ASSIGNMENT
Make My Trip
Introduction
MakeMyTrip Limited is an Indian online travel company, which was founded in
2000. Its headquarter is located in Gurugram, Haryana which offers a wide
range of travel services including airline tickets, domestic and international
holiday packages, hotel reservations, rail and bus tickets. As of June 2023, the
company has 146 active franchisees operating in over 100 cities. MakeMyTrip
also has international offices located in New York, Singapore, Kuala
Lumpur, Phuket, Bangkok, Dubai, and Istanbul. It is classified as an online
travel agency (OTA).
Logo :
History & Background
Founded in 2000 by Deep Kalra, MakeMyTrip started as an online travel
platform to cater to the growing travel needs of Indian consumers. It has
expanded its services across India and internationally, with a major focus on
creating user-friendly experiences and supporting both leisure and business
travellers.
Vision
MakeMyTrip's vision is to “empower travellers with comprehensive choices
and seamless travel experiences.” The company aims to become the most
trusted and user-friendly travel platform, offering the widest range of travel
products and services with the goal of simplifying and enhancing the overall
travel experience for customers.
Organizational Structure / Set-up : MakeMyTrip follows a corporate
hierarchical structure typical of large, multinational firms. The organizational
structure can be divided into several key areas:
[Link] Team: The company is led by a CEO (Deep Kalra, Founder &
Chairman). The top leadership includes a board of directors, senior executives,
and departmental heads, responsible for key strategic decisions. The leadership
at MakeMyTrip adopts a transformational style focused on innovation,
adaptability, and continuous improvement.
2. Departments:
• Operations: Managing day-to-day travel bookings, customer service,
and platform operations.
• Technology and Product Development: Responsible for maintaining
the platform, mobile apps, and customer experience through innovation
and technological enhancements.
• Sales and Marketing: Focuses on promoting services, reaching new
customers, and retaining existing ones through digital marketing and
partnership strategies.
• Finance: Manages the company’s financial health, reporting, and
investor relations.
• Human Resources: Oversees recruitment, employee engagement, and
development.
3. Regional Offices: MakeMyTrip has offices across various cities in India, as
well as in international markets such as the USA, UAE, and Singapore. Each
office typically manages local sales and marketing efforts, along with customer
support functions.
4. Subsidiaries: MakeMyTrip has acquired several companies to expand its
portfolio, including Goibibo and redBus, which operate as subsidiaries and
provide additional services like bus booking and budget accommodations.
This structure allows MakeMyTrip to manage its vast operations across multiple
countries and segments efficiently, while maintaining a strong focus on
customer satisfaction and technological innovation.
Decision-making at MakeMyTrip is largely decentralized, encouraging
autonomy within divisions but maintaining overall strategic oversight from top
leadership.
Organizational Work Culture
MakeMyTrip fosters a start-up-like, fast-paced work environment, even though
it is now a large company. It is known for its dynamic and innovation-driven
work culture, which reflects the company's core mission of simplifying travel
for customers. The culture emphasizes innovation, flexibility, and collaboration,
encouraging employees to take ownership of their projects and contribute
creative solutions.
• Innovation and Learning: Employees are encouraged to experiment
with new ideas and approaches to solve customer problems. This
innovation-first mindset has led to the development of features like
“MMT Black” (a loyalty program), “Virtual Travel Assistants”, and an
advanced AI-driven recommendation engine.
• Employee Engagement: MakeMyTrip invests in employee well-being
and development. It regularly organizes hackathons, cross-functional
projects, and workshops to upskill employees and keep them motivated.
The company's “Go Green” initiative encourages eco-friendly practices
among its workforce, reflecting its commitment to sustainability.
• Inclusivity and Diversity: The company promotes diversity in hiring and
fosters an inclusive work culture. For example, it runs initiatives to
support women in tech and provides mentoring for young professionals
from diverse backgrounds.
Team Orientation
MakeMyTrip places strong emphasis on “collaboration” and “teamwork”,
essential for the cross-functional nature of its projects. Teams across
departments, such as technology, operations, marketing, and product
management, work together to deliver seamless user experiences.
• Agile Teams: Many teams at MakeMyTrip work using “agile
methodologies”, breaking down projects into smaller sprints to facilitate
flexibility and quicker turnarounds. For instance, when developing their
mobile app features, teams from product, design, and engineering come
together to iterate and release new features rapidly.
• Flat Hierarchy: While MakeMyTrip has a formal hierarchical structure,
it maintains a relatively “flat organization” in practice. Senior leadership
is accessible, and decision-making is decentralized to empower teams.
For example, product teams have the autonomy to launch new features or
run A/B tests to optimize the user experience.
• Cross-functional Collaboration : Employees are often involved in
cross-team collaborations. For example, when the company wanted to
revamp its flight booking platform, teams from customer insights,
product design, and software development worked closely to identify user
pain points and implement a solution that enhanced the booking flow.
Outcomes Stability:
MakeMyTrip has a stable track record in delivering consistent results, despite
operating in a highly dynamic and competitive industry.
• Lifetime users: Over 69 million users have transacted on MakeMyTrip
• Monthly active users: Over 68 million users are active on MakeMyTrip
each month
• App downloads: Over 420 million apps have been downloaded
• Website visits: In August 2024, [Link] received 43.16 million
visits
• Market share: MakeMyTrip has a 30% market share in India's air travel .
• MakeMyTrip had an annual revenue of $782.52 million for the fiscal year
ending March 2024, reflecting a growth of 31.95% compared to the
previous year. Over the past few years, the company has experienced
substantial growth, increasing its revenue by nearly 30% year-over-year,
bringing its trailing twelve months (TTM) revenue to $840.31 million as
of June 2024.
Here’s how it ensures stability while achieving growth:
• Customer-Centric Approach: The company’s stable outcomes are
largely driven by its data-driven decision-making and continuous
improvements based on customer feedback. Its ability to enhance the
customer experience through consistent updates and seamless service has
helped build a loyal user base, evident in its leadership position in the
Indian online travel market.
• Scalability: MakeMyTrip has demonstrated remarkable stability in
scaling its operations while maintaining service quality. For example,
during peak travel periods (festive seasons or holidays), it scales its
customer service teams, ensuring minimal downtime and better support
for customers.
• Resilience During Crises: Even in challenging situations, like the
COVID-19 pandemic, MakeMyTrip adapted quickly by launching
“Staycations,” work-from-hotel packages, and flexible travel options.
These strategies helped the company recover quickly from the drop in
travel demand, showcasing the resilience and stability of its outcomes.
EXAMPLE : Adaptability to Change
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the travel industry was hit hard, and many
companies struggled. However, MakeMyTrip adjusted by focusing on
“domestic travel” and offering safe travel options like “quarantine packages”,
health-and-safety-compliant hotel stays, and “flexible cancellation policies”.
Teams worked across functions to create packages that fit customers' evolving
needs, ensuring the company continued to generate revenue and maintain
customer loyalty. This adaptability, backed by cross-functional teamwork,
ensured outcome stability even in a crisis.
Job Satisfaction
MakeMyTrip is known for fostering high job satisfaction among its employees
through its supportive work environment, opportunities for growth, and focus
on work-life balance. The company's commitment to employee well-being is
demonstrated in multiple ways:
• Flexible Work Options: MakeMyTrip offers flexible work arrangements
such as “remote working” or hybrid models. This became especially
prominent during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, when the company
adapted to ensure employees had the flexibility to work from home while
maintaining productivity.
• Career Development Opportunities: Employees have access to learning
and development programs such as upskilling workshops, leadership
training, and mentorship programs. This encourages personal growth and
skill enhancement, contributing to job satisfaction.
• Positive Work Environment: The company fosters an open, inclusive,
and collaborative work culture, where employees feel heard and valued.
Employee feedback is regularly collected and acted upon, ensuring that
the organizational culture remains positive.
Example:
In 2021, MakeMyTrip was recognized for being a “Great Place to Work” based
on employee feedback. Many employees cited their satisfaction with the
company’s emphasis on work-life balance and growth opportunities, praising
the open-door policy of leadership.
Job Motivation:
MakeMyTrip emphasizes creating a motivating workplace through various
initiatives that inspire employees to take ownership of their roles and contribute
meaningfully. The company implements several key strategies for motivation:
• Recognition and Rewards: The company runs a “Rewards and
Recognition program”, where top-performing employees are
acknowledged through monetary rewards, promotions, and internal
recognition. This motivates employees to go the extra mile and feel
valued for their contributions.
• Innovative and Impactful Projects: Employees at MakeMyTrip are
often given the opportunity to work on innovative projects that directly
impact the customer experience. This sense of purpose and ability to
make a meaningful difference in a large-scale organization acts as a
significant motivator.
• Performance-based Incentives: Performance is closely tied to
compensation and growth opportunities. Employees are motivated to
perform well, knowing that there are tangible rewards like bonuses and
fast-track promotions for exceptional performance.
Example:
During the development of the company's AI-powered “chatbot” feature,
employees across different departments were incentivized to contribute ideas
and solutions. Teams that played a crucial role in launching the product were
rewarded with “bonuses and public recognition”, which helped motivate the
workforce to innovate further.
Job Performance
Performance at MakeMyTrip is driven by clear goals, regular feedback, and a
performance-oriented culture. The company focuses on the following strategies
to ensure high employee performance: Employees' performance is assessed
based on measurable KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), including customer
satisfaction, efficiency in project delivery, and innovation. Regular performance
reviews provide feedback, allowing employees to improve and excel.
The company has adopted a “360-degree feedback” system where employees
receive input from peers, managers, and even customers. This encourages
employees to reflect on their performance and work on areas of improvement
while reinforcing areas of strength.
High levels of employee engagement are directly linked to better performance.
MakeMyTrip frequently conducts employee engagement surveys and organizes
team-building activities to maintain morale and high productivity levels.
Example:
MakeMyTrip introduced a “quarterly hackathon” in its technology division,
where employees were encouraged to present innovative ideas and solutions for
improving customer experience or operational efficiency. This initiative not
only improved employee performance but also resulted in multiple successful
product features, like "Quick Book", a simplified booking process that enhanced
user convenience and helped boost overall business performance.
LIMITATIONS
Here are some major and common limitations that users and experts have
pointed out regarding MakeMyTrip :
• Complex Cancellation and Refund Process: Many users have reported
that the refund process, particularly for flights and hotels, is slow and
cumbersome. There’s also confusion around cancellation policies, which
are often not clearly stated.
• Hidden Fees:Users frequently complain about hidden charges that appear
during the booking process, including service fees, taxes, or additional
charges for add-ons like seat selection or meals, which aren’t transparent
upfront.
• Limited Customer Support:Response times from customer service are
often slow, and it can be difficult to reach a representative, especially
during peak travel seasons or in cases of emergencies. The quality of
support is also inconsistent.
• Inconsistent Booking Experience:There are cases where bookings don’t
reflect real-time availability. For instance, hotels or flights may appear
available, but after booking, customers receive cancellation notices or
updates saying the option is unavailable.
• App and Website Glitches:Users occasionally experience technical
issues such as app crashes, slow loading times, and failed payments,
especially on mobile platforms. This can cause inconvenience during
time-sensitive bookings.
• High Service Fees: MakeMyTrip often charges higher service fees
compared to competitors, especially for flight bookings and holiday
packages, making it less cost-effective for price-sensitive customers.
To improve MakeMyTrip and enhance the user experience, the
following changes could be considered:
• Personalized Travel Recommendations: Use AI and machine
learning to provide more tailored recommendations based on user
preferences, travel history, and budget, offering custom itineraries and
exclusive deals.
• Improved Customer Support: Enhance the customer service
experience with 24/7 live chat support, quicker resolution of queries,
and seamless communication across channels like WhatsApp, app, and
email.
• Simplified Booking Process: After selecting a flight or hotel, users
can be given a one-click checkout option for repeat customers by
storing payment methods securely. Similar to Amazon’s “Buy Now”
feature, MakeMyTrip can offer a fast-tracked booking process for
returning users, reducing the number of steps from 5-6 to just 2 clicks.
• Providing real-time updates : Real time updates on travel advisories
or health protocols. For instance, if a user books a trip to a region with
rising political unrest, the platform can send push notifications or
alerts offering alternatives or tips for safe travel.
Implementing these suggestions could help MakeMyTrip stay competitive and
improve overall customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
MakeMyTrip demonstrates strong organizational effectiveness through its
customer-centric approach, dynamic work environment, and focus on
innovation. To enhance employee well-being, MakeMyTrip could invest more
in long-term mental health resources and further diversify leadership roles to
maintain inclusive growth. This structure explains MakeMyTrip from an
organizational psychology perspective, focusing on aspects that impact
employee behavior, leadership, and organizational culture.