Main Aspects of Aviation Psychology - Coursework Example

Aviation Psychology The focus of aviation psychology is to ensure that there is a focal point based on the improvement of the performance of people who work in the aviation industry. There is the evaluation of the potential of these individuals with the aim of helping them to develop the skills necessary for their team work in an effective manner. It is a fact that the aviation industry is currently concerned with how to create value better services and performance for their customers and this has created a situation where costs have been of a great concern. An airline that is successful tends to manage all of its employees from the bottom to the top and it stays conscious of the various values that are inherent in its activities. One of the most fundamentals aspects of airline management is that of building confidence and skills among employees and this is done to ensure that they become more productive. The building of confidence is conducted in a manner which works towards making employees getting over their past failures and giving them the ability to face whatever future tasks that they are given without the fear of failure. The latter has been found to be among the main reasons behind the low levels of performance in a variety of tasks within the industry (Desai, Roberts & Ciavarelli, 2006). The confidence building process is conducted from the time immediately after employees are recruited and since many of these individuals tend to come directly either from high school or college, they often bring with them many feelings of defeat in a variety of ways. For example, there are times when new recruits might come to the airline with the burden of having experienced past failures in exams, or fresh from embarrassing adolescent experiences which might have hurt their confidence (Nemeth, Wears, Patel, Rosen & Cook, 2011). In this instance, the management of the airline takes the responsibility of ensuring that these individuals are convinced that they can be winners if only they can believe in themselves and work with the airline to ensure that they develop their confidence. In addition to confidence building initiatives, these employees are also given the opportunity to develop their skills in diverse sectors of the company and this is done through taking advantage of more experienced employees who often provide guidance for the newer recruits (Iani & Wickens, 2007). The skills are developed in a manner which provides these individuals with the means of handling diverse matters while at the same time showing them how to conduct their activities in a way that keeps costs to the company down. Management has an open door policy where employees have unlimited access to top executives who they can always communicate with. There are certain instances where some airline companies make it a requirement for recruits to meet a number of top executives over a certain period and this is done so that these executives can be able to analyze each of these employees on a one on one level (Lituchy, 2008). This provides them with the opportunity to assess new employees and make recommendations on whether they are talented enough to be considered for higher positions within the company. In addition, it enables these executives to gain ideas directly from employees concerning what they think of the company and what they believe its management can do to ensure that there are improvements in services. This system shows new recruits as well as other employees that they are worth the attention of its top management and it also encourages the management of the company to make a commitment of making their employees feel important to the company. The feeling of importance among employees allows them to develop their skills at an even faster rate because of the confidence which they gain from the company’s management. Whenever management would like to introduce new changes in the company, it has been found that it is important to ensure that employees undergo a powerful orientation process which is designed to help them develop their confidence in working within the context of the changes instituted (Metzgar, 1996). The orientation sessions are normally done in such a way that employees are split into groups each of whose members have to open up concerning their values, dreams and goals. After all of these aspects are understood, it is therefore the task of the trainer to ensure that he molds the changes being made with the aspirations of the employees. This is done through his convincing them that the changes being made are not only in the company’s interests but also in the employees’ interests as well. The realization by employees that the changes will be beneficial will provide them with the much needed confidence and state of mind to ensure that they accept these changes and work towards their implementation (Rashid, Place & Braithwaite, 2013). Orientation sessions are designed to work in a way which ensures that employees feel that they are working in an environment, which is not only safe but also comfortable, so that all of them can feel secure enough to confide in one another concerning what they believe, is the best way to make the new changes work. The concerns of all the employees about how the new changes will likely affect them are addressed during these orientation meetings and this is done in such a way that the employees are made to feel at ease concerning the changes (Tomic & Janata, 2007). The result of these meetings is that employees are able to continue with their work with the confidence that they are doing what they can to promote both their interests and those of the company. In addition, orientation enables employees to be psychologically prepared for the tasks ahead, especially when these tasks are slightly different from the way that they are used to conducting their work (Kamp, 1994). It also shows employees that the company’s management cares for their welfare since they are provided with the opportunity to voice their opinions concerning the changes being instituted as well being provided with important lessons concerning how best to handle these changes. The result is that employees have a better attitude concerning changes instituted by management and do not offer resistance which might lead to the failure of changes for the benefit of the company. The management of airlines has put programs in place which are designed to help their employees think independently and take actions which are in the interests of the company. In this way, employees are able to work without much supervision since each of them understands what they are supposed to be doing at a given time and this provides the management with the opportunity to save costs because there is no need for too many supervisors in the workplace (Bannink & Jackson, 2011). In addition, employees, through employee empowerment programs, employees are often in a position to determine the costs that are incurred by the company and in this way, through their diverse skills and abilities, they are encouraged to develop ways of reducing costs for the company while at the same time ensuring that the company continues to provide a high level of services for its customers. The empowerment programs are also designed to ensure that employees are provided with the opportunity to increase their knowledge concerning their particular specialties and this helps the latter to become more capable in their work as well as remain loyal to the company (Johnson, Kirwan & Licu, 2009). This loyalty is very important because employees are able to give their all for the company’s benefit because of the belief that the company’s management is also looking out for their best interests as well. Moreover, the lack of constant supervision makes employees feel that the company trusts them to do their jobs well and in a manner which does not go against its interests. In such cases, it is normally possible for the employees to develop innovative strategies which provide them with the opportunity to fulfill their tasks in a manner which is extremely effective. There are certain instances where employees are able to develop their own ways of conducting their tasks which, despite not being the officially censured means of doing things, prove to be more effective and it is this innovative spirit which has helped many aviation companies to thrive in the market at the expense of others (Cahill, Donald & Losa, 2011). The spirit of innovation in the airline industry is often encouraged by its management and this takes advantage of the good will that employees feel towards the company as a result of their being satisfied with their jobs. This comes as a direct consequence of employee empowerment, an initiative which makes employees want to return the favor to the company by doing what is good for business while at the same time developing its potential to be able to compete with its rivals in the market. The empowerment of employees in a company is also an added advantage to its management because it provides a positive view of the airline for those talented employees in other companies who would like to move. This creates a large pool of willing individuals who would like to work for the airline and provides its management with the opportunity to select only the best among them to work for it. Team building exercises are extremely important in helping employees to psychologically develop the skills needed to work with each other to further the goals of the airline (Latham, 2003). This is the reason why the management of most airlines today works towards the development of team building and training programs which take place regularly to enhance the team capabilities of their employees (Krok, 2013). The ability of a diverse number of people to work together provides an advantage for airlines because they ensure that there is better coordination of activities and service delivery. In addition, when employees work together as a team, there is a high likelihood that they will be able to save costs for the airline and this will work towards increasing its income. Team building exercises teach employees to see themselves as the ones who make the airline function and that because of this, they are not expendable (Shouksmith, 2001). The power of such beliefs is incredible because they enable employees to work hard towards the development of initiatives which will not only provide added revenues for the airline, but will also provide the latter with the money to increase their incomes. Team building helps employees to make a psychological transition from having a worker-identity to an owner-identity because they are a means of management creating an incentive for employees to point out unnecessary waste and redundancies. Because of this, whether the airline takes the advice of its employees or not, it should be in a position to reward those who provided the ideas; this being done in public so that more employees can be encouraged to provide useful ideas for the airline. In conclusion, it has been seen that psychology plays a significant role in the aviation industry because it enables the managements of the various airlines within it to plan and implement their strategies in an effective manner. It is an important factor in the development of an insight of employee performance, which can be provided by using psychology even though it is important to consider the way in which the results are conveyed since this means that it can be used by management for the developing of information concerning the performance of employees. Furthermore, airlines have taken up the initiative to empower their employees in a manner which ensures that they not only work in their own interests but also in those of the airline, hence taking advantage of the human nature of indebtedness as well as self-preservation. It has been found that one of the most fundamentals aspects of airline management is that of building confidence and skills among employees and this is done to ensure that they become more productive. In addition, the management of an airline should have an open door policy where employees have unlimited access to top executives with who they can always communicate. Finally, it is a fact that whenever management would like to introduce new changes in the airline, it is important to ensure that employees undergo a powerful orientation process. This is normally designed to help them develop their confidence in working within the context of the changes instituted. 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