Abstract
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Many sectors worldwide have been impacted by government restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, restrictions on travel have resulted in major losses for organizations operating within the aviation sector. This study aims to emphasize the challenges faced by these organizations while they implement turnaround management strategies. The study is based on 30 semi-structured interviews with frontline managers working for airline service providers in three different departments of an airport in Australia. The organization has implemented several turnaround management strategies to survive the crisis caused by COVID-19 restrictions, creating new challenges for its work environment. Our findings indicate that the frontline managers faced two main challenges during and after the implementation of turnaround management strategies. First, inadequate human resources, caused by a lack of personnel resources and poor leadership selection. Second, a lack of communication, caused by excluding frontline managers from the turnaround management planning stage; poor sharing of information during the implementation stage; inadequate direction of frontline managers; and a lack of feedback channels regarding the change process. Based on its findings, the study recommends building a frontline manager task force and creating a strategic communication plan for frontline and senior managers.
RAS ID
32521
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
2020
Volume
12
Issue
23
Funding Information
Edith Cowan University - Open Access Support Scheme 2020
School
School of Business and Law
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Publisher
MDPI
Identifier
Bassam Buhusayen
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6494-8835
Pi-Shen Seet
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0267-5947
Alan Coetzer
Included in
Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, Business and Corporate Communications Commons, Human Resources Management Commons, Sociology Commons, Strategic Management Policy Commons, Tourism and Travel Commons
Comments
Buhusayen, B., Seet, P. S., & Coetzer, A. (2020). Turnaround management of airport service providers operating during COVID-19 restrictions. Sustainability, 12(23), article 10155. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122310155