Talent Management in Singapore Airlines: Practices and Recommendations

This report provides an in-depth analysis of talent management practices at Singapore Airlines (SIA), focusing on the learning and development of its cabin crew. It examines SIA's comprehensive four-month training program, which covers essential areas like product knowledge, service procedures, and safety protocols. The report evaluates the effectiveness of SIA's talent management system, highlighting its strengths in recruitment, hiring, development, and retention. It also assesses the company's performance management strategies, emphasizing customer experience and employee engagement. The report identifies areas for improvement, such as enhancing communication systems and incorporating simulated environments to better prepare employees for real-world scenarios. Furthermore, it suggests aligning job responsibilities more closely with learning and development needs to foster employee and organizational growth. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and development in achieving SIA's organizational goals within the aviation industry. This report is contributed by a student to be published on the website Desklib. Desklib is a platform which provides all the necessary AI based study tools for students.

Running head: TALENT MANAGEMENT IN SINGAPORE AIRLINES
TALENT MANAGEMENT IN SINGAPORE AIRLINES
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Table of Contents
Introduction to the organization.......................................................................................................2
Description of the current practices.................................................................................................2
Evaluation of talent management practices.....................................................................................3
Recommendations for improvement................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction to the organization
The report is focused on the effective evaluation of talent management systems that are
implemented by various organizations. Talent management refers to the functions of the HR
processes that are focused on acquiring, developing, motivating and retaining high-performing
employees. The selected organization for the analysis and evaluation of its talent management
system is Singapore airlines (SIA). Singapore Airlines is the flag carrier airline company of
Singapore. The company was established on October 1972 (Cabin Crew 2020). The company
has a fleet size of 137. It provides flight facilities to 62 destinations across the world. It has a
systematic talent management process which is marked by a long training program. The learning
and development system that is utilized by the company is specifically analysed in this study.
The strengths and limitations of the talent management process at SIA is assessed to provide
justifiable recommendations. SIAs growth potential with regard to its talent management process
is assessed through the study.
Description of the current practices
The selected area of talent management involves the learning and development
management of the cabin crew. Learning and development of employees is currently, an
important focus area for Singapore Airlines. Cabin crew need to go through a long training
process to graduate and undertake their responsibilities professionally. The training program
goes on for four months. Some of the important areas that are covered in the training program are
product knowledge, including food and beverages; procedures for services; passenger handling;
grooming and deportment; communication and language skills development; procedures for
safety equipment and first aid. The flying duties commence after the training is successfully
completed. Employees receive a basic salary during the training process. However, upon
successful completion of training and graduating the members are given high salary packages.
The salary packages are based on their flight patterns and working hours. The crew members are
based in Singapore and initially offered a 5 year employment contract. Based on the job
performances and growth, additional 5 year contracts can be provided (Cabin Crew 2020). The
company also provides free flight services for the employees to any destination that is covered
by SIA.
The crew members are given much important support for their learning and development.
They are provided with learning program and intermediate on job training facilities both during
and after their training period. The organizational culture is built to create a continuous support
system for all employees. The idea is to develop crew members who individuals with great
customer orientation, displaying initiatives and teamwork. The larger part of the learning and
development process takes places through team participation. In order to manage talent, team
oriented goal setting, rewards and recognition, peer support and leadership support is provided.
In accordance of the important aspects related to talent management, succession planning is
described early to the employees. Clear communications processes are utilized to develop better
training and development frameworks. Leadership is an important factor concerning talent
management focused on the learning and development area. Transformational leadership is

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implemented to create a goal oriented developmental path for all employees (Stiglitz 2017). The
idea is to create an environment in which learning and development can be intrinsically imbibed
within people who want to achieve greater heights in the aviation industry. Developing sound
knowledge of the aviation industry and the development of sound customer service skills are
important. The training program focuses on developing the intrinsic abilities of the employees
and aligns them with the service requirements of Singapore Airlines.
Evaluation of talent management practices
Considering the most important aspects that are connected with talent management, it can
be said that the larger part of the training and development is consistent with the basics of talent
management. The training program covers important areas such as, product knowledge, service
procedures, handling passengers, grooming and deportment, language and communication,
safety equipment handling and procedures and first aid. These are aspects that are most
important concerning the job role of the cabin crew. It is much important to note that the
management of Singapore Airlines considers talent management to be essential for the progress
and development of the organization. The main elements connected with talent management are
recruitment, hiring, development and retention (Altinay et al. 2016). These are focused much
through the talent management process of Singapore Airlines. It is important to understand some
of the most important aspects that are connected with effective talent management. The training
functions are established through effective identification of training needs, planning and
designing, delivery training and evaluating the training outcomes. These aspects can be easily
aligned with the TM functions of Singapore Airlines. The company takes care of the training
needs of its employees. The three month long training duration helps to optimally develop the
capabilities of the employees.
SIA’s talent management system is effective for developing the capabilities of the cabin
crew aspirants. It is important to note in this regard that the organization uses both the Learning
Needs Analysis (LNA) and Training Needs Analysis (TNA). The HR policies of the organization
are focused on attracting, developing, motivating and retaining employees. Performance
management is considered to be a very important function for the organization. SIA aligns its
performance management aspects with the strong focus on customer experience. LNA and TNA
helps it to overcome the barriers to learning that can affect the employees (Wirtz and Heracleous
2016). An important part of the performance management system is employee retention. SIA
provides some of the best salary packages to keep the employees engaged. Moreover, the 5 year
employment contracts helps to keep employees relatively happier about their job security
prospects. The performance management strategy employed by the organization is in line with
the basics of the performance management process. It starts with the prerequisites, the planning
of performance, performance execution, assessment, review and renewal. However, in SIA, more
importance is provided to performance planning, performance execution, assessment and review.
The main aim of the performance strategy is to develop the employees in consideration of the
major work requirements. Hence, the focus in SIA is on aligning the customer oriented
approaches with the motivational needs of the employees. It has been a more effective
performance strategy than many others in the aviation industry. The employees are SIA are
trained to focus on specific goals that they need to achieve for themselves, their teams and the
organization. This is an important focus of the learning and development process. The major PM

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measures include providing employee benefits, effective feedback mechanisms and establishing
strong internal communication framework (Yang 2019). However, there are some issues in
regards to aligning job responsibilities in accordance with the learning and development needs.
At times, the crew members are unaware of some of their job functions, resulting in confusion.
Recommendations for improvement
The learning and development processes that are implemented in SIA are effective in
determining strong performance levels in SIA. However, some important recommendations need
to be made in order to help the organization further improve its talent management prospects.
There is a need to develop better communication systems that can help to monitor the real-time
performances of the employees. The systems would enable the management to understand more
effectively about the learning needs. There is a need to incorporate more simulated environments
to help the employees understand more about the real-time scenarios that they would need to
tackle. The learning needs of the employees need to be met more effectively in terms of
nurturing their specific talents. Different cabin crew aspirants would have different performance
capabilities. This would help to better evaluate these capabilities. The main focus of the learning
and development process should be on better understanding the intrinsic and extrinsic talents of
the employees.
It is important that a stronger interactive training and development system is established.
An important strategy is to engage the newer employees more with the older employees. This
would help the newer employees to learn more effectively about their job functions. The learning
and development functions should be more effectively aligned with the performance
management process. The learning styles that need to be more focused are that of the activists,
the reflectors and pragmatist. Incorporating these elements would help to ease the learning
process for the new candidates. The performance abilities of the candidates need to be assessed
within the training process itself. This would help to know their strengths and weaknesses, which
in turn would help to better align job responsibilities.
Conclusion
The SIA has been able to create an effective process for learning and development within
the organization. It has helped it to realize many of its larger growth goals. It is important to
understand that the organization has rightly considered learning and development needs to be the
determinants of effective organizational performances. However, it needs to align the job roles
more effectively with the learning and development needs of the employees. This would help to
determine better growth for the employees and the organization in the aviation industry.

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References
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Stiglitz, J.E., 2017. Industrial Policy, Learning and Development.
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Wirtz, J. and Heracleous, L., 2016. Singapore Airlines: Managing human resources for cost-
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Yang, B.N., 2019. Exploring e-Learning Experiences in a Dynamic Organizational Learning
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