Singapore Airline Industries - Research Paper Example

 Singapore Airline Industries Abstract Singapore airline is one of the leading carriers. It has an outstanding performance that outweighs its competitors. It carries approximately 16 million passengers per year, spans 5 continents, and 59 cities. Singapore airlines aim at providing best flights, best products, and best services. It has developed two strategies i.e. innovation and service excellence. It, therefore, is strict in leadership and in choosing its staff. They have adapted the two goals of driving strategies need adaption: the growing local concern’ and the ever increasing consumer expectations’ (Binggeli & Pompeo, 2002, p.86). These two policies have to be adapted to produce excellent services for an airline. Research has shown that poor services in the airline industry result from social, technological human factors and not technology. The Human Resource contributes highly in ensuring the airline has customer-centric, learning oriented workforce that adapts to changes. The airline industry is competitive, safety sensitive, and there raised technology (Holloway, 1998). It is thus necessary to ensure the organization’s employees are competent enough. The Singapore airlines adapt this by strictly checking on the staff. Staff training, development, and aim to reach the highest performance standards are what make Singapore Airlines stand. Singapore airline has a training centre, opened in January 1993 and located at Singapore. It is the hub of airlines’ training programs. It offers trainings of the cabin crew, flight crew commercial and IT training. This paper covers how Singapore airlines use Human Resource concepts or methods to perform internal and external recruitment and staffing. Flight crew training at the Singapore training center The Singapore Flying College (SFL) conducts basic flying trainings, also called ab-initio training (Heracleous, et al. 2009). These services provided for Singapore airlines, Singapore airline cargo, and Silk Air cadet pilots. They issued with an Air Transport Pilot License with instrument rating. Initial ab-initio training takes place in Singapore at Seletar airport. The intermediate and final phases of 15 months carried out at Jandakok (a branch of the college). In Seletar, Cessna 152 planes used while Cessna 172s planes used in jandakot Three quarters of the flying training had done in Western Australia while all the ground training done in Singapore. Cadet pilots trained at the college of Singapore, Jandakot, Western Australia and Maroochydore, Queensland. Cadet pilots proceed to Advanced Flight Training (AFT) at Maroochydore in Australia for basic flight training where they train on the Learjet 45 for three months (Heracleous et al, 2009). A Learjet 45 is a high performance jet with a twin engine. Cadets finish 70 flight hours in the leaser 45 and other exams then proceed to Singapore airlines Flight crew training centre for specialized training. The Flight Crew training centre has seven simulators that replicate cockpits of aircrafts operated by Singapore Airlines (Heracleous & Wirtz, 2010, p.45). They can also simulate the various motions of flight. The centre contains a cabin evacuation trainer who trains the crew on how to deal with emergencies and procedures of evacuation in case of one. They check the biennial proficiency for all pilots. Safety training carried out where fire fighting and life raft boarding drills administered for pilots and cabin crew. There is also training of the safety pool that can stimulate waves, water evacuation training, a series of fire-fighting drills and six-door training. First- aid training takes place at the center at this stage. Ground studies This is where classroom studies take place. The method majorly used is the Computer based training (CBT). A team of qualified instructors gives technical instructions about the aircraft systems and performance. The system training utilizes flight simulators and reinforces theoretical knowledge that required in the classroom (Heracleous et al, 2009). The classrooms equipped with advanced, and the latest computer based learning aids enabling pilots to learn at their own pace. Career progression for pilots Once a cadet completes the AFT (ground studies), he/she posted to the Boeing 747, Boeing 777 or the Airbus 340-500 fleet. There, he /she receive undergoes a three-month training whereby endowment of a cadet pilots’ license with the aircraft type rating by CAAS happens. Next is a six-nine month training done to cover the ‘on-the- line- training’ session. This makes the cadets second officers, and they are attached to supervisory captains and supervisory first officers. The second officers gain the experience of flying the airplanes and of carrying out co-pilots duties (Eaton, 2001). Upon successful training completion, second officer promoted to become a first officer. This combines to thirty months training from the beginning of the training session. The pilot serves for eight years as a first officer and then trained to become a captain. The captain training, which is majorly command training, takes six- nine months (Heracleous et al. 2009). Cabin crew training at the Singapore training center The cabin crew majorly offers customer services. At the Singapore, they famously knew as the “Singapore girl’. The Singapore airlines ensure it hires the right staff. For one to qualify to undertake the cabin crew course, she must have both academic and well-established physical attributes. She must at least posses a polytechnic diploma in that she has spent 13 years in school. She then subjected to three rounds of interviews, a uniform test,” a ‘water confidence test’, psychometric test and a tea party follows thereafter. This is a competitive career since over 16000 applications received annually while the institution only takes 500-600 cabin crews for training. She undergoes 15-week training. This is a longer training compared to other airline trainings and is even twice as long as the industry average of two months. The training is classroom based and on-the-job training. They train on: Functional skills in meal service procedures such as food and wine appreciation procedures and the Gourmet circle Basics of social etiquette, personal hygiene,, passenger handling procedure,, simple skills of how to interact, self grooming, poise and deportment. Emotional skills in dealing with the consequences of serving extremely demanding customers First aid and safety procedures for various types of aircrafts Performing art circles, staging full length plays and music The “Singapore girl” thoroughly transforms by the time she finishes the training. The deportment and the way they carry themselves fully differs from their initial look (Heracleous & Wirtz, 2010). The activities they learn help to develop camaraderie and team spirit. In their training crew, employees spend some of their time at welfare homes. They get to associate with the less fortunate, which is training that helps the cabin crews to have empathy as they take themselves into the situations of the affected victims they are serving. The “Singapore girl” is an icon whose training valued in the airline industry. The cabin crew has a refresher course annually. They learn: Transaction analysis, which is a counseling- type course Leadership courses European languages Careful monitoring done to the cabin crews starts flying at least for the first six months. The in-flight supervisor writes monthly report of the cabin crew under probation. By the time the probation period comes to an end, 5% of the ‘Singapore girls’ leave, 20% get an extended probation period while 75% of them confirmed (Heracleous & Wirtz, 2010,p.190). Singapore airlines recruit staff from Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, India, Indonesia and china. However, most cabin crews recruited in Singapore. By 31st august 2005, the Singapore airlines had 6581 cabin crews. Safety training of the cabin crews and the pilots This is the responsibility of the safety training section of the flight crew-training program. It facilitated by classroom instructions and use of aircraft equipment with the help of an evacuation trainer. The modules in safety training include first aid, fire fighting and cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The practical trainings involve the CPR practice on various instrumental dummies while fire fighting involves the use of fire extinguishers in the training room (Heracleous et al, 2009). Simulated fire drills help to check on the reaction incase of fire outbreak by using the ‘pitch-and-roll’ capability. Various scenarios made to mock the ground to evacuate. There are also the water survival trainings that conducted in the swimming pool. For instruction, a cabin mocks up used. It shows the ditching procedures, slide raft boarding while the ‘open-sea and launching procedures simulated by a wave generator. This accompanied with various sea scenarios that created, to show cases at night and daytime incidences and how to deal with them. Singapore airlines cabin safety trainings, however, is under dictation by the local aviation authority (CAAS). The CAAS requirements based on the international civil aviation (ICAO) training standards. This safety and emergency procedures (SEP) are extremely beneficial in the crews trainings. Every crew must attend for these trainings on an annual basis. These trainings in first aid, fire fighting, and land and sea excavations occur alternately every year. Staffing The Singapore airline has developed human resource concepts in Staffing and staff development. It has an organizational activity system those seas on the appointment and thus performance of staff (Eaton, 2001). Appointment of staff depends on the excellent academic and innovativeness of a person. They have developed staff holistically. The employed staff should be able to come up with ideas on a rigorous service design and development. These ideas put into action provided they improve service or cut the costs. The profit consciousness is the aim in all employees where the staff is aware of the need for profit and cost effectiveness (Ahmad & Khan, 2011). The pillar of cost effective service excellence interconnect into the Singapore airlines. Their activities characterized by virtues of self-reinforcement and mutual reinforcement. All staff drilled from the first day they start working with Singapore airlines that if they do not make money, then they will close down. The staff is aware of the Singapore airline visionary statement that they are not after the largest company but to be the most profitable company. The steering staff should strive to foster satisfaction and the cost-effectiveness accompanied with the decision they make. A differentiation strategy of cost and leadership has implied a high quality offering, investments in innovation, staff development, and branding. The various approaches the Singapore airline industry uses to overcome the competitors include: Total innovation- done by ensuring extensive feedback mechanisms, ensuring there is competitive intelligence, spy flights and in-flight surveys to serve the demanding customers. Rigorous service design by ensuring extensive feed back mechanism Strategic synergies- the strategic approaches of Singapore summarized in four words: organization, core competitiveness, strategy and the environment. They describe the environment as the i) commoditization of flying, ii) the demanding and price conscious customers, iii) the entry into low cost competitors, iv)the transparency through information technology and the fluctuating costs of oil (Heracleous et al, 2009). The strategy is achieving high levels of profitability through exceptional service, continuous innovation, and highest efficiency in peer groups. The core competencies are ensuring cost effectiveness, service excellence, and execution. The organization is profit conscious, applying the strategic synergic, total innovation, righteous service design, and holistic staff development. This done by ensuring the Singapore girl developed efficiently to meet the demanding services for customers, and the training centers well equipped to meet the requirements of the trainees. Integrated profit conscious with a performance related reward system, encourages peer pressure for one to perform and the team concept. The Singapore airline has developed a reward system that pays bonuses as per the profitability of the company (Heracleous et al, 2009). Every staff gets some percentage of the profit every year. This has resulted to an increased peer pressure from individuals in the organizations. The staff and the managers make challenging decisions on the realization that their wasted resources. Conclusions Singapore airlines remain outstanding in all its areas. It ensures it hires the right staff, trains them appropriately and in highly professional manner (Heracleous & Wirtz, 2010). It chooses its external and internal recruits consciously, the way it treats it staff and in various strategic approaches of the company. It has even reached a point that staff takes responsibility of their own development. As much as other airlines have tried copying their elements, they have not succeeded in duplicating the whole system. References Ahmad, K. & Khan, M. M.(2011), International Journal of Business & Social Science, Vol. 2 15), pp224-230. Binggeli, U.& Pompeo, L, (2002). Hyped hopes for Europe’s low-cost airlines: McKinsey Quarterly, 4, pp 86–97. Cost-effective Service Excellence at Singapore Airlines. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Eaton, J (2001), Globalization and Human Resource in the Airline Industry, 2nd ed., Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. Heracleous, L.& Wirtz, J.(2010). Harvard Business Review, Vol. 88 (8), pp145-149. Heracleous, L., Wirtz, J. & Pangarkar, N (2009). Flying High in a Competitive Industry: Holloway,S, (1998), Changing Planes: A Strategic Management Perspective on an Industry in Transition: Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. Read More