South African Airways Case Study

Brandi Bland
South African Airways Case

South African Airways has had turbulent past and most recently has been plagued by ground crew and cabin crew strikes which completely shut down all operations. The problem that appears to me that is at the height of the airlines problems is the employees lack of a feel for trust and justice for and from their organization. The employees lack trust in that they are not trusting the management is saying about the fact that fuel prices has hindered their ability to provide the desireable pay raises. They are not perceiving justice in the accurate share of profits being distributed to employees even though profits were higher this year but esculating fuel prices consumed much of excess profits. South African Airways needs to rebuild trust in its employees by “walking the walk and talking the talk” and staying the path of its plans for the future. Stability is the key word to building trust. Another key component that they need to build is a sense of justice in all the actions and decisions they make. Transparency in decision making and they way and reason why merits are rewarded are ways to make employees perceive you are doing things for the right reasons.
SAA should start by analyzing the current trust situation by using a trust audit. A trust audit will allow them to gauge the current level of trust and will help the airline form an action plan to move forward with programs that enhance a trust building environment. Next they need to work on their trust environment. This is where walking the walk and talking the talk comes in. Trust cannot be a false store front. A company must develop a track record that proves that they have the expertise to be the leader in their field, the perception that they follow a set of values and principles that is the social norm, and prevail that their most important goal is to do good for their employees and the country that they work in. Organizational culture takes time to change.