An untapped resource
The skills of pilots, controllers and other air transport professionals are in high demand, but their management potential often remains untapped. Professor Roger Wootton, who leads the air transport MSc course at London's City University, argues that management education can unlock this resource.
As senior airline executive teams tackle the big strategic issues of the moment, from global alliances to low-fares competition, they need to remember that successful strategy does not stop at the boardroom door. While such strategies may yield revenue growth and reduced costs, they will only do so if employees at every level understand the corporate goals and work to achieve them.
Management education cannot just be seen as an asset at board level but must permeate the whole team from the cockpit to the customer call centre.
Gone are the days when the few MBA-qualified staff could use "megaphone management" to run a successful company. As the low-fares airlines have demonstrated, the challenge is to provide a service that is, however slightly, above customers' expectations.
Although the air transport industry has always shown a high commitment to the training of its pilots, engineers and other professional staff, it has been weaker in management training. You have only to look at the typical academic achievements of such staff - many of them graduates - to see the strength of the talent that is left unused. Ignoring untapped talent can lead to frustration. You often hear crew saying: "They [the faceless management] ought to do something about it".
It seems that many who may wish to contribute more to the industry do not have the academic base to do so. They are not aware of the extraordinarily tight constraints of economics, law, aviation regulations and international agreements within which the industry works.
The past few years have seen an increased demand for postgraduate education. The demand is strongest among aircrew, perhaps because their unrealised management potential is the greatest. However, others could develop their roles while maintaining their core discipline.
The Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators (GAPAN) in the UK was among the first to recognise this need and initiated the MSc in Air Transport Management at City University. GAPAN correctly predicted that aircrew and other professionals have more to offer the industry. Nearly 200 students have now graduated or are on the course. Most have used their acquired management skills in tasks such as developing safety, IT and no-smoking policies, wet-leasing surplus aircraft, developing new route structures and implementing coherent service-level agreements. Some have progressed to director level.
There are two main sets of choices to make in postgraduate education. The first is between distance learning and classes. The former may be the only route open to those without easy access to an appropriate university, or whose lifestyle or shift pattern precludes attendance at a course. However, in an industry suffering from a lack of interaction between different professional groups, a distance learning qualification has less practical value for career progression. Conventional classes bring together students from different disciplines and backgrounds which enhances discussion and learning. Peer pressure helps stimulate students to succeed - the real test for any sponsoring company.
The second choice centres around the qualification - MBA or MSc. The MBA was first intended as a postgraduate degree in general management for those rising to board level. Originally it was largely case-study based, with the assumption that every student - typically with at least a decade of demonstrably successful middle management behind them - would have the acumen and experience to draw out the academic principles. Since the quality of such an MBA depends on the intellectual and knowledge-based input of the students, the best schools have very high entry standards.
The high standard of the leading business schools has been diluted by colleges offering unaccredited MBAs that differ vastly from the gold standard. In its original form, the MBA was at such a strategic level that specialisation, for example in air transport, was not acceptable. The MBA risks becoming debased as a qualification for experienced managers.
The MSc is normally focused on a specialisation and is arguably the right qualification for those aspiring to middle management, or for those who wish to retain their core profession but also arm themselves with a management education. In a balanced organisation you could expect 10 to 100 MSc holders for every MBA. The career expectation of MSc graduates is aimed towards the goals of the industry in implementing at working level the huge changes needed throughout the industry over the next decade.
One future is already in view. We are moving from an era with a surplus of professionals to one of chronic shortage. Successful companies need to retain their skills and their corporate know-how. Sponsored education may be one way to achieve these goals, by improved management at every level and by offering varied and interesting career paths.
Encouraging staff to take further education does not mean that the organisation will lose a professional. Employees do not see education as a way out of their core activity but as a way to enhance their productivity. Organisations that strive to ensure that every staff member is contributing to their full potential will become the most successful companies of the future.
Source: Airline Business
