Case Study on Baggage Blunders in Heathrow Airport

1. Introduction

This is a report for the case study on the baggage blunders in Terminal 5 in Heathrow Airport happened in its opening day in 2008. Different control mechanisms will be analysed to solve the issues in this situation. Immediate corrective action and basic corrective action can be applied to address the concerns from passengers and analyse the root cause of these accidents. Proposals on how the airport can be operated better will also be presented. Lessons learnt from this case for other organization will be discussed, as well as good practices and examples from other organizations with proper controls.

2. Question 1

Feedforward Control is also referred as preliminary control, which is to be accomplished in advance of the work activities begin. It is a preventive control process to eliminate the potential problems in the later process. Feedforward control ensures that objectives are clear, right resources are available and proper directions are established to accomplish the work. It is a forward-thinking and proactive approach to prevent the problems rather than having to cure them reactively (Schermerhorn, et al., 2014).

Concurrent Control takes places to regulate ongoing working activities, which is also called as steering control, screening or yes-no control (Bartol, Martin , Tein, & Matthews, 2005). It monitors the ongoing work processes to ensure they are conducted following the plan. It allows corrective actions to be taken before the work activity is finished, with the focus on the quality during the work process, to reduce the waste of unacceptable finished outcomes (Schermerhorn, et al., 2014).

Feedback control, or post-action control, happens after the working activity is finished, with the focus on the quality of end products or services rather than the inputs and activities. Feedback control provides important and useful information to improve activities in the future (Schermerhorn, et al., 2014).  The managers can be informed of customers’ reactions to the products and services so corrective actions can be taken (Waddell, Jones, & George, 2012).  Feedback control also provides a basis for rewarding employees (Davidson, Simon , Woods, & Griffin, 2009). The major disadvantage is that the problems have already happened by the time the manager has the information and starts the feedback control (Robbins, DeCenzo, Coulter, & Woods, 2012). 

All these three controls can be applied in the Baggage Blunders case. The airport is built for a long term operation. The disasters happened in the first day shall not stop the operations being continuously tested and prepared for the future days. Feedforward control can be applied to test the baggage handling system and find the potential problems and solve them as soon as possible before bigger accidents happen. Concurrent control has to be implemented to monitor the system and solve the currently happening problems. Luggage shall be settled well for the current customers in the airport to prevent same problems from happening again. The airport needs to assign manpower to monitor, report and resolve the problems at the same time of the operation.

The most important control in this case shall be feedback control, as several accidents have already happened. The managers shall be well informed of the problems immediately, such as understaffing for baggage workers, jammed belt system, broken escalators, hand dryers not working, problems of the baggage handling system and computer system. Reactions and feedback from the customers shall be clearly understood. Controls to solve these existing problems shall be taken, such as that more staff can be deployed from other terminals, call the belt system supplier to come and fix the issue immediately, contact the escalator vendors to trouble shoot the system, assign more man power to manually handle the luggage before the baggage handling system and computer system recover. Communication with the customers is crucial to understand their concerns, discuss about compensation plans, rebook new air tickets, and provide food and accommodation for them to stay due to the delay or cancellation of the flight.

3. Question 2

Immediate corrective action is to correct the problems at once to get performance back on track. Basic corrective plan looks at how and why performance deviates before correcting the source of deviation (Robbins, DeCenzo, Coulter, & Woods, 2012).

Immediate corrective action shall be used in this situation. Managers shall take immediate actions to avoid further accidents from happening. Some immediate corrective actions have been taken, such as sorting the baggage manually when the BAA’s computer system malfunctioned, allowing the planes to leave with empty cargo holds rather than further waiting for the baggage system to be recovered, which could cause further delay. Alert can be communicated to upcoming passengers to share with them on the current baggage system issue and suggest them bring fewer or no luggage to the airport. Information of the flight delay shall be passed to the customers beforehand so they have sufficient time to plan the trips or rebook air tickets. More trained staff from other terminals need to be deployed in T5 to clear the luggage and communicate with the passengers with useful information. Suppliers for the malfunctioned systems should be called immediately to resolve the problem.

Another team focusing on the basic corrective plan shall be formed to analyse and investigate the root cause of problems. By knowing how and why such problems happened can allow proper actions to be taken and better planning for the future airport operations. The causes for the accidents could be that the baggage system is not fully tested and not ready for the operation with such amount of luggage. There are not enough trained staff to clear the unclaimed luggage. Systems such as escalators, hand dryers and gates are not going through comprehensive testing and commissioning before the actual opening. The operators are not fully trained and familiar with the baggage handling system and BAA’s computer system. There is no standby trained maintenance team on site who can fix the system immediately. The emergency plan is not well developed and communicated.

4. Question 3

British airway or BAA’s controls could have been more effective.

The mega project like Terminal 5 in Heathrow Airport is complex in design and construction. Too many parties, such as architects, engineers, contractors, suppliers and users, were involved in the building process. Coordination is the core to ensure the systems can be compatible among each other. The most important is the testing and commissioning of the overall system to ensure the optimal performance before the airport opening.

Feedforward control before the airport opening with comprehensive testing is crucial to ensure the success of the operations. The testing period shall not be too short, but shall be at least half a year for such scale of project.

The baggage handling system should be throughout tested with thousands of luggage with weight inside to simulate the actual operation conditions. Managers and operators are able to detect the problems during such stress test and also could take corrective action plan to solve them. During the test, the staff can also be well and fully trained on both normal operation, and system trouble shooting. With the trouble shooting skills, the operation team can resolve the system during the actual operation to shorten the time for repair and minimize the impact to the passengers.

Other systems shall also be fully tested as part of the feedforward control. Escalators can be tested with running for long period with load on them. Gates can be tested for opening and closing for hundreds of times. Hand dryers shall be tested individually. Spare parts or devices shall be prepared onsite for fast repair and replacement.

Another way to improve the overall control is to train the airport staff well and equip them with all necessary skills and information. The new staff can be sent to other terminals for training to learn about the airport operation. The staff shall also be involved during the airport system testing and commissioning stage. Therefore, they can understand the system well and gain the training from the system supplier and be better prepared when emergency problems happen after the airport opens. The staff selling the tickets shall be familiar with the prices or where to obtain such information quickly.

Emergency plans shall be created for each system, with safe operation procedures, information and contacts of the persons in charge. Therefore the staff know what to do or who to call when problem happens.

Clear channels for communication with customers shall be set up, such as hotline system, message platform, website feedback. Properly trained and experienced staff shall be assigned to handle the customer concerns, so the customers can feel they are always cared when they need help. Unnecessary stress can be reduced for both the staff and customers.

5. Question 4

The other organizations could learn the importance of control processes in the airport operations. They shall be aware that the feedforward control is crucial for the opening of a brand new airport. All the systems need to be fully tested and commissioned for long period before actual opening to the public. Problems need to be fixed during the testing before actual operation.

Lessons can be learnt by other organizations to prevent repeating same problems, which is part of the feedback control. A comprehensive training for the staff in advance is important for a successful operation. This is critical to maintain the satisfaction of the customers.

Singapore airlines developed a customer service plan to address the problems facing by the passengers. They promised to return mishandled baggage within 24 hours, reasonable compensation and expenses would be paid to the passengers if the baggage was delayed or lost.  Meals, accommodation and assistance in rebooking air tickets would be provided due to flight delay or cancellation (Singapore Airlines , n.d.). They demonstrated feedback control and immediate corrective actions to solve the problems for customers.

Qantas prepared a well-structured travel security guidelines for the passengers. They highlighted security measures, access within the terminals, security advice on what to carry on the plane and what not to and personal security measures during travel (Qantas, n.d.). These were feedforward controls. They could foresee unnecessary complaint or issues if the passengers were not aware of these security information. By posting these detailed guidelines could erase certain potential friction with the passengers and improve the airport efficiency.

Bristol Airport utilizes the BlipTrack queue and flow management system to monitor how travellers move through and use the airport.  It can provide warning if congestion occurs so the airport can take fast and proactive measures before the problem escalates (BLIP Systems, 2016). This shows the concurrent control in the airport operation by monitoring the real situation and taking immediate corrective actions.

6. Conclusion

All the three control mechanisms can be applied in this situation. Among them, the feedback control is of the most importance to solve these problems already happened. The managers shall take immediate corrective action to fix the systems. At the same time, basic corrective action shall be adopted to find the root cause for the problems.

The British airways of BAA’s controls could be better if all kinds of controls implemented well, especially the feedforward control with sufficient testing on the systems to find out and fix the problems before the airport opening. The importance on proper staff training is also highlighted in this report.

Lessons learnt from this case, and good practices in Singapore airlines, Qantas and Bristol Airport are also presented in this report.

It is not easy to ensure an airport functioning perfectly with zero accident. The managers in the airport should take all kinds of control mechanisms and actions to eliminate those problems and minimize the negative impact as much as possible to ensure a satisfactory travelling experience of every passenger.

7. References

Bartol, K, Martin, D, Tein, M & Matthews, G (2005), Management: A Pacific Rim Focus, 4th edn, McGraw Hill, Australia.

BLIP Systems. (2016, December 21). Bristol Airport Boosts Traveler Experience with End-to-End Passenger Flow Technology. Retrieved from BLIP Systems: http://blipsystems.com/bristol-airport-passenger-flow/

Davidson, P. Simon, A. Woods, P. Griffin, R (2009), Management’s Core Concepts and Applications, Sydney, Wiley., A Pacific Rim Focus

Qantas. (n.d.). Travel security. Retrieved from Qantas: https://www.qantas.com/au/en/travel-info/travel-advice/travel-security.html

Robbins, S,. DeCenzo, D., Coulter, M, & Woods, M 2012 Management: The Essentials, Pearson. Sydney

Schermerhorn, JR, Davidson, P, Poole, D, Woods, P, Simon, A & McBarron, E 2014, Management: foundations and applications, Wiley & Sons, Australia.

Singapore Airlines . (n.d.). Customer service plan. Retrieved from Singapore Airlines : https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/us/travel-info/customer-commitment/customer-service-plan/

Waddell, D., Jones, G., & George, J  2012, Contemporary Management, Sydney, McGraw Hill.