MGT 602 Business Decision Analytics Assignment Sample

MGT 602 Business Decision Analytics Assignment

Executive Summary

Hiring and retaining an employee is one of the crucial operations of an organisation. If this does not happen properly, then a company might lose its competitive position. However, if the process of hiring is done with a proper team decision-making, then this would make the process a cakewalk and effective. In this report, the importance of team decision-making was detailed out in context of an organisation called “American Airlines Company” that is facing issues with its hiring and retention of employees. In the report, the literature review of team decision making was done, wherein pros and cons of team decision-making were outlined. It was highlighted team decision-making process can be examined from three parameters, namely environment of decision-making, methods of decision-making, and tools & techniques for decision-making.It was analysed that there were many factors affecting the working motivation of employees. These include compensation, career growth, and job stability. The secondary data was collected from NBAA and was analysed using MS Excel. Based on the data analysis, certain recommendations were provided. These are related to three decision making tools, namely bounded rationality, dual processing, and pure intuition/value based decision making.

Brief

With the rising demand of airlines due to increase in number of flight travellers, the future of airline industry seems brightening. According to the prediction of International Air Transport Association (IATA), by the end of 2037, the total number of travellers would be 8.2 billion. In order to handle such a large number of the passengers, Airlines are required to hire and retain the best employees. However, there are many ways of doing this but to finalise the approach is a tough task as there are people with varying opinion in the team. In this report, the analysis of business case is done and for this purpose, American Airlines Company is selected. The problem to be solved is related to hiring and retaining the employees in the company. For that purpose, the research report is prepared in which research aim and scope are discussed along with key research questions. A discussion on team diversity is done as the members have different backgrounds. A literature review is also done on teams and decision- making methods and the use of data analytics is detailed out along with different source of data and basis for using it. In addition to this, data analysis methods and data interpretation approaches are outlined along with the significance of decision-making tools.

Study Aims

The main aim of this research work is to decide the employee recruitment and retention approach for American Airline Company

Study Scope

The primary motive of this research report is to determine the effective approach through which the American Airlines Company can recruit the airlines staff and retain them for a longer duration. For that purpose, it is important to determine staff requirement and staff to guest ratio. Out of all the approaches of hiring, the best ones would be compared and based on their pros and cons and suitability to the situation, the final decision would be made. The data related to organisation’s requirement and other important aspects would be analysed by making business intelligence and data analysis tools. The final decision would be made by making use of three business decision making tools or strategies. At last, the recommendations would be provided based on the data analysis and interpretation.

Key Research Questions

• Does a specific hiring method impact the organisation’s retention rate?
• Can recruitment and retention method affect organisation’s performance?
• What is the best method to retain staff in an Airlines company?

Team Introduction & Summary of Team Diversity

It is important to note that the final decision regarding the recruitment and retention approaches would be made after in-depth analysis and discussion of team members. The team comprises people from different backgrounds and of different age. Therefore, the roles in the team are distributed based on their capabilities, experience, first degree, and areas of expertise. There are four members in the team and the work is distributed among them. One member is required to collect gather data from different sources. For carrying out the research, group meetings and weekly discussions are planned. The personal performance and colleagues’ performances are rated by each member in the appendix 1. This would help in analysing the quality of work done by the members.

Literature Review

Team decision-making is characterised by a process of selection of an alternative by the team members. Wallace et.al, (2015) mentioned that the performance of the team depends largely on a well-worked approach for making quality decisions. Decision making in a team is one of the crucial factor for the success of the industry in carrying out operations. Mardani, et.al, (2015) outlined that the process of the decision-making surely affect the quality of team performance and decisions made out of the discussion. In order to make informed decisions in a team decision-making process, the team members are required to learn what other members think about the decision making.

Mardani, et.al, (2015) mentioned that team decision-making process can be examined from three parameters, namely environment of decision-making, methods of decision-making, and tools & techniques for decision-making. The author mentioned that the environment created by the team for meeting and discussion is crucial for quality decision. The inter-team communication is one such aspect that has the capability to improve the decision quality. It helps in establishment of ‘thinking environment.’ In addition to this, the method of decision making is also significant aspect of decision making in a team. There can be numerous perspective of team members on a common issue. The team can reach at a decision from various ways. It is important to note that each method has its pros and cons that are to be studied and analysed by the member. A well-informed conversation with the member may assist in making more sorted and good decisions. Furthermore, the tools for decision-making can also have an impact on the decision-making (Sinuff, et.al, 2015). Airlines organisations are heavily dependent on multifunctional teams to make plans and implement them. For that purpose, the team makes use of numerous tools like MS Excel, R Commander, and other data analysis tool for better understanding of the situation. Each tool can have its suitability as per the conditions (Xu, et.al, 2015).

However, there are many challenges and issues in team decision making.Different researchers have highlighted certain issues in decision-making in a team. According to Ejimabo (2015), the team decision-making issues is related to data interpretation. A team is required to have correct data prior to decision. A faulty data may result in poor decisions and organisation might lose a big deal. Also, in team decision-making only a few people are providing ideas and the rest only follow those ideas. This results in ineffective decision-making process. Ejimabo (2015) outlined the most critical issue of group decision-making which is lack of clarity of goals. The team members might have different stand on the organisational goals. This leads to poor decisions and affect the team bonding as well (Maszczynski, 2017).

For this study, our team would like to look into the problems faced by American Airlines Company in hiring and retaining its best talent. The data would be gathered for rational decision making and possible solutions and recommendations would be framed. For that purpose, group meetings would be carried out for weekly discussions

Use of Data Analytics

For every research related to business, data collection and analysis is a must-do task that would help in reaching the depth of the problem and resolving it as soon as possible. Data analysis help in getting information out of the raw data collected from various sources using numerous approach. The interpretation can be done by making use of data visualisation and business intelligence (Shao, et.al, 2014). In the given organisation, the primary job of the employees is customer service and that requires highly skilled people with good communication and hospitality skills. The data collected would be related to number of employees hired by the company every year, number of employees travel with American Airlines, customer to staff ratio, and number of employees leaving the firm and the reason behind it. It is important to note that there are two data collection approaches, namely primary and secondary data collection. The former would be done by making use of interviews, focus groups, and questionnaires. However, for this research only secondary data analysis done due to shortage of time and complexities involved in primary data collection.

Source of Data

In order to reach to a sound decision, the secondary data would be collected about the company from the annual report, government websites and records, newspaper articles, journal articles, and research thesis. For the pilot turnover data, the report published by NBAA-BACE in the year 2018 would be referred for better understanding of the issue faced by the American Airlines.

Rationale for Use

Talking about the rationality of data, it is related to data collection method, validity, representative, and meaningfulness of the data. The data was collected and published by NBAA which is the National Business Aviation Association founded in the year 1947. It provides necessary analysis of businesses in the Aviation sector and provide recommendations for improving their productivity, efficiency, and success rate. At present, more than 11,000 organisations are associated with NBAA. The pilot and technician turnover data was collected by the association. The data was collected by making use of questionnaire and the respondents were only pilots and respondents. Total number of respondents were 510, out of which 405 respondents provided complete data. The collected information or data was analysed by making use of MS Excel.

Analysisand Interpretation of Data

Before planning for the hiring and retaining the employees in American Airlines Company, it is important to understand the current trends of turnover of staff, their destination after resign, and the reason behind them.

From the table above, it can be seen that in the year 2018, there were 4379 openings in the aviation sector. Out of these jobs, 4330 are only for pilots. As per the data given by the NBAA, it was noted that 1258 pilots have resigned their current jobs due to some issues. Out of these, 491 pilots were engaged in corporate operator, 257 were charter operator, 207 were part of Management Company, and 303 are from other field.

From the above table and graph, it can be seen that out of 1258 pilots left, 35 of them have totally left the job and 535 people stayed in the core Airlines sector. In addition to this, 15 pilots got indulged in providing training to the budding pilots.

The report also highlighted certain issues that are the primary reason for the pilots to leave the job. These include ancillary duties, workplace culture, job stability, career advancement, employee benefits, compensation, etc. However, among all such reasons, career advancement, employee benefits, and compensation are the primary reasons due to which the pilots are leaving their current jobs.

Discussion

For the better decision making, it is important for the management of American Airlines Company to understand the job of pilots, factors affecting them, and their likely consequences. In the times of the rising competition in the aviation sector, the rising turnover rate of pilot is the concerning issue for the company.

Job Role of Pilot

The job of pilot is full of challenges, stresses, and responsibilities. These stresses are related to multitasking nature of the job and technological knowledge required to fly the plane. Furthermore, the issues with the payment, compensation, and incentives. Also, the career advancement opportunities are very low in the sector. They are solely responsible the safety and comfort of the passengers. Therefore, the role of pilots is critical and not everyone can handle such pressure.

Challenges related to Retention of Pilots

• Poor Schedule due to Workforce Shortage: As there is a shortage of pilots in the global aviation sector, the workload pressure increases on the current pilots. This unnecessarily increases the stresses and disturbs the work-life balance of pilots. This is one of the reasons for rising turnover in the sector. The mental pressure on pilots are high and the increased load may result in burnouts. This would reduce the productivity of the pilots and can make them frustrated as well.
• Lack of Retirement Benefits:Retirements plans and benefits are important for the pilots to survive after retirements. However, the retirement benefits are almost nil in the airlines companies and if they are offering, then they might be not enough for the survival. This is another disturbing element of pilot’s job. They would like to go in the field that offer better incentives and retirement benefits. This has instigated some kind of instability among the pilots regarding their after retirement life. Due to this stress, one can notice the high turnover in the sector.
• Poor Career Advancement Opportunities:Lack of career growth is one of the prime reasons for the pilots to resign from their job. The researchers have proved that creating career growth opportunities helps in employee engagement in organisation. If the organisation is not providing enough career advancement opportunities, then employee may get demotivated and they may be less engaged in their job. This would affect the engagement and interest of the employees. Their productivity and focus may decline and this would be consider not good for the company.
• Lack of Job Stability:It has been seen that pilots are worried about the conditions in the aviation sector. The salaries are not credited in the account timely. The anxiety is making their career even more worst. The management is not guaranteeing any kind of job stability. The airline companies have tremendously increased the workload on workers and pilots. Many airlines have imposed unrealistic demands on pilots, thereby putting more pressure on them. The management believes that doing this would help in stimulating the productivity and performance of the employees and organisation as well. The current policies of the organisation requires the poor performing employees to be fired. This has put an extra physical and mental pressure on employees. Also, the performance rating is one such factor that hinders people from getting promoted and advance their career.

Recommendations

Based on the data analysis, the major issues with the American Airlines are determined. It is also noticed that business decision making tools and approaches are not used in hiring and selection of pilots. In order to resolve the issues, certain recommendations are provided.

First and foremost is the thorough assessment process. The recruitment manager can conduct a practical and written assessment in order to provide real-time experience to the aspiring pilots. This is supported by the ‘Dual Processing’ theory that says that decision-making is the function of an intuitive, experimental, and analytical system (Neill, 2019). The practical and written test would include numerical mathematical test to understand the practicality of the job. The pattern of the test may be varied. It is advised to American Airlines to conduct practical test from digital platforms for avoiding any biasedness.

The second recommendation is related to organisation of practical learning session for the selection of the pilots. According to some researchers, each and every applicant should be tested and assessed by his/her practical knowledge of the pilot. This can be supported by the ‘bounded rationality’which is characterised by thinking capacity, time, and available information (Shepherd, 2018). This would be testing the psychological and practical ability of the pilots. The companies should make use of this test.

The third recommendation is based on pure intuition based decision-making. For this purpose, pilots should be trained under the supervision of a skilled and experienced pilot. This would help in getting measurable results. The performance of the pilot can be accessed by the parameters defined by the expert. The experience of the experts would help the pilots in dealing with the complexities in the industry and make them mentally fit and prepared as well. This would help in overall development of the pilots. This would also improve the performance of the company (Maszczynski, 2017).

Significance of Decision-Making Tools and Team Dynamics

There is no doubt in the fact that decision-making tools helps in resolving issues related to multiple alternatives. These tools are very handy in case of indecisiveness. Empowered with such abilities, organisation can resolve the challenges. In this case, the application of a few proposals, for example, to receive and actualize business choices approaches which help in deciding the components and circumstance however which directors can examine all the viewpoint and can settle on powerful choices likewise. It is fundamental to create enrolment and choice procedure through which choice of pilot should be possible in viable way. There ought to be execution of hazard the board procedure through which available hazard elements can be effectively survived, and determination of pilot should be possible productively. Chiefs of organization should concentrate on the strategies, for example, ability, determinations, his learning and advancement aptitudes, and his moral conduct towards work, his expert conduct towards its activity and recognizing every single other expertise, for example, correspondence, group coordination abilities, and keeping up association with others in the association. Every one of these basics will help in enlistment and determination of pilot. Along these lines, bunch individuals ought to create and execute hazard the executives approaches which will help in dissecting the hazard factors which will lessen difficulties and improve enlistment and determination procedure of pilot.

References

Maszczynski, M. (2017). New Study Aims to Address Pilot Selection Problems as Airline’s Step Up Recruitment Campaigns. https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2017/06/09/new-study-aims-address-pilot-selection-problems-airlines-step-recruitment-campaigns/

Neill, A. (2019). The Challenges And Solutions For Pilots Recruitment. https://www.jobboardfinder.com/news/the-challenges-and-solutions-for-pilot-recruitment/

Shepherd, B. (2018, July 26). Airline passengers face a 'perfect storm' as global pilot shortage starts to bite. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-22/airline-passengers-facing-perfect-storm-as-pilot-shortage-bites/10012624

Ejimabo, N. O. (2015). The Influence of Decision Making in Organizational Leadership and Management Activities.  Journal of Entrepreneurship & Organization Management,04(02). doi:10.4172/2169-026x.1000138

Wallace, M., Lings, I., Cameron, R., & Sheldon, N. (2014). Attracting and retaining staff: the role of branding and industry image. In  Workforce development  (pp. 19-36). Springer, Singapore.

Sinuff, T., Dodek, P., You, J. J., Barwich, D., Tayler, C., Downar, J., ... & Heyland, D. K. (2015). Improving end-of-life communication and decision making: the development of a conceptual framework and quality indicators.  Journal of pain and symptom management,  49(6), 1070-1080.

Xu, X. H., Du, Z. J., & Chen, X. H. (2015). Consensus model for multi-criteria large-group emergency decision making considering non-cooperative behaviors and minority opinions.  Decision Support Systems,  79, 150-160.

Mardani, A., Jusoh, A., & Zavadskas, E. K. (2015). Fuzzy multiple criteria decision-making techniques and applications–Two decades review from 1994 to 2014.  Expert systems with Applications,  42(8), 4126-4148.

Mardani, A., Jusoh, A., Nor, K., Khalifah, Z., Zakwan, N., & Valipour, A. (2015). Multiple criteria decision-making techniques and their applications–a review of the literature from 2000 to 2014.  Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja,  28(1), 516-571.

Shao, G., Shin, S. J., & Jain, S. (2014). Data analytics using simulation for smart manufacturing. In  Proceedings of the Winter Simulation Conference 2014  (pp. 2192-2203). IEEE.

Appendix-1

a. Self-Reflection

From this assessment, I have figured out how useful basic team decision-making can be. At the hour of beginning of this assessment, the team decided to divide the task among the members based on their experience, knowledge, and expertise in a powerful way. We have figured out how the hiring and selection procedure is a critical aspect for most of the organisations. The research helps in keeping focus on the issues and consequences of rising employee turnover. Alongside this, it helps in building up our researching and analytic skills and make the team complete the task within the stipulated time. Gathering coordination and cooperation encourage up in taking viable choices and with the assistance of appropriate commitment we have broken down every one of the information in connection to enrolment and determination process which has helped us in finishing our undertaking on schedule. Through this task, we have adapted such huge numbers of basic perspectives which helped us in finishing our assignment and helped us in taking viable decisions with the assistance of group coordination and by elective approaches.