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  • Essay / Case study analysis to determine if an airline can reduce "turn times" without adding staff

    Rising Sun Airlines has discovered significant setbacks in effectively preparing its planes to maintain turn times short rotation. During tours, the crew must clean, inspect, restock and refuel the aircraft. Growing demand for air travel and complex schedules have led to an average of 12 minutes over the past year to 20 minutes. President of RSA Grounds, Kentaro Hayashi decides to take matters into his own hands and investigate the problem directly. He poses as a crew member on duty on the grounds of Narita, Haneda, Osaka and Sendai airports to gain a personal understanding of the issues. Limited capacity at one point in the system can reduce the capacity of the entire chain. These bottlenecks could potentially decrease customer satisfaction levels and affect the company's future profits. After several unsuccessful meetings with the executive committee, Ken came to the conclusion that instead of additional staff, he needed a more efficient team. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned'? Get the original essay The problems stem from RSA Ground's desire to do more work with the same number of employees. There are six people on a cleaning crew, regardless of the size of the aircraft, making it difficult to have a consistent average of 12 minutes. Attrition rates have also increased over the past year, as Mari, the human resources manager, has hired 20 to 30 workers per month to keep up with the high rate of voluntary attrition. The general pattern of causes of turnover indicates that stressful and demanding work, difficult to achieve goals, and lack of employee motivation gave former employees a micro desire to leave. There were more experienced workers who were well behaved but were unenthusiastic and apathetic about sharing their knowledge. Many of the staff were on temporary contracts and saw the position as a stepping stone to more prestigious careers. Inadequate training and poor instructions have also been found to be problems leading to insufficient processing times. Hospitality organizations generally have a poor reputation for training because managers are reluctant to invest time in the event of staff departures, or because they are preoccupied with other processes. Lady Chronometer was a supervisor who constantly had to move from one team to another and could not provide direct and consistent supervision. Performing tasks without the appropriate skills threatens quality standards, job dissatisfaction, organizational commitment and company profits. RSA Ground's incompetent training obviously exacerbated staff turnover and affected their turnaround times. The application of effective solutions is therefore essential to the long-term success of the company. After reporting his findings to the management team, they proposed some possible solutions. The first suggestion was to invest in more recruits, giving the existing crew more training and higher salaries. This came at the cost of a 20% budget increase that the company cannot afford to risk. Another proposal highlighted the importance of leadership positions in coordinating teams, so emphasis should be placed on developing these levels. The CTO's recommendation involved devoting abudget for improved technology systems to track the performance of all employees, but this also came with significant costs. Applying any of these suggestions could help resolve the problem, but most carry significant risks that could lead to mixed results. To improve processing times, Ken will need to find solutions through a holistic approach and those that do not involve a significant financial investment. If RSA Grounds could achieve its goal of reducing processing times, it could cost it dearly in terms of quality of service. They must consider the efficiency aspect without impacting the expected quality and this can be done by retraining staff. Training is necessary for new recruits to acquire skills and knowledge specific to the position, but it can also be a means of improve the performance of current employees. A performance assessment can be carried out to determine which role is best suited to their skill level and the amount of training needed to ensure teams are balanced. It is unlikely that training teams with current procedures will make a difference; they need to learn from workers like Nobuo because they have the expertise that needs to be shared. Using this knowledge, the company will be able to review workplace instructions and update them with more effective practices leading to better organizational structures. To measure the degree of success, Ken can use the already set benchmark of 12 minutes per round, in addition to high quality service, to help calculate team improvements after a period of time. The total number of employees must also be evaluated, as it does not make sense to have the same number of employees working on different sized aircraft. By placing the appropriate ratio of duty crew per number of passengers, average turn times of 12 minutes will be more achievable. The application of this strategy should make it possible to avoid having to recruit more and avoid the resulting excessive increase in the budget. Managers like Lady Stopwatch are already dispersed and have become a useless means of surveillance. Therefore, managers can focus more on being better supporters and developing processes to make them more effective, but they must do so without diminishing the motivating role of a supervisor. The E and O theories of change combined suggest that creating boards from above will help engage those from below. The best workers at RSA Ground have talents that deserve to be highlighted. Their promotion to management positions will allow them to have the respect and responsibility they need to continually share their tips. It will also encourage the current flat hierarchical organizational structure to be more closely supervised with more rules and regulations. Providing an authority figure at the crew level can encourage someone to be a transformational leader who inspires individuals and to grow through already established relationships. Team leaders can be part of a rotation system that will give many members the opportunity and responsibility to lead in order to mitigate attrition issues. Creating a reward system for those who perform well will give them intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to increase their organizational commitment. Another way to keep staff motivated is to set a goal for them to achieve through small competitions and reward them with bonuses and new roles for the best..