Learning
and Development has a significant impact on the organization in numerous
aspects. The most important being the influence it has on the bottom line (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). This highlights the
reason why organizations invest on Learning and development with the aim of
increasing performance level of employees. According to Rodriguez and Walters (2017) the direct expenditure per employee on
Learning and development has increased immensely within the recent years.
As delivered by Armstrong and Taylor (2014) attract and
retain employees by enabling them to obtain high job satisfaction and progress
within the organization, provide managers with skills to lead, manage and
develop their employees, provide positive culture in the organization, provide
higher level and quality service to the customer and perceive innovative ways
of solving problems and decision making are some of the aims in facilitating
Learning and development in the modern organization.
Aviation industry remains as one of the most dynamic
industries in the world. The industry’s interconnection with global trade and
tourism is quite a strong one. Commercial aircraft design,
operation and manufacturing has seen significant developments over the previous
decades. Hence, the commercial
aviation industry can be identified as extremely competitive, safe sensitive
and a high technology service industry(Appelbaum and Fewster, 2004).
Numerous
authors for many years have emphasized the importance of Learning and
Development to an organization. Although, the practical implications of L&D
is very less visible (Harrison, 2012). Pourdehnad and Smith (2012) states that
there is much that could be learned from Aviation industry about organizational
learning that could be applied by organizations to meet the demands of bottom
line sustainability. Therefore, it is evident that, commercial aviation
industry nurtures a learning culture and that Learning and Development is
promoted to gain employee commitment in order to foster excellence in safety
customer service. A recent study by Yoke Soo (2018)
revealed that considerations should be made in
relation to manual flying skills and instruction of aircraft automated systems
and it showed that pilot social skills need
further development/instruction.
Another recent study by Gibbs, Slevitch and Washburn (2017) shows that, with passengers mostly rating airlines based on the in- flight service and flight attendants associating longest period of time with the customer, factors that affect passenger satisfaction can be controlled and improved by training. Therefore, it claims, whether it be pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, flight attendants or cargo personnel there is always scope for Learning and development and continual growth.
Safety
and airworthiness concerned as top priority, aviation maintenance industry
considers learning and development crucial when it comes to managing effective
maintenance and continuing airworthiness. As stated by Clair and Kourousis
(2021) the ability to learn from previous events (errors, accidents etc.) with
the objective of preventing similar events in future is of high value with
having a mechanism for reporting incidents and developing of learning material
in the aviation maintenance industry.
The
organization that I am employed at is a leading airline and I work for the Maintenance
Department, the aircraft maintenance arm of the organization as a Licensed
Aircraft Engineer. The department has been able to contribute immensely in
generating revenue and reducing costs for the organization despite the
challenging times (Annual Reports| Airline Industry| SriLankan Airlines,
2019/2020). This was achieved through continuous
Learning and development activities involved and training provided to enhance
skills knowledge and competency as well as improve the management and
leadership role.
The
airline is capable of conducting heavy maintenance checks on Airbus A320/A321
family, Airbus 330-200 & A330- 300 and Airbus A320/A321 Neo aircrafts as
well as CFM 56 – 5B, V2500, CFM LEAP 1A engine and Trent 700 engines. This was
possible with the required continuous training provided on competency, skill
and knowledge to the base maintenance staff. Adding further to this, if the
said MROs (Maintenance Repair and Operations) were to be outsourced it would
incur high costs. Thus, the profits would decrease immensely. With the
appropriate training on skills and knowledge given to its employees have
reduced costs and generated revenue (Author’s, work 2021).
With the required training on procedure given to its employees the airline has been able to carry out 3rd party aircraft maintenance for customer airlines from the region such as Air Blue, Air Seychelles and Maldivian Air. This has generated a significant revenue for the organization in the years 2019/2020 (Annual Reports| Airline Industry| SriLankan Airlines, 2019/2020).
Given the required training, engineering division was successfully able to expand its workshop approvals in 2019/2020, enabling the in-house performance of a number of previously outsourced maintenance tasks such as aircraft component maintenance and structural maintenance tasks (Annual Reports| Airline Industry| SriLankan Airlines, 2019/2020). This once again was a great achievement of the Engineering in terms of cost and waste reduction and enhancing revenue generation (Author’s, work 2021).
List of References
Annual Reports| Airline Industry| SriLankan Airlines (2020). Available at<https://www.srilankan.com/en_uk/coporate/annual-reports.>. [Accessed on 8th August 2021].
Appelbaum, S. H. and Fewster, B. M. (2004) Safety and
customer service: contemporary practices in diversity, organizational
development and training and development in the global civil aviation industry.
Management Research News, 27(10), pp. 1–26 [Online]. Available at<https://doi.org/10.1108/01409170410784301.>.
[Accessed on 7th August 2021] doi: 10.1108/01409170410784301.
Armstrong,
M. and Taylor, S. (2014) Armstrong
Handbook of Human Resource Practice. 13th ed. New Delhi, Kongan
Page Limited.
Clare, J. and Kourousis, K. I. (2021) Learning from incidents
in aircraft maintenance and continuing airworthiness: regulation, practice and
gaps. Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, 93(2), pp. 338-346 [Online].
Available at <https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-06-2020-0114.>. [Accessed on 7th
August 2021].
Gibbs, L., Slevitch, L. and Washburn, I. (2017) Competency-based
training in aviation: the impact on flight attendant performance and passenger satisfaction.
Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education and Research, 26(2), pp.55-80
[Online]. Available at < https://commons.erau.edu.>. [Accessed on 7th
August 2021].
Harrison, R (2009) Learning and Development, 5th
edn, London, CIPD.
Pourdehnad, J. and Smith, P. A. C. (2012) Sustainability,
organizational learning, and lessons learned from aviation. The Learning
Organization, 19(1), pp. 77–86. doi: 10.1108/09696471211190374.
Rodriguez, J. and Walters, K. (2017) The importance of training
and development in employee performance and evaluation. International
Journal Peer Reviewed Journal Refereed Journal Indexed Journal UGC Approved
Journal Impact Factor, 3(10), pp. 206–212 [Online]. Available at < www.researchgate.net.>.
[Accessed on 7th August 2021].
Yoke Soo, K. K. (2018) The learning and development process of pilots during initial airline training. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 72(4), pp. 624–624 [Online]. Available at < https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au.>. [Accessed on 7th August 2021]. doi: 10.1080/13636820.2020.1771106.
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