I think it’s alittle adversity, misery and necessity which is the spark of evolutionary change. It’s natures way I suppose to find the irritant in it’s environment and to bend it to serve it’s purpose or to develop a shield – an immunity to it’s harmful effect. Or... just give up and...
There's adversity and misery here. We know how it started and what’s causing it. It’s just a matter now of evolving. But... We’re having a little trouble with the evolving part. What’s wrong? You might get different answers from different people. Has anyone ever heard Management say, It’s Executive ineptness. No? – Then it must not be. Has anyone heard anyone say it’s the Courts, Politicians, Airport Authorities, Communities, Lessors, Lenders, Contractors, Venders and Employees? Yes? – Then that’s where the problem lies. The answer here is obviously that the Environment – Must evolve and adapt to it’s species.
Not likely to play out that way? Well, Crap then... How do ya nail this thing down?
If someone’s wailing around in misery, a good listener will pick up on the message hidden in the ramblings. I think everyone on these boards feels he/she has something important enough to say that they take the time to rant it out into cyberspace. It takes more patience in a crisis than it might normally take to listen to these rants or ramblings sometimes. I try to recognize the message in the rants as a symptom of something broken. When walking around in pain everyday, it’s not necessarily a practical idea to either ignore the symptoms or mask them by escaping with a cocktail of drugs.
I don’t want anyone to leave. Before a fight ya gotta get mad. After ya get mad, ya gotta get mean. After ya get mean, ya gotta get smart. This I suppose applies at all levels of the corporation. I think the mad and mean Employees are ready for smart. But when the Senior Executives aren’t ready for Smart... that just leaves everyone Mad and Mean. Recognize the symptoms, build strength from them, don’t mask them. If the Leadership can’t evolve then the most appropriate change is not in the mad and mean employees leaving. If the Employees can’t effect Smart Corporate Strategy then, to an Employee, smart might mean to lean on those who do effect such Strategy.
--- Quote from Unisys Corporation ---
“We like to say, and generally believe, that a company’s fate, like a person’s, is in its own hands. That is certainly the message of US Airways CEO, David Siegel, in a recent letter to US Airways’ employees... This time we’re not so sure. Last spring, as US Airways emerged from bankruptcy, we expressed our view that it was the same old company with only somewhat lower costs. Was it, we asked, “positioned to survive, much less prosper, in the years ahead?†Not waiting for an answer we expressed our own view: “We very much doubt it.†We based our conclusion primarily on two points: •
1)US Airways’ failure to reduce costs— all costs, not just labor costs—to a level at least approaching those of newgeneration airlines.
2)US Airways’ failure to rethink its business model.â€
-- “Reprinted with permission of Unisys Corporation.â€
Instead of knocking the wind out of USAirways’ Competition with new innovations in strategy, the Management team launched a campaign directed at Employees. Management lamented denied affections for other successful Business Models while presenting no aggressive business model to capitalize on the strength of its markets. No Business Model with increased asset utilization. No implemented plans for enhancements to Operational efficiency.
Management did not exploit the areas of agreed-upon efficiencies provided under contract provisions. They chose, instead, to further opportunistically exploit the contract agreements it just signed. By the way, losing miserably in this area of opportunistic exploitation, as evidenced by the indictments and opinions of outside, unbiased courts and arbitrators. Also by the way, this Management has lost something even more valuable. This Executive Team squandered the opportunity it had to motivate ordinary people who would have overcome any insurmountable odds with extraordinary trust, high morale and goal oriented, focused energy for success.
On December 16, 2003, Captain Bill Pollock, chairman of the US Airways pilots’ Master Executive Council, pointed out the following:
“US Airways’ labor costs already are at or below industry standards... we keep hearing their tired refrain that they need labor costs like those at Southwest Airlines. The problem is not labor...â€
“ALPA leaders noted that the senior managers’ calls for labor costs on a par with those at Southwest Airlines have, in fact, already been met. In the first half of 2003, US Airways applied 38 cents of every revenue dollar to pay for labor, whereas at Southwest this expenditure was 40 cents per dollar. The pilots’ share of those total labor costs amount to 13 cents at US Airways and 12 cents at Southwest. A 12-year captain at Southwest earns eight percent more per hour than a pilot in the same position at US Airways.â€
Still, some might believe it’s the employees’ uncooperative nature which is causing the Airline to fail rather than Management’s Business Plan.
“Truth or Dareâ€. The rules are, you have to answer with principled Honestly and Conscience – the intuitive voice of reason in you head that tells you you’re doing right or wrong, being truthful or not.
Everyone’s interested in the survival of USAirways but some are still having difficulty identifying the discordant underlying tones because of a confused, overpowering, dizzying cacophony. Taking one instrument at a time and placing it in a serene setting is the key to identifying the discordant tone amongst the ensemble of players. So take the challenge...
If we take the Airline Model and break it down into simple parts:
Truth – are the assets of USAirways the same as those assets of “people and/or equipment†at other LCCs.
Dare – Place these assets of “people and/or equipment†at other LCCs and see if they fail or prosper in that environment. Let’s dare try...
Let’s take a typical USAirways employee and place him in a comparable position of employment, in the typical Corporate workplace of Southwest Airlines, JetBlue or even another Low Cost, Network Airline such as Continental Airlines. I believe we’ve already determined that pay and benefits for the average employee of comparable seniority and comparable positions are narrowly different.
But more importantly, Let’s expose the employee to the same Cultural Harmony nurtured by the Managements of those Airlines. I believe the majority of USAirways customers who’ve personally interacted with the typical employee of USAirways would reasonably conclude that there is little discord here. Most reasonable observers would certainly agree -- With a nurturing Corporate Culture, comparable compensation and clearly defined goals, this employee would prosper in that environment as he/she dedicates him/herself to the success of that Airline. You might even bias this analogy further in favor of the Employee. Why? Because if an Employee can maintain such a reasonable focus and concentration on safety and service under stress, how would they perform in a non-stressful environment?
Is it the Equipment USAirways flys?
For the most part USAirways flys the same type Aircraft flown by Southwest and JetBlue. Let’s take one of these comparable jets and place it at either Southwest or JetBlue. On average, the LCC produce approximately 30% more ASMs than USAirways using the same Aircraft.
Flight Crewmembers at USAirways fly trip parings on these aircraft at approximately 60% - 70% of what they potentially could, both legally and contractually. Understand, we’re talking about the current existing employee contracts and the current Federal Aviation Administration Limitations. Not using crewmembers to the fullness of contractual agreements is a wasted resource which reflects additionally on poor Aircraft Utilization. At other Airlines, are these assets used more effectively – Truth/Dare?
It is safe to say that the Equipment is not to blame for low utilization. And by casual observation, Flight Crewmember’s are being scheduled by USAirways Management with gross inefficiency.
Labor has consistently relaxed the workrules with each Contract Agreement – Each new agreement, as a result, has resulted in greater and greater scheduling inefficiencies. This is a function of Leadership. It’s a function of Management. Southwest employees would be just as productive under current workrules as USAirways Employees if the existing rules were effectively applied to reality. Having a Southwest Captain sitting around for a Four Hour Turnaround or a 36 hour layover – is not efficient. Demanding more relaxed workrules, to the Company, translates to – Having a Captain sitting around Four Hours or Thirty-Six hours, and not paying for it. Cheaper yes, but unproductive use of Manpower.
At any rate, any reasonable observer would conclude that a wasteful mismanagement of assets translates to higher costs. We should reasonably eliminate the hardware from the equation here.
What about Markets?
Perhaps it’s the Geographic and Economic Markets USAirways serves. USAirways has owned this cow pasture on the East Coast for decades. Theirs was the only Ant Hill for Hundreds and Hundreds of Miles. Now, there’s an invasion of ant colonies springing up all around the pasture and USAirways has discovered, it has to compete for it’s share of real estate. It’s an incredible Market which still holds lots of promise for a visionary leader.
Since emerging from Bankruptcy, one of the few areas USAirways Leadership prides itself on, is it’s rising revenue/yield figures. It holds this prize high with pride as it goes about it’s day to day... business as usual, Model of doing business. Yields have always been strongest for USAirways in it’s Core Markets. Historically the Airline has carried its own weight in spite of a history of poor Management and a string of failed Strategies. However this is more a historically and predictably economic phenomenon characteristic of this high populace core market during economic upturns. Some companies, in this kind of Market, can sustain themselves in spite of bad Management.
In a narrower and narrower constrictive graphical pattern, USAirways is becoming less sustainable in spite of the benefit of these predictable cyclic industry recoveries. USAirways can no longer be included in the club of Corporations which survive in spite of poor Management.
USAirways’ Core Market, which the Airline currently dominates, is a Gold Mine of unexploited resources. If the resources of this Market were tapped out, other Airlines wouldn’t be pouring their assets into it. Any airline losing money in this Market has either not adapted the correct Business Model or is trying to use the wrong tool for the wrong job.
Is it the Geographical Market? Probably not.
What’s left? What’s left if all other instruments of music are removed from the cacophonous orchestra and separately placed in serene settings to determine the discordant one among them. What do they call it... instinct, a gut feeling, a tiny voice in you head?
Truth or Dare? As you peel away the layers, eliminating variables, how do you perceive the element of incongruence and discord? USAirways CEO once inferred of his team, that they would have no loyalty to this Airline absent of Compensation. He and his team are not the same committed leadership stuff of Lee Iacocca.
Mr Iacocca once said, “I didn’t take the one dollar a year to be a martyr. I took it because I had to go into the pits.†Mr Iacocca further stated, "... it made a big statement in Detroit. It showed that we were all in this together. It showed that we could survive only if each of us tightened his belt.†...That’s Leadership.
But getting back to that instinctive little voice in your head – the one that tells you when something really fits or when something is incongruently off-center. Awareness are sometimes so profound, they don’t require explicated analysis. So, Isolating one element of the equation – Management. How would this team fit in with the Corporate Culture of other Carriers you could list?
What would happen to Morale if those employees at other Airlines if they had no definable business plan to help build upon? How would those employees be motivated with no definable Company Goals? How would those employees respond to a repressive work environment where a Corporation spends thousands of dollars encouraging an Orwellian fear in the work place? Why are customers, casual observers (like myself) and others (I’m sure there are no Airline Employees posting on “USaviation.comâ€) using disclaimers?
It’s George Orwell’s 1984, only it took 20 years to be realized with it’s principles of fear and oppression. What’s the opportunity for simple suspicion, false accusation, fear, abuse, prejudice and anonymous vengeance with a program of negativity encouraged by a special Executive’s epistle? How uneasy would those employees at those other Airlines feel with the supplanted Corporate Culture of USAirways on their property?
What about the Perpetual Drumming of downside expectations and uninspirational missives? Never, Ever having you Chief Executive quoted in the Press, saying, “My priorities are First – My Employees, and Second – my Customers. If I take care of the first two, then the success of the Airline is an easy given. That’s how Successful Airlines are managed.†How difficult would it be for those Employees to continue to be an Ambassador of Goodwill for their Corporation while their Chief Executives generate headlines on the front pages of community Newspapers inferring perpetual demise in the eyes of the traveling Public, the employees and the Investment Community.
How would those employees lift their spirits as they move about, doing their jobs.
Despite what you might surmise about other Airline Employees, here’s the Testament to the extraordinary character of USAirways Employees .
“Despite these distracting reports attributed to anonymous sources, the pilots and other employees of US Airways must continue to focus on their extraordinary work performance under such rigid circumstances. You are to be commended for your professionalism reflected in the November 2003 Department of Transportation (DOT) Air Travel Consumer Report issued this month, which reflects excellence on the performance of US Airways’ employees. The product that you produce, as US Airways, is ranked in the top four for best on-time performance for the month of November out of 18 ranked airlines..†--Capt. Pollock 1.9.2004 statement to Employees.
Truth or Dare? If you don’t trust the intuitive voice of reason, perhaps you might take a Dare. I Dare you to poll the other Airline Forums on swapping Executive Teams as a more “objective†(?) approach – USAirways’ Executives for your Team of Executive Leadership.
There's adversity and misery here. We know how it started and what’s causing it. It’s just a matter now of evolving. But... We’re having a little trouble with the evolving part. What’s wrong? You might get different answers from different people. Has anyone ever heard Management say, It’s Executive ineptness. No? – Then it must not be. Has anyone heard anyone say it’s the Courts, Politicians, Airport Authorities, Communities, Lessors, Lenders, Contractors, Venders and Employees? Yes? – Then that’s where the problem lies. The answer here is obviously that the Environment – Must evolve and adapt to it’s species.
Not likely to play out that way? Well, Crap then... How do ya nail this thing down?
If someone’s wailing around in misery, a good listener will pick up on the message hidden in the ramblings. I think everyone on these boards feels he/she has something important enough to say that they take the time to rant it out into cyberspace. It takes more patience in a crisis than it might normally take to listen to these rants or ramblings sometimes. I try to recognize the message in the rants as a symptom of something broken. When walking around in pain everyday, it’s not necessarily a practical idea to either ignore the symptoms or mask them by escaping with a cocktail of drugs.
I don’t want anyone to leave. Before a fight ya gotta get mad. After ya get mad, ya gotta get mean. After ya get mean, ya gotta get smart. This I suppose applies at all levels of the corporation. I think the mad and mean Employees are ready for smart. But when the Senior Executives aren’t ready for Smart... that just leaves everyone Mad and Mean. Recognize the symptoms, build strength from them, don’t mask them. If the Leadership can’t evolve then the most appropriate change is not in the mad and mean employees leaving. If the Employees can’t effect Smart Corporate Strategy then, to an Employee, smart might mean to lean on those who do effect such Strategy.
--- Quote from Unisys Corporation ---
“We like to say, and generally believe, that a company’s fate, like a person’s, is in its own hands. That is certainly the message of US Airways CEO, David Siegel, in a recent letter to US Airways’ employees... This time we’re not so sure. Last spring, as US Airways emerged from bankruptcy, we expressed our view that it was the same old company with only somewhat lower costs. Was it, we asked, “positioned to survive, much less prosper, in the years ahead?†Not waiting for an answer we expressed our own view: “We very much doubt it.†We based our conclusion primarily on two points: •
1)US Airways’ failure to reduce costs— all costs, not just labor costs—to a level at least approaching those of newgeneration airlines.
2)US Airways’ failure to rethink its business model.â€
-- “Reprinted with permission of Unisys Corporation.â€
Instead of knocking the wind out of USAirways’ Competition with new innovations in strategy, the Management team launched a campaign directed at Employees. Management lamented denied affections for other successful Business Models while presenting no aggressive business model to capitalize on the strength of its markets. No Business Model with increased asset utilization. No implemented plans for enhancements to Operational efficiency.
Management did not exploit the areas of agreed-upon efficiencies provided under contract provisions. They chose, instead, to further opportunistically exploit the contract agreements it just signed. By the way, losing miserably in this area of opportunistic exploitation, as evidenced by the indictments and opinions of outside, unbiased courts and arbitrators. Also by the way, this Management has lost something even more valuable. This Executive Team squandered the opportunity it had to motivate ordinary people who would have overcome any insurmountable odds with extraordinary trust, high morale and goal oriented, focused energy for success.
On December 16, 2003, Captain Bill Pollock, chairman of the US Airways pilots’ Master Executive Council, pointed out the following:
“US Airways’ labor costs already are at or below industry standards... we keep hearing their tired refrain that they need labor costs like those at Southwest Airlines. The problem is not labor...â€
“ALPA leaders noted that the senior managers’ calls for labor costs on a par with those at Southwest Airlines have, in fact, already been met. In the first half of 2003, US Airways applied 38 cents of every revenue dollar to pay for labor, whereas at Southwest this expenditure was 40 cents per dollar. The pilots’ share of those total labor costs amount to 13 cents at US Airways and 12 cents at Southwest. A 12-year captain at Southwest earns eight percent more per hour than a pilot in the same position at US Airways.â€
Still, some might believe it’s the employees’ uncooperative nature which is causing the Airline to fail rather than Management’s Business Plan.
“Truth or Dareâ€. The rules are, you have to answer with principled Honestly and Conscience – the intuitive voice of reason in you head that tells you you’re doing right or wrong, being truthful or not.
Everyone’s interested in the survival of USAirways but some are still having difficulty identifying the discordant underlying tones because of a confused, overpowering, dizzying cacophony. Taking one instrument at a time and placing it in a serene setting is the key to identifying the discordant tone amongst the ensemble of players. So take the challenge...
If we take the Airline Model and break it down into simple parts:
Truth – are the assets of USAirways the same as those assets of “people and/or equipment†at other LCCs.
Dare – Place these assets of “people and/or equipment†at other LCCs and see if they fail or prosper in that environment. Let’s dare try...
Let’s take a typical USAirways employee and place him in a comparable position of employment, in the typical Corporate workplace of Southwest Airlines, JetBlue or even another Low Cost, Network Airline such as Continental Airlines. I believe we’ve already determined that pay and benefits for the average employee of comparable seniority and comparable positions are narrowly different.
But more importantly, Let’s expose the employee to the same Cultural Harmony nurtured by the Managements of those Airlines. I believe the majority of USAirways customers who’ve personally interacted with the typical employee of USAirways would reasonably conclude that there is little discord here. Most reasonable observers would certainly agree -- With a nurturing Corporate Culture, comparable compensation and clearly defined goals, this employee would prosper in that environment as he/she dedicates him/herself to the success of that Airline. You might even bias this analogy further in favor of the Employee. Why? Because if an Employee can maintain such a reasonable focus and concentration on safety and service under stress, how would they perform in a non-stressful environment?
Is it the Equipment USAirways flys?
For the most part USAirways flys the same type Aircraft flown by Southwest and JetBlue. Let’s take one of these comparable jets and place it at either Southwest or JetBlue. On average, the LCC produce approximately 30% more ASMs than USAirways using the same Aircraft.
Flight Crewmembers at USAirways fly trip parings on these aircraft at approximately 60% - 70% of what they potentially could, both legally and contractually. Understand, we’re talking about the current existing employee contracts and the current Federal Aviation Administration Limitations. Not using crewmembers to the fullness of contractual agreements is a wasted resource which reflects additionally on poor Aircraft Utilization. At other Airlines, are these assets used more effectively – Truth/Dare?
It is safe to say that the Equipment is not to blame for low utilization. And by casual observation, Flight Crewmember’s are being scheduled by USAirways Management with gross inefficiency.
Labor has consistently relaxed the workrules with each Contract Agreement – Each new agreement, as a result, has resulted in greater and greater scheduling inefficiencies. This is a function of Leadership. It’s a function of Management. Southwest employees would be just as productive under current workrules as USAirways Employees if the existing rules were effectively applied to reality. Having a Southwest Captain sitting around for a Four Hour Turnaround or a 36 hour layover – is not efficient. Demanding more relaxed workrules, to the Company, translates to – Having a Captain sitting around Four Hours or Thirty-Six hours, and not paying for it. Cheaper yes, but unproductive use of Manpower.
At any rate, any reasonable observer would conclude that a wasteful mismanagement of assets translates to higher costs. We should reasonably eliminate the hardware from the equation here.
What about Markets?
Perhaps it’s the Geographic and Economic Markets USAirways serves. USAirways has owned this cow pasture on the East Coast for decades. Theirs was the only Ant Hill for Hundreds and Hundreds of Miles. Now, there’s an invasion of ant colonies springing up all around the pasture and USAirways has discovered, it has to compete for it’s share of real estate. It’s an incredible Market which still holds lots of promise for a visionary leader.
Since emerging from Bankruptcy, one of the few areas USAirways Leadership prides itself on, is it’s rising revenue/yield figures. It holds this prize high with pride as it goes about it’s day to day... business as usual, Model of doing business. Yields have always been strongest for USAirways in it’s Core Markets. Historically the Airline has carried its own weight in spite of a history of poor Management and a string of failed Strategies. However this is more a historically and predictably economic phenomenon characteristic of this high populace core market during economic upturns. Some companies, in this kind of Market, can sustain themselves in spite of bad Management.
In a narrower and narrower constrictive graphical pattern, USAirways is becoming less sustainable in spite of the benefit of these predictable cyclic industry recoveries. USAirways can no longer be included in the club of Corporations which survive in spite of poor Management.
USAirways’ Core Market, which the Airline currently dominates, is a Gold Mine of unexploited resources. If the resources of this Market were tapped out, other Airlines wouldn’t be pouring their assets into it. Any airline losing money in this Market has either not adapted the correct Business Model or is trying to use the wrong tool for the wrong job.
Is it the Geographical Market? Probably not.
What’s left? What’s left if all other instruments of music are removed from the cacophonous orchestra and separately placed in serene settings to determine the discordant one among them. What do they call it... instinct, a gut feeling, a tiny voice in you head?
Truth or Dare? As you peel away the layers, eliminating variables, how do you perceive the element of incongruence and discord? USAirways CEO once inferred of his team, that they would have no loyalty to this Airline absent of Compensation. He and his team are not the same committed leadership stuff of Lee Iacocca.
Mr Iacocca once said, “I didn’t take the one dollar a year to be a martyr. I took it because I had to go into the pits.†Mr Iacocca further stated, "... it made a big statement in Detroit. It showed that we were all in this together. It showed that we could survive only if each of us tightened his belt.†...That’s Leadership.
But getting back to that instinctive little voice in your head – the one that tells you when something really fits or when something is incongruently off-center. Awareness are sometimes so profound, they don’t require explicated analysis. So, Isolating one element of the equation – Management. How would this team fit in with the Corporate Culture of other Carriers you could list?
What would happen to Morale if those employees at other Airlines if they had no definable business plan to help build upon? How would those employees be motivated with no definable Company Goals? How would those employees respond to a repressive work environment where a Corporation spends thousands of dollars encouraging an Orwellian fear in the work place? Why are customers, casual observers (like myself) and others (I’m sure there are no Airline Employees posting on “USaviation.comâ€) using disclaimers?
It’s George Orwell’s 1984, only it took 20 years to be realized with it’s principles of fear and oppression. What’s the opportunity for simple suspicion, false accusation, fear, abuse, prejudice and anonymous vengeance with a program of negativity encouraged by a special Executive’s epistle? How uneasy would those employees at those other Airlines feel with the supplanted Corporate Culture of USAirways on their property?
What about the Perpetual Drumming of downside expectations and uninspirational missives? Never, Ever having you Chief Executive quoted in the Press, saying, “My priorities are First – My Employees, and Second – my Customers. If I take care of the first two, then the success of the Airline is an easy given. That’s how Successful Airlines are managed.†How difficult would it be for those Employees to continue to be an Ambassador of Goodwill for their Corporation while their Chief Executives generate headlines on the front pages of community Newspapers inferring perpetual demise in the eyes of the traveling Public, the employees and the Investment Community.
How would those employees lift their spirits as they move about, doing their jobs.
Despite what you might surmise about other Airline Employees, here’s the Testament to the extraordinary character of USAirways Employees .
“Despite these distracting reports attributed to anonymous sources, the pilots and other employees of US Airways must continue to focus on their extraordinary work performance under such rigid circumstances. You are to be commended for your professionalism reflected in the November 2003 Department of Transportation (DOT) Air Travel Consumer Report issued this month, which reflects excellence on the performance of US Airways’ employees. The product that you produce, as US Airways, is ranked in the top four for best on-time performance for the month of November out of 18 ranked airlines..†--Capt. Pollock 1.9.2004 statement to Employees.
Truth or Dare? If you don’t trust the intuitive voice of reason, perhaps you might take a Dare. I Dare you to poll the other Airline Forums on swapping Executive Teams as a more “objective†(?) approach – USAirways’ Executives for your Team of Executive Leadership.
