Communication Hierarchy And Performance: Analysis Of Singapore Airlines And SIA Engineering Company In Essay.

Discuss about the Singapore Airlines for SIA Engineering Company.

Singapore Airlines Limited is the standard carrier airline of Singapore. It started operating in the year 1972. The main hub of the airlines is the Singapore Changi Airport. Singapore airlines fly in and around 64 destinations all over the world with a fleet size of 113. Temasek Holdings is the parent company for Singapore airlines. The subsidiaries of the airlines include Budget Aviation Holdings, SilkAir, Singapore Airlines Cargo and SIA Engineering Company. The company uses the slogan ‘a great way to fly’. For their corporate branding, the airlines use Singapore Girl as the pivotal figure (Allen and Starr 2017).

This business report will look into the communication hierarchy of Singapore Airlines and its effectiveness in improving the organizational performance. In the course of this report, the communication theories and models will be analyzed which were used in the organization as a part of their communication hierarchy. There will be few primary themes on the basis of which the business report will be analyzed such as the leadership and management communication styles, interpersonal skills, team and group dynamics and work culture. But there are still some areas in which the company needs to work upon for improving their communication hierarchy (Angerer 2015).

To discuss about the communication hierarchy of Singapore airlines, the communication issues in the organization needs to be focused on. It has always been a critical issue in the aspects of human interaction and the aviation industry is no exception. In the particular case of aviation sector, the miscommunication in the organization can lead to severe outcome. To fulfill the purpose of conveying important and essential information and instructions between the cabin crew and the air traffic controller, communication is of utmost importance (Chao and Kao 2015).  

Singapore airline is one of the major means of transportation in the contemporary environment as aviation is the fastest mode of transportation saving a great deal of time and effort of the passengers. Moreover, the increased effect of globalization has made this particular mode of transport an essential one. Lack of communication, miscommunication and conveying wrong information have been identified as the primary factors in the Singapore airlines industry that need to be worked upon (Chen, Liu and Guan 2015).   

            In order to work on the communication issues of Singapore airlines, the following aims will be taken into consideration in the course of this report:

• To investigate the types of communication generally used in the aviation industry
• To find out the leadership and management communication styles
• To find out the effectiveness of interpersonal skills
• To understand the importance of team and group dynamics
• To find out the communication issues
• To find out the importance of intercultural communication
• To suggest the remedial measures for effective communication

Aims of the Business Report

For this particular report on the Singapore airlines, the scope is to find out the communication issues that have emerged in the organization and the relevant outcome. To find out about the communication issues a brief history of the airlines industry was reviewed. With the evaluation of the previous works done on the topic the communication and management styles in the aviation industry was found out. With the finding of the relevant communication style in the aviation industry the loopholes will be found out. By using proper communication theories and models the remedies will be found out to solve the future issues in the aviation industry which will be helpful for Singapore airlines. Proper guidelines will be set to avoid any miscommunication between the cabin crew and the air traffic controller. Such communication hierarchy will set a benchmark for the aviation industry all over the world (Chiang 2014).    

To begin with the report and deal with the issues of the aviation industry it is absolutely necessary to assume something before drawing any conclusion. This is because assumptions create the base for the report and expand the scope for finding out more on the topic. If assumptions are made in the beginning of analysis for the research then the study can be conducted depending on a base of realistic expectation. For this particular business report, the following assumptions can be made:

• Communication issues have been prevailing for long in this organization
• Cultural difference might have given rise to communication gap
• There is no proper structure of both- way communication
• No proper communication channels used in the organization
• Confrontation between individuals create distance among the individuals working for the company
• The communication issues were not paid attention by the senior management
• Feedback sessions were not provided

The following part of the business report will discuss the aims of this business report to find out if the assumptions are true or not. With the discussion of the given sub- topics it will become easy to derive a conclusion as well as suggest a proper recommendation for the Singapore Airlines.

 First and foremost it is important to find out the types of communication relevant to the aviation industry. This is because the stages of communication vary from one sector to another. With the review of the previous literature it was found out that there are five types of communication pertaining to this industry- verbal, non- verbal, written, written and graphic and human- machine and machine- machine communication (Duncan 2017).

Verbal communication is the widely used form because of the ease in interaction. Non- verbal communication includes body language and physical appearance where thoughts and emotions take the place of speech or spoken words. The use of written communication in the aviation industry can be related to operation manuals, checklists, data cards and many more. Written and graphic communication is used in the form of flight map, cabin display and charts. Automation or the last form of communication is concerned with the reduction of the workload of the pilots so that they can focus more on the safety and effectiveness (Kalia 2016).    

Scope of the Report

Review of the literature has shed light on the various styles of leadership such as autocratic, democratic and Laissez- faire. These three categories have different roles to play in different sectors. For the aviation industry, the democratic leadership styles are used as there is equal distribution of responsibility and all the members have equal chance to contribute. By adopting this method, the communication hierarchy will become stronger (Le, Wang and Yun-Feng  2017).

In terms of communication there are four different styles- dominance refers to immediate results and welcome challenges; influence style refers to fast interaction with people; steadiness style refers to cooperation and harmony; conscientious style refers to caution, details and quality. These are the effective communication styles that can be used in the aviation industry to avoid error in communication and prevent unexpected incidents (Leilei et al. 2017).  

With interpersonal communication skills, people and individuals in an organization can exchange information, feelings and message through verbal and non- verbal means, it is actually face- to- face communication. There are seven areas in the interpersonal form of communication: verbal, non-verbal, listening, negotiation, problem solving, assertiveness and decision making.

Interpersonal skills are important in the aviation industry because clear communication always prevents conflict and confrontation (Quero et al. 2015). There should be both vertical and horizontal communication in the organization. The communication should be brief and concise so that the employees can carry out the work accordingly. Body language is also a part of interpersonal communication which if not judged properly can lead to miscommunication. If the organization can invest in interpersonal skills then it will form the basis of both personal and professional relationships.

Good communication within the team is the required characteristics that are essential for the productivity of the organization. Singapore Airlines is already a highly established aviation company so they need to maintain that same form of communication hierarchy in the organization for making their growth graph better than ever (Yang and Zhang 2017). Efficiency and productivity of a working team is important for team dynamics. The skills required for team dynamics are not grown automatically but needs to be instilled and cultivated.   

If the organization can practice the communication skills to a great extent and embrace its importance then the organization will be able to observe a severe return in the form of successful cooperation and faith in the team dynamic. Communication is considered as one of the most important aspect of team dynamics. It has the capability to lead and manage a team to the highest peak of success whereas it also has the capability to ruin the performance of the organization. Thus it becomes the responsibility of all the team members to ensure perfect communication (Rubinstein et al. 2016).

Assumptions

Effective communication is not possible without any issues. Issues or conflicts in an organization need to be resolved for clearing the air of miscommunication inside the organization. There are a number of communication issues which can tend to be barrier in the organization and prevent the employees and management to maintain a decent work atmosphere (Wijaya 2015).

These communication issues can arise due to lack of personal contact, lack of clarity, lack of feedback and lack of honesty. With the increased use of technology the organizations and its members are losing out on their on their personal contacts. Managers are also failing to give clear advice to the employees which are leading to miscommunication. As the aviation industry directly deals with the customers therefore they need to be constantly on their toe so that the passengers are not affected in any way. Feedback should be collected on a regular basis to remain updated about the growth of the sector and the demand of the customers (Wen 2013).

Aviation industry is a dynamic area where multi-culture and multilingual aspects are very important. It is a broad sector where people from all over the world and of different caste, color and background come and gather (Samovar et al. 2014). The employees of the aviation industry also need to keep them updated with the religious and cultural norms of the destinations in which the flight operates. By doing so, they will be able to avoid misunderstanding during intercultural communication. There are different gestures which convey different meanings in two different religion or culture.

Intercultural communication is of utmost priority in the aviation industry because if there remains any gap then the customers will not be satisfied. The employees of the airlines need to match to the similar kind of behavioral or religious or cultural change in order to provide quality service to the customers. Cross-cultural communication is a crucial factor in any sector and therefore requires careful management and observation (Stachura and Frew 2017).

Conclusion

It can be concluded from this business report that the Singapore Airlines has its own set of communication hierarchy which has been discussed in the course of this report. This report was aimed at the evaluation of communication hierarchy prevailing in the company and the different ways by which it can be improved. A number of areas such as intercultural communication, team and group dynamics, interpersonal skills and others were discussed as the facets of communication in the aviation industry. Those areas were analyzed in terms of Singapore Airlines and the necessary areas of improvement would be recommended. The types of communication styles relevant to the aviation industry were also reviewed to find the appropriate one for Singapore Airlines.   

Discussion

It can be recommended that the Singapore Airlines should bring about certain changes in their communication hierarchy as per the prevailing norms of the aviation industry. They should use steadiness style of managing communication in the workplace as it refers harmony and cooperation. Moreover it can be suggested that Singapore airlines should make effective use of communication styles by welcoming feedback from the employees and the management too should be open to receive the opinions from the stakeholders and customers. By using the structural and functional theories of communication the Singapore airlines can have the ability to observe objectively and thus they will get the idea to improve their services.

References

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