Mina O’Reilly at Logan Airport TSA, Case Study Example

An introduction to the case study

The case study focuses on Mina O’Reilly who is a supervisor at Transportation Security Administration at Logan Airport. O’Reilly is facing a situation whereby a loyal employee of the company has breached security procedures of the company. This has resulted into the closure of the terminus for at least 45 minutes of the peak hours. This caused a serious travel delays across the U.S. O’Reilly are in a fix and she should make a decision regarding the losses caused by the employee in question. On the other hand, the employee in question is among the best performing employees of the company; thus, he is an asset for TSA. The senior management at the company is calling for accountability. As earlier said, the person responsible for the security breach is a valued and passionate employee worker who has been working for TSA since its formation. However, as a supervisor, O’Reilly must make a decision (Anteby & McFee, 2009).

Body: answer all of the following:

What should Mina O’Reilly do with Ludo Sanchez? Why?

Most companies are likely to respond by firing employees who causes such serious damage to the company. This paper recommends that Mina O’Reilly should give Ludo Sanchez an opportunity to explain himself. As a manager of personal issues at the company, O’Reilly should be able to organize for training grounds such as workshops for educating Ludo Sanches and other employees. This training will be able to educate the employees on security policies and procedures at Logan Airport. In addition, O’Reilly can respond by upgrading the company security management plans to address the inherent incident associated with the security breach. The above two approaches will help the employees to understand the risks associated with security breach thus develop plans to mitigate them in future (Lord, 2010).

Alternatively, Mina O’Reilly can decide to take disciplinary actions and propose for the removal or suspension of Ludo Sanchez. If she goes by this decision, it will reaffirm that the company’s commitment of ensuring the safety of all the public who are travelling. Moreover, it will show how TSA is committed to holding its employees to the highest standards of accountability and conduct. This will ensure that all employees within the company perform their roles up to the standards of the administration (Berrick, 2006).

What model of employment does TSA offer its employees?

Permanent employment: TSA offers permanent employment for its employees. This means that the company hires staff with concluding employment contract. TSA does not hire employees from temporary employment agencies. It employs by completing an employment contract that regulates the conditions under which workers apply for positions and interviewed. All employees are legally employed by TSA. This means that the company gives the employees financial remuneration. This is because the employees have a contractual relationship with TSA. The terms and duration of employee termination from the company are subject to labor regulation. This has been set out in the service contract between the employees and the company. TSA makes key decisions on the general working conditions including wages and working hours. The company and the union (Lord, 2010) collectively make these decisions.

This model is effective

This model helps in retaining effective employees who understand the logistics of work. Such employees can bring immense benefits to the company because after serving for a long time, they are better placed to guide other employees in achieving the company’s objectives. In addition, this model is cost effective because TSA can avoid all the expenses of hiring and training new employees. Therefore, the company concentrates and focuses on critical issues rather than wasting time trying to find new employees (Anteby & McFee, 2009).

How I would have done things differently

In my opinion, after comparing the performance of TSA with that of private contractors, I find that TSA is involved in practices that are highly flawed. Another issue is that TSA is careening airports without a unified approach to security. This precipitates divisions in responsibility, which later leads to security flaws and problems. On this basis, I would advise the company to get out of the business of directly conducting screenings at airports. I would take two strategic approaches: first, I would encourage TSA to certify contractors who will be engaged in conducting the screenings at airports.

Secondly, the airports will be responsible for managing the theses contractors under the oversight of TSA. I would not allow TSA to manage these contractors. In addition, I would recommend that TSA sets goals and performance metrics and encourage all airports that have been approved by TSA to design procedures that meet particular needs. TSA is an oversight agency, and I would not authorize it to manage airport security directly. This is because allowing TSA to manage airport security will be violating the International Civil Aviation Organization (Berrick, 2006).

References

Anteby, M. & McFee, E. (2009). Mina O’Reilly at Logan Airport’s TSA (TN).Sydney: Cengage Learning EMEA

Berrick, C. (2006). Transportation Security Administration. Bloomington, Ind: DIANE Publishing

Lord, S. (2010). Aviation Security: TSA Is Increasing Deployment of the Advanced Imaging        Technology. California: Atlantic Publishers & Dist.