Ron Westrum

Professor IISociety and Risk

University of Stavanger

Sola Airport September 2014

Airline Culture for the 21st Century

Airline culture---”the good old days”

Consider that technology clearly makes a difference:

A. The jet engine---greater speed, much greater safety, more comfort

B. The glass cockpit ----cut the overall accident rate by one-half!

How important is culture?

A. Training?

B. The right personnel?

C. Financial resources?

D. Formal structure?

And is culture more important than:

British Airways tries changing

The Legend:

“When British Airways decided in the mid-80s to put its thousands of staff through a special training course, Putting People First, it was a minor sensation. Embracing a philosophy of going that extra mile to satisfy customer needs was seen as the catalyst that transformed a state-owned, somewhat despised national carrier into a world-ranking business.”

Sounds Good, Right?

British Airways---Putting People First

“Putting passengers first”

Management backed the programme, but was inconsistent in other moves it made.

Not everyone employed by BA was treated to the same warm, friendly approach.

As BA’s economic fortune changed, so did its support for the programme.

But there were major problems

British Airways --- labor problems 2014

Airline culture change –how serious?

Type I Type II Type III

HQStaff

Fleet A Fleet B Fleet C

Airline culture change---how serious?

Pathological ---high power emphasis

Bureaucratic---high turf emphasis

Generative---high mission emphasis

We get three different cultures

Exist to enhance power and privileges of a leader

Create atmosphere of intimidation and threat

Often shoot the messenger of bad news

Will “make an example” of those who dissent

Pathological Cultures

Pathological leaders: Tony Soprano, Chris Christie

Work for the protection of “turf”

Insist on doing things by the rules

Excellent for routine business

Often too slow to react in emergencies

Bureaucratic cultures

Government by committee

Oriented to the organization’s mission

Willing to put rules and hierarchy aside

Share a compelling vision

Encourage innovation

Generative cultures

Some generative leaders: General George C. Marshall, Jean-Luc Picard

The Apollo program…

Wernher van Braun, technical maestro

Highly selected Highly trained Highly practiced Brilliantly led

NASA Apollo Mission Control

Shuttle culture was different….

Columbia shuttle explodes

Columbia accident leads to questions

Behavioral Science Technologies

Ojai, CaliforniaExpertise: Lost time accidents

And the answer is…..

BST “assesses” NASA culture

NASA asks BST to “fix” its culture

40% of management feels there has been significant change…..

But only 8% of workers feel the change is significant…..

Therefore, not much has changed!

But after six months, not a lot had changed…..

After 9 months, NASA dismisses its “culture doctors.”

And declares that the culture is “fixed!”

Really?

NASA decides to fire BST….

NASA centers---Complex, technical, etc.

NASA has ten technical centers

Each is filled with rocket scientists and rocket engineers

It is hard to influence highly trained professionals, especially from the outside…

Rather like “herding cats”

What would it take to fix N.A.S.A.?

Alan Mulally fixes Ford

First, cultural change typically has to come from the top down

Second, cultural change is a strenuous exercise, an organization has to be willing to go through it.

Two important requirements for cultural change

A string of accidents 1983-1999 puts Korean Air on the U.S. Defense Department’s “Shun list”

Problems with Korean Air Culture: Rapid expansion in 1980’s led to poor cockpit culture Authoritarian attitudes Too many new ex-military pilots Promotions based on friendships and “connections”

Culture degrades: Korean Air (lines) makes the “shun list”

KAL 007 is shot down over Russia--1983

And the families mourned

KAL flight 801crash---August 1997--Guam

A moment of silence after KAL 801 crashes in Guam 1997

David Greenberg, a retired Delta Vice-President was brought in by Korean Air (he was made a vice president of KAL). He changed the promotions system and training program, and put an end to the string of crashes that had put KAL and Korean Air on the “no fly” list

As a result of the changes brought about by Greenberg, the airline came off the “Shun list” and was allowed to rejoin Delta and Air France in their code-sharing Skyteam alliance.

Korean Air’s culture is fixed by a foreigner

David Greenberg, V.P. Operations KAL

Korean Air today (with Airbus 380)

While many articles on “high reliability” or “resilience” describe how such environments operate,

How do leaders build such a “high reliability” system from scratch?

As far as I know, there is no accepted answer to this question. But we can look at some individual cases…

How do leaders build an effective culture?

Culture Examplar: Southwest Airlines

First, Southwest was created in an exceptionally hostile and challenging environment. It was continuously under attack from competition.

Second, the airlines borrowed the personnel playbook of Pacific Southwest airlines.

Third, Southwest had an extremely gifted and charismatic leader, Herb Kelleher

Southwest’s history

Southwest’s charismatic Herb Kelleher

Inspiration: Pacific Southwest Culture

Southwest culture

The result of these and other forces led to an airline with:

1) a strong emphasis on trust and co-operation2) an ability to do the impossible (e.g. short turn-around times)

3) an environment emphasizing creativity and humor4) Unusual employee engagement and ownership

So: Southwest’s culture

The airline became one of the most popular employers in the country

It expanded gradually, yet always successfully

It had a low accident rate.

It became the nation’s most successful airline, with never a bad quarter.

The results of Southwest culture

Was Southwest’s culture dependent on having a single fleet? (Southwest is now using more than one kind of aircraft)

Can the new leader innovate like Herb Kelleher?

Can Southwest continue to afford its high labor costs?

But Southwest is having problems now

Southwest’s cultural features were interdependent.

Other companies wanted to learn from Southwest, but seldom were willing to tackle all the aspects necessary.

Many companies wanted a “magic gimmick” that could create the culture without genuine transformation.

Could we replicate Southwest’s culture?

What does it take to have a culture that can “live long and prosper?”