Continental Airlines Essay

case case Continental Airlines:
One Company’s Flight to Success In the last decade, Continental Airlines has had a spotty track record. The airline twice filed for bankruptcy, realized diminished performance culminating in a $613 million loss in 1994, and was ranked dead last in industry indicators such as on-time performance among the major carriers. During these years, employees at Continental had undergone several series of layoffs and withstood both wage cuts and delayed wage increases in an effort to slash Continental’s costs. The result of these efforts was a demoralized workforce and a corporate reputation that put Continental near the top of Fortune’s list of “least admired” companies. Despite this history, things have …show more content…
He ordered departments to focus on specific targets that were important to customer service rather than on traditional cost-based measures. Consequently, the focus of the performance appraisals shifted toward achievement and facilitation of on-time flights. To emphasize the importance of this goal, management devised an incentive system that promised to pay each employee $65 each month the airline finished in the top half of the Department of Transportation’s rankings. If they achieved the number 1 ranking, each employee would receive $100. In addition, employees were provided with the information they needed to achieve these goals. Automated systems were put in place to let the staff track problems, and supervisors were able to show workers how their daily actions affected performance indicators. To top it all off, once profits started to come in, Bethune paid employees a postponed wage increase that was not due until 1996. To build on these achievements, Bethune continues to devise new ways to motivate the workers at Continental. For example, in July of 1996, to acknowledge perfect attendance by employees, seven workers were drawn from a list of thousands to receive new sport utility vehicles at the company’s expense. Since Bethune’s arrival in 1994, employees are paying more attention to their work and there has been a

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