Case study airways

1. Illustrate the relationship between organisational goals, objectives, and policy and justify their contribution to the effective management of Scotia Airways.

Goal is the end of result the organization strives for. It is established specific, measurable, and observable end result, which has one or more time- targeted objectives. Objectives encourage action which means there is certain effort made in order to achieve the planned task. The words objective and goal are not easy to distinguish as they both stand for something that organization wants to attain. What makes them different is period of time they are set for and order they are set in. Goals always come as first and are set for longer term. Objectives are derived from the goal and are accomplish before the goal is reached. An organization takes an action towards objectives and then through objectives achieves a goal. According to what they are focused on we differentiate goals to several types, namely operational goals, consumer goals, product goals and secondary goals. Regarding to Scotia Airways, there are various types of goals found in the case study. As to the main goals, they have set a few such as: expansion and competition in a challenging market.

To accomplish this they have decided to set an ambitious programme, which stands for an objective. – “The investors in Scotia Airways have set an ambitious programme for expansion over the next 5 years to include long haul destinations.” “The airline operates scheduled flights, mainly targeting business and leisure travellers and aims to provide exceptional value for money, unparalleled comfort and convenience to its passengers, every time they are on board. Scotia Airways is the first airline to offer full business class services, but at prices that are equivalent to the economy class of its competitors.” These are goals related to meeting customer’s needs so called consumer goals and the airline meets them through its product – flights to various EU destinations, domestic flights services provided on board, etc. There are also secondary goals, which are not the main aims of organization. For example developing staff, and maintaining social and ethnical responsibilities. Secondary goals doesn’t directly affect products and services, but influence the right company’s operation.

When applied to Scotia Airways they set staff development and also maintaining good relationships with their stakeholders- suppliers and customers by establishing a range of suppliers and clients that are seen as the extended family. Policy is set of operating rules, principles and guidelines, which organizations adopt in order to reach their goals, determine decisions and activities. Through policies the behaviour of an organization is controlled and ensures that people, when following the policy, will act in a predictable way and in the best interest of the company. There is only one policy mentioned in the case study – wide ranging reward policies, however, there may be other policies used in the Scotia Airways as well. E.g. safe and healthy policy, cancelation and customer service policy, training policy, security policy and hygiene policy. To sum up there must be a working relationship among all three- goals, objectives and policies in order for managers to manage the organisation itself and its staff to create suitable conditions for a business to be prosperous.

2. Explain the nature of Open System Theory and apply it to Scotia Airways.

3. Identify the main differences between the formal and informal organisation

These two types of organisations are formed on the basis of relationships created in organisation- whether formal, or informal. Formal organization refers to an organization, which has certain rules and regulations, which must be followed by staff. Informal organization creates its own rules and regulations and doesn’t have pre- determined objectives and goals. A formal organisation is formed by its management and shown on the organisation chart. Its structure is well defined and all the employees and managers have their duties, responsibilities and create authority within a workplace. On the contrary, in informal organisation there are personal and social relationships and it is based on feelings or emotions. As it comes to rules and regulations in formal organisation, they are put in writing, written by a formal authority, which distinguish it from informal organisation, where there are no certain rules or regulation, or they are not officially written. There is also a difference in goals and objectives set within formal and informal organisation. The goals and objectives in formal organisation are carefully set and defined in order to achieve e.g. expansion, however, in informal organisation there is just the common interest and satisfaction, what gives the formal organization more stability to operate. Also, there are several benefits formal organization offers, such as financial benefits, travelling bonuses, health insurance, however, informal organisation only provide personal benefits.

In order for organisation to operate efficiently both types are required to be combined. They both help organisation to operate smoothly. Formal organisation originates from its structure, rules and regulations and informal organisation originates from formal one. There is certain position and authority given to managers and workers, but when working towards achievement, they interact among each other and create relationships within workplace. This is illustrated in the case study when mentioned: “The vast majority of staff have also remained with the business as it has grown through the years. A culture of trust has been emphasised and developed by both the management and workers and this has served to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, and overall performance of the business.” , and finally, “A great deal of time and though has been invested in how best to promote social harmony and integration within workplace. The company is very much regarded as a family- style business.”