Alaska Airlines Essay

Prior to 2008, it looked as Alaska Airlines might follow the path of other major airlines and file for bankruptcy. The numbers were dismal, at the lowest point only 60% of flights were on-time and seven per 1,000 customers’ bags were mishandled. The system was broken; there was a lack communication amongst the different roles and the goal of the company was to provide mediocre but “nice” service to customers. Major problems included delays mishandled baggage and long waits at carousel. These problems laid deep-seeded in the ideology of Alaska Airlines.

In the 1980’s and 1990’s, the company was able to turn profit due to the price of fuel paired with a strong economy; however, in the new millennium, in a struggling post-9/11 air economy, the problems of Alaska Airlines became more apparent, causing financial distress on the organization. Oil prices rose and the market was competitive. The culture of good enough was failing. Ray Venni, the CEO of Alaska from 1990-1995, represented the operating core’s defining purpose with his attitude of acceptance of mediocre. The defining company culture was to avoid accountability and to instead favor blaming the “system” for the company’s problems. Venni was using the defense mechanism denial with this ideology.

The lack of standardization, mutual adjustment and direct supervision in the organization was the opposite of lean. For example, the managerial style for ramp and gate operations was described as “hands-off”. Before the organizational changes that took part in the 2000’s the different parts of the Mintzberg model--the technostructure, support staff, strategic apex, middle line and operating core--did not communicate by design. In addition, relations between the strategic apex and labor force were historically poor, with a timeline of 50 plus years of union/company tension and routine