The Emirates company launched its first two aircraft in 1985 and has been actively developing since then. Although the company has been following the goal of quality, not quantity, it grew up to have a fleet of more than 265 aircraft.1 Currently, it is one of the biggest air companies in the world providing high-quality service for millions of customers. The company is a subsidiary of the Emirates Group.
Organizational Culture and Environment
The company’s mission is to become the most admired and innovative airline. It is supported by the company’s vision, which is the establishment of the company as a global provider of exclusive quality service. The company has a strong organizational culture. Values are integral to the company’s organizational culture and are shares among its leaders and employees. The company is strongly connected to traditional Islamic values. Consequently, one of the focuses of the company management is helping indigent children.
Another important aspect of the company’s activity is charity provided via Emirates Airline Foundation, which is a non-profit organization focused on the enhancement of children’s quality of life.2 The Emirates possesses many qualities of a strong organizational culture. Thus, being an international company and employing workers of different cultures and nationalities, it manages to create productive workplaces and stimulate efficient teamwork. Moreover, Emirates is interested in an increase in the quality of services provided by the company.
Organizational culture implies the internal environment of the company. For the Emirates, company performance, management and staff, and customers are the crucial components of the internal environment. The company’s performance is constantly increasing. New destinations are opened, which attracts more customers. Management and staff also contribute to the high performance because the Emirates suggests highly skilled laborers for qualified employees and keeps them motivated. As for the customers, they receive a diversity of high-quality services, which stimulates them to use the company again.
The external global environment is crucial for an international company. The Emirates incorporate such factors of the external environment as economic, technological, demographic, and cultural. As for the economic factor, the company resides in a country with a strong economy, which provides opportunities for stable development. Also, the marker of air transportation is powerful and stable, partially due to low competition. The technological aspect is one of the most significant for the Emirates because the company tends to provide customers with the highest-quality service, which can be achieved through the application of the most recent technologies. Finally, demographic and cultural factors are meaningful for an international company. The Emirates organize many people of different nationalities from all over the world and make them a single and effective team.
Managing in a Global Environment
The global environment is important for Emirates because the company provides its services internationally. It is a global company which locates in the United Arab Emirates but services more than 155 routes to over 80 countries all over the world. It started in 1985 with only two aircraft which flew to Karachi, New Delhi, and Bombay.3 Two years later, the company had flights to London, Istanbul, Frankfurt, and other cities. In 1999, the company entered a hotel market. Moreover, its international activity went beyond air transportation.
Thus, it sponsored the biggest Australian horse racing, the Melbourne Cup, and the national cricket team.4 Further globalization of the company included investment into new aircraft and opening new routes. Also, the company became a sponsor of the English premiership football club Chelsea and later Arsenal. At present, the Emirates became the airline of the year at the 2018 Air Transportation Awards, which is a prestigious award.5
Planning
Planning is an integral part of the company’s functioning. It is expected to consider the company’s goals and the situation on the market and is aimed at establishing strategies that can help the company achieve its goals in the current conditions. Planning of the Emirates’ activity is grounder on the UAE Vision 2021 and Dubai Plan 2021 in addition to the company’s development strategy. 6 Also, planning is provided by a team of trained professionals who consider the interests of both the employees and the customers.
The plan of the Emirates includes such aspects as business resilience and performance, strengthening of their global presence and capabilities, as well as laying grounds for the future.7 Also, one of the specific features of Emirates’ planning is its financial transparency. Thus, the company presents annual financial reports, which are available for every interested person and include both data for the previous financial year and a short description of the near plans.
Strategic Management
Strategic management is a key component of organization performance. As a rule, the process of strategic management presupposes the identification of the company’s missions, goals, and strategies, which is accomplished through SWOT analysis. For the Emirates, the major strengths comprise a high-quality service for its customers (including, for example, a self-entertainment system for passengers), and its strategic location. As the weaknesses of the company, the following aspects can be mentioned. First of all, the maintenance of the brand image is expensive. The company invests millions in purchasing new aircraft and developing new destinations. Also, competition can be mentioned as a weakness, while there are not many new competitors.
The opportunities of the Emirates include the constant development of its fleet and advancement in the quality of service. Also, another opportunity is the further development of new routes, which attract new loyal customers. As for the threats, the growth of the fuel prices can be mentioned because it leads to an increase in operational costs. Also, alterations in the policies of governments of the countries which are destinations of the Emirates can become a threat to the success of the company.
Organizational Structure and Design
Organizational structure and design are important for every company. These aspects determine relationships within a company, provides coordination of its activities and defines the responsibilities within the company as a whole and its departments in particular. A specific feature of the Emirates is that the majority of its executives have been working with the company since its creation. 8 Its Chairman and Chief Executive of both the Emirates Airline and Group is His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum. He has been a Chairman since the company launch and continues managing the company.
The Emirates Group employs pilots, cabin crew members, engineers, airline and airport operators, corporate and commercial specialists, customer services workers, and a variety of specialists who provide the functioning of the company.9 Particular attention is given to UAE nationals because the Emirates Group is a company dedicated to investing in local talent recruiting and giving opportunities for the development of Arab graduate specialists. The company is divided into a variety of departments, including those of human resources, information technology, planning and research, engineering, security, and many others.
Decentralization is typical of the Emirates company because it functions in a complex international environment and provides flights to more than 155 destinations in over 80 countries. It can also be concluded that the company supports employee empowerment trends allowing its workers to make decisions. The activity of the company is characterized by high formalization. The high responsibility of the company providing air transportation demands exceptional attention to rules and procedures, which guarantee the safety of passengers as well as the crew.
On the whole, the Emirates looks like a mechanistic organization. It is highly specialized in providing air transportation service, it has a division into departments, and it is highly formalized. One of the features which does not suit the mechanistic organization is decentralization, but it can be explained by the international character of the company’s activity.
Conclusion
On the whole, the Emirates is one of the biggest and the most successful air transportation companies in the world. It provides its customers with high-quality service and focuses on sustainable development. To meet the growing demand for quality and variety of service, the Emirates invest in new aircraft, technology development, the discovery of new destinations, and provision of highly-technological service. However, the company is not only interested in profiting. Much attention is given to employee satisfaction as well as to social aspects such as a charity. Although the company is located in the United Arab Emirates and is influenced by the culture of the country, it manages to provide successful business internationally.
Reference List
About Us. History, 2018, Web.
About Us. Leadership Team, 2018, Web.
About Us. The Emirates Airline Foundation, 2018, Web.
Emirates Group Careers, 2018, Web.
Emirates Named âAirline of the Yearâ at the 2018 Air Transport Awards. 2018, Web.
The Emirates Group Annual Report. 2018. Web.
Footnotes
- About us. History, 2018. Web.
- About us. The Emirates Airline Foundation, 2018. Web.
- About us. History, 2018. Web.
- About us. History, 2018. Web.
- Emirates named âAirline of the Yearâ at the 2018 Air Transport Awards, 2018. Web.
- The Emirates Group Annual Report, 2018. Web.
- The Emirates Group Annual Report, 2018. Web.
- About Us. Leadership Team, 2018. Web.
- Emirates Group Careers, 2018. Web.