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Singapore Airlines (SIA) has enjoyed decades of success by putting customers first.
“We’re not in the transportation business, we’re in the service business” [ CITATION Tod11 \l
1033 ]. They’ve developed some key ingredients to success over the years. However, success
puts you in a vulnerable place, and SIA finds itself in a difficult position to sit at the top yet look
for ways to continuously improve. Even beyond SIA, organizations everywhere must improve
and change continuously.
Like most excellent organizations, Singapore Airlines has ingredients to its success. As
we read through this case, we uncover that those ingredients include, but are not limited to
training and rewards and recognition In regard to training, “SIA continually reinforced its service
emphasis with ongoing training initiatives” [ CITATION Tod11 \l 1033 ]. As if the effort in
training wasn’t enough, “SIA recognized staff for outstanding customer service and for good
ideas, and kept them informed of company problems and plans” [ CITATION Tod11 \l 1033 ].
Specifically, SIA implemented Staff Ideas in Action, Winning Ways, Managing Director’s
Awards, and more as a way to reward and recognize their employees.
The old leadership adage says, “It’s lonely at the top.” For SIA, they’ve been at the top
for so long that the risk of slipping is real. Some of those risks include other companies copying
you, your customer expectations continuing to rise, and a lack of benchmark. In fact, SIA is
already seeing its competition try to emulate. “Middle East carriers (Etihad, Emirates, and Qatar)
didn’t just talk about their well-established rival: they’ve tried to copy Singapore Airlines down
to the last detail” [ CITATION Geo17 \l 1033 ]. It’s not just competition. Once customers get
used to your current level of service, they want to know what’s next. Their expectations continue
to rise. What makes this even harder for SIA is that at the top, there’s no one to benchmark –
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you’re innovating and iterating against yourself, while your competition waits from below to
cherry-pick your successes and improve upon your failures.
For SIA, and other world-class organizations that sit atop of the marketplace, the challenge to
continuously improve and change is difficult, and requires intentionality. The number one thing I
would harp on within the culture of the organization is avoiding complacency at all costs. “There
are many obvious causes of complacency. And when an organization and its leadership team can
identify those causes, it becomes easier to develop a plan to combat that negative inertia”
[ CITATION Bre17 \l 1033 ].
In closing, SIA appears to be an organization that makes good talent selections, trains
well, rewards talent, and puts people over profits. All of these lead to a recipe of sustained
success. SIA’s challenge will be to hold off complacency, and continue to innovate and change,
despite sitting at the top.
References
Gleeson, B. (2017, February 9). Why Complacency Kills Organizational Change Efforts.
Retrieved from Inc.: https://www.inc.com/brent-gleeson/why-complacency-kills-
organizational-change-efforts.html
Hobica, G. (2017, November 10). Singapore Airlines Now an Even Tougher Act to Follow.
Retrieved from Airfare Watchdog:
https://www.airfarewatchdog.com/blog/40877353/singapore-airlines-now-an-even-
tougher-act-to-follow/
Jick, T. D., & Peiperl, M. A. (2011). Managing Change: Cases and Concepts Third Edition. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
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Singapore Airlines (SIA) is an example of an airline that dedicates itself to the
service of its customers and striving for excellence in everything they do. Singapore
Airlines has many things that have aided in the success of the organization, but
there are a few key ingredients that make the company stand out. SIA has a three
pillar strategy of: superior flight service, creating a modern fleet, and having an
outstanding ground service (Jick & Peiperl, 2011, p.536). SIA is intentional in its long-
term planning of the organization as well as maintaining steady growth and sticking
to core competencies in order to advance their three pillar strategy (2011). SIA has
created a culture in the airline industry that many of its competitors struggle to
match, especially in its recruiting and training process. SIA is intentional in the
applicants that they recruit to be a part of their airline, they implement ongoing
training to employees, and work on leadership development (2011). SIA recognizes
that the people that the organization employs are the face of the company and
need to be invested in. SIA recognizes and rewards staff that exemplifies the values
that they are trying to achieve in the organization (2011). Extrinsic rewards
positively relate to employee attitude in an organization, and SIA is intentional to
externally reward those who model the vision for the organization (Ajmal et. al.,
2015, p.462).
The success of the Singapore Airlines has become vulnerable due to the
nature of the upcoming generation and the shifting of desires of airline customers.
The upcoming generation has a different set of values, which pose a potential
problem in the recruiting of people for SIA. The young generation lacks a lot of the
dedication and service spirit that SIA is looking for in its employees (2011).
Millennials are less likely to find meaning and purpose in work, leading them to
place less value in work, which leads to the lack of dedication and service spirit that
SIA is looking for (Campione, 2015, p.62). Millennials are also more likely to move
from job to job, which makes it important for the airline to consider ways to keep
the workforce loyal to the company (Smith & Nichols, 2015, p.40).
Another thing to consider is that the customer base is changing in the things
that they desire in an airline industry. The upcoming generation is far more entitled
than the former one, and that causes a lot of extra needs to arise. The challenge for
an upcoming leader is going to be adapting to the changing industry. An additional
challenge is that SIA has a unique policy in which they change the managers and
directors every three to five year to prevent leadership from becoming jaded. This
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management approach can be helpful in stopping burnout, but harmful in building
community within the various teams of the organization.
In order for an organization like Singapore Airlines to continually change and
improve, they need an awareness and understanding of the needs of customer,
and the changing desires of the upcoming generation. A successful world class
organization is going to consider the factors of a changing industry and use that to
shape the mission, vision, values, and goals of the organization.
Biblical Application
Similarly to the way that Singapore Airlines strives for excellence in all that
they do, it is important for believers to strive to emulate Christ is everything that
they do. SIA has a lot of really great principles that make them successful, however
as believers we know that the key to our success is obedience to Christ and living in
light of what He has done for us on the cross. 1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV) say, “So,
whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God.”
Everything we do should be for the chief end of glorifying God.
In Response to Sarah Carter
Very well-formed discussion post, Sarah. I did not find anything I disagreed about
throughout your post, and I found your supporting arguments well-researched and well-thought
out. As I think about SIA, and your arguments, I think about my organization and these same
questions, and how they apply to my organization.
At Chick-fil-A, we’re an organization that prides itself on putting the customer first, and
every decision we make is customer-centric. Just as SIA has three pillars, we do, as well. First is
making sure everything is excellent about the experience, next is going the extra mile for the
customer, and last is making the experience memorable. You mention recruiting and training, and
this is another area that we at Chick-fil-A place in high regard. The hiring process at Chick-fil-A,
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Inc. can take months, if not longer, to make sure we make the right selection. In the Restaurants,
training is thorough, innovative, in-the-moment, and learner-focused.
SIA finds itself at the top of the marketplace and in a position of vulnerability with the
shifting expectations of customers. Same goes with Chick-fil-A. It used to be mind-blowing for
our guests that we would dedicate staff to oversee the dining room and offer beverage refills.
Now, customers tell us when they didn’t get offered a refill. This has pushed Operators to
innovate and find other ways to increase hospitality. Zappos has gone through this same shift.
General Manager of eCommers, Joe Grusman says, “We’re constantly thinking of how we can
create the best customer experience possible, whether that’s through interactions with our site,
calls with our customer loyalty team, or consuming content through our social channels”
[ CITATION Pau18 \l 1033 ].
As we continue to move into a new age of technology, personalization, and customer
demands, the companies to continue to iterate and innovate will find themselves towards the top.
In order to stay there, they’ll need to continue to change and adapt to the changing environment.
References
Jick, T. D., & Peiperl, M. A. (2011). Managing Change: Cases and Concepts Third Edition. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Talbot, P. (2018, June 20). Keeping Up With Change: How Marketers Give Customers What
They Want. Retrieved from Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultalbot/2018/06/20/keeping-up-with-change-how-
marketers-give-customers-what-they-want/#137e598f66bf
