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1 HERIOT-WATT UNIVERSITY PEOPLE, WORK AND ORGANISATIONS – MARCH 2021 Section I Mandatory Case Study Doha International Airways maintains global operations during COVID-19 crisis The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented challenge for Doha International Airways (DIA), and the aviation industry as a whole. While the airline continued to maintain operations where possible, overall demand for air transport declined significantly. “We appreciate this is a difficult time and that many people around the world are trying to find a way to get home. We continue to operate more than 60 flights per day so that as many people as possible can get home safely to their loved ones,†a DIA spokesperson said.
The spokesperson further said: “We are operating services to around 40 locations worldwide. We are constantly reviewing our operations to see where there is more demand and requests, and wherever possible we will add more flights or bigger aircraft. This is a challenging time for the aviation industry, and we are thankful to airports and authorities and our staff around the world for their incredible efforts to help us get passengers home.†In the space of a few weeks DIA carried over one million people home and transported over 70,000 tonnes of medical equipment and aid relief; acting as a partner for passengers, governments, travel trade and freight companies in globally challenging circumstances.
Behind the scenes, a Global Crisis Operations Response Team (CRT) had been set up to manage COVID-19 transmission awareness and protection of aviation personnel, staffing and route scheduling, and aircraft/passenger procedures. This executive-level, multidisciplinary and international team representing all the regions where DIA was still operating was tasked with setting up and implementing emergency procedures in cooperation with regional management teams, crew and ground staff; as well as liaison with the World Health Organization and national governments. Led by Dr Adel al-Jafari, DIA’s Chief Operating Officer, based in Doha, the CRT comprised: Americas Ms Phylicia Rashad, based in Dallas, US Mr John Okafor, based in Montreal, Canada Europe Mr Riaz Ahmed, based in London, UK Ms Eleni Paxinou, based in Athens, Greece Asia and the Pacific Ms Pooja Umashankar, based in Colombo, Sri Lanka Ms Song Hye-kyo, based in Seoul, South Korea Mr Julian McMahon, based in Melbourne, Australia 2 Middle East Mr Jassim Al Rumaihi, based in Doha, Qatar Ms Asma Al Muftah, based in Doha, Qatar The team had been hand-picked by Dr al-Jafari and DIA’s chief of staff Giovanni Mazzucato.
All of them had aviation experience, they had all spent time working at DIA’s head offices in Doha, and had all been in their executive posts for a minimum of two years. Dr al-Jafari and Giovanni believed this would give the team the broadest possible insight into the operational pressures of the business as well as understanding the corporate ethos and strategic priorities, even in this global pandemic. Each person was contacted individually by Giovanni, to start immediately, or as soon as their organisational responsibilities could be handed over to other members of the local executive teams; but no later than three days. Forty-eight hours after everyone had been contacted, Dr al-Jafari hosted the first Zoom call for the team.
To try and accommodate the various time zones, the call was set for 2pm Doha time, which meant it was 6am in Dallas, and 9pm in Melbourne. Most members of the CRT did not know those outside of their region, with more than 45,000 staff in 150 destinations in 90 countries, the organisation was large and complex. The purpose of the first call was to agree the team’s remit. DIA, like every other airline, had emergency procedures and protocols, including major health outbreaks, but nothing that assumed a global lockdown and grounding. Aside from the likely grounding of most flights, and the impact on staffing, passengers would need to be transported home, cargo dispatched, and aircraft maintained.
An immediate focus on COVID-19 transmission awareness and protection of aviation personnel, reduced staffing and route scheduling, and aircraft/passenger safety procedures would need to be agreed and rolled out to the entire organisation in a matter of weeks. The call was high in energy and productive. Everyone was keen to speak, to offer to help and to form smaller working groups on various priority areas. Some locations were already severely impacted by COVID-19, and a couple of the CRT members had staff members, friends and family who had been infected. Three working groups were set up: 1) COVID-19 global operating procedures, 2) health and safety, and 3) communications.
Giovanni and Dr al-Jafari had assigned CRT members to each working group before the call: 1) COVID-19 global operating procedures: Phylicia, Julian, Jassim 2) Health and safety for staff and passengers: John, Pooja, Asma 3) Crisis communications and government relations: Eleni, Song, Riaz Dr al-Jafari was to lead the global operating procedures team, Giovanni would lead the other two. Dr al-Jafari asked if everyone was OK with the being in the team that they had been assigned to, no-one said no. The Zoom call ended with the agreement that these working groups would meet on a daily basis, and that the CRT would meet twice per week at the same time: 2pm Doha on Wednesday and Sunday. Riaz offered to set up a CRT WhatsApp group so that they could all stay in touch in between times. ) COVID-19 global operating procedures: Dr al-Jafari, Phylicia, Julian, Jassim Phylicia was the most directly experienced of this team.
She had joined DIA when it launched operations in the US, and with a background in civil aviation and engineering she had significant technical expertise and institutional knowledge. During her time in Doha, Phylicia had been mentored by Dr al-Jafari, who had spent 15 years as a commercial and military pilot before joining DIA’s executive leadership team. As the team got into a routine of meeting on a daily basis, so the conversation became dominated by Phylicia and Dr al- Jafari, but they spent a lot of time on technical detail that Julian and Jassim were not sure was directly relevant. Phylicia and Dr al-Jafari spent no time focusing on the number of flight cancellations, grounded aircraft and crew and the potential furloughing of more than 50% of the workforce.
Even though all executive staff members were practising social distancing, the head office in Doha was still open for staff members who arranged in advance to go in. Jassim knew that Dr al-Jafari was in the office to host the Zoom calls; Jassim decided to go into the office a little early to try and speak with Dr al-Jafari on an informal basis about what the team should be focusing on. 2) Health and safety for staff and passengers: Giovanni, John, Pooja, Asma This team agreed that their first priority was to ensure staff were trained with the latest hygiene protocols and cleaning procedures, using products recommended by IATA and WHO. On closer inspection, it became clear that WHO guidelines were not always being adhered to in different countries.
This would have a significant impact on the sourcing and use of personal protective equipment (PPE), cleaning products and processes, and physical distancing procedures. The team agree to compare the WHO standards with those proposed by IATA and to make a recommendation that could be rolled out across the whole of DIA, even if the standards were higher than a local market’s government recommendations. Giovanni said it was an opportunity for DIA to show industry leadership, something he believed customers, partners and industry analysts would remember in the future. As Pooja and John investigated how they could source the relevant PPE and cleaning equipment, and Asma and Giovanni worked out how to rollout a COVID-19 health and safety protocol, it became clear that the ambition could not be realised in the timescales they planned.
Local teams would have to source their own PPE and cleaning products by country, but this meant the standards varying by country. 3) Crisis communications and government relations: Giovanni, Eleni, Song, Riaz At the first meeting, Eleni said that this team would not function without Dr al-Jafari as a member. The most important thing, she said, was that the CEO, Khalid Mubarak al Shafi, became the face of DIA globally and the only way that could be done was if the COO was involved in all communications planning. Giovanni said that as chief of staff it was his role, and he would ensure that al Shafi would be fully briefed at all times. The meeting did not proceed well, whenever Giovanni suggested a course of action, Eleni would object.
Riaz would attempt to mediate between the two, and Song would make practical suggestions based on what she was seeing as successful communications by many Korean businesses. As the team met on successive days, the situation did not improve. By the third day, Eleni was arriving late for the Zoom meetings, she would switch her camera off and place her microphone on mute. The dynamic quickly shifted, and Giovanni led the meetings and made most of the suggestions. Riaz and Song would occasionally ask questions, sometimes make 4 their own suggestions, but what was typically agreed and acted upon were Giovanni’s ideas.
After a week, Eleni stopped attending the meetings. Two weeks after the first Zoom call, the CRT group is now exhausted. Eleni had been attending the CRT Zoom calls, even though she wasn’t participating in the crisis communications work. Dr al-Jafari asked Eleni to stay involved. Despite her individualistic and highly conflictual style, her knowledge of government affairs is outstanding and in a previous role she was a highly regarded industry lobbyist with a global network.
Phylicia and Asma have both contracted COVID-19. Their symptoms seem to be mild, but they are finding it difficult to join the daily working group calls, and twice-weekly CRT calls. They are contactable, but their response to emails and WhatsApp can be slow. Despite their commitment and contribution, Giovanni and Dr al-Jafari wonder if Phylicia and Asma should be replaced given how urgent their work is. Julian asks if it is possible to vary the times of the Zoom calls so that they are not all in the evening.
His partner is a key worker and the demands on his time in the evenings is making it difficult for them to manage their childcare commitments without the burden falling on his partner. It is creating conflict at home. No-one responds to Julian’s request. Riaz, Song and John had been unable to find colleagues to take on their workload and so they have all been doing their day jobs in addition to their CRT roles. It is also becoming clear that an informal CRT group, comprising Jassim, Asma, Giovanni and Dr al-Jafari – all based in Doha – is emerging.
Despite the intention to maintain a global CRT, and to develop ideas and expertise from this group, many discussions and decisions are being made informally between the Doha group to the extent that the CRT is starting to become a channel for dissemination rather than discussion and agreement. Pooja comments on this, with Riaz and John both agreeing with her observations. Giovanni says that Pooja’s comments are taken on board and confirms that the CRT is an important leadership group, and that all members are expected to contribute. After the call, Giovanni and Dr al-Jafari meet with Khalid, who has asked for an update on the CRT’s progress. Dr al-Jafari reports that the COVID-19 global operating procedures team has been working collaboratively and constructively, despite the greatest time differences, but with Phylicia now unwell it is difficult to know how to proceed without replacing her in the group.
A draft COVID-19 operating procedure had been developed and was ready to be sent out to industry specialists to verify its suitability for a phased implementation. In terms of health and safety, Giovanni reported that it might not be possible to maintain one global standard across all countries and operations. Despite the best of intentions, it might be necessary, in the short term at least, to allow each country to balance WHO, IATA and government standards, even if that meant significance variance in their global standards. When Khalid asks about the crisis communications group, Giovanni does not mention the conflict with Eleni, nor the workload demands on Riaz, John, and Song. Giovanni says that he has been in contact with a specialist crisis communications company and is in discussion with them to develop a staff, customer and government communications plan. Two weeks into an executive leadership crisis with no immediate end in sight, the three must now decide how to take the CRT forward so that it can best serve the airline in responding to the global pandemic.
Paper for above instructions
Title: Crisis Management and Decision-Making in Doha International Airways Amid COVID-19Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic created an extraordinary disruption in various industries globally, with the aviation sector experiencing significant challenges. Doha International Airways (DIA) adopted several key strategies to manage operations through this crisis, including the establishment of a Global Crisis Operations Response Team (CRT) aimed at addressing the multifaceted challenges posed by the pandemic. This paper analyzes DIA's decision-making processes and team dynamics while drawing on relevant management principles and real-world implications.
Understanding the Crisis Response Structure
The CRT was formed rapidly to tackle the operational and logistical challenges posed by the pandemic. Dr. Adel al-Jafari led this international team, comprising regional executives with considerable aviation experience (Heriot-Watt University, 2021). The initial response structure focused on ensuring the safety of staff and passengers while maintaining essential transport services. The need for a dynamic and agile response was crucial, as the situation was constantly evolving.
Several working groups were quickly organized to address specific issues, such as COVID-19 operating procedures, health and safety protocols, and crisis communications. This delineation of focus areas enabled DIA to mobilize resources effectively. High-energy initial meetings suggested an eagerness to contribute, demonstrating a foundational understanding of crisis management principles whereby swift action is essential (Crisis Management Institute, 2020).
Challenges in Communication and Decision-Making
As the operational context evolved, challenges began to arise, particularly within the working group focusing on crisis communications. The lack of effective communication between Giovanni and Eleni highlighted the importance of consensus building in leadership teams (Hackman & Morris, 1975). Eleni's initial disengagement and conflicts with Giovanni could lead to long-term operational problems. According to Tuckman’s stages of group development, high-performing teams must navigate the "storming" phase effectively to avoid prolonged conflict (Tuckman, 1965).
The informal dynamics emerging among the Doha-based group further complicated the global structure of the CRT. Decision-making became unbalanced, favoring a localized perspective over a global response strategy. This effect is akin to a "groupthink" phenomenon where cohesive in-group decisions overshadow diverse viewpoints (Janis, 1982). Pooja's comments, although well-founded, served as a reminder of the risks when team engagement is compromised.
The Importance of Health and Safety Protocols
Establishing robust health and safety protocols was imperative for DIA in rebuilding traveler confidence and ensuring employee safety. The findings from the health and safety working group indicated that the varying regulations across different countries could impede the establishment of a coherent, actionable plan. This inconsistency echoes findings by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) suggesting that airlines must prioritize a unified yet adaptable approach to safety (IATA, 2020).
Creating a universally applicable health and safety protocol could decrease operational risks while raising standards across different markets. The adoption of higher IATA standards would allow for DIA to showcase its commitment to safety, potentially driving customer loyalty in the long term. Furthermore, adherence to WHO recommendations reflected the company's dedication to industry leadership during a time of crisis, a strategic decision aligned with value-based executive leadership.
The Role of Team Leadership in Crisis
The competencies displayed by Dr. al-Jafari and Giovanni were instrumental in guiding the team through this unprecedented situation. Transformational leadership principles, which emphasize inspiration and motivation in challenging times, underscored their approaches (Bass & Riggio, 2006). Their ability to identify and harness the strengths of team members, even amid personal crises—such as Phylicia and Asma contracting COVID-19—illustrates the importance of emotional intelligence in leadership (Goleman, 1998).
However, as responsibilities grew, the risk of burnout and diminished effectiveness became evident for various team members. The lack of response to Julian's request to adjust meeting times was indicative of a disconnect between workload demands and team well-being. According to Maslach and Leiter (2016), when workload and psychological well-being disalign, burnout can occur, diminishing overall effectiveness.
Shaping Future Organizational Strategies
As the crisis unfolded, it became crucial for DIA to reflect on its decision-making mechanisms to enhance agility and responsiveness. This situation underscores the need for organizations to integrate flexibility in their operations, especially during extraordinary circumstances like the COVID-19 pandemic. The establishment of clear communication channels and flexible structures would support real-time decision-making and adaptability (COVID-19 Action Network, 2021).
Comprehensive training protocols for employees concerning health guidelines and elevated standards should remain ongoing post-pandemic, fostering a safety-oriented organizational culture. Resilience training, inspiring confidence among staff to navigate future crises collaboratively, would yield long-term benefits.
Additionally, the participation of a crisis communication specialist aimed at reinforcing communication plans suggests a strategy that identifies external expertise to support internal capabilities. Organizations must invest in communication skills and crisis management strategies, which would ultimately prepare them better for unforeseen challenges.
Conclusion
The response of Doha International Airways during the COVID-19 pandemic exemplifies both the potential and difficulties of managing a crisis in an organization. Strengths included effective team mobilization and a clear focus on operational priorities, while challenges materialized in the domains of communication and decision-making processes. The lessons learned throughout this period could serve as a blueprint for enhancing organizational resilience, team dynamics, and operational efficiency in future crisis situations.
References
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6. International Air Transport Association (IATA). (2020). Health Safety for Airlines Amid COVID-19. Retrieved from https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/2020/releases/2020-10-05-01/
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10. Heriot-Watt University (2021). People, Work and Organizations: March 2021 Case Study. Edinburgh, UK: Heriot-Watt University Press.
By leveraging these insights and strategies, Doha International Airways can navigate ongoing challenges and prepare for future disruptions, fostering a culture of resilience and innovation.