RESEARCH QUESTIONS
RESEARCH OUTCOME
EDUCATION AND SKILLS (Posed to current and former SAA employees) o Where is SAA’s biggest shortfall in terms of skills? How does that affect the airline? o How does the airline build and source those skills at the moment? Looking 10/20 years into the future, where will SAA come short in terms of skills? o What are the foundation skills that need to be built at school level to get students to get into aviation specialist areas? o How did the airline do in its last recruitment for pilot training candidates?
o How can SAA use its capabilities to assist teachers and what support should they seek from industry? …show more content…
(Posed to education sector participants) Supporting education was one of the criteria to be achieved according to the interviewees.
Most of those interviewed agree that the greatest skills threat facing the airline and the South African aviation sector stems from lack of learners who are qualified and competent in the areas of math and science to feed into the pipeline of future employees.
According to a representative from the National Department of basic education, filling the competency gaps in these areas is a priority of the National Department of Basic Education and effects all elements of the education system from primary school to senior school and right through to tertiary education specifically in the areas of Math, Science and Technology education.
These skills experts add are required for any learner to have potential to be employed in the specialist areas in aviation and related industries.
Through supporting engineering related education and the foundation skills that allow learners to access engineering (math and science), the airline supports the development of a larger South African national talent pool in these …show more content…
According to interview participants, while uncertainty around leadership and direction of airline has to a degree eroded staff morale, on the whole employees have a strong passion for what they do and are proud ambassadors.
However they add there are different cultures across the different silos of the business such as technical; pilots; cabin crew; administrators and managers.
CSI they say offers the opportunity to unite these cultures to one common purpose. In order to achieve this, the CSI programme needs to address social areas that talk to everyone and that can link people emotionally. They say the CSI programme should make people proud to be SAA ambassadors.
In order to achieve this level of cohesion, the CSI programme needs to be supported by a strong internal communications strategy they add, so that employees are aware of the programme, its objectives and its successes.
Another suggestion is for staff to be encouraged to actively participate in the CSI programme through visits to projects in order to complete certain aspects of implementation. If this were to be the case they say, time needs to be accounted for formally and achievement outcomes to be made part of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for those