Singapore Airlines Case Study: Strategy, Job Roles & Recruitment

This case study delves into the operational and strategic aspects of Singapore Airlines (SIA), a leading airline company. It examines SIA's job descriptions, focusing on cabin crew and technical service engineers, highlighting the airline's emphasis on customer service and employee motivation. The ...Read More

A Report on Airline Business in Singapore: A Case Study of Singapore Airlines
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Table of Contents
Introduction.............................................................................................................................................3
Job Description of Singapore Airlines.....................................................................................................3
Two job positions in Singapore Airlines..................................................................................................3
Job Design of Singapore Airlines in Cabin Crew and Technical Service Engineer.................................4
Motivation of employees.........................................................................................................................4
Business Strategy of Singapore Airlines..................................................................................................5
Recruitment Process for Singapore Airlines............................................................................................6
Selection Strategy for Singapore.............................................................................................................6
Implementation in Singapore Airlines.....................................................................................................7
Conclusion...............................................................................................................................................7
References...............................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
There are some airline companies in Singapore. Singapore Airline (SIA) is one of them.
Singapore airlines, the most respected travel brand of Singapore, have taken place among the top
airline companies in the world. A Singapore airline is flying one of the youngest fleets in
Singapore. It is covering over six destinations of the world which are spanning a network in
those six continents. Singapore airlines operate in the East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and
Oceania from its hub at Changi Airport (Derudder, 2012). It is an internationally recognizable
icon and it is providing a higher standard of customer service to the customers. Starting from 1st
May, 1947 as Malayan Airways Limited till date Singapore airlines have received a huge number
of awards regarding the success in service business.
Job Description of Singapore Airlines
The customers are divided into various groups for the better customer centric service with a
greater team spirit to built bonding among the members of the company through many activities.
There is a common purpose to give the satisfaction to the customer and to do so every worker
should work together. SIA uses the 40-30-30 rule for the appreciation and the ease of working
with others in a set up of functional team. The 40-30-30 rule provides the percentage weight. The
analysis of McGee (2012) explores that the total human resource is considered as 100%. In
training there is only 40% of the human resource, in the review of various processes 30% of the
human resource is involved and the remaining 30% of the resources are used for the creation of
new product ideas and services.
Two job positions in Singapore Airlines
There is a chance for the employees to from the groups like ‘Performing Arts’ Group, ‘Gourmet
Circle’ Group etc to engage the people who are liking the similar kinds of jobs and the
recreations and this encourages the employees to be satisfied outside of the job having the
balance in work-life to make the efficiency and performance so high. SIA always maintain a high
level of selection and recruitment process for the two job positions – Cabin Crew and Technical
Service Engineer (Petrovic, 2012). The flight attendants are selected usually when the needs
arises at the international level from the different countries where the SIA operates their
business.
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Job Design of Singapore Airlines in Cabin Crew and Technical Service Engineer
There are several key issues that are recommended to the management of SIA to be maintained.
These recommendations are required to be followed by Singapore Airlines to keep its pre-
eminent position in the market to strive as the best airline company. Despite of the economic
slowdown globally the SIA wants to be at the top in the airlines industry and wants to keep its
superiority and so different strategies are implemented by the company (Surowiecki, 2014). The
SIA also keep in the consideration about the plans of other airlines companies in the market for
the improvement of the quality of the service and the comfort level of the journey provided by
the company. The overall communication plans of the company should be revisited improving
the communication channels and media taking this one of the business strategies. The
entertainment feature in the flight should be technologically so advanced that will match the
current technical devices.
The SIA group wants to prove the company profile as a truly global profile and so it is expanding
the global networks further. The fields of operation and the business opportunities should be
expanded by the company to maintain as well as to increase the profit margin of the company as
a top airline company in the world (Thornton & Thornton, 2011). The SIA provides the air cargo
facility to its customers and it is especially effective for the customers to be attracted. In the
passenger area where the traffic and the route rights come into the consideration, there the air
cargo facility plays a much more important role to serve the customer.
The strategic initiatives should be taken in the consideration of the priority to straighten the
decisions of the Singapore Airlines to speed up of the facility of the company and for the
development of the business opportunities of the company. Markets and the competitions and the
opportunities in the market develop day by day. The managers and the staffs should be so much
concern about the circumstances to improve the organizational development and it is very much
critical to the airlines company (Lambert, 2011). The trademark of a successful airlines business
is the collective decision making process, proper attention to all the required details and to
welcome the new ideas in an open minded situation.
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Motivation of employees
We all know people who pour themselves into work that they don’t have to do. And we’re all
familiar with the volunteer who works harder than the paid staff, or the “dollar-a-year”
executive who seldom goes home to sleep. For most of us, even a modest amount of self-
examination will reveal that “because we have to” or “for the money” are, at best, only partial
answers to the very complex question of why we work (Adeniyi & Cmilt, 2011).
Gaining a better understanding of what motivates people will make you a better manager. It
will help you get the most out of those who work for you.
The assumptions about human behavior are - .
– The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if he can.
– Because people dislike work, most people must be coerced, controlled, directed and
threatened with punishment to get them to put forth adequate effort toward the achievement of
organizational objectives.
– The average human being prefers to be directed, wishes to avoid responsibility, has
relatively little ambition, and wants security above all.
Business Strategy of Singapore Airlines
According to Lambert (2011) the excellent customer and in flight service of Singapore Airlines
is the key to success of the Singapore Airlines. The practice of free drinks during the travelling,
the gourmet prepared meals to choice, the complimentary headsets for the passengers are the
facilities provided by the SIA first in airline services in 1970s. The SIA is the first provider of
the in flight entertainment in its selected aircrafts. The SIA gives a stand out completion to its
competitors after a vertical integration with Kris World Private Limited to provide television,
movies, music, games and application services Adeniyi & Cmilt (2011). So this company has
won numerous awards as the best airline for its creative and innovative developments. A group
of best chefs to serve superlative food in flight is brought over for the passengers first by SIA.
The menus of the food are updated regularly by SIA to keep a good impression on tastes of
frequent flyers. Following these basic lines of business strategy in the competitive market the
SIA gives good competition to its competitors.
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SIA puts its service effort not only in developing the in-flight services but also to improve the
facilities in the Changi Airport with innovative technologies. In accordance of Airline
deregulation (2014) The Deputy Chairman’s Award to the employees with innovative thoughts
and performance is one of best supporting plan by SIA which gives the company an effective
business strategy to pursuit the achievement.
Recruitment Process for Singapore Airlines
Human Resources are very much definitely valuable asset in each organizations of agricultural
sector to the information technology sector. All factors of production should be get together to
achieve the goals and objectives of a company and the HR is responsible to get together them.
Most of the airlines companies of the world take inspiration from the HR department of the most
admired airline company of the world – Singapore Airlines (SIA) (Lim, 2013). The recruitment
and selection processes here are of high standard. When the need arises, employees usually flight
attendants are selected at the international level from countries where SIA flies to, so that there
are no language barriers or culture shocks when starting the job. Approximately, for every 20
seats, 1 SIA flight attendant is responsible and so from a human resources point of view, the
value of a flight attendant as a SIA employee is undeniable. It is said that only people who
naturally enjoy serving others are hired and that’s why even employees stay longer with SIA.
It is no wonder then that Singapore Airlines bagged the Top Worldwide Airline Award for the 6th
consecutive year by Wanderlust Travel Award 2013 (UK) in January this year. Thus the HR
discipline, by itself or as a strategic business partner has gained importance in today’s workplace
and will continue to grow even in years to come and it is employees who drive the growth of a
company.
Selection Strategy for Singapore
The key aspects of the Singapore Airlines are the sustainable position and the strategic choice for
the continuous people development and the rigorous design of the service. The strategy which is
followed by SIA is based on the diversification. There are 36 direct subsidiaries and associated
companies of SIA. The SIA group subsidiaries are as follows – Singapore Engineering Company
(81%), Singapore Airlines Cargo (100%) and Singapore Airline Terminal Services (80.8%)
(Anderson & Leary, 2013). The key customer segments of the company are covered with the
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Virgin Atlantic (49%) and Tiger Airways (51%) which are the parts of the airlines subsidiaries
that includes 100% ownership of regional career. There are various divisions of the SIA Group
that play a significant role for investing in China and India using the strategic alliances with local
organizations (Althonayan & Sharif, 2010). SIA uses the information technology for the
enhancement of the efficiency of the SIA and the customer service support and one of evidence
of their one of the best customer service support in the world is their well designed, user-friendly
and advanced web site for buying tickets, managing the Krisflyers account, checking the
schedules and the flights, promotion selection etc (Thornton & Thornton, 2011). The SIA also
take strategic decisions in the cost management that can reduce the cost in one hand and increase
the productivity of the workers in the other hand by using the IT effectively. The SIA effectively
supports and use the dual strategy of differentiation and internal cost leadership for the cost
effective service excellence that is giving the core competency and it is enshrined in a self
reinforcing system of organizational process and activities which is itself a unique strategic
thought (Bratlie, 2009).
Implementation in Singapore Airlines
There is a continuous improvement in the face of global competition extensively in Singapore
Airlines Company. It is not affordable for the company to stand still and to stay ahead of the
means of field. The seeking attitude of the SIA for the improvement of the provided service and
the constant starvation of the company for the improvisation of the customer service is discussed
under this case study. The company provides the benefits to meet the need of the air traveler of
the modern age from different age group and culture group by differentiating its product
successfully (Qi et al, 2013). The SIA uses the best designers and the best chefs of the world for
the steady improvisation of the product quality of the company to create the synergistic benefits
which stems from the best employees working with the company in the world. The passengers of
SIA also cooperate with the company to provide more delighted and better services in the next
flight.
Conclusion
According to Leahy (2014) a clear identifiable operational structure is made by the company to
look after the efficiency of the decision making regarding place, client or section of the business.
For the purpose of pursuing the corporate objective of the business the company frees up the
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managers of the company to take any decision within their sphere of influence without the
continuous referencing. A sense of common purpose is tried to retain by the group wishes at the
same time. It is important for the Singapore Airlines Group to have good structure to maintain
the communication system properly between the managers of the company and the staffs of the
company to face the changing opportunities in the market and the business threat for the
exploitation of the new areas of opportunity that can move forward the business process of the
company and make the whole business more profitable (Salarzadeh, 2013).
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References
Books
Derudder, B. (2012). International handbook of globalization and world cities. Cheltenham, UK:
Edward Elgar.
Lim, K. (2013). Life in the skies. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish.
McGee, W. (2012). Attention all passengers. New York: HarperCollins US.
Qi, E., Shen, J., & Dou, R. (2013). International Asia Conference on Industrial Engineering and
Management (IEMI2012) proceedings. Berlin: Springer.
Surowiecki, J. (2014). Best business crime writing of the year. New York: Anchor Books
Journals
Adam Lambert,. (2011). Passenger service quality expectations as perceived by long haul airline
managers in South Africa. AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, 5(29).
doi:10.5897/ajbm11.1741
Adeniyi, O., & Cmilt, O. (2011). Airline Services in Nigeria: An Empirical Analysis.
International Business Management, 5(4), 218-222. doi:10.3923/ibm.2011.218.222
Airline deregulation. (2014). Business Horizons, 35(3), 84-85. doi:10.1016/0007-
6813(92)90076-l
Althonayan, A., & Sharif, A. (2010). Aligning business and technology strategy within the
airline industry. IJBIS, 6(1), 79. doi:10.1504/ijbis.2010.034006
Anderson, D., & Leary, W. (2013). Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography:
The Airline Industry. The Business History Review, 67(3), 486. doi:10.2307/3117379
Bratlie, K. (2009). Airline development from the business perspective. Tourism Management,
10(3), 223-224. doi:10.1016/0261-5177(89)90078-2
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Jelena Petrovic,. (2012). Pricing dynamics in the airline market. AFRICAN JOURNAL OF
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, 6(27). doi:10.5897/ajbm11.1263
Leahy, A. (2014). Flying blind: The failure of airline deregulation. Business Horizons, 35(1), 86-
87. doi:10.1016/0007-6813(92)90123-q
Salarzadeh Jenatabadi, H. (2013). Introduction Latent Variables for Estimating Airline
Assessment. IJBM, 8(18). doi:10.5539/ijbm.v8n18p78
Thornton, R., & Thornton, M. (2011). Who ambushed airline deregulation?. Business Horizons,
40(1), 41-46. doi:10.1016/s0007-6813(97)90024-0
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