Communication Assessment:Hawaiian Airlines’ Maintenance and Engineering Department
byLani Almanza, Jennifer Campbell-Meier, Bill Kunstman, Zachary Keever, Viil Lid,
Stephanie Rolfe & Miwa Yamazaki
Hawaiian Airlines
• Hawaii's largest airline since its founding in 1929– serves 18 domestic and international destinations in the
Pacific region. – specializes in air transportation to, from, and among the
Hawaiian Islands and the South Pacific
• Carrying more than 6 million passengers a year– daily flights to seven destinations throughout the Hawaiian
Islands– Daily flights to the mainland– weekly flights to the South Pacific destinations of Tahiti and
American Samoa.
From http://www.hawaiianair.com/about/corporate/history.asp
“…times of uncertainty produce unhappy people.”
• Second Bankruptcy– “more civil than the first bankruptcy”
• Maintenance & Engineering is currently without a Vice President– 4 VPs, 2 Senior Directors acting as VP and 2 Interim
VPs (acting as consultants) since 1994.– Last VP stayed 2 weeks.
Maintenance and Engineering Division
• Departments– Engineering and Reliability– Aircraft Maintenance– Quality Assurance– Planning and Materiels– GSE and Environmental Compliance
• Groups– Management– Labor
Methodology
• Interviews– Conducted 56 interviews across the division
• Surveys– Distributed over 300 surveys– Received 62 completed surveys
Methodology (cont.)
Percentage by Group
32%
51%
25%
68%
49%
64%
0% 0%
11%
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%
OrganizationalChart
Interviews Surveys
Group
Management
Labor
No affliation
Methodology (cont.)
Percentage by Department
7%
57%
10% 11% 14%
0%
12%
33%
20%
10%16%
8%
16%
56%
8%5% 7% 8%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Engineering and
Reliability
Aircraft Maintenance Quality Assurance Planning and Materiels GSE and Environmental
Compliance
No affliation
Department
Organizational Chart*
Interviews
Surveys
Constraints
• Organization– Large organization– Multiple shifts– Essential work– Holidays and vacations– Secure area
• Unable to interview as many people as we hoped– Random Sampling– Convenience Sampling– Accidental/Snowball Sampling
• Surveys not handed out directly
Strengths
EmployeeCommitment
EmployeeCompetency
EmploymentLongevity
EmployeeSatisfaction
EmployeeProductivity
Employee Productivity
• “We accomplish a lot with a small workforce”
• “The work never runs out & I feel proud when I see the plane at the gate”
Q 38: How would you rate your productivity on your job?
26%
31%
18%
8% 8%
5%
2%
[1] Very Satisfied
[2] Satisfied
[3] Slightly Satisfied
[4] Indifferent
[5] Slightly Dissatisfied
[6] Dissatisfied
[7] Very dissatisfied
Mean 2.606557Median 2Mode 2
Employee Satisfaction.
• “Which job? Mine? Pretty good, 7.”
• “Personally, I get satisfied, what I fix doesn’t come back.”
Q1: how satisfied are you with your job?
13%
28%
25%
10% 10% 10%
2%
[1] Very Satisfied
[2] Satisfied
[3] Slightly Satisfied
[4] Indifferent
[5] Slightly Dissatisfied
[6] Dissatisfied
[7] Very dissatisfied
Mean 3.116667Median 3Mode 2
Employee Commitment
Q48: I’m not willing to put myself out just to help Hawaiian Airlines.
4%5%
4%
18%16%
32%
21%
[1] Very true
[2] True
[3] Somewhat true
[4] Not sure
[5] Somewhat false
[6] False
[7] Absolutely False
Mean 5.140351Median 6Mode 6
Mean 2.839286Median 3Mode 2
Q49: Even when Hawaiian Airlines is not doing well, I am reluctant to
change to another employer.
20%
29%
21%
16%
4%
7%
2%
[1] Very true
[2] True
[3] Somewhat true
[4] Not sure
[5] Somewhat false
[6] False
[7] Absolutely False
• Interviewees across departments and levels reported that labor group’s competency is one of the division’s strengths.– “Qualified, competent people”– “Capability and know-how are there.”– People, “… take pride in the fact that Hawaiian
Airlines has a good performance record.”
Employee Competency
Lack of Strong Leadership
• Lack of Vice President - lack of vision,
cohesiveness, 'personality’
• Lack of Leadership
- 'unhealthy' attitudes to communication
- micro-management - feedback leads to
better motivation
Q35: level of satisfaction with the extent to which attitudes toward
communication at M&E are basically healthy
0% 0%
11%
18%
13%
21%
34%
[1] Very Satisfied
[2] Satisfied
[3] Slightly Satisfied
[4] Indifferent
[5] Slightly Dissatisfied
[6] Dissatisfied
[7] Very dissatisfied
Mean 5.491803Median 6Mode 7
Lack of Strong Leadership
Q18: level of satisfaction with the extent to which M & E's
communication motivates and stimulates an enthusiasm for
meeting its goals
0% 0%
5% 7%
18%
23%
46%
[1] Very Satisfied
[2] Satisfied
[3] Slightly Satisfied
[4] Indifferent
[5] Slightly Dissatisfied
[6] Dissatisfied
[7] Very dissatisfied
Mean 6.016393Median 6Mode 7
Q17: level of satisfaction with the extent to which my supervisors know
and understand the problems faced by subordinates
0%
8%10% 10%
13%
18%
39%
Very Satisfied
] 1[
Satisfied
] 2[
Slightly Satisfied
] 3[
Indifferent
] 4[
Slightly Dissatisfied
] 5[
Dissatisfied
] 6[
Very dissatisfied
] 7[
Mean 5.442623Median 6Mode 7
Departmental and Group Differences
Q85-89: Areas of Conflicts
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
RegularlyFrequentlySometimesOccasionallyNot very often
Rarely Never
Differences in procedurebetween divisions
Interpersonal reationships
Vacancy/promotionannouncements.
Supervisor-subordinaterelationships
Overall relationships betweendivisions
Departmental and Group Differences
Q90-94: Conflict Resolution
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
SuperblySatisfactorily
PassablyUndecidedNot very well
Poorly Terribly
Differences in procedurebetween divisionsInterpersonal reationships
Vacancy/promotionannouncements.Supervisor-subordinaterelationshipsOverall relationshipsbetween divisions
Departmental and Group Differences
Q26: Level of satisfaction with the extent to which conflicts are handled
appropriately through proper commmunication channels
0%3%
15%18%
13% 15%
34%
[1] Very Satisfied
[2] Satisfied
[3] Slightly Satisfied
[4] Indifferent
[5] Slightly Dissatisfied
[6] Dissatisfied
[7] Very dissatisfied
Mean 5.278689Median 6Mode 7
• Labor group generally dissatisfied with communication
• Management group generally indifferent to communication
Lack of Formal Information
• Current culture surrounding Hawaiian Airlines formal communication
• Key issues involved with information Withholding
Ranking of Reliable Sources of Company News
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Company Newsletter
Department Bulletin Board
President's Hotline
Co-workers
Supervisor
TV/Newspaper/Radio
Union
www.Hapeople.com
Lack of Accountability
• Lack of supervision– Lack of experiences, – Lack of abilities of
handling issues
• Lack of Immediate feedbacks– Suggestions are not taken
account and there is less visible improvement.
Q13: level of satisfaction with reports on how problems in my job are being
handled
2%
8%
3%
13% 13%15%
43%
[1] Very Satisfied
[2] Satisfied
[3] Slightly Satisfied
[4] Indifferent
[5] Slightly Dissatisfied
[6] Dissatisfied
[7] Very dissatisfied
Mean 5.516667Median 6Mode 7
• Lack of appropriate evaluation– Supposed to have formal evaluation but not in the past
few years (range is from a few years to five years)– Informal feedback orally
• Favoritism– Employees are working based on their ‘favorite basis’
• Failure to follow through– Everyone has different priorities and not follow through
between shifts
Lack of Accountability (continued)
Lack of Morale
• Interviews• mean 3.335714284• People distinguished
between their personal morale and the morale of Maintenenace and Engineering
Q103: I rate my morale at Hawaiian Airlines as
2%
10%
21%
7%
17%
24%
19%
[1] Extremely High
[2] High
[3] Moderately Positive
[4] Not Sure
[5] Moderately negative
[6] Low
[7] Extremely low
Mean 4.75862069Median 5Mode 6
Lack of Morale
• “ .... Maintenance Department as a whole seems to be on a road to nowhere. Nobody knows where we are going or where we want to be.”
Q37: level of satisfaction with the extent to which the amount of communications
at M&E is about right
0%2%
10%
15%13%
26%
33%
[1] Very Satisfied
[2] Satisfied
[3] Slightly Satisfied
[4] Indifferent
[5] Slightly Dissatisfied
[6] Dissatisfied
[7] Very dissatisfied
Lack of Morale
• no long-term planning• no consistency – of procedure, of incentives• negative spiral when see conflict within
management• accountability non-existent• micromanagement• bankruptcy• lack of communication – kept in the dark
Recommendations
• Reinstate hangar meetings• Revisit length of term of vice president• Bring back employee evaluations company wide• Reassess communication tools
Develop email policyRe-evaluate radio and walkie-talkie use
• Management training for all managers & supervisorsConflict managementEvaluations
• Develop a M&E program for ideas and recommendations