JetBlue Airways: Starting From Scratch

Case Study

ENMARK 1 - Group 1
Daniel Tjong (29322132)
Gunawan Pramono (29322116)
Hana Clarinda (29322115)
Kenji Widyarta (29322118)
Maria Elvani Situmorang (29322123)
Sachi Hongo (29322119)
JetBlue was founded in 1998 as low-cost carrier airline that offered affordable flights with high-
quality customer service.

Despite the challenges, JetBlue airways showed a high level of maturity in its human capital
management practices. The company was committed to building a strong and engaged workforce, David Neeleman - Founder
which contributed to its success in the highly competitive airline industry.

JetBlue implemented several innovative HR practices, such as customized employment packages

and investing in technology to streamline their HR/operations processes. The company also
fostered a culture of open communication and employee engagement which helped to build a strong
sense of team spirit and loyalty among its workforce.

Overall, the human capital management maturity of Jetblue Airways in 2001 was characterized by a
strong focus on employee engagement, innovation, and continuous improvement. These practices
enabled the company to attract and retain top talent, build a loyal customer base, achieve
sustainable growth in the highly competitive airline industry.

5 core values:
Ann Rhodes – Executive Vice
Safety Caring Integrity Fun Passion President for People
Human Resource Management of Jetblue Airways Case Study

Challenges Questions

"In the next 12 months, 10 new aircraft would be The aggressive expansion of JetBlue makes Ann
delivered which would require hiring another 1000 Rhoades wary, do they can keep the current
employees ..." culture and HR system with all of those expansion
initiatives?
"In 2004, there will be 5000 new employees,
expanding the number of cities served, opening
new facilities including a second hub-city, and all
the while, in the words of Dave Berger, keeping a
small company feeling".
Human Capital Management - Maturity
LEADERSHIP PRACTICES
Communication
JetBlue’s management was very
sensitive to the importance of
communication within the firm.
Inclusiveness
JetBlue’s management focused on
employee feedback, they
implemented a quarter visit, one-
on-one conversations.
Supervisory Skills
Managers initiate to avoid a culture
of blame, they tried to eliminate the
culture of finger pointing.
Supervisors would functions as
coaches rather than bosses.
Executive skills
The BOD’s try to eliminate the
barriers and committed to building
a strong and engaged workforce
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Job Design
JetBlue offered several distinct job
options which could be customized
to any types of jobs. These
initiative can tap employees skills
and needs.
Commitment
JetBlue offered more variations in
the design of jobs, compensation,
and benefit packages. Jobs are
secure, employees are recognized.
Time
Workload allows employees to do
jobs well and enables good/work
life balance.
Systems
- -
KNOWLEDGE
ACCESSIBILITY
Availability
JetBlue’s mission was to be
paperless, they made all
maintenance logs were computer
based so job-related information
was readily available.
Collaboration
Teamwork is encouraged and
enabled. JetBlue’s management
held a meeting to ask their
employee to think about what
characterized the best
organizations to operate
Information Sharing
JetBlue’s management had prior
prominent experiences, and their
best practices could be
implemented.
Systems
WORKFORCE OPTIMIZATION
Processes
Work process are well defined. The
work was designed to give people
lots of autonomy.
Conditions
Working conditions support high
performance.
Accountability
High performance is expected
Hiring
Consistent with their emphasis on
hiring people who fit, great
emphasis was placed on the initial
employee orientation.
LEARNING CAPACITY
Innovation
New ideas are welcome
Training
JetBlue had an orientation program
and formal training that was
practical and support company’s
values.
Development
Employees have formal career
development plans, it also could be
customized to any types of jobs.
Value and Support
JetBlue’s management
demonstrated the 5 core values of
company. The values were
intended to drive the activities, not
in some abstracts sense but in
concrete terms.
Jetblue: Company’s Challenges in Managing People
● Team’s opinion on critical decisions: It is difficult for a company/manager to take the view and ideas from the team
members individually. Instead, they ask the team leaders to come up with suggestions and ideas from the team for further
discussion.

● Unaware of ground realities: In the case of large teams, it is difficult for a manager to know the actual issues faced by the
junior members of the team. They generally rely on the updates provided by the senior members and team leaders.

● Communication: Effective performance within the airline industry depends on reliable communication between different
departments and coordination between various hierarchies within the industry.

● Training Opportunities: Not all team members might have the same skill set initially. To bring all members on the same page,
Company needs to start holding trainings.

● Retaining the right employees: Hiring employees that fit well with the culture and share a strong belief in the values will
most likely flourish, and employees who fit well with their organization, coworkers, and supervisor had greater job satisfaction,
were more likely to remain with their organization, and showed superior job performance.
Do they can keep the current culture and HR system with all of those
expansion initiatives?
The aggressive expansion of JetBlue urges them to reinvention their strategy to manage their people in the future. Large teams can
achieve fantastic results if the team members are in sync. While that may be true, big groups are more challenging to manage.
Everyone in a team comes with their share of skills and problems; helping them communicate freely to see the larger picture is a
challenging feat.

Asking their people to think about what characterizes the best organization they want is good, but capturing everyone's fits and needs
in larger teams could be challenging. JetBlue may start accelerating its core values by selecting the right people who fit the culture and
values JetBlue wants to pursue. Taking the five values as a guide, JetBlue creates a targeted selection process to identify employees
who are most likely to fit. In the recruitment process, the five values are translated into specific desirable and undesirable behaviours,
and questions are then asked about applicants' past behaviour.
Do they can keep the current culture and HR system with all of those
expansion initiatives?
Selecting the right people for the expansion means JetBlue would face a diverse workforce familiar with the airline industry. It calls for human
resource managers to undergo cultural-oriented human resource management training. Local professionals within a country feel threatened when
a company employs international employees with diverse abilities. They fear their job security perceiving these international employees aim to take
their jobs. It leads to local professionals failing to deliver as expected. Their commitment to the company goes down, eventually resulting in
customer dissatisfaction. Human resource managers must have adequate experience to convince local professionals of the benefits of
encouraging diversity within the company. Acknowledging the presence of diversity within the organization can’t improve its performance. Human
resource managers need to strategically organize the human resource in a manner that will able to attain organizational goals.

Effective performance within the airline industry depends on reliable communication between different departments and coordination between
various hierarchies within the industry. The old hierarchical management method within the airline industry contributes to poor employee
performance. It calls for the development of a system of governance that eliminates the various hierarchies within the organization. The system
would ensure that employees are effectively monitored. Top managers in hierarchies typically carry out their responsibilities by issuing instructions
on what to be done to people below the hierarchy. They then monitor the activities of their subjects. It leads to employees failing to take the
initiative to carry out activities within the industry. Despite employees identifying areas that may require changes as they conduct their daily
activities, they only take steps to make the changes once they receive directions from the top management. Consequently, it results in most
employees performing poorly. Failure to implement employee empowerment within the industry leads to poor employee performance.
Do they can keep the current culture and HR system with all of those
expansion initiatives?
Employee empowerment leads to improvement in their performance. Employees involved with daily operations within the company
can identify areas that constrain growth within the company. Empowerment leads to employees taking the initiative to change these
areas, thus attaining organizational growth. As employees feel part and parcel of the company, their commitment to the company
improves, leading to consumer satisfaction. The company avoids regularly recruiting and training new employees as they lose those
experienced due to poor working conditions. As the airline industry offers its services internationally, it has the advantage of getting
staff with varied experience. Human resource managers should have explicit knowledge of organizing diverse employees with different
talents to exploit this opportunity. A diverse workforce in an industry leads to the introduction of new ideas and innovations. It helps
organizations respond to various problems that rock with minimum difficulties.

One of the problems that affect the airline industry is the need for more ability of its human resource managers to work with a diverse
workforce effectively. The managers need to establish a working environment that encourages diversity.