Sia Case Study

Communication is one of the best tools a company can utilize in order grow and thrive in their industry. An organization's employees are the greatest asset that when combined with effective communication would cause a company to be at the forefront of the industry. Singapore Airlines (SIA) had the ambitious goal of being an industry leader for customer service but fell short of their goal. The leaders are the driving force that creates the momentum within the organization. Singapore Airlines lost sight of their largest asset, their people which in turn put the company short of its goal of being industry leader.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) places a significant emphasis on the cabin crews in order to provide excellent service. This is something that can be traced back to the management style of SIA. The company clearly states that they "endeavor to create an environment in which responsibility, within the authority delegated, can be exercised effectively at all levels" (Wyckoff, 1989, pg 1). In the cabin, the crew has equal responsibility to the upper management and by placing equal emphasis at all levels there is greater employee buy-in.

SIA does have specific policies in place that can be beneficial, but may also limit their long-term success. The organization mainly looks for young women to fulfill a specific image associated with the brand, and that focus can present a challenge. Relatively young and inexperienced cabin crew combined with fairly speedy turnover, caused by the fact that the aging process cannot be stopped, will result in the ongoing need to train and retrain. Although this was considered, it was decided that SIA would stick to this plan mainly due to the culture that it served, which was predominantly Asian (Wyckoff, 1989).

In an ever-changing world that is becoming more westernized with employees and customers that are traveling through and to Asia on business, it may be time for SIA to reconsider their policies. Primarily due to the fact that the training expenses associated with maintaining a young crew may not be conducive to success. Additionally western travelers may actually find a more experienced cabin crew to be a comforting factor.

The best way to go about determining changes that would appeal to the customer and that would be feasible would be to present several solutions to the board, and vote on which changes are the best solutions. After narrowing down the best possible changes, it would be ideal to poll travelers; perhaps through an onboard survey that can be conducted during a flight, a link to a website on the boarding pass or ask for travelers' email addresses and send the survey link directly. However, given the nature of flying, the best means would be through an onboard survey that could be given out to travelers or made available through the in-flight entertainment systems.

The "Singapore Girl" used in the advertisements portrayed their flight attendants as a perfect description of what a Singapore Airlines stewardess should be. She had become the central character in the company's advertising campaign. In the early years of Singapore Airlines, management was wanting to set themselves apart from other airlines, one way they were able to do this was to focus on their service while in-flight. Lily Chan, while serving as Singapore Airline's advertising manager, and now the in-flight manager summarized their strategy when she said, their need was to have a "unique selling proposition." When they found the "Singapore Girl", she became synonymous with Singapore Airlines (Wyckoff, 1989).

The advertisement campaign pictured the "Singapore Girl" in many settings and used a mixture of themes. During the campaign of 1979 through 1980 she was presented as a mysterious world traveler and was shown looking out a cab window in London with a soft glimmer of light glistening through the cab. The script has the narrator asking about the "Singapore Girl", where she is going while passing a Hong Kong temple. The script continues asking what is she thinking, who is she, and when will she be seen again (Wyckoff, 1989).

This advertisement campaign according to surveys conducted by the International Research Association showed through their study of advertisement recall that Singapore Airlines enjoyed a constant increase in unassisted recall. Due to this increase in unassisted advertisement recall showed that people paid attention to the advertisements and the airlines in-flight service was a central part of their strategy which was geared to setting themselves apart from other airlines. Due to the success they should maintain this campaign of using the "Singapore Girl"; despite some conflict from some activist groups. In order to appease those concerns SIA should present the "Singapore Girl" in a moral and ethical manner.

Should changes be made it would be to continue to present her in other settings in modern times while in the traditional sarong kebaya. While maintaining this campaign of outstanding service and stimulating stewardess they could add other components which highlights their comfortable seating, the company's superior maintenance operations compared to other airlines, the well experienced pilots and engineers, and their ability to hire the best employees from around the world (Wyckoff, 1989).

Singapore Airlines measured their crew performance in two ways, formal staff reviews and passenger comments. There were three evaluation sections which were conducted by senior flight attendants, then by a training-check steward stewardess, then by Singapore Airlines management which used written complaints and compliments from passengers. The first set of evaluations allowed the crewmember being evaluated to acknowledge and comment on the results of their evaluation. The second set of reviews, which were conducted by a training-check steward or stewardess, the results were not shared with the person being reviewed. With the third set of evaluations the