westjet leadership case study

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WestJet: Building a High-Engagement Culture

By: Gerard Seijts, Ken Mark

WestJet Airlines had achieved a lot. The airline had taken to the skies only 13 years earlier, with three airplanes flying to five destinations. Now, with a market value at more than $2 billion, the…

• Length: 24 page(s)
• Publication Date: Aug 11, 2009
• Discipline: Human Resource Management
• Product #: 909C12-PDF-ENG

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WestJet Airlines had achieved a lot. The airline had taken to the skies only 13 years earlier, with three airplanes flying to five destinations. Now, with a market value at more than $2 billion, the carrier had more than 70 Boeing Next Generation 737s, employed 7,000 people and had played host to more than 12 million guests. WestJet's ambition was to become the dominant airline in Canada by 2013 and one of the five most successful international airlines in the world by 2016. Achieving these goals would mean continued expansion in the WestJet organization. How could WestJet continue to build a high engagement culture as it experienced high rates of growth? In April 2009, in light of the company's rosy predictions of further growth and success, WestJet's pilots seemed dissatisfied with elements of the new contract offer. The leadership team had met a crossroad.

Aug 11, 2009

Discipline:

Human Resource Management

Geographies:

Industries:

Airline industry

Ivey Publishing

909C12-PDF-ENG

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Case Study: WestJet and The Working Mind

• Feb 23, 2022

Case Study Highlights

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COVID-19 Effects on WestJet

When the world shut down in March of 2020, many industries were forced to quickly adapt to the realities of a worldwide pandemic. However, none were hit as drastically as the airline industry.

Restrictions enacted to stop the spread of COVID-19 meant that pilots and flight attendants were turned away from businesses and prevented from obtaining basic health care, such as dental and physio, because their work brought them into close contact with the public.

In an effort to manage the uncertainty of travel during the pandemic, WestJet offered their employees a range of options regarding their employment: early retirement (if they were eligible), to be laid off, or to move to part-time hours. Some employees opted for a wait-and-see approach and let the company decide their status as full-time or part-time employees, or if they would eventually be laid off. The end result was 10,000 employees were lost in the span of a few months.

Lisa Dodwell-Greaves, Manager, Organizational Wellbeing at WestJet, was one of the thousands of WestJet employees who were fortunate to retain full-time status during the entire pandemic. She was retained due to her experience in the fields of disability management and mental health.

“Those initial months had lots of uncertainty. We had to redefine the organizational structure and identify a bare-bones minimum crew to keep the lights on,” Dodwell-Greaves shared. “I wouldn’t say the culture of WestJet has changed, but I worked through the entire pandemic. However, people returning to their jobs after a layoff have said the culture has a different feel to it, and I think defining this new culture will be a big focus for us going forward.”

Dodwell-Greaves explained that even before the pandemic, mental health became a central concern for WestJet when the Total Rewards team noticed a high number of short- and long-term disability claims. With this data in hand, they set out to put proactive measures in place to help WestJetters seek support before they needed to take a leave from work.

“The Total Rewards team found that mental health and musculoskeletal issues were the most commonly cited reasons for filing claims,” Dodwell-Greaves said. “One of the first real steps we took was in implementing a new benefits plan in August 2019.”

In the new benefits plan, WestJetters and their families can get support with their most pressing concerns and the plan is focused on preventative measures.

For instance, instead of having all paramedical benefits lumped into one bucket with one maximum amount, WestJet made psychology, physiotherapy, and dietician care their own line items, and this increased the amount of coverage offered for each area of care.

“We also increased the maximum yearly amount per family member covered in the plan from $500 up to $2,500,” Dodwell-Greaves said, “with the lowest plan now starting at $750 per year.”

Among their many well-being initiatives, WestJet also introduced an anti-stigma program in July 2019 to start a conversation around mental health and challenge misconceptions in this area.

“We said to employees, we understand that stigma is a real thing, and we need to start the conversation,” said Dodwell-Greaves. “It’s important to know that our mental health initiatives didn’t start with the pandemic, but the pandemic certainly escalated and accelerated the plan.”

In early 2020, WestJet decided they were going to commit to implementing the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace . Unfortunately, when the COVID-19 pandemic made its way into Canada in early March 2020, everything was suddenly put on hold.

“That year we still actually managed to get quite a few things out around psychological safety,” Dodwell-Greaves shared. “And during that time, we continued talking about mental health to remind people of its importance and that the pandemic was going to be a marathon, not a sprint.”

By January 2021, WestJet knew they needed to create a strategy to make a real difference to all employees.

“We put the strategy together and really focused on the next three to five years. We asked ourselves, how can we take something that is a big concept and really put it into focused buckets. We also looked at areas where we could get quick wins. What are some things that can be done to support employees, and in what areas can our leaders start to learn how to support our employees in a more meaningful way?”

As part of their new 2021 vision, WestJet switched Employee Assistance Program (EAP) providers to help their employees access online counselling.

“WestJet pays for the first five hours of counselling – five hours per person plus five hours of family counselling,” Dodwell-Greaves explained. “So, if you were to use all of the WestJet covered time, that would be 10 free hours of counselling. And if you want to continue seeing your counsellor, your enhanced paramedical benefits would cover those visits.”

WestJet also returned to its 2020 commitment to implement the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace and worked with mental health consultants to begin implementing it.

“I have found that wherever you think you are in starting the journey, you actually need to take a couple of steps back and that’s where you’re actually starting in your journey and with educating people,” she stated.

Why We Train Our Leaders in The Working Mind (TWM)

In 2021, WestJet teamed up with the Mental Health Commission of Canada to introduce The Working Mind (TWM) to their leaders. TWM is an evidence-based program designed to promote mental health and reduce the stigma around mental illness in the workplace.

“Before we launched anything to our employees, we wanted to make sure our leaders had a really good sense of how to help their employees,” Dodwell-Greaves explained.

“One of WestJet’s values is Care from the Heart and exactly how to do that in an employment relationship around mental health can be tricky. This program helps define what caring from the heart looks and sounds like for our leaders.”

Many of WestJet’s leaders completed the TWM training in 2021 and the feedback from leaders as been positive. They found the program to be very interactive and enjoyed participating in the discussions. In 2022, WestJet will begin training employees with the employee-level training program from TWM.

Dodwell-Greaves expressed that she is still a bit nervous about the strain the ongoing pandemic is having on WestJet employees’ resilience. “It’s been a roller coaster of highs and lows for all of us, the people who’ve been working the whole time and those who were laid off and are now returning to work. I really think it is going to be important over the next year to make sure that we’re filling up our own buckets so that our company can continue to be resilient,” she said.

Results and Feedback

Dodwell-Greaves shared that the results of The Working Mind program from participants have been positive, but she knows that it will likely be a long and slow journey to reach the goal of reducing the various different types of stigma around mental health.

But Dodwell-Greaves notes that there have been small wins so far. “I haven’t heard any defensive reactions for quite some time now, like, ‘oh, that’s not our job,’ or ‘oh, we shouldn’t be talking about mental health,’ or ‘that’s not our role. We’re not counsellors.’ This is really nice because that was a barrier for some before,” she explained.

“I have to tell you, The Working Mind training was one of the best sessions I’ve attended in my 3+ years at WestJet.”

 — westjet leader..

“My goal in implementing this training is that all WestJetters have the same baseline knowledge on mental health. We have a wide range of starting points. There are some people who still aren’t quite sure what the difference is between mental health and mental illness. And then there are other people who have lived the experience,” she stated. “We want to ensure that everybody has the same understanding so we can easily talk about mental health and use common language.”

What the Future Holds

WestJet has big plans for the future of their mental health strategy, not only for their employees, but also for their guests and the communities they serve.

“This year, the Calm app was added to our in-flight entertainment system,” Dodwell-Greaves noted. “When you’re sitting on the plane, you can use Calm and, if you’re like me and you’re a nervous flyer, you can do your deep breathing during the flight.” 

On top of that, Dodwell-Greaves shared that WestJet has many charitable partners and is considering how these partnerships can continue to work towards WestJet’s mission of “enriching the lives of everyone in WestJet’s world.”

“For example,” Dodwell-Greaves explained, “we have partnered with a charity that takes a group of WestJetters to the Dominican Republic on a regular basis to build houses for underprivileged families.” Dodwell-Greaves herself was a participant in this endeavour in 2019. “The charity also has learning circles that support the mental health of youth participants,” she noted. “The next step is not just doing it internally but making sure that everyone in WestJet’s world understands that we would like to support their well-being.”

Related Reading >>> Industry turbulence: Building mental health into WestJet’s pandemic operations

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WestJet Airlines Case Analysis Essay

Introduction, problems facing westjet airlines, alternatives, works cited.

WestJet Airlines is an airline company in Canada that has gone beyond all odds and managed to be at the helm of the hospitality industry. All of its founders have always believed that the key behind the company’s success is their consistency in culture and service production. The origin of this company is 1994 when one entrepreneur, Clive Beddoe, thought it was cheap to own a private jet to facilitate his weekly business travels between the two cities of Vancouver and Calgary.

Amazingly, this did not just end at that. Clive and other partners thought it wise to offer charter transport to other likeminded business people who made trips to and from the two cities just like them. This eventually became a business opportunity for Clive and his crew. They realized the potential in commercializing the charter transportation of the likeminded business people.

After extensive consultation with other entrepreneurs, Clive and his crew partnered with Neeleman to come up with a comprehensive financial model and business plan. They then came up with cheap, point-to-point airline services that were proposed to operate in the western region of Canada.

This business plan seemed so viable and attracted quite a number of investors who miraculously raised the needed capital worth millions of US dollars in less than a month. The company’s first employees moved to their very first offices in downtown Calgary (Ken, and Gerard, 52). It is important to note that in November of the same year of its conception, the company managed to purchase two Boeings 737-200 and bought a third in early January of 1996.

During its first stages of operation, WestJet Airlines flew its jets to the cities of Kelowna, Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Edmonton. It was not long before the company extended its wings to the cities of Ottawa, Moncton and Hamilton; where it actually built an international airport as its eastern base. Since then, WestJet Airlines has registered enormous growth.

The company’s culture could be a possible problem. WestJet Airlines’ founder, Beddoe, had once said in an interview that the success of the company lies entirely on its culture. The company is famous for its culture. Its director for communications and public relations describes the culture as youthful, fun and relaxed (Ken, and Gerard, 53).

This is particularly true because it involves doing things in a standard way and in a completely different manner from other airline companies. For instance, the authorities at the call center where travelers make their bookings have the mandate to override fares. That notwithstanding, the authorities have the power to decide whether to charge clients for cancelling their flights or not. In some occasions, these personnel have the power to decide whether to charge unaccompanied minors or not.

To some extent, this culture has played a vital role in making WestJet Airlines a unique company. It might not seem like a problem or setback to the effective management of the company at this moment. However, this culture may pose serious challenges in the near future especially due to the fact that the company is growing rapidly.

At this juncture, it is wise to say that the senior management still trusts the company’s representatives in having the company’s interests at heart. This may not be the case especially when the company expands and extends its branches to numerous cities. The reason for this is the difficulty in monitoring the extended branches remotely.

Apart from the difficulty in monitoring company branches remotely, other managerial loopholes like overriding of fares and policies of cancelation of bookings needs unequivocal monitoring. This can only be done comprehensively when the number of such anomalies is manageable. In the event that the management has to monitor such scenarios in quite a number of branches, there is bound to be untraceable discrepancies.

This should be a cause of alarm because of the high rate of growth of the company and especially because the errors involve money. First, additional employee training is inevitable when new patterns emerge in these trends (Ken, and Gerard, 53). The training obviously needs time and money. Additionally, there are probably no previous events to base the trainings on hence everything becomes pure guess work and bogus.

Another problem is the fact that WestJet Airlines only flies one type of aircraft (Ken, and Gerard, 54). That notwithstanding, the company relies so much on internet tickets, provided limited in-flight services and does not have flyer programs. This is an indication that the company does not diversify its services.

This translates to attracting only one type of client. At the moment, this could not seem like a possible challenge to growth. The company does well in its overall productivity and perhaps this is attributed to the standard procedures that have been operational since the inception of the company.

In the future, however, this could be a serious hindrance to continued growth as it gives clients no diversified services. It is important to note that competition will do whatever it takes to woo clients. In this hospitality scenario, utter guest satisfaction is the key to success. For instance, WestJet Airlines does not offer any meals and offers only one class services (Ken, and Gerard, 54). This might be seen as a weakness by competition.

• Provide meals for travelers
• Offer different types of flights
• Offer different classes of services
• Provide standards for operation as opposed to employee own judgment

In a hospitality industry like WestJet Airlines, impressing the customer is paramount. Clients have a weakness of revisiting only the places where they were previously most satisfied and impressed. In as much as the company does well in its overall performance without offering meals to clients, it should think about doing better by giving its clients a reason to smile.

It is important to note that if the company does not impress its customers another company will. For this reason, the management of WestJet Airlines should not wait until their customers are impressed by other companies before they do the same.

The fact that WestJet Airlines offers only one type of flights indicates that it attracts only one type of clients (Ken, and Gerard, 56). There are customers who would want to hire jets to their destinations. However, they are driven away to other airlines by the fact that WestJet Airlines only has Boeings. The last thing a business institution should do is create market for its competitors. In this case, a client will less likely return to WestJet Airlines even if he or she needs ordinary transport services.

WestJet Airlines does not provide different classes of services (Ken, and Gerard, 54). In business, differential pricing helps in maximizing the profits. There are obviously clients who are willing to pay more than others for traveling in the same aircraft and covering the same distance simply because of a little more comfort. The company should take advantage of this and make more money.

The reason why WestJet Airlines is able to tally its financial records even after its representatives at the call center make independent decisions of whether to fine clients for late cancellation of bookings and whether to charge unaccompanied minors is because of the manageable number of clients. While considering the enormous growth of the company, it is important to note that the number will be unmanageable soon. The company should, therefore, consider implementing a standard procedure for handling such issues.

The best of the alternatives that WestJet Airlines should be keen about is formulating standard policies for handling certain issues as opposed to giving employees the liberty to make certain independent decisions. For instance, the decision of whether to charge unaccompanied minors should be standardized.

The management should decide whether the minors should be charged for services or not. Whatever decision it makes should become a policy and a standard procedure for handling all similar cases. This may be part of a longtime strategy to factor in the possibility of registering an increased number of clients in future.

This is perhaps the most reliable means of avoiding all the financial discrepancies that may be associated with dissimilar pricing. It is sometimes important to have standard prices especially in rapidly growing organizations like WestJet Airlines in order to ease auditing. It is, therefore, imperative that the company considers having in place strategies projected to counter future anomalies (Ken, and Gerard, 59).

WestJet Airlines has been, for a long time, ranked among the few most money-making airlines in North America (Ken, and Gerard, 52). It has overcome serious challenges including high fuel costs and the dwindling economy. Nonetheless, the company should opt diversifying its services in a bid to attract a variety of clients.

Ken, Mark D., Gerard, Seijts T. “WestJet Airlines.” The culture that breeds a passion 38.3 (2001): 52-61. Print.

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WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy

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Westjet airlines ltd.: investment strategy description.

In August 2009, a portfolio manager for Resolute Funds Inc. is considering adding to his fund's holdings, WestJet Airlines, a fast-growing airline based in Calgary, Alberta. WestJet has grown rapidly from a startup to become the second largest airline in Canada. Despite its recent successes, due to the economic crisis, its share price has halved from its high in December 2007. The portfolio manager is trying to determine whether WestJet's shares are attractive. To support his analysis, the portfolio manager has asked his team to assemble comparative financial data on WestJet and its key competitors. The portfolio manager wants to know if he should buy, hold or sell WestJet's shares.

Case Description WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy

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In the Texas Business School, WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy case study solution – following strategic tools are used - SWOT Analysis, PESTEL Analysis / PEST Analysis / STEP Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, Go To Market Strategy, BCG Matrix Analysis, Porter Value Chain Analysis, Ansoff Matrix Analysis, VRIO / VRIN and Marketing Mix Analysis. We have additionally used the concept of supply chain management and leadership framework to build a comprehensive case study solution for the case – WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy

Step 1 – Problem Identification of WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy - Harvard Business School Case Study

The first step to solve HBR WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy case study solution is to identify the problem present in the case. The problem statement of the case is provided in the beginning of the case where the protagonist is contemplating various options in the face of numerous challenges that Westjet Westjet's is facing right now. Even though the problem statement is essentially – “Finance & Accounting” challenge but it has impacted by others factors such as communication in the organization, uncertainty in the external environment, leadership in Westjet Westjet's, style of leadership and organization structure, marketing and sales, organizational behavior, strategy, internal politics, stakeholders priorities and more.

Step 2 – External Environment Analysis

Texas Business School approach of case study analysis – Conclusion, Reasons, Evidences - provides a framework to analyze every HBR case study. It requires conducting robust external environmental analysis to decipher evidences for the reasons presented in the WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy. The external environment analysis of WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy will ensure that we are keeping a tab on the macro-environment factors that are directly and indirectly impacting the business of the firm.

What is PESTEL Analysis? Briefly Explained

PESTEL stands for political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors that impact the external environment of firm in WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy case study. PESTEL analysis of " WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy" can help us understand why the organization is performing badly, what are the factors in the external environment that are impacting the performance of the organization, and how the organization can either manage or mitigate the impact of these external factors.

How to do PESTEL / PEST / STEP Analysis? What are the components of PESTEL Analysis?

As mentioned above PESTEL Analysis has six elements – political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal. All the six elements are explained in context with WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy macro-environment and how it impacts the businesses of the firm.

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To do comprehensive PESTEL analysis of case study – WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy , we have researched numerous components under the six factors of PESTEL analysis.

Political Factors that Impact WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy

Political factors impact seven key decision making areas – economic environment, socio-cultural environment, rate of innovation & investment in research & development, environmental laws, legal requirements, and acceptance of new technologies.

Government policies have significant impact on the business environment of any country. The firm in “ WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy ” needs to navigate these policy decisions to create either an edge for itself or reduce the negative impact of the policy as far as possible.

Data safety laws – The countries in which Westjet Westjet's is operating, firms are required to store customer data within the premises of the country. Westjet Westjet's needs to restructure its IT policies to accommodate these changes. In the EU countries, firms are required to make special provision for privacy issues and other laws.

Competition Regulations – Numerous countries have strong competition laws both regarding the monopoly conditions and day to day fair business practices. WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy has numerous instances where the competition regulations aspects can be scrutinized.

Import restrictions on products – Before entering the new market, Westjet Westjet's in case study WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy" should look into the import restrictions that may be present in the prospective market.

Export restrictions on products – Apart from direct product export restrictions in field of technology and agriculture, a number of countries also have capital controls. Westjet Westjet's in case study “ WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy ” should look into these export restrictions policies.

Foreign Direct Investment Policies – Government policies favors local companies over international policies, Westjet Westjet's in case study “ WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy ” should understand in minute details regarding the Foreign Direct Investment policies of the prospective market.

Corporate Taxes – The rate of taxes is often used by governments to lure foreign direct investments or increase domestic investment in a certain sector. Corporate taxation can be divided into two categories – taxes on profits and taxes on operations. Taxes on profits number is important for companies that already have a sustainable business model, while taxes on operations is far more significant for companies that are looking to set up new plants or operations.

Tariffs – Chekout how much tariffs the firm needs to pay in the “ WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy ” case study. The level of tariffs will determine the viability of the business model that the firm is contemplating. If the tariffs are high then it will be extremely difficult to compete with the local competitors. But if the tariffs are between 5-10% then Westjet Westjet's can compete against other competitors.

Research and Development Subsidies and Policies – Governments often provide tax breaks and other incentives for companies to innovate in various sectors of priority. Managers at WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy case study have to assess whether their business can benefit from such government assistance and subsidies.

Consumer protection – Different countries have different consumer protection laws. Managers need to clarify not only the consumer protection laws in advance but also legal implications if the firm fails to meet any of them.

Political System and Its Implications – Different political systems have different approach to free market and entrepreneurship. Managers need to assess these factors even before entering the market.

Freedom of Press is critical for fair trade and transparency. Countries where freedom of press is not prevalent there are high chances of both political and commercial corruption.

Corruption level – Westjet Westjet's needs to assess the level of corruptions both at the official level and at the market level, even before entering a new market. To tackle the menace of corruption – a firm should have a clear SOP that provides managers at each level what to do when they encounter instances of either systematic corruption or bureaucrats looking to take bribes from the firm.

Independence of judiciary – It is critical for fair business practices. If a country doesn’t have independent judiciary then there is no point entry into such a country for business.

Government attitude towards trade unions – Different political systems and government have different attitude towards trade unions and collective bargaining. The firm needs to assess – its comfort dealing with the unions and regulations regarding unions in a given market or industry. If both are on the same page then it makes sense to enter, otherwise it doesn’t.

Economic Factors that Impact WestJet Airlines Ltd.: Investment Strategy

Social factors that impact westjet airlines ltd.: investment strategy, technological factors that impact westjet airlines ltd.: investment strategy, environmental factors that impact westjet airlines ltd.: investment strategy, legal factors that impact westjet airlines ltd.: investment strategy, step 3 – industry specific analysis, what is porter five forces analysis, step 4 – swot analysis / internal environment analysis, step 5 – porter value chain / vrio / vrin analysis, step 6 – evaluating alternatives & recommendations, step 7 – basis for recommendations, references :: westjet airlines ltd.: investment strategy case study solution.

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McCourt School of Public Policy

Case Study: Rethinking City Government and Nonprofit Relationships

Posted in News Story

Natalie Sandoval is a 2023-2024 Pablo Eisenberg Public Interest Fellow at the Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership. 

In pursuit of better serving the public, governments have been rethinking traditional sector practices in favor of more innovative, inclusive, and efficient systems. Taking inspiration from existing models, the Office of Strategic Partnerships (OSP) in Jacksonville, Florida was created to align the public, private and philanthropic sectors around common goals to create better outcomes for all Duval County residents. 

The Office of Strategic Partnerships aimed to address the challenges that local partners face when attempting to coordinate and implement services for residents. The groundwork for this office required investment from community partners, tireless work from its director, and the continual support of the mayor. Through the leadership of Director Dawn Lockhart, the initial years of the OSP were entrenched in deep commitment to reach overlooked partners, develop clear, collective goals, and maintain consistent communication. Through trust-building, intensive cooperation, and the long-term commitment of OSP partners, the partners were able to increase their capacity as local leaders, and deliver increased access to services for Duval county citizens. The Mayor’s Downtown Homelessness Task Force and Census 2020 serve as two case studies further exploring the model and its impact on the community. As the Office of Strategic Partnerships has moved through different phases, its initial groundwork and services to citizens serve as a model for other local governments. 

Between 2002-2013, the Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership developed customized programs for the Jessie Ball duPont Fund in Jacksonville, Florida. Through this connection, the Center learned of the significant work occurring in Jacksonville in recent years and was connected to OSP Director Dawn Lockhart. This case study highlights OSP’s commitment to cross-sector partnerships as a strategy to achieve greater impact for citizens in Jacksonville.

Read the entire  case study here.

Fern Fort University

Westjet airlines: information technology governance and corporate strategy change management analysis & solution, hbr change management solutions, leadership & managing people case study | malcolm munro, sharaz khan, case study description.

WestJet Airlines grew from a startup regional carrier in 1996 serving five Western Canadian cities to an international airline with more than 80 destinations and 9,000 employees by 2011. In a strategic move to implement code sharing and several other strategic IT applications to enhance WestJet's competitiveness, the CEO and his executive team hired an experienced and highly successful CIO to bring WestJet up to par with other airlines. The new CIO was asked by WestJet to assess its IT competence as part of a corporate drive to gain competitive advantage by delivering innovative guest services. The executive saw IT as the key to WestJet achieving its ambitions and corporate growth so formulated an ambitious plan to restructure the IT organization. But certain senior IT staff members, some of whom had been with the company since the beginning and had played a major role in developing the existing systems, believed the plan was ill advised and unworkable. The executive had to convince both senior management and the IT group that implementing the new IT governance model was essential if WestJet hoped to achieve its strategic goals. Authors Malcolm Munro and Sharaz Khan are affiliated with University of Calgary.

Change Management, Leadership & Managing People , Case Study Solution, Term Papers

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What is Change Management Definition & Process? Why transformation efforts fail? What are the Change Management Issues in WestJet Airlines: Information Technology Governance and Corporate Strategy case study?

According to John P. Kotter – Change Management efforts are the major initiatives an organization undertakes to either boost productivity, increase product quality, improve the organizational culture, or reverse the present downward spiral that the company is going through. Sooner or later every organization requires change management efforts because without reinventing itself organization tends to lose out in the competitive market environment. The competitors catch up with it in products and service delivery, disruptors take away the lucrative and niche market positioning, or management ends up sitting on its own laurels thus missing out on the new trends, opportunities and developments in the industry.

What are the John P. Kotter - 8 Steps of Change Management?

Eight Steps of Kotter's Change Management Execution are -

• 1. Establish a Sense of Urgency
• 2. Form a Powerful Guiding Coalition
• 3. Create a Vision
• 4. Communicate the Vision
• 5. Empower Others to Act on the Vision
• 6. Plan for and Create Short Term Wins
• 7. Consolidate Improvements and Produce More Change
• 8. Institutionalize New Approaches

Are Change Management efforts easy to implement? What are the challenges in implementing change management processes?

According to authorlist Change management efforts are absolutely essential for the surviving and thriving of the organization but they are also extremely difficult to implement. Some of the biggest obstacles in implementing change efforts are –

• Change management is often a lengthy, time consuming, and resource consuming process. Managements try to avoid them because they reflect negatively on the short term financial balance sheet of the organization.
• Change efforts create an environment of uncertainty in the organization that impacts not only the productivity in the organization but also the level of trust in the organization.
• Change efforts are often targeted at making fundamental aspects in the business – operations and culture. Change management disrupts are status quo thus face opposition from both within and outside the organization.
• Change management efforts are made when the organization is in dire need and have fewer resources. This creates silos protection mentality within the organization.
• Change efforts are often made by new leaders because they are chosen by board to do so. These leaders often have less trust among the workforce compare to the people with whom they were already working with over the years.

WestJet Airlines: Information Technology Governance and Corporate Strategy SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, Weighted SWOT Case Study Solution & Analysis

How you can apply Change Management Principles to WestJet Airlines: Information Technology Governance and Corporate Strategy case study?

Leaders can implement Change Management efforts in the organization by following the “Eight Steps Method of Change Management” by John P. Kotter.

Step 1 - Establish a sense of urgency

What are areas that require urgent change management efforts in the “ WestJet Airlines: Information Technology Governance and Corporate Strategy “ case study. Some of the areas that require urgent changes are – organizing sales force to meet competitive realities, building new organizational structure to enter new markets or explore new opportunities. The leader needs to convince the managers that the status quo is far more dangerous than the change efforts.

Step 2 - Form a powerful guiding coalition

As mentioned earlier in the paper, most change efforts are undertaken by new management which has far less trust in the bank compare to the people with whom the organization staff has worked for long period of time. New leaders need to tap in the talent of the existing managers and integrate them in the change management efforts . This will for a powerful guiding coalition that not only understands the urgency of the situation but also has the trust of the employees in the organization. If the team able to explain at the grass roots level what went wrong, why organization need change, and what will be the outcomes of the change efforts then there will be a far more positive sentiment about change efforts among the rank and file.

Step 3 - Create a vision

The most critical role of the leader who is leading the change efforts is – creating and communicating a vision that can have a broader buy-in among employees throughout the organization. The vision should not only talk about broader objectives but also about how every little change can add up to the improvement in the overall organization.

Step 4 - Communicating the vision

Leaders need to use every vehicle to communicate the desired outcomes of the change efforts and how each employee impacted by it can contribute to achieve the desired change. Secondly the communication efforts need to answer a simple question for employees – “What it is in for the them”. If the vision doesn’t provide answer to this question then the change efforts are bound to fail because it won’t have buy-in from the required stakeholders of the organization.

Step 5 -Empower other to act on the vision

Once the vision is set and communicated, change management leadership should empower people at every level to take decisions regarding the change efforts. The empowerment should follow two key principles – it shouldn’t be too structured that it takes away improvisation capabilities of the managers who are working on the fronts. Secondly it shouldn’t be too loosely defined that people at the execution level can take it away from the desired vision and objectives.

WestJet Airlines: Information Technology Governance and Corporate Strategy PESTEL / PEST / STEP & Porter Five Forces Analysis

Step 6 - Plan for and create short term wins

Initially the change efforts will bring more disruption then positive change because it is transforming the status quo. For example new training to increase productivity initially will lead to decrease in level of current productivity because workers are learning new skills and way of doing things. It can demotivate the employees regarding change efforts. To overcome such scenarios the change management leadership should focus on short term wins within the long term transformation. They should carefully craft short term goals, reward employees for achieving short term wins, and provide a comprehensive understanding of how these short term wins fit into the overall vision and objectives of the change management efforts.

Step 7 - Consolidate improvements and produce more change

Short term wins lead to renewed enthusiasm among the employees to implement change efforts. Management should go ahead to put a framework where the improvements made so far are consolidated and more change efforts can be built on the top of the present change efforts.

Step 8 - Institutionalize new approaches

Once the improvements are consolidated, leadership needs to take steps to institutionalize the processes and changes that are made. It needs to stress how the change efforts have delivered success in the desired manner. It should highlight the connection between corporate success and new behaviour. Finally organization management needs to create organizational structure, leadership, and performance plans consistent with the new approach.

Is change management a process or event?

What many leaders and managers at the Westjet Airlines fails to recognize is that – Change Management is a deliberate and detail oriented process rather than an event where the management declares that the changes it needs to make in the organization to thrive. Change management not only impact the operational processes of the organization but also the cultural and integral values of the organization.

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