Background of the event

The aim of the report is to provide a series of recommendations which shows the ways that help the company to better manage the performance of the staff appropriately. This recommendations report has been prepared on a case study of the flight centre in Australia. The report includes the good description of the case that took place in Australia. Further, there is discussion related to the academic literature and the current trends and issues that are linked to the assignment. This report also includes the effective management of the performance of staff appropriately. The justification related to the need for the improvement of performance management, coaching and delegation of the business is discussed relating it with the case study that is discussed. In simple words, the context is to include the evidenced-based strategy which will support the improvement according to the event that took place.

The event is related to the Flight centre as they accused of ripping off the customers and underpaying staff in the alcohol-fuelled cult workplace. Australia travel giant Flight centre which is well-known travel company got accused of ripping off their customers and underpaying staff. This made the employees comment that working in the company is like being in a cult. In the investigation by the ABC, the current and former employees of the travel company spoken that Flight centre encourage the travel consultants to gouge the customers which is possible by adding hundreds and more dollars in the booking amount of the customers. In addition to this, they said that the company is formed on hard work; play hard with the alcohol-fuelled culture that grinds the staff of the company with the low pay and excessive unpaid overtime hours. This is clear from the comment of the employees that flight centre charge for the high amount to the customers. This is the main issue that is reflected in the case of the Flight centre by the ABC news (McGrath and Carter, 2018).

In the investigation of ABC, it was found that the flight centre earns the margin on the products that are sold by them but it does not in excessive marking up of the amount. Moreover, in Australia flight centre has one team that proactively monitor the margins on every individual transaction and also take the relative actions which include the dismissal of employees (Bainbridge, 2018). The case study of the flight centre shows the payment as a salary that is made by the company to their employees which are less than Australia’s minimum wage slab. This minimum slab issues forced the Fair work commission to raise the allegation against the company.  

This section of the report includes the current trends and issues that are linked with the flight centre case study with the help of the relevant current academic literature and relevant management literature. Considering the McGrath and Carter, 2018 investigation, it was clear that dozens of the staff members of the company promoted the travel consultants to charge the high amounts from the customers for the dollars of bookings. Along with this, it was an encounter that the company pay low wages to their employees and with this, it was found that the employees are not getting the amount for the overtime done by them for the company.

Current trends and issues associated with the case

In addition to this McGrath and Carter, 2018 commented that there is a set process that is followed by the consultants to charge the high amount. The process of charging the high amount to the customers is also revealed by the employees in which when the customers make the reservation for the flight then the flight centre manually add the additional amount in booking through the flight centre online system. This amount which is added by the company varies and range between the $30 to hundreds or even thousand dollars. This whole process takes place before the company actually reveal the prices to their customers.

Agreeing to same another Travel Trouble, 2018 reflects that, the staff member says to the customers that the flight was $1,500 and the flight centre team will mark-up with the amount with this they make the customer aware that the prices of the flight tickets are $1,800. The staff member of Flight centre said that generally the margin which is charged is 10% but it varies a lot and can reach 20% as some of the staff are caught doing the same. This event takes place occasionally and according to the customer’s in-flight centre. This shows the motive of the company that is to get as much money as you could get from the customers.

Agreeing to same, the Travel weekly, 2018 shared the reviews that it is disappointing that the allegation related to the Cult-Like’ Work Culture and the method through which the agents are paid were disclosed in public. Flight centre remains on a low and confusing method for paying salary to their staff members. The salary that is offered to the travel consultants is equal to $33,500 annually which is almost $4,000 that is below to Australia’s minimum wage slab. The remaining of the salary which is offered to the employee includes the commission that is earned by them on the sale of hotels, airfares, and travel insurance and on holiday packages. Though, this is the fact that the flight centre company highlighted that they never received any complaints and allegations from the staff related to the employees pay.

According to the Bainbridge, 2018 Flight centre found as accused of underpaying staff and workplace bullying. This shows that the flight centre is dealing with the issue related to the pay that they are supposed to pay to their employees. The issues lead to the many issues for the company as this affected the performance and the goodwill of the travel company. Considering the issue related to the work pay, the finance sector union has lodged a dispute with the Fair work commission of Australia for alleging the hundreds of staff working at the Flight centre as they are not paid for the overtime done by them. In addition to this, the investigation of ABC also witnesses that some of the staff members also suffered from the serious mental health issues. The employee has claimed that these issues were caused by the workplace bullying.

Considering the viewpoint of another Mone and London, 2018, the issues of the work may affect the productivity of the employees which is not good for the performance of the flight centre. Therefore, the wage issue raise to the problem of performance as the employees doesn’t remain motivated towards the work that they are supposed to perform within the organisation. Along with this, this is found that the customers are not happy with the travel company as this leads to the dissatisfaction of the customers due to the excessive marking-up. This shows that there is a lack in the coaching of the employees is essential which will help in delivering the delight experience to the customers. Along with this, there is a need of the delegating the authority to the employees so that they can take the right steps. Though, considering this case it is found that the employees are not getting enough pay due to which they are adding the high markup charges from the customers.

According to the case of Flight centre, it has been found that there is need to implement the strategy that can support the improvement of business in terms of performance management, coaching and delegation (Siebert and Martin, 2016). Some of the strategies are given below: –

• Communicating goals and performance objectives: – It is must for the Flight centre to clear mention the communication goals and performance objectives to their employees. This clarity can be related to the markup amount that they charge from the customers as there is a need for the fixed percentage that is charged from the customers (Pollock, 2018). This will fix the amount that they will charge from the customer. Moreover, this clear communication will create the clarity for the employees due to which the performance of the flight centre will be managed.  
• Motivating employees: – The performance of the Flight centre is directly linked with the employees of the company (Shields, et al 2015). The employees of the flight centre are not getting the minimum wage according to the Australian minimum wage slab. This demotivates the employees towards the work that they are supposed to perform within the organisation. Therefore, it is must for the company to motivate the employees which are possible by offering them effective payment for their work and rewards which motivate them towards the work.
• Providing feedback: – Flight Centre needs to identify the areas where the employees are lacking behind in managing the operations. According to the operations performed by the employees, the company need to share feedback with the employees which work as coaching for them as they will learn more things that they are supposed to perform. This has been found that Flight Centre offers the training in which they Cleary say that the consultant can easily markup on flight reservation. This is something which leads to the issues for the company (Zeiger, 2018). In coaching the company should offer the personalised skills training and personal development training which leads to improvement in performance and employees development.
• Clearly define roles and responsibilities: – The strategy that is required to be followed by the flight centre is the clearly defining the roles and responsibilities. This strategy is applied by the company when it comes to delegating the roles and responsibilities (David, 2016). In this strategy, the flight centre will delegate the roles and responsibilities which are related to the operations only (DeMers, 2018). This will help the employees clear perform the work that is possible from their side.
• Accountability: – It is must for the company to ask for the activities done by them as they are accountable for the activities. Accountability includes being answerable for the activities that are performed by the employees (Dopkiss, 2015). Flight Centre will be able to improve the performance when they will apply this strategy because the employees will make the decisions and if anything went wrong then they will be answerable for the same.

• It is suggested to the flight centre to follow the regulations related to the Australia minimum wage slab for their employees. By following these regulations, the company will be able to pay an effective salary to employees which will meet their needs. In addition, the company should pay off the complete amount for the overtime done by the employees.
• It is recommended to the flight centre to not to charge the additional amount to the customers unnecessary according to their willingness and customer.
• It is suggested to the company that they should fix the markup percentage that they are charging from the customers for making the reservation for the tickets.
• The employees of the company are considered as their assets and this is the prior responsibility of the company to manage their employees. It is suggested to the flight centre to improve the workplace culture and to motivate the employees. Further, they should understand the personal objectives of the employees.

Conclusion 

In the end, it can be concluded that the flight centre has done wrong with the customers as they started charging the high amount for the booking of the flight tickets. Along with this, the employees or staff members of the flight centre said that they were unable to get the minimum wage in the organisation with this they didn’t receive the amount for their overtime done by them. This leads to the allegation on the company by Fair work commission Australia. The report includes the discussion related to the case that took place with the reference of the ABC news. Further, there is a discussion of the current trends and issues with the support of the literature. In the report, the strategies are also included that are required to be followed by the company related to the performance management, coaching and delegation.

References 

Bainbridge, A. (2018) Flight Centre accused of underpaying staff, workplace bullying [Online]. Available from: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/flight-centre-accused-of-underpaying-staff-workplace-bullying/10186340 [Accessed on 7^th October 2018]

David, S., 2016. Beyond goals: Effective strategies for coaching and mentoring. New York: Routledge.

DeMers, J. (2018) 7 Strategies for Delegating Better and Getting More Done [Online]. Available from: https://www.inc.com/jayson-demers/7-strategies-to-delegate-better-and-get-more-done.html [Accessed on 7^th October 2018]

Dopkiss, M. (2015) 4 Strategies To Master The Art Of Delegation [Online]. Available from: https://www.fastcompany.com/3045434/4-strategies-to-master-the-art-of-delegation [Accessed on 7^th October 2018]

McGrath, P. and Carter, J.S. (2018) Flight Centre accused of ‘ripping off’ customers, underpaying staff in alcohol-fuelled ‘cult’ workplace [Online]. Available from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-22/flight-centre-accused-of-ripping-off-customers-underpaying-staff/10051474 [Accessed on 7^th October 2018]

Mone, E.M. and London, M. (2018) Employee engagement through effective performance management: A practical guide for managers. New York: Routledge.

Pollock, S. (2018) 6 Strategies for Effective Performance Management [Online]. Available from: https://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2018/01/11/6-strategies-effective-performance-management/ [Accessed on 7^th October 2018]

Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., Johns, R., O’Leary, P., Robinson, J. and Plimmer, G. (2015) Managing employee performance & reward: Concepts, practices, strategies. Cambridge University Press.

Siebert, S. and Martin, G. (2016) Managing people and organizations in changing contexts. New York: Routledge.

Travel Trouble (2018) Flight Centre accused of “ripping off” customers and underpaying staff in “cult” workplace [Online]. Available from: https://www.oversixty.com.au/travel/travel-trouble/flight-centre-accused-of-ripping-off-customers-and-underpaying-staff-in-cult-workplace [Accessed on 7^th October 2018]

Travel weekly (2018) Flight Centre Is Under Fire After An Abc Investigation Has Raised Questions About The Way Agents Are Paid And Its ‘Cult-Like’ Work Culture. [Online]. Available from: https://www.travelweekly.com.au/article/flight-centre-accused-of-underpaying-staff-ripping-off-customers-and-cult-like-work-culture/ [Accessed on 7^th October 2018]

Zeiger, S. (2018) Strategies and Techniques for Mentoring and Coaching [Online]. Available from: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/strategies-techniques-mentoring-coaching-23317.html [Accessed on 7^th October 2018]