Analysing the Indian airline Jet airways and its management

Jet Airways is owned by London based billionaire Mr. Naresh Goyal and is a major Indian airline based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is India’s largest airline and the market leader in the domestic sector having market share around 27%. It operates over 400 flights daily to 71 destinations worldwide including 47 domestic destinations and 24 international destinations in 19 countries across southern Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. The fleet includes Boeing 737, ATR 72-500s, Airbus A330-200, and Boeing 777-300ER.

Jet airways has been repeated adjudged India’s best airlines and won many national and international awards.

Company took over Air Sahara in the year 2007 and renamed it as Jetlite. Deal was valued around US$ 500 millions and was largest in the history of Indian aviation. Jetlite is marketed between low cost airlines and full service airlines. Jet Airways is one of the youngest aircraft fleet in the world. Average age of the fleet is only 4.82 years only.

The airline industry exists in an intensely competitive market. In recent years, there has been an industry-wide shakedown, which will have far-reaching effects on the industry’s trend towards expanding domestic and international services. The major development in airline industry is the rapid expansion of global alliance. Such alliances led to provide extended services to customers and sharing cost like airport lounges.

Jet airways products

Major Products:-

Tourist travellers to exotic destination

Business travellers to all corner of the world

Offering through Tie up with resorts and hotels (Packaged deal)

Tie ups with local transportations (like with Hertz for local taxis)

On – Board shopping

Associated Products:

Currency exchange windows on major airports

Cargo services to domestic and international destinations

Jet airways customers

The customers are segmented into business travellers and tourist travellers. The business travellers are mainly service driven and loyalty depends upon on-time flight schedule, convenience, privileged treatment and loyalty bonus. Customers of this segment are regular and do not shift very easily.

The Tourist travellers are price sensitive and sometimes one time customers. They chose flight of destination to destination.

Facilities like wide network through alliance partners, on- board services, lounges will always keep stay ahead in completion.

Service management:

What

Company has decided to provide quality and premium and world class airline service at competitive price to passengers.

Business travellers who have a priority to maintain timeline, looking for a comfort and convenience and willing to pay premium price. Also for leisure travelers and economy class passengers, they have a no frill segment with convenient in flight paid services.

How

Offering in time service in new age aircraft with better in-flight service during the traveling and taking care of passenger from booking ticket to ensure safe and comfort travel to reach at final destination.

Where: In National and International travel sector

When: Already in existence, however it is an evolving process and can be modified depending on the customer expectation.

Why: To remain a preferred choice of Airline, which will benefitted for a growth prospects and enhance market share.

Jet airways services:

Service process design at JET AIRWAYS are designed after taking due consideration of customer segment and requirements to enhance customer satisfaction level. While delivering the service, an emphasized to keeping low cost and always striving to improve efficiency.

On Ground Services >>> Check in Options

Airport lounges

Coach & Bus services

Immigration services

In flight services >>> Entertainment

Magazines

Cuisines

Convenience and safety

Assistance >>> Medical assistance

Assistance to unaccompanied minors

Assistance for infants

Assistance for elderly / disabled people

Other services >>> Mobile updates

Boarding card freebies

Customer friendly services like mobile services

Customer Delight approach in Jet airways

Jet airways moving beyond customer satisfaction and endeavouring for customer delight. The entire organisation is working for creating customer loyalty and relationships which drives business growth and profitability. Service manager believes that customer satisfaction levels can be enhanced through effective customer complaint redressal system and delivering the promise, providing a personal touch, going the extra mile and resolving problems well. The customer feedback or listening customer voices through customer satisfaction index, customer feedback, market research, listening to frontline personnel and strategic activities involving customers. Each flight ensures customer feedbacks and service managers ensure feedback from different segment of customers. Customer complaints / feedback are helpful in providing opportunities for continuous improvements in product offerings, quality and customer services. Effective complaint management creates more customer retention than consistent satisfaction. When customer dissatisfaction addressed, such customers become more loyal to the organization and also provides more opportunities and challenges. Customer complaints can help in learn about meeting their expectations and needs, and enable to build a customer-oriented organization. Good customer feedback system will help in institutionalize learning and continuous improvement. Design and implement fully integrated feedback system followed by focused approach towards gathering customer feedback and integrating it with the company’s approach and business strategies ensure improvised services for customers. Organization needs to know what customers are saying.

Human Resource Management and Culture in Jet airways

The concept of HRM includes recruitment, training, compensation and performance appraisal. Human resource management defines relationship between employees and organization through processes, practices and guidelines.

The role of the HR department in Jet airways to create effectiveness in service system

Increase effectiveness through job security, training and rewards lead to job satisfaction and motivation.

Monitor and evaluate job performance, enhance job role to maintain excitement and

reward the employees for their excellence

Reward for long-term commitment

Employee’s need to be treated in main stream of organisation

Jet Airways gives high priority on HRM to provide essential services to the customer satisfaction and enhance shareholders value.

Operates within adopted code of conduct and ethics, abide by law, rules and regulations of the stock exchange.

Every employee including directors required to become familiar with code of conduct.

Proper training to front end and back end staff

Ensuring the basic skills and competencies to handle customer while check in and on board

Each employee should avoid using his/her private interest while performing the duty objectively and effectively.

Ambiguity and conflict resolution with fair and justifiable manner

Reward and recognition as per the aviation industry practice

Qualified and skilled crew members

The HR practices like job design, employee empowerment, training, remuneration and careful selection processes lead to satisfied employees who deliver high levels of service quality.

The employee motivation is critical to the results of the service delivered. The cycles of success and failure are based on the intertwined roles of employees and customers. The employee’s attitudes and behaviours are affected by human resource (HR) practices which further led to influence customers’ attitudes and ultimately impact the profitability. Higher employee’s satisfaction and motivation enhance service deliverance of individual and achieve higher service quality as well as lower employee turnover. It improves the customer’s perception and makes them more satisfied which further turn to loyal customer. Hence Jet airways became preferred choice of travellers and contribute to profitability. The HR practices like job design, employee empowerment, training, salary and careful selection processes lead to satisfied employees who deliver high levels of service quality.

The Effective HR involvement in Jet Airways is the key to having a competent and committed workforce. The recruitment, training and competency development, performance monitoring and rewards and recognition are the key areas where Jet Airways implement effective HR policies to achieve a high quality workforce and high quality service experience for the

Customer. The role of HR practices in airlines industry is competency development, employee empowerment, and collaboration.

The service delivery gap is the performance gap when employees are unable and/or unwilling to perform the service at the desired level. The major factors which contributes to the performance gap are teamwork, employee-job fit, technology-job fit, perceived control, supervisory control systems, role conflict and role ambiguity

The competent employee in Jet airways means first need to understand the importance of technical skills, behaviours and employee attitudes for specific roles and then hiring the right people and identifying strategies to develop them into excellent service providers.

The greatest challenges for services managers in Jet airways are to develop employees to manage the complexity and conflicting demands of their roles. Frontline employees have to simultaneously meet customers’ expectations and organizational priorities. Sometimes demand of difficult customers can lead to feelings of stress, conflict and Frustration. The role stress has a negative impact on performance in terms of employees’ commitment, satisfaction, productivity and ability to deliver service quality to customers.

Factors Contributing to Work Stress are role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload. The role stress can be reduced through leadership, empowerment and formalization.

Collaboration among employees within organisation enables them to find solutions for critical and unforeseen problems. Sharing of experience and war stories enables people to learn. Collaborative team approach among employees in Jet airways is more important due to many services deliverance exhibit variability. The variables depend upon customer’s wants / needs, the frontline employee’s abilities/ attitudes and organizational support. Managers are unable to develop routines, procedures and manuals to deal with every contingency. Employees help and learn from one another through their experience.

Employee Empowerment is a HR practice that gives the employees the authority to use decision making when confronted with diverse customer requests.

One of service management principle is “Decision-making authority as close as possible to the customer interface”. It empowers employees for making decision, give employees the authority to use judgment and make prompt decisions when confronted with diverse customer requests. It leads to higher levels of job satisfaction and employee commitment.

Employee Empowerment helps in customer satisfaction and employee motivation.

Performance management system

Performance measurement systems in Jet airways include various aspects on performance like financial, non financial and are customer-driven. A performance measure has to be integrated and balanced.

The Balanced Scorecard comprises of financials, internal business, Innovation & Learning and Customer. The Balance Score Card helps managers to stay focused on their strategy and objectives in line of organization’s goals.

Financial:

Year on Year increase in company’s revenue and profitability.

Increase in market share

Increase/ decrease in Customer segment

Value creation for shareholders

Lost baggage claim

Any Accident/ technical faults

Non Financial:

Geography expansion

Addition in number of flights, size of carriers

Perceived value and image

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Employee attrition rate

Customer Satisfaction Levels:

Customer satisfaction survey

Average Passenger per flight (Increase/decrease)

Word of mouth service experience

Code sharing with another carrier

Round trip package for business and economy travelers

Complimentary solution for hotels, taxi and site trip

Steps for an integrated and balanced performance measurement system

Work out vision and strategic performance measure

Communicate performance measure

Set out objectives sync with performance measures

Integration in system and evaluation

Strategic learning

Value creation for customers and Service Innovation in service industry like Jet airways is driven by customer feedback. Efficient delivery of services, quality of delivery followed by performance put service organizations ahead in competition. Customer feedback gives an opportunity to understand customer need, formulate improved & differentiated services and deliver effectively. Integration of cross functional thinking in process of creating value added services for customer gives opportunity to involve people is mission of the organisation. Jet airways made tie ups with various services like rent a car, hotels, shopping, dining in restaurant. Boarding pass of flight extends discounts from various premier outlets ranges 15% to 50%.

Innovation gives competitive advantages to the organizations and also helps in sustain the desired performance. Innovation described as continually renewing offering (Products & services). Diversity in work force that always willing to accepts new age technology and implement in deliverance resulted in scaling performance of the organization.

A competitive advantage means distinctive competencies or capabilities and perceived differently by customers and stake holders.

The competitive advantages can be offered through cost leadership, create differentiation and focus on specific product / market / customer segment.

The sources of competitive advantages of Jet airways are superior skills, distinctive capabilities and outstanding resources .These sources of competitive advantage enable to offer superior customer value and leads to customer loyalty and profits.

Competitive forces challenge the quality and delivery of products by imitation and substitutes. The competitive advantages are sustainable through ability to deliver high levels of service quality, manage higher productivity and efficiency and having a large base of loyal customers. Jet airways is commanding leadership position in Business traveller segment due to “On time” flight schedules and widest network. Tie ups with resorts & hotels of exotic destination gives edge to jet airways in tourist travellers segment. This segment prefers “product basket offerings” which includes air travel, Resort / hotel arrangement and local conveyance.

The sustainability of competitive advantages are challenged by technology, human resource skill, and capacity & capability to deliver services

The increasing participation of customers, the role of IT and the diminishing evidence for the traditional characteristics of services such as inseparability and heterogeneity are important in maintaining a sustained competitive advantage.

Setting the highest standards ever seen in Indian skies, Jet Airways introduces delicious new menus, Jet airways become India’s first airline to offer “In-flight entertainment” and Jet mobile services, web check- in, self check in services at airport are few “exceptional services” offered. Jet Konnect flights offered low fares to the price sensitive customer segment. Excellent deliverance of comfort, entertainment and cuisine made jet airways one of the finest airlines in Indian skies.

Productivity and efficiency is another aspect which makes customer delighted. The various factors affecting efficiency are:

Individual’s mood at work, health and well-being.

Enhance relationships with customers & colleagues

Streamline work design and work processes

Improve the physical environment

Increase perceived organizational support

The productivity and efficiency can be increased while identifying and reducing waste in processes, and in gaining the most from peoples’ skills, increasing job control and encouraging inter-personal, collaborative relationships.

Challenges ahead.

Some of challenges in airline industry are service quality, customer value, changes in information technology, eliminating waste, managing productivity, combating competitive forces, and measuring and monitoring performance in different ways.

As an organization has to identify profitable segment of customers and need to extend knowledge of customers so that invest in the groups that are likely to bring the most consistent returns.

The growth and sustainability of organization is driven by the profitability of the customers and not their numbers alone and profitability changes with changes in the customer acquisition and retention strategies.

Frontline service work is complex which involves interactions with others, using ever-advancing technology, conveying intangibles such as information and solutions to problems, managing processes and dealing with role stress.

Future customer service professionals will need enhanced cognitive capabilities (technical process skills) and affective competencies (emotional interaction skills).

Technology is facilitating in increased customer self-service and reducing human interaction. Customers are performing tasks themselves and routine, repetitive work is being replaced by technology. Employees are becoming more specialized, work will be more demanding, and they will need to be better equipped to manage complexity and relationships.

E-services and advance technology impacts the way businesses interact with their customers. Inclusion of new technology is fast replacing the front desk executive and bringing the company-customer interface right on the customer’s desktop.

Service industry is having challenge of delivering consistently high quality service and service manager are focusing on

Realign strategy to accommodate shortened information chains, and changing customer demands and preferences.

Redesign processes and reassemble operations taking account of what can and should be back-office and front-office.

Restructure to accommodate new work, new technological interfaces.