Managing People in Aviation

This essay examines the challenges of managing people in the aviation industry, particularly the high turnover rate and strategies to improve employee motivation. It analyzes the impact of autocratic management styles and proposes solutions like democratic leadership, effective training and development, and employee engagement based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The essay uses British Airways as a case study to illustrate these concepts.

MANAGING PEOPLE IN
AVIATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
a) Why aviation industry has high turnover rate ........................................................................3
b) What aviation businesses can do to improve the motivation of their workforce or
employee's...................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Aviation regulations is one of the critical task with managing people to gain the overall
competitive advantage into the industry. People management has required to be taken as serious
step to develop and control an aviation sector at the optimized level (MacDuffie, 2017). This
assessment has decided to be carried on British airways, which is the leading commercial air
transport operates both in domestic as well as international level. Apart from this, assessment
will identifying impact of high turnover rate on the business. This assessment will also put light
on improving motivation level of the workforce by the aviation business and also how could they
become cost effective and realistic. This will also cover the latest aviation practice by the
commercial air transports.
MAIN BODY
a) Why aviation industry has high turnover rate
Turnover rate is an actual percentage of employee's leaving the company within certain
period of time. Also, high turnover rate can be costlier to an organisation because departing of an
employee could lead to the stoppage of work and effect the desired goals or targets of an aviation
industry especially (Shoham, 2018). For this assessment, British Airways is the perfect industry
who is suffering with an issue of employee turnover because of demotivation and comparatively
low rewards and pay as compared to Virgin Atlantic. It is currently happening in British Airways
that every 2 employee's out of total five 5 are leaving in quarter. This is a critical issue, because
turnover of an employee could lead to incurring of money on training & development of the new
employee and also the work pressure come down on other employee's. British Airways is the
leading air transport with premium services they offered to their customers. Also, they have great
brand image and customer loyalty towards their business.
Management & leadership style is one of the major reason for high turnover rate in this
commercial airline. They generally follows the autocratic management style where all decision
making power is available with top level management & leaders. Autocratic management is the
form of leadership where managers have authority to make decision with blind eye's. British
airways continuously followed this style which has effected their business at the moderate level.
In this management style, leaders or manager's do not inquire or take consent of their subordinate

or team members which has continuously lower down their morale and confidence. Of course,
demotivation is the major effect of this management style. The negative effect of this style is as
British Airways faced lot of criticism and few strikes against management along with pilot
service off because of comparatively less salaries and rewards. All these circumstances has
brought high turnover rate into the actual picture. Indirectly, autocratic management style is the
point reason for high turnover rate of employee in an organisation. Apart from autocratic, they
also uses Laissez-faire management style which provides the laid back attitude and great
confidence to their staff. This current case of British Airways will provide base of solutions to
other air transport with similar issue.
Autocratic management style where authorities & powers are lies with manager and top
level, team employee's don't have right and freedom to take their separate decision making which
might effect their interest, confidence, inspiration and motivation to work for longer period of
time. Also, such management style can effect the development and culture of the other airlines.
British airways might face the high turnover rate of an employee, if they couldn't taking solution
on this management style to become leader in the commercial transport industry.
Apart from all, autocratic style could impact both organisation and team working along
with their growth and development irrespective of any industry. Negative impact of autocratic
style is also the lack of freedom, trust & faith into the superior and top level administration.
Apart from autocratic style, biases and lower incentives & remuneration is also the reason that
employee's of the British Airways are shifting or leaving this airliner continuously. Actually,
they need to look over this matter with serious concern & corrective actions.
Corrective Solution & actions: British Airways has also taken several relief decision &
action to get rid by applying democratic management & leadership style to their aviation sector
by bringing suitable freedom & rights for their workforce to take corrective decision making and
adhering their views & opinions to create their interest into the business function of the British
Airways (Hasgall, 2013). Also, this airliner have decided to bring the performance based rewards
and other non-monetary benefits apart from their actual remuneration to stop turnover rate at the
initial level. They have complete eye and focus on the positives of these taken corrective action
or measures.

b) What aviation businesses can do to improve the motivation of their workforce or employee's
It is the necessities to improve and enhanced the motivation level of the workforce
irrespective of any industry. In the commercial air transportation, motivation & confidence to the
workforce is an important aspects, because airline industry is completely depends on workforce
activities or their techniques to undertaken the operation at the optimized level (Devlin and
Bernick, 2015). In context with British Airways, as it was previously mentioned that high
turnover rate has effect the confidence and motivation level of an employee. So, corrective
actions has also taken, but this much is not suitable. Aviation businesses can take several
suggestion on board to improve & raise the motivation & confidence of their employee's. Airline
entities needs to make ensure that those suggestions should be cost effective and realistic in
nature as well as structure. As, British air has taken steps such as performance based reward and
other non-monetary benefits to appreciate the task or performance of their employee's to counter
an issue of high turnover rate. Also, above steps or suggestion will utilized the available
resources of the British Airways to make their services or stop high turnover rate in the future is
as follow:
Effective training & development: T&S is competent to make workforce potential for
working along with management of any company. Basically, T&D is helpful in setting the vision
& mission for achieving and co-relate target of an entire organisation with individual goals to
achieve. It helps in creating the importance of an employee, which results acts as the source for
raising the motivation of the workforce. Training & development involves lots of funds teaching
the workforce real life situation, knowledge and other practical part of operation in an aviation
such as technical, people management along with aircraft & infrastructure control etc. This type
of training & development is cost effective and realistic in both ways. Such suggestions are
required to be ongoing in the future of aviation industry (Martin-Nagle, 2017).
For example: Saudi Arabia airlines has amended their policies & practices to provide
training & development to their employee on quarterly basis to maintain their motivation level
on the pick point.
Workforce involvement: Employee engagement is important & necessary to involve the
presence and talent & skills of the workforce to generate profitability and productivity.
Motivation brings the pure and soothing culture with creates the positive vibes to the business in
achieving their targets and goals (Devlin, 2012). Maslow hierarchy is suitable theory to raise the

confidence & motivation level of the workforce. This theory is a kind of pyramid which includes
safety needs, self-actualisation needs, social needs, Physiological needs and safety needs
(Helmreich, 2015).
Physiological needs: It includes basic needs such as food, water, shelter, clothing etc.
Safety needs: It involves the safe working condition, job security, medical protection etc.
Social needs: Such needs include love, team, friends, sense of belongingness, feelings etc
Self-Esteem needs: Self-respect, level of status, confidence are types of esteem needs.
Self-actualisation needs: This involves achieving targets, intellectual needs, potential etc
Source: Maslow Hierarchy of Needs, 2018
For example: Eva Air which is based in Taiwan used this Maslow theory of needs to
encourage the confidence & motivation of their employee's to continue operation of their airlines
business, Such kind of practices has made this airline in top 7 best air transport entities (Bernick,
2015).
Recommendation: British Airways is still away from such kind of practices. They could
use this theory to identify and analyse each and every needs of their workforce to take care of
their motivation to raise maximum involvement of them into the business functions and reducing
the high turnover rate. Other airline could use this theory to maximise the performance of their
organisation at the optimised.
Illustration 1: Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

CONCLUSION
From the above assessment, it is concluded that managing people in aviation is one of the
critical and typical task. Motivation is the better way to remove higher turnover rate of the
workforce especially aviation industry. It is crucial and important to identify the reason behind
higher turnover rate to overcome such issues. Corrective measures & action is required to take to
enhance the spirituality of an employee. Lastly, it is concluded, training & development along
with proactive rewards & compensations has proven useful for every business to raise their
workforce performance with their development side by side.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Helmreich, R. L., 2015. Managing human error in aviation. Scientific American. 276(5). pp.62-
67.
Hasgall, A. and Shoham, S., 2018. Knowledge processes: from managing people to managing
processes. Journal of Knowledge Management. 12(1). pp.51-62.
MacDuffie, J. P., 2017. 12 HRM and Distributed Work: Managing People Across Distances. The
Academy of Management Annals. 1(1). pp.549-615.
Day, R. D., 2014. Leading and managing people in the dynamic organization. Psychology Press.
Ericsson, K. A., Prietula, M. J. and Cokely, E. T., 2017. The making of an expert. Harvard
business review. 85(7/8). p.114.
Wali, A. F. and Nwokah, N. G., 2017. Aviation customers’ journey, who cares? Managing
customer experiences with customer relationship management strategy: Insight into
Nigerian customers’ perspectives. Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science.
27(2). pp.123-135.
Devlin, S. and Bernick, S., 2015. Managing aviation passenger demand with a frequent flyer
levy.
Kanki, B. G., 2017. Aviation information management: From documents to data. Routledge.
Martin-Nagle, R., 2017. Diversity in Aviation: Between Takeoff and Landing. The Air and Space
Lawyer. 30(3).
Online
Maslow Hierarchy of Needs, 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html>