Analyzing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Incident

This assignment delves into the tragic AirAsia Flight QZ8501 incident. It requires a comprehensive analysis of various sources, including news articles, official reports, and expert opinions, to understand the contributing factors leading to the crash. The focus is on evaluating the role of mechanical failures, crew actions, and external environmental conditions in the accident. Additionally, the assignment explores the public response, media coverage, and the airline's handling of the crisis.

Running Head: MBA Assignment
MBA Assignment

MBA Assignment 1
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Selection of the issue...................................................................................................................3
Description of the problems.............................................................................................................3
Description of the Approach used by AirAsia.............................................................................6
Analyses and Discussion.................................................................................................................7
Description of the Approach used by the Air Asia......................................................................7
Improvement in the approaches...............................................................................................9
Recommended approach to the Air Asia...................................................................................10
FOCUS model.......................................................................................................................10
Benefits and limitation of recommended approach...............................................................12
Implementation of the FOCUS model...........................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................................17

MBA Assignment 2
Introduction
Air Asia Berhad is Malaysian low-cost airline, having the headquartered near Kuala Lumpur.
This airline is the largest airline in Malaysia by destinations and feet size. The report includes the
recent issues that are faced by the Air Asia is AirAsia QZ8501 Crash. It shows the issues faced
by the company and the decision took by the company to resolve the issues. The company used
approaches to address the issues faced by the Airline which leads to the crash of the airline. The
decision making and the problems solving techniques are recommended to the company
(Gumanti, 2015). The company is listed on the stock market, the analyses are involved which
shows the company's share price across the period of the event.

MBA Assignment 3
Selection of the issue
The recent and major issue which took place in the year 2014 on 28th December was a crash of
the Air Asia aircraft QZ8501 which caused the death of the 162 peoples who were traveling on
the plane. The Incident occurs due to some of the problems in the aircraft, the company took the
decisions to bring the improvement in the safety of the customers. The reason behind the
selection of this AirAsia crash as a problem is because there are many companies who get
involved in an incident and then considering the severity of the problems they have to use the
decision making and problem-solving approach which is going to help the company (Ma, &
Smith, 2015).
(Source: BBC News, 2015)
Description of the problems
The Air Asia passenger jet crashed into the Java Sea in the month of December 2014. There are
some problems due to which the aircraft QZ8501 got Crash. The Airbus A320-200 was carrying

MBA Assignment 4
162 people from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore. The major problem which leads to the
issue is the miscommunication between the pilot and the co-pilot in the plane. An apparent mid-
air communication related to the response towards the technical problems occurred in the
AirAsia flight QZ8501 (Finamore, 2015). The air traffic control lost the contact with the aircraft
after 42 minutes of the take-off the airline.
According to the investigators, the crew of the plane lost its control on the plane. Their finding
said that the pilot of the plane was dealing with the repeated technical problems with the RTL
(Rudder Travel Limited) and left the co-pilot to take control of the plane. This technical and
electronic interruption in the RTL took place three times in the space within 13 minutes, in total
it occurred approximately 23 times which eventually leads to the autopilot to disengage. The co-
pilot took the control of the plane because the captain was trying to resolve the problem of the
RTL (BBC News, 2015).
(Source: BBC News, 2015)

MBA Assignment 5
The loss of the autopilot function in the plane was one of the major problems faced by the airline
which leads to the crash of the plane. The loss of the autopilot function forced the co-pilot to fly
the plane manually. While driving the plane manually the miscommunication took place between
the pilot and the co-pilot. This is clear from the cockpit recording that the pilot instructed the co-
pilot to pull down the plane. Actually, when the pilot pulls down the plane, the plane goes up and
to make the plane go down the pilot need to push. According to the accident investigator
Nurcahyo Utomo, the order given by the pilot to the co-pilot was confusing (Lamb, 2015). The
plane went into a prolonged stall condition that was not possible for the crew to recover it. This
shows the lack of training to the employees.
At the last, the investigators said that the problems were related to the cracked solder joint which
leads to the exposure to extreme temperatures. In the month leading up to crash the problem was
occurring more frequently on the plane, it includes the flight three days earlier between the Kuala
Lumpur and Surabaya.

MBA Assignment 6
(Source: BBC News, 2015)
Description of the Approach used by AirAsia
The decision making and problem-solving approach used by the company is Analytical Problem
Solving. The analytical approach is used because the company has the ability to get into the
detail of a problem that helps the company in evaluating all the components (Schoenfeld, 2014).

MBA Assignment 7
The process starts with defining the problem, this includes the problem of the RTL which leads
to the crash of the plane. According to the problem the company will generate the alternative
solutions, the solutions will be evaluated by the company and the best solution is going to be
selected by the company. It includes the alternative like a selection of the terminology for the
communication in the air. The training of the pilot and the co-pilot should be conducted to deal
the situation when they are in the air (Kozlowska, 2014). Selection of the best solution takes
place considering all the factors and then comes the implementation. Once the solution is
implemented by the company it is required to take the follow up that check that the solution is
effective for the company or not.
Analyses and Discussion
Description of the Approach used by the Air Asia
The AirAsia passenger jet crashed and leads to the death of the 162 passengers. The incident
took place due to inadequate training to the employees and the failure of the controlling Rudder.
Define the
problem
Generate
Alternative
Solutions
Evalate
and Select
an
Alternative
Implement
the
solution
Follow up
on the
solution

MBA Assignment 8
(Source: AirAsia QZ8501 Crash, 2015)
The diagram shows the analysis of the problem faced by the Air Asia. This shows the step 1 of
the approach used by the company. The diagram clearly shows the root cause which leads to the
crash of the plane. The solution of the situation is that the company should train their employees
before handing them the flight. Another solution is company should improve the terminology of
the communication so that no miscommunication can take place on the plane between the pilot
and the co-pilot (BBC News, 2015). The analytical approach says that these are the two best
solutions that should be used by the Air Asia. The approach used by the company leads to
several benefits and limitations to the company.
Benefits Limitations

MBA Assignment 9
 There is a presence of confidence in the
company while making the decision.
 The decisions in the approach are based
on the facts that help to make the quick
decision (Bardach, and Patashnik,
2015).
 Expert’s opinion is involved in the
project as the facts are based on the
expert’s opinion.
 The process of finding the truth or fact
is the time-consuming process that can
lead to the delay in the decision. Lack
of systematic process.
 Experts are not going to share their
opinion unless it is asked them to share
the opinion or to investigate.
The benefits and limitation of the approach show that the company can make use of the other
approach because the problem which is faced by the company is far bigger. Though this
problem-solving approach is analytical which is based on the analysis and evaluation of the issue
but this approach also includes certain disadvantages which may impact the company.
Improvement in the approaches
The improvement is required in the analytical approach which is used by the company to take the
correct decision and to solve the problem as soon as possible because these problems might
affect the working of the company. To remove the limitation in which the expert doesn't share
the reviews on their own the company should organize a team that can provide the clear opinion
related to the problem. Apart from it, another limitation is that the process of finding the facts is
time-consuming and not systematic, over here, the company should follow the step-by-step

MBA Assignment 10
procedure which is going to help the company to conduct systematic work as well as the time in
searching the fact will decreases (Juan, Faulin, Grasman, Rabe, and Figueira, 2015).
Recommended approach to the Air Asia
Considering the problem faced by the company, it is recommended to the company to make use
of the FOCUS model of the decision making which is going to helps the company to deal with
the issue.
FOCUS model
The focus model is one of the models which are used by the company to improve the processes.
This model is included in the decision making and problem-solving approaches. There is a
presence of the step-by-step implementation of the approach (Fleischmann, Schmidt, Stary,
Obermeier, and Brger, 2014). The Flow of the focus model is clear from the below diagram:-
The Flow of the Focus Model
F- Find the problem  The Air Asia finds the reason behind the crash of the
Findthe problem
Organize a team
Calrify the problem
Understand
problem
Select solution

MBA Assignment 11
(Identifying the problem faced
by the company)
plane, which shows the identification of the problem
that took place.
O- Organize a Team
(Formation of the team that can
share the views that helps the
company to clarify the
problem)
 The company asks for the investigators to come and
check the exact issue so that the company gets to know
what further they have to take so that it cannot be
repeated (Bohnsack, Pinkse, and Kolk, 2014).
C- Clarify Problem (The
analysis of the root cause based
on the issue)
 The investigator clarifies the root cause which the
pilots were facing in the air which leads to the crash of
the aircraft. The main issues found by the investigators
while inspecting the plane includes the failure of the
RTL, and the miscommunication between the pilots.
U- Understand Problem (The
potential solutions appear after
understanding the issue)
 The Air Asia CEO got to know the exact problem
which was faced by the pilot while flying. It includes
the failure of the automatic pilot system. The company
got to know that they have to improve the terminology
of the communication and technology and another is
they have to give the training to the employees.
S- Select Solution (Selection
and implementation of the best
solution take place)
 The company then selects the best solution which
might help the company to avoid such issues which are
faced by the company.

MBA Assignment 12
Benefits and limitation of recommended approach
Benefits Limitation
 It is structured and the simplest
approach.
 It relies on the facts and the data rather
than on the personal opinions of the
people. The decision taken on the bases
of the fact leads to the improvement in
the quality.
 It explores all the possible
consequences and the significances of
the moving forward to execute the
present step (Myers, 2013).
 It improves the quality and leads to the
implementation of the solution in the
correct manner.
 It is a lengthy approach which needs to
be accomplished step-by-step.
 Each step is depended on the previous
step, if in case the previous step is
incorrect this will leads to the failure of
the next step (Zikmund, Babin, Carr,
and Griffin, 2013).
This approach includes the maximum of the benefits to the company and the minimum of the
limitations. The approach is best stated for the company considering the problems faced by the
company. The FOCUS model of decision making and problem-solving will help the company to
analyze and evaluate problems thoroughly so that the company can make the conclusion or

MBA Assignment 13
solution correctly. Comparing both the approaches FOCUS approach implementation is required
to the company.
Implementation of the FOCUS model
The implementation of the FOCUS model of the decision making and problem-solving includes
different steps.
Step-1
Pareto Principle- Pareto principle states the 80/20 rule in which the 80% of the issues ascend
from the 20% of the problem. The company problems arise when the crash took place because of
the problem of the failure of the RTL and the miscommunication among the pilots in the air. The
crash of the plane become one of the biggest issues for the company as the share prices of the
company decrease after the crash of the AirAsia plane. The company is listed as the share market
and the death of 162 people can impact the share prices. The company should identify the each
and every problem which is faced by the pilots in the flight which leads to the crash (Koren,
2015). Though, the miscommunication leads to the many problems because the pilots were not
able to control the flight and leads to the crash of the plane.
Step-2
The company organized a team that is going to help the manager in understanding the problem
faced. The tool used by the company is the principal positioning; the aircraft control team was
not able to analyze the actual problem which was faced by the pilots in the air. The company
organized a team of the investigators who can investigate and analyze the problem considering
the technical knowledge, recording of the control room and the evidence at the location. The Air

MBA Assignment 14
Asia wants to work on the problems as soon as possible this is the reason they organized the
team (ABC News, 2015).
Step-3
The use of the CATWOE technique helps the company to analyze the deep problem. The
technique includes Customers, Actors, Transformation process, worldview, owner and the
environmental constraints. The crash of the plane affects the customers of the Air Asia who
usually travels in Air Asia. The investigator's teamwork as actors; these are the officers who are
involved in the investigation. The issue creates an impact on the processes and the system of the
company. The reputation of the company was in danger because of the death of the 162 peoples;
the accident-free reputation of the company was exploiting (Bland, & Grant, 2015). The group
finds that their listed shares decreased by 13 percent after the incident. In this 13 percent; 2.56
ringgit before closing 8.5 percent lower in Kuala Lumpur (Tan, 2015).
The customer who likes to travel with the AirAsia, their opinion changed after the crash of the
flight. The customer who don't travel and don't know about the services of the company, after the
crash they get to know the same and this may lead to reducing the customers for the airline. CEO
of the company tries to handle the issue and they have taken the necessary resolution that the
company is going to implement to face the issue (Kapoor, & Jensen, 2015).
Step-4
The stage shows that the company tries to understand the problem and then the team spends the
time to find the steps that might lead to the improvement. This method includes the use of the
recording that helps the investigators to analyze the facts, evidence at the site, and the analyses of

MBA Assignment 15
the crash plane will also help the team to identify the loopholes and the technical problems faced
by the pilots in the plane.
Step-5
This step include the selection of the solution, the deep analysis of the issue helps the company
to identify the best solution to be adopted so that the company is not going to face any such
problem. This includes the training to employees and the improvement in the terminology that is
used by the company.
The implementation of the Focus model is done which clearly shows that one of the biggest
problems faced by the company after the crash is the decline in the share prices of the company.
The investors faced a risk of investing the amount in the company because they will not be able
to get the positive return on the investment. The incident created the impact on the investors as
the investors started selling their shares of the company; this is the reason AirAsia ending down
8.5 percent at its lowest close in a volume of 103 million shares which is 10 times the average
volume. During the session the shares had fallen as much as 12.9%, seeing these investors
decided that they should not invest the amount in the company's share (Hamzah, and Daga,
2014). If in case the investors will spend the amount on the company’s share they have to
struggle with their reputation also. The media and people will highlight the name of the investors
who are still investing in the AirAsia Company after the incident. Not even the single investor
wants to take this risk with the amount or with their reputation.

MBA Assignment 16
Conclusion
The report talks about the decision making and problem-solving of a particular issue which took
place in the company in the year 2014 on 28th December Sunday. The company AirAsia faced
the problem when the aircraft QZ8501 got Crash. The report includes the decision making and
the problem-solving approach that is used by the company. The improvement in the approach
which is selected by the company is also discussed along with the new recommended approach.
At the end, the report includes the implementation process of the Focus Model that helps the
company to make the correct decision.

MBA Assignment 17
References
ABC News, 2015 December 2nd, AirAsia QZ8501: Poor pilot emergency training, negligence
behind plane crash, analysts say, ABC News, viewed on 13th November 2017,
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-02/poor-pilot-emergency-training-behind-airasia-crash-
analysts/6995644
Bardach, E. and Patashnik, E.M., 2015. A practical guide for policy analysis: The eightfold path
to more effective problem-solving. CQ press.
BBC News, 2015 December 1st, AirAsia crash: Faulty part 'major factor', BBC News, viewed on
13th November 2017, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34972263
BBC News, 2015 December 1st, Flight QZ8501: What we know about the AirAsia plane crash,
BBC News, viewed on 13th November 2017, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30632735
Bland, B., &Grant, J., 2015 January 12th, Crash upsets AirAsia’s Indonesia ambitions, Financial
Times, viewed on 13th November 2017, https://www.ft.com/content/ceaee908-9718-11e4-9636-
00144feabdc0
Bohnsack, R., Pinkse, J. and Kolk, A., 2014. Business models for sustainable technologies:
Exploring business model evolution in the case of electric vehicles. Research Policy, 43(2),
pp.284-300.
Finamore, E., 2015 February 1st, AirAsia flight QZ8501: Captain's behaviour 'very unusual' prior
to crash, investigators learn, Independent, viewed on 13th November 2017,

MBA Assignment 18
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/airasia-flight-qz8501-captains-behaviour-very-
unusual-prior-to-crash-investigators-learn-10016634.html
Fleischmann, A., Schmidt, W., Stary, C., Obermeier, S. and Brger, E., 2014. Subject-oriented
business process management. Springer Publishing Company, Incorporated.
Gumanti, T., 2015, Event Study On The Crash Of Airasia Plane: A Study On Travel And Leisure
Companies Listed At Malaysian..., viewed on 13th November 2017,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311648906_EVENT_STUDY_ON_THE_CRASH_OF
_AIRASIA_PLANE_A_STUDY_ON_TRAVEL_AND_LEISURE_COMPANIES_LISTED_A
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Hamzah, A.A., and Daga, A., 2014 December 28th, AirAsia has little margin for error in crisis
over missing jet, Reuters, viewed on 13th November 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-
indonesia-airplane-airasia/airasia-has-little-margin-for-error-in-crisis-over-missing-jet-
idUSKBN0K701J20141229
Juan, A.A., Faulin, J., Grasman, S.E., Rabe, M. and Figueira, G., 2015. A review of
simheuristics: Extending metaheuristics to deal with stochastic combinatorial optimization
problems. Operations Research Perspectives, 2, pp.62-72.
Kapoor, K., & Jensen, F., 2015 November 30th, Indonesia says faulty part, crew action factors in
AirAsia crash, Reuter, viewed on 13th November 2017, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-
indonesia-airasia/indonesia-says-faulty-part-crew-action-factors-in-airasia-crash-
idUSKBN0TK3H920151201

MBA Assignment 19
Koren, M., 2015 December 1st, What Brought AirAsia Flight 8501 Down?, The Atlantic, viewed
on 13th November 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/12/airasia-
crash-report/418143/
Kozlowska, H., 2014 December 28th, Here’s how AirAsia’s CEO is handling his airline’s first
major crisis, Quartz, viewed on 13th November 2017, https://qz.com/318454/heres-how-airasias-
ceo-is-handling-his-airlines-first-major-crisis/
Lamb, K., 2015 December 1st , AirAsia crash: crew lost control of plane after apparent
misunderstanding, The Guardian, viewed on 13th November 2017,
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/01/airasia-crew-actions-caused-jet-to-lose-control-
say-crash-investigators
Ma, L., & Smith, E., 2015 December 1st, AirAsia flight QZ8501: Faulty part and 'crew action'
caused loss of control that killed 162, Independent, viewed on 13th November 2017,
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/airasia-crash-crew-action-caused-loss-of-control-
of-flight-that-crashed-into-java-sea-killing-162-a6755311.html
Myers, M.D., 2013. Qualitative research in business and management. Sage.
Schoenfeld, A.H., 2014. Mathematical problem solving. Elsevier.
Tan, M., 2015 January 5th, AirAsia shares fall when trading opens after more bad news for
carrier, Straits times, viewed on 13th November 2017,
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/airasia-shares-fall-when-trading-opens-after-more-bad-
news-for-carrier