Even Bag’s pilots, who did not oppose a check-in system, were said to be sympathetic ” with the … Heck-in staff over the way that the airline had mishandled the introduction of the swipe cards. ” 113 One commentator labeled the change process as a ” commercial disaster” serving as ” an important warning? about the dangers of manage- meet by diktat, certainly, but, more profoundly, about an incipient revolt against the close control and monitoring of our lives and movements that modern information technology enables. 114 The Economist argued that management’s ” big mistake was to introduce a new working practice at the start of the summer quarter when the airline sakes all its money. ” 115 Similarly, The Times wrote that this was a major management blunder: ” To pick July, the start of the peak holiday season, to launch an unpopular new clock-in system, is asking for trouble. To push through a scheme without real- zing the extent of the resistance by those involved suggests a management aloof from the mood of its employees.
And to allow managers to give con- trajectory statements on the use of the new cards seems guaranteed to foment mistrust. ” 116 As Hutting argued, with 20, 000 other BAA workers sing the swipe card system, ” Imposing them after months of inconclusive talks must have seemed? especially given the pressure to contain costs, with the airline set to report its worst ever quarterly loss of EYE million this week? a risk worth taking. It was a massive miscalculation of the workforces mood. 117 This miscalculation was related to staff cynicism and bitterness about the redundancy program that had Eden conducted, star Tears AT a lack AT consultation, poor pay rates, and dissatisfaction with manage- meet having enormous knowledge on which to act n the future. The Guardian echoed this viewpoint, noting that the ” trigger was undoubtedly the back-handed way BAA management at Heathers tried to force the intro- diction of swipe cards at exactly the wrong time, when the peak of the summer boom was approach- inning.
They should have known how important it was to approach any potential changes in the working patterns of women Juggling with childcare ached- ales in a very sensitive way. ” 118 Rod Edmonton, chief executive of BAA, Jackson- edged that it was wrong of his senior management o introduce the new clock-in system in the way they did; he was quoted as saying on BBC Radio, in response to a statement put to him that BAA had been guilty of ” bad management” and ” crass situ- uppity’ for not predicting the level of anger to the swipe card: ” With the gift of hindsight, it’s difficult to disagree with you.
