Aviation Workforce Development Practices (2010)

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

3The civil aviation industry is one of the most complex and vital components of the world’s economy. It is an industry that requires the talents of a qualified workforce, with skills that run the entire spectrum of professional qualifications, from specialized training and federal certifications, to those general professional and technical skills desired by many other industries. As such, the private- and public-sector orga- nizations that operate as part of the civil aviation industry have unique challenges when developing their workforce. Civil aviation must compete with every other industry for tal- ented professionals, while also ensuring that those that are hired within the industry are properly trained and educated in the knowledge base that is unique to civil aviation. The economic environment that has existed in recent years up to the date of this report’s publication has intensified the challenges to the civil aviation industry. Financial realities of both private- and public-sector organizations within the industry have led to the need to maximize the productivity of the current workforce, as well as to ensure that any new members of the workforce can be productive with as little of a learning curve as practical. In light of recent economic uncertainties, there remains a growing demand for a well-trained and continuously devel- oping aviation industry workforce. Aviation industry lead- ers, including the FAA, other federal and state governments, airports, consultants, operators, tenants, and aviation interest groups, are constantly seeking intelligent, trainable, and enthu- siastic professionals to meet airport technical, operating, and managerial demands. Airport operators are interested in sup- porting on-airport businesses in their quest to maintain an adequate workforce through recruitment and retention. Air- ports are also looking to provide job opportunities in their communities, in part, as a method of increasing support for the airport itself. As many of the industry’s senior experts and key officials are retiring or leaving the industry, there are concerns that aviation professionals are competing to mentor, groom, and hire the same few experienced aviation enthusiasts. Tradi- tionally, an entrant into this industry began at the bottom and had the opportunity to work up to the highest managerial lev- els of the profession. More recent restructuring of the indus- try and outsourcing of entry-level functions has diminished the recruitment of qualified candidates within the industry and limited the advancement of entry-level employees. Develop- ing and applying comprehensive workforce development pro- grams may address these issues. DEFINING “WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT” Much of the literature on the topic of workforce development is found within publications that focus on education, human resources management, and economic development. These sources define the term “workforce development” in a variety of ways. The most basic definition of workforce development equates the term with “employment training,” but almost all of the literature expands on this definition (1). Workforce devel- opment is also associated with employee success, providing not only technical training but also professional education, indus- try networking, opportunities for advancement, and opportu- nities to promote the industry, retain the industry’s best and brightest, and help foster the future workforce. Workforce development also carries the connotation of a partnership with the industry and outside public- or private-sector professional development or educational organizations. Finally, workforce development implies the building of the workforce as a team, with emphasis on group and organizational workforce devel- opment rather than simply the development of an individual’s skill set. Workforce development programs cover four primary areas: 1. Programs for preparation to enter or re-enter the work- force, 2. Learning opportunities to improve workplace per- formance, 3. Organizational responses to changes that affect work- force effectiveness, and 4. Managing the retention and succession of the workforce. Above all else, establishing and applying workforce devel- opment strategies to address these areas requires knowledge of the fundamental requirements of each job within an orga- nization and how the tasks associated with each job work together to achieve success (2). As such, workforce develop- ment strategies exist on multiple levels of an organization. These levels are commonly noted as: • Systems level: Focusing on the larger strategic compo- nents of workforce development programs. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

Systems-level workforce development strategies consider the necessary funding and legislative mechanisms that facili- tate the other levels of workforce development. For example, funding policies may include the provision of a workforce development budget. • Organizational Level: Focusing on the workforce devel- opment policies of the organization. Organizational-level workforce development strategies focus on the policies, resources, and supervisory strategies that are geared toward building a workforce that is robust to accom- modate changes in the work environment, able to promote internally, and to target hire. Organizational-level workforce strategies may include internal rotation programs, educational seminars, or policies to send members of the workforce to external workforce development opportunities. • Team Level: Focusing on the small group dynamics of a working team. Team-level workforce development considers a team of indi- viduals performing similar tasks; for example, an airport oper- ations team, or a team of diverse skill sets such as a master planning team. Team-level workforce development on the team level focuses on providing support for team success and developing techniques to improve team communication, coordination, and cohesion. • Individual Level: Focusing on an individual’s workforce development. Individual-level workforce development includes skills train- ing, but also practices to improve employee motivation and reduce stress factors within the working environment. Exam- ples of individual-level workforce development practices include allowing an individual to participate in a training course, applying the skills learned in the training to a project, and providing rewards for successfully performing at this newly achieved skill level. Individual-level workforce devel- opment also focuses on employee performance appraisal prac- tices, as it is often the performance appraisal that is the most formal and direct method of communication between employee and supervisor with respect to the employee’s workforce devel- opment potential. Individual workforce development is also commonly referred to as “professional development.” WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT IN THE AVIATION INDUSTRY Workforce development practices in the aviation industry have focused on professional development, while few resources have been dedicated to developing organizational and systems- 4 level workforce development programs. There are a number of reasons for this. First, before developing organizational- and systems-level workforce development programs it is necessary to have a complete understanding of the current workforce. Interest- ingly, there is little specific census data with respect to the aviation industry workforce. In addition, many of the public-sector organizations within the industry, including publicly owned airports, and state and federal agencies, must operate their workforce management practices according to local or federal policies. These policies often do not provide the resources or the operational feasi- bility for formal workforce development. As a result, most workforce development programs have focused on professional development. These programs are typ- ically provided by professional agencies supporting the indus- try or through institutions of higher education. Such programs will be detailed in chapter four of this synthesis. ORGANIZATION OF REPORT This synthesis is organized into five chapters. Chapter one introduces the concept of workforce development and, in gen- eral, and how, to date, the concept has been applied in the avi- ation industry. Chapter two focuses on the current state of the civil aviation industry, with respect to the industry’s work- force development needs. Within this chapter, a description of the various professions found in the industry is presented, the technical and professional requirements to successfully perform these professions are summarized and described, and the areas where workforce development within the industry is greatest are presented. Chapter three describes the various workforce development resources available to the industry. This chapter describes both in-house training programs and programs available to the industry from external organizations that specialize in aviation system workforce development. In chapter four, innovative workforce development programs and practices are highlighted as examples that may be repli- cated by other organizations within the industry in meeting their workforce development needs. Chapter five provides the synthesis conclusions with a brief description of further research. This synthesis also provides an appendix (Appendix A) of institutions that specialize in aviation workforce develop- ment. These institutions range from high schools, to colleges and universities, to professional organizations. Appendix B is a list of aviation professional organizations with workforce development resources.