Human Resource Management Air India

CSuggested answers to questionnaire

Questions

1. Air India comes directly under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. The Board of directors and CMD have to work under the guidance of bureaucrats and politicians. What in your opinion have been the influence and effect of such a leadership on the strategic management and decisions taken on Air India over a period of time?( learning outcome 1.1 Explain the link between strategic management and leadership)

Answer 1

Leadership in Air India

Since 2003 Air India has been run by IAS officers with no experience of running a complex global business. The CMD’s Arvind Jhadhav was secretary industries in Karnataka and Mr V Tulsidas chief secretary of Tripura. Rivals like Jet airways had expact management .The AI chief looked to their superior boss the Secretary Civil Aviation for directions

Ministers Ananth Kumar,Sharad Yadav,Shahnaz Hussein,praful patel who were at the helm when the decline was steepest were unable to put the air line on the recovery path

It was a typical bureaucratic leadership style sometimes coupled with a laizzes faire attitude

Strategic management

SWOT analysis of Air India to be carried out

Strengths

Updated fleet of Boeing 777 and AirBus 320

Competent repair and maintenance organization

Financial backing of government

Presence in 19 countries and 96 destinations

Weaknessess

Poor customer service, poor work ethics ,weak marketing

Leadership- no strategic direction

Large staff 250 per air craft as compared to 190 industry average

Operation-low profitability and low utilization of capacity

Poor financial state, high cost structure

Political interference, poor HR policy ,large number of unions

Opportunities

Expanding economy,large middle class,NRI population,tourists and large IT personnel and students using air travel

Threats

International air lines operating in India and same routes,more efficient private air lines capturing market share

Indian Railways...