ORG521 Managing Dynamic Environments

Analyze the impacts beyond mere loss of revenue on your business as a result of the grounding of air travel throughout Europe when Iceland volcano erupts.

Propose actions you will need to take, in light of those impacts, across your business functions in order to protect your firm assets.

Formulate how you are going to manage customers expectations.

Define and evaluate possible new partnerships that you might be able to create that would allow you to support your customers.

Introduction

Volcanic eruptions are hazardous natural events which may happen in any given nations. When they occur, one of the most affected modes of transport is air transport. The most common and obvious impact of this, is loss of revenue. The chosen commercial courier for this paper is Danish Air Transport Company (DAT), which deals with transport of passengers and light goods within and outside Denmark. The paper will specifically focus on: the advanced impacts on Danish Air Transport Company (DAT), as a result of grounding of air travel, suggestions regarding the actions that should be taken when this impactsoccur, the management of the expectations of the customers and finally, a suggestion of partnerships that DAT should make, to give support to its customers.

Impacts on Swift Airline as a result of the grounding of air travel.

The following are some of the impacts that may adversely affect this commercial courier.

When grounding of air travel takes place, the impacts on the company is enormous. Some of the impact if not carefully handled can destroy a company and lead to massive loss. However, our company has set up strategies to smartly handle any crisis that may occur so as to avoid succumbing to the impacts of the crisis. The impacts as a result of grounding air travel on Swift Airline are as outlined below:

First of all, DAT customers may choose to shift to other modes of transport which, to them, seem to be more reliable. When air travel grounding occurs, the customers are likely to lose hope  (Daley, 2016). A considerate number of people use DAT transport services to move to different places for different purposes. Some of these people are the business people. For example, when a business man wants to travel to another country for a business meeting, he might choose to use air transport since its fast. However, when grounding of airplanes occurs, such business people may choose to travel by other means, for instance, by road, if it is reliable enough, compared to air transport. This finally may deprive DAT Company, of its customers.

Secondly, grounding of air travel as a result of Iceland’s volcanic eruptions might obsess existing and potential customers of DAT Company, with excess fear to use air transport. The aftermath of the eruptions might discourage many people who wish to travel by air. This fear and phobia makes it difficult for people to use this mode of transport  (Tam, Miike, Labrenz, & Sutton, 2016). People with this phobia can use verbal communication to discourage others who would wish to use air transport. The profit margins of the DAT Company may therefore reduce by a great percentage in future as a result of this..

Thirdly, grounding of air travel as a result of Iceland’s anticipated volcanic eruptions, cause scholars to divert their professions from the air transport sector to other sectors which seem more secure and save. This is an advanced impact to the government and the whole nation. For example, when scholars prefer farming to air transport sector, the government will have a few people to train on that sector. Air transport companies like DAT will therefore be affected since such experts contribute to their success. A deficiency of experts, in air transport might therefore arise in future generations. Human beings tend to engage in activities which do not endanger their lives. If the grounding of airplanes is as a result of a hazard like volcanic eruptions, experts might opt to divert to other sectors. Related cases on this issue have been identified in Kenya. (Wensveen, 2016) .

Finally, air travel grounding, DAT company may be disconnected to other related companies which rely on its services. For instance, an international company, which relies on DAT for the transport of light goods, might choose to partner with another air transport company, in another country, where the risk of damage and loss due to volcanic eruptions is critically low. (Loomis & Grosse, 2013).This disconnections can lead to advanced and severe losses in future.

Suggestions to reduce the impacts

Such a crisis as the grounding of air travel can be inevitable especially if caused by natural calamities such as volcanic eruptions. The following suggestions may help to reduce the impact of such tragedies especially on the company’s assets:

The company should train specific workers on crisis management. This is very important because it will ensure that during a crisis, the company has an already established plan. (Reason, 2016) The trained personnel will be responsible for fore seeing a crisis and establishing plans on how the crisis can be managed. This will ensure that they protect the assets of the firm. It will also ensure that the personnel will be able to foresee any upcoming challenges and to stop the challenges before they take place. Prevention in this case might be better than curing the whole thing. It is impossible to bring people back to life once they die. Therefore, such plan might be very helpful. Skilled personnel such as geologists should be put in place to ensure that all dormant volcanoes are keenly looked at and therefore be able to predict when they might erupt.

The company should also ensure that they do intensive research on insurance policies. This will help the company to identify the best insurance policies that would cover them adequately during a crisis. It will also help to ensure that the company does not directly get affected by the impact of the grounding of air travel. It is very expensive for an air transport company to cater for all losses that might occur as a result of these natural calamities which are not predictable in most cases. Therefore, there arises the need to look for insurance policies that might help to make sure that part of the loss is catered for, by insurance companies.

Additionally, the company should also purchase preventive items that can be used in case such volcanic eruptions occur. Such items include masks, and specific cloths that might prevent the passengers and the pilot against any harm as a result of these ashes. Communication is also important as far as air transport is concerned. There should be good communication between the pilot and those on the control house. This will make it easy for the pilot to communicate anything that happens on the air, which seems abnormal. These items should be standby for use with or without eruptions.

The company should set aside some funds for emergency purposes. This will help to cater for compensation of the affected. Additionally, it might also add on the help of insurance company, to recover the lost items, through the law of indemnity.  A second budget should be steadily available to ensure a smooth running of the business in case the company is going through a financial crisis due to issues such as the grounding of air travel. This kind of budget is commonly referred to as a crisis management budget.

The company should also consider having an already established compensation plan in case workers get laid off due to the grounding of air travel as a result of natural causes (Zannetti, 2013). This will ensure that the workers feel well catered for and at no one point has the urge to sue the company for unceremoniously laying them off.

How to manage customer expectations

Through the following means, the company is most likely to manage customer’s expectations

First, this can be done by ensuring that open and genuine communication between the customer and the company is maintained at all times (Wispelaere & (Ed.), 2013). Customers should be kept up to date with the occurrences during the crisis.  They should also be informed of the measures being taken to overcome the crisis. This will help to maintain customer trust. This can be done through documenting all the information and sending emails to all relevant stakeholders. It is important to ensure that all the information sent to the relevant stakeholders is consistent.

The company should also consider partnering with relevant stakeholders. This may include involving them in solving the crisis or even just informing them on how the company is handling the crisis. It should also ensure that the sales and marketing team is in constant communication with the customers. They should be able to send encouraging messages to customers so that the customers do not panic and lose trust in the company.

Details pertaining possible new partnerships that the company may be able to create are also outlined below.

One of the possible outcomes is partnering with other forms of transport such as railway lines, road transport, shipping companies and others so as to ensure that perishable goods reach their assigned destination before it is too late (Hofmann-Amtenbrink, Grainger, & Hofmann, 2015). This may prompt the company to pay for the expenses it will incur so as to maintain customer satisfaction.

The company should also consider partnering with commodity companies (Sobieczky, 2014). For example, this may be applicable to the flower companies. This will ensure that those particular companies will help in the transportation of those commodities so as to avoid making losses. Additionally, the company should partner with crisis management experts so they can work together with the company’s crisis management department on managing the crisis (Seinfeld & Pandis, 2016). This will ensure that the y establish quick solutions to the problems being faced by the company.

Conclusion

In conclusion, therefore, air travel grounding is a very serious problem that can be faced by a company. However, it is important to note that a company has all the powers to decide whether or not the effects of air travel will cause the collapse of one's company. Taking up measures such as partnering with relevant authorities so as to elevate the impacts of air travel grounding, having open communications with customers, training personnel to be able to handle crises amongst any other measures can help a company to survive a crisis such as air travel grounding. By taking these measures a company will ensure that they do not suffer such severe effects or rather impacts such as laying off of personnel, getting into a financial crisis or even having the budget disrupted.

References

Daley, B. (2016). Air transport and the environment. Routledge.

Hofmann-Amtenbrink, M., Grainger, D. W., & Hofmann, H. (2015). Nanoparticles in medicine: current challenges facing inorganic nanoparticle toxicity assessments and standardizations. Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine.

Loomis, D., & Grosse, Y. (2013). The carcinogenicity of outdoor air pollution. Lancet Oncology.

Reason, J. (2016). Managing the risks of organizational accidents. Routledge.

Seinfeld, J. H., & Pandis, S. N. (2016). Atmospheric chemistry and physics: from air pollution to climate change. John Wiley & Sons.

Sobieczky, H. (. (2014). New design concepts for high speed air transport (Vol. 366). Springer.

Tam, E., Miike, R., Labrenz, S., & Sutton, A. J. (2016). Volcanic air pollution over the Island of Hawai'i: Emissions, dispersal, and composition. Association with respiratory symptoms and lung function in Hawai'i Islan.

Wensveen, J. G. (2016). Air transportation: A management perspective. Routledge.

Wispelaere, D., & (Ed.), C. (2013). Air pollution modeling and its application II (Vol. 3). Springer Science & Business Media.

Zannetti, P. (. (2013). Air pollution modeling: theories, computational methods and available software. Springer Science & Business Media.