A Great North Eastern Railway Case Study

7/17/2019 A Great North Eastern Railway Case Study

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A Great North Eastern Railway case studyCreating an ultimate travel experience

Introduction

As a newly-formed rail operating company, Great North Eastern Railway Ltd (GNER) took over one of the new rail franchises to rn train services after the privatisation of !ritish Rail"#he franchise provided GNER with the opportnity to rn rail services along one of the

$siest parts of the railway network, the East %oast &ain Line" Althogh on-track competitionis limited nder the system adopted, the market is highly competitive, with rail travel havingto compete with all other forms of transport" GNER crrently rns ' trains every week" #ocompete in the modern transport market, GNER is $ringing a$ot a critical shift in its

marketing, away from prodct and process orientation to $eing a market and cstomer drivenorganisation"#his case stdy looks at the way in which an organisation can make a fndamental change inthe way it approaches its $siness and the processes necessary to translate the ideas on paper into the realities of day-to-day $siness practice"

The mission statement

A shift in marketing orientation re*ires a complete reassessment of the $siness" &any $sinesses prodce a mission statement in an attempt to descri$e what they $elieve the

prpose of their $siness to $e" #o $e of any real vale, a mission statement re*ires verycarefl consideration and development" &ore than +st a set of words, a mission statementwill $ecome the cornerstone of the $sinesss philosophy and a constant point of reference"owever, a mission statement shold not $e carved in stone" .t mst $e constantly reviewedand e/amined"

As it was to represent the whole prpose of GNER0s e/istence, defining the missionstatement was a very important process" .t involved the company asking a nm$er of key*estions sch as1

• ow are we perceived $y or cstomers2

• 3hat do we plan to achieve and how2

• 3hat does this mean for the cstomers2

&arket research is the systematic gathering, recording and analysing of data a$ot pro$lemsrelating to the marketing of goods and services" .t is an important process and can often

prodce some ne/pected reslts" GNER makes e/tensive se of market research to collect $oth *antitative and *alitative evidence concerning cstomer perceptions" .t is not how thecompany thinks it performs, $t how cstomers think it performs, that will inflence their travel decisions"



#he starting point for GNER mst $e the cstomer" .f a cstomer were to descri$e his or her ltimate travel e/perience, what wold he or she say2 GNER ses this as its goal and sets thestrategies in place to satisfy these o$+ectives" #his has inevita$ly involved a complete changeof otlook and cltre in an indstry not previosly renowned for its fle/i$ility" #he wholeworkforce has had to $e retrained and re-motivated"

Core values and brand values

4or GNER, consideration of these *estions has led to a nm$er of important concepts" #hecore vales define the companys strengths, show how it wants to treat people and how itneeds to $ehave to deliver its mission statement and achieve its vision" As can $e seen in thediagram, GNER considers its core vales to $e safety, relia$ility, team-working, valing

people, consistency, aspiration, innovation, distinctiveness and cstomer focs"

#he $rand vales are what the cstomers see and feel dring their contact with the company -what GNER calls 5the cstomer service e/perience" &arket research has shown that the

important elements in any +orney are, for e/ample, the time taken, the comfort and a$senceof hassle and the fre*ency of train services" .n addition to these are the aspirational $randvales, i"e" the vales that GNER wold like to achieve" 4or e/ample, GNER wold like to $eknown for having staff for whom nothing is too mch tro$le, and for providing a wholee/perience that is memora$le and impressive"#he mission statement therefore $ecomes a description of what the company and itsemployees aspire to $e" GNER0s mission is to $e 5#he ltimate travel e/perience for everycstomer" #he statement then lists the ways in which this is to $e achieved to satisfy all thestakeholders in the company"

#he service vision is the $leprint for the sccessfl implementation of the mission statement"

.t is a$ot how the company does things, its attitdes, $ehaviors and procedres" Greatemphasis has $een placed on role modelling and leadership from the top" #he diagram shows



how each of these elements interacts with the others" #he service vision identifies why GNER is important and different from its competitors" .t is designed to $e $oth challenging andmotivating 6 5a nifying am$ition for all GNER in painting a pictre of what or cstomerscan e/pect" .t is the promise that GNER makes to all its passengers

Vision

#he prodction of the mission statement and service vision can $e a lengthy process andinvolves collecting ideas and holding discssions at all levels of the $siness" owever, this isonly the first stage" #he vision then has to $e applied to the day-to-day provision of on-trainservice"GNER crrently offers two levels of service" #he companys premim prodct is 4irst %lass"#hese cstomers are typically travelling on $siness, are fre*ent train sers and tend to $e

predominantly male and over 7 years old" 4irst %lass represents over 89 of GNER0s

revene" GNER aims to offer these cstomers a ni*e premim personal service" #his mightinvolve the passenger $eing welcomed at the train side $y GNER personnel, $eing shown totheir seat, complimentary newspapers, drinks and snacks, advice that their destination is ne/tand assistance when leaving the train" #his is the kind of service that has ntil recently $eenassociated with air travel rather than train +orneys" #he emphasis is on providing the higheststandards of service withot $eing overly intrsive"#his means that GNER employees have to $e prepared to accept new responsi$ilitiesinclding lggage management, cleaning and trying to maintain a hotel environment" #heyneed to have a far greater knowledge of the prodct the company offers" 4or e/ample, thismight involve information on tickets, connections or timings, knowledge of the range of catering availa$le and any other services offered on or off the train, sch as 4irst %lass

longes" A$ove all, employees have to $e fle/i$le in the delivery of the 4irst %lass :ervice"#his will involve what is called real time management" .n the past, sch services have $eenoffered only on a process $asis" #his might have meant offering drinks served from a trolleyevery half-hor" #he new service vision means that the cstomer has a drink when he or shewants it and it is p to the personnel on the train to adapt and make sre cstomers areaccommodated"GNER management can define the cstomer e/perience $t mst leave the person in chargeon the train to ensre that this is delivered" #his will re*ire on-the-spot decision-making andthe employees taking on mch greater responsi$ility" #he vast ma+ority of GNERs revenecomes from :tandard :ervice passengers, many of whom travel for leisre prposes; visitingfriends and relatives or taking short $reaks and days ot" :tandard :ervice cstomers tend to

$e far more price-sensitive than 4irst %lass travellers" #he emphasis in :tandard :ervice isstill very mch on total *ality" %stomers need to feel welcomed, to $e assisted with their lggage and directed to their seats" :nacks and drinks need to $e offered $oth at their seat andin a $ffet car" #ravel information needs to $e freely availa$le and all possi$le assistanceshold $e given to cstomers at all stages of their +orney"



Restructuring

GNER is a people-oriented $siness and as sch recognises the importance of its employeesin ensring its sccess" <elivering this kind of service to achieve the vision re*ires thecomplete spport of everyone who works for GNER from the directors down" #he staffingstrctre GNER inherited from !ritish Rail was cm$ersome and divisive" #here were ninedifferent grades of staff with clearly defined fnctions to perform" <emarcation lines werevery clearly drawn and the rail indstry had a tradition of high nion involvement" #he systemwas process-led, which meant that each employee0s role was decided and set down for themto perform $y the $ook" .t was infle/i$le and took little accont of cstomer re*irements,

particlarly in nsal sitations"

GNER has ndertaken a restrctring which is creating mlti-skilled teams on all trains,working nder the gidance of a %stomer :ervice &anager, who is empowered with the totalresponsi$ility for delivering e/cellent service" #he development of team-working and thedesire to make their service proactive rather than reactive has $een the driving force"

4irstly, all ' on-train staff had to $e retrained to meet the re*irements of their new role"#his process was not +st a$ot new knowledge, $t also an e/ercise in motivation" #he aimwas to move from $eing process-led to $ecoming geninely cstomer driven on a day-to-day

$asis" Employees are encoraged to work as teams and prioritise their activities, always placing cstomer contact ahead of less visi$le activity sch as administration and paperwork"

Recruitment

#he recritment and indction of new staff was completely reassessed to fit in with the newservice vision and the application forms and interviews placed great emphasis on the need for awareness of cstomer needs" #his process was not withot its teething pro$lems and GNER had to recognise significant initial difficlties and $reakdowns in commnication $etween

mem$ers of staff and also $etween management and staff" #his was often de to the cltrewhere individals were relctant to take responsi$ility" #eam-working practices were notdeveloped as *ickly as wold have $een hoped and this was $lamed on a lack of direction"

Nevertheless, GNER standards were +dged to $e significantly higher than those of itscompetitors $y independent consltants"

=nce the on-train crews had received their initial retraining, GNER trned its attention to theremaining 8, GNER employees with an intention to cascade the service vision and missionstatement" #his was done $y organising >? small grop sessions, taking in all the different

fnctions to improve awareness of all the different activities and emphasise their interdependence and impact on the cstomer"



GNER can only +dge the sccess of its initiatives throgh e/tensive market research todiscover cstomer perceptions of the service $eing provided" !est practice $enchmarking isalso employed, $oth internally (within the company) and e/ternally (when looking atcompetitors)" !enchmarking is an approach which has $ecome increasingly poplar in recenttimes for organisations wanting to improve the *ality of their service" .t involves identifying

$est practice arond an organisation" At GNER, visits to other departments and companieswere sed to collect ideas" #hese cold then $e $roght $ack to GNER to e/emplify the $est

practices $eing ndertaken within the market so that GNER cold make a realistic appraisalof the service it offers"

Conclusion#he changes necessary for GNER to compete effectively in the modern transport world have

involved a change in the whole cltre of the $siness" #his change has to $e continos andGNER $elieves it shold $e seen as a +orney, not a destination" .t can often seem a thanklesstask and re*ires high energy levels to introdce it and sstain the impets" owever, in anincreasingly competitive market, the $ottom line will reflect the a$ility of the company to $e

$oth fle/i$le and adapta$le"

A Great North Eastern Railway Case Study

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