Assignment 2: Case study. Due 27 August 2017 to Turnitin.
35% of final mark
Baggage blunders
Terminal 5, built by British Airways for $8.6 billion, is Heathrow Airport’s newest
state-of-the-art facility. Made of glass, concrete and steel, it is the largest freestanding
building in the United Kingdom opened in 2008. With 96 self-service check-in
kiosks, more than 90 fast bag drops, 54 standard check-in desks, and over 15
kilometres of suitcase-moving belts that were supposed to be able to process 12,000
bags per hour. Terminal 5 had been planned to ease congestion at Heathrow and
improve the flying experience for the 30 million passengers expected to pass though
it annually. However, the facility’s design did not initially seem to support those
goals. After two decades of planning and 100 million hours of labour, opening day
did not work out as planned.
Within the first few hours of the terminal’s operation, problems developed. Baggage
workers, presumably understaffed, were unable to clear unclaimed luggage fast
enough. Many arriving passengers had to endure long delays to get their bags. There
were problems for departing passengers as well, as many tried in vain to check in for
flights. Planes were allowed to leave with empty cargo holds. At one point on that
first day, the airline had no choice but to check in only those passengers with no
checked luggage. And it did not help matters when the moving belt system became
jammed. Lesser problems also became apparent: a few broken escalators, some hand
dryers that did not work, a gate that would not function, and inexperienced ticket
sellers who did not know the fares between Heathrow and various stations on the
Piccadilly line. By the end of the first day of operation, Britain’s Department of
Transportation released a statement calling for British Airways and the airport
operator BAA to ‘work hard to resolve these issues and limit disruptions to
passengers’.
Almost 250 flights in and out of Terminal 5 were cancelled during the first four days
of operation because of problems with the baggage-handling system, the temporary
suspension of luggage checking and staff lack of knowledge. Some 28,000 bags were
delayed, and 9000 items still needed to be returned to their owners by the second
week of operation. The airline said the problems were expected to cost it about $16
million.
However nine days after the new terminal opened the system was still experiencing
problems. BAA’s computer system, which sorts bags before loading onto flights,
malfunctioned and baggage had to be sorted manually. British Airways had to
cancel 24 flights to and from Terminal 5 as a result of these latest problems. A
spokesperson for British Airways described the situation as ‘incredibly
disappointing’ and said they were working with BAA to get the problem resolved as
quickly as possible. BAA said the problem was entirely its responsibility.
Answer all questions below on the above case study:
1) Explain the terms feed-forward, concurrent and feedback control mechanisms.
Which of these is of most importance in this situation? Explain your choice.
2) How might immediate corrective action have been used in this situation? How
about basic corrective action?
3) Could British airways or BAA’s controls have been more effective? How?
4) What could other organisations learn from this situation about control systems?
In your answer give examples from other organisations re types of control they have
implemented.
(taken from M Scott, ‘New Heathrow hub :Slick but no saviour’, Businessweek,
28 March 2008, p.11).
Guidelines:
Assignment 2 Requirements: The following guidelines should assist you as you plan and undertake
your assignment: You are asked to carefully study the case as presented, and to research and read as
much as you can from literature sources that relate to the various concepts evident in the case.
Literature sources can include textbooks, academic papers and business journal papers. You should
use these reference sources to support the discussion you present in your assignment paper, as you
respond to the four questions asked. Note: extracts from quality references under Assignment 2
heading on Course site
Word count: 1800 words, plus or minus 10% Assignment weighting: 35%
References: 6 references minimum, 10 references maximum.
Use Harvard Referencing Guide UniSA protocol. Roadmap to Referencing may also be of use.
Assignment structure: Structure your assignment in the following manner:
Introduction– this is a small general introduction for the whole assignment. Do not have an
introduction for each question. Approximately 100 words.
Discussion -respond to each of the four questions in sequence. There is no need to type out
each question, just sub-head ‘Question 1’ etc. Approximately 450 words maximum words
per question. Note: Each question will not take the same amount of words to adequately
discuss that question, this is a guide for planning purposes only.
Conclusion-this is a small general conclusion for the whole assignment. Approximately 100
words.
Assignment format and presentation:
Write your responses to the questions in essay style, not dot points
Times New Roman
1.5 line spacing
Use margins so that markers can write comments in your assignment
Word count - calculate your assignment word count and place after the conclusion and
before your list of references
