published by GRIN Verlag