American corporate culture is fucked: The Incompetence of American Airlines. Nutshell version: UX consultant redesigns AA website as an exercise, receives thoughtful response from employee at AA (a fellow UX designer), which he posts with permission as a follow-up. AA fires the employee an hour later. (via DF)
What could have been a learning experience for the management at AA turned into a witch hunt, and ultimately an online PR disaster that didn’t have to happen. After years of this self defeating circle-the-wagons mentality, I would have thought the old grayhaired suits would realize by now that it’s more damaging to attempt to squelch this kind of thing than it would be to embrace it as a chance for positive change. Imagine what might have happened if the suits had engaged the UX guys in a meaningful dialog, cut through the bureaucracy and, hmm, made the website better? Imagine if they had let the employee write back and describe how his post had made a sudden difference inside the corporation, or how the website was improved? It might not have been the attention-grabbing headline it is now, but people do listen to positive PR, and that’s the kind of thing companies pay big money to generate.
Incomprehensible.

Date posted: November 6, 2009 | Filed under art/design | Comments Off on The Incompetence of American Airlines

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