The Trouble At Qantas

[Airforce.1]

The trouble at Qantas | Herald Sun (http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24150575-664,00.html)

Geoff Easdown has almost nailed it......

[CaptCloudbuster]

BusinessDaily has been told that morale at the Mascot head office has never been lower.
:{Looks like they are getting a taste of their own medicine:D

[The Librarian]

Wish these blokes would get their facts right. At least 45 of the QF 747, 767 fleet were built since the late 80's. source Airfleets Airline Fleet, plane, airport, photos : Boeing Airbus Embraer Atr Fokker Dash (http://www.airfleets.net/home/)

Journo's never let the facts get in the way of a good story. They helped cause the death of Ansett and will no doubt be a major contributor in the demise of Qantas.

[Wod]

Let's see. Talk to the mates of the kaffee-klatch surrounding a dissappointed candidate for a top job, plus the leaders of Unions recently required to go through EBA negotiations and voila!!

Call me a cynic - but I don't think it stacks up.

To quote the lovely, lively Mandy Rice-Davis "They would say that, wouldn't they?"

[argus.moon]

You are 68 ...same as Dixon...a generational mindset.
You are also an outsider who gleens most of your information from a compliant and(up until now)silent media.
What Easdown is saying about morale is felt by every Qantas Employee.
During his tenure Dixon has bullied threatened and intimidated to produce the mess that Qantas now finds itself in.
Qantas has always been about people being proud of what they do.That pride has taken an absolute beating.....the service has declined,engineering is in chaos,the fleet is ancient and its schedule is written in pencil.
Clifford and Joyce have to get the Qantas Culture of excellence and pride re established.

[the rim]

sooo true mate that is what is happening at charlie Q now ,I am a 38 year vet of the place and have always been proud of our history and our integrity,but of late it has been knocked out of me,this will take some time to turn around, our fore fathers will be turning in their grave's...sorry about the mushie stuff ...if Arthur Baird was here today he would say"son do you know what you're doing"...or in this case "done"

[Wod]

Fellas, I joined in 68. Gave it away in the 90's because I wasn't enjoying it anymore, and am still in contact with my peers, some of whom are still in QF.

The article was cheap, easy, lazy, journalism.

The nasty stuff started with Strong and his toadies, including a bully of an HR person, who's name eludes me. He was fortunately sprung for enriching himself by persuading QF to buy the services of a company he happened to have formed for the purpose.

So, no, I don't have a naive view of some of the characters who have appeared on the scene.

My comments related purely to this thread.

[Sunfish]

QF isn't going to change any time soon because from what I've read in Pprune and what I personally know about narcissists in management is that they recruit others like themselves as subordinates. That means that there will be at least two layers of these people in management and maybe three or more.

These people get their kicks by putting other people down, as we have consistently seen at QF. It's bad management practice, but they do it because they like to create pain and suffering, it makes them feel good inside by reinforcing their self esteem.

It's happened elsewhere in companies and it's only now being discovered by the HR community. They now label these people as "industrial psychopaths". Their appearance in management neatly demonstrates Prof. Isaiah Berlins statement ""Good Ends" conflict. In our drive for workplace equity in hiring and promotion, we have ditched one highly subjective, but highly important, management dimension - "Character".

At least in the bad old days when managers were hired from your old school/ squadron/football club or whatever, you at least knew what the character of the people you were hiring was, and you could neatly avoid hiring ****s, because you already knew who they were. But in these days of equity, you can't enquire into character differences between two applicants, you have to go strictly by apparent qualifications and experience, and narcissists always have excellent qualifications.

I've watched it happen, and it wasn't pretty. If you want to see what one looks like in full flight, follow the career and antics of Her Excellency Quentin Bryce.

[mmmbop]

....because from what I've read in Pprune...

Yep, because PPRUNE is the best source of FACT isn't it Sunfish? As the QF 767 Narita thread has shown, 99% of posters on this site have no idea and are full of sh1t. It cracks me up when I read these same posters bagging Journos. Yep i agree Australian aviation writers are the least factual and most sensationalistic of all journalistic scum, but for the posters on here to comment on them getting their facts straight.....please!

That said, I think the article pretty much sums up the feeling at QF. Aside from the inaccuracy of aircraft age, the journalist has the workplace attitude pretty accurate. Except for the headline - the morale problem isn't mounting - its been doing that for about 5 years. It is now at breaking point.

From what I can gather from my colleagues, I am one of the few who thinks Joyce MAY be an exceptional choice for the top job. Gregg will forever be tainted by the privatisation bid, and Borghetti, as much as I like him, wouldn't introduce anything new to the company. Joyce is the opposite - young, dynamic and with experience in the industry in a number of companies. Don't forget - he is no longer in charge of 27 jets, or how ever many One* now has, he is responsible for 200. He has a completely different focus to what he had in setting up and growing One*.

Personally I am going to watch with interest and hope that he will turn the culture around. Those who slagg him as just a LCC management tool who wants to cut & slash are ignorant, yet probably a true reflection on just how negative the morale has become at QF under Dixon.

M

[Muff Hunter]

If you guys think Joyce is a good choice you are sadly mistaken.

He is a pilot hater, and will always be. He has just sent all MOU guys at JQ back to mainline to allow the 457's to be used..and futher lower rock bottom morale..

He was totally disgusted at the pilot group for voting the eba down and treats us all accordingly..

He will try the same at QF mark my words...you can say goodbye to reasonable crew meals, rosters and pay (eventully) and he will try and get every bit of blood and sweat out of every employee before moving them on and giving their job to somelese to do even though they are already doing the job of 3 people..

Bring on the day that Emirates and Etihad open serious OZ bases so I can tell this pricks to kiss my :mad::mad:......

[flying_drumman]

Sigh; its quite disconcerting that this is happening to what was -to me- such a great aviation icon.

Perhaps oneday there will be an airline where there are no shareholders, and there are more concerns than just the company's and management's profits.

I havent yet made judgement on Joyce; but hopefully he'll be able to restore QF to what it was.

All the best to those still there.

[Kangaroo Court]

Give Mr Joyce a chance. He might do just fine, you never know!

[Short_Circuit]

Step 1

Stop giving Managers bonuses....

[Elrey_Jeppesen]

Step 2

Stop micro management and someone start taking a big picture view of the operation.

[DrPepz]

SQ usually gives a low base pay with a very high variable component which can be up to 7 months of salary. All SQ staff from clerk upwards received a 6 + 1 month bonus last year and 5 + 1 month bonus this year, which was pegged to the annual profit of the company.

In that way, all staff across all levels have some sort of incentive to work in the interests of the company. Better than squeezing the rank and file and limiting fat bonuses to just the top X people in the company.

[ferris]

QF will continue to spiral downwards (share price, profitability, service standards, route structure-whatever performance measure you choose) until someone realises that the shareholders interests and the employees interests are almost one in the same, and are not mutually exclusive.

It seems to be a painfully slow process.

If the shareholders realised the expansion possibilities that have been squandered in the last couple of years, Dixon wouldn't be fired, his fate would be much worse.

[Gnadenburg]

Bring on the day that Emirates and Etihad open serious OZ bases so I can tell this pricks to kiss my ......

Taking Arab bread won't save you from problems mate. They were/are slave traders. And you, being white, are their Arabian fantasy. :}

Far easier to get your mates in QF & J* to draw a line in the sand.

[VH-Cheer Up]

....because from what I've read in Pprune...

Yep, because PPRUNE is the best source of FACT isn't it Sunfish?

Yeah, whatever, but - he's right about narcissistic management, for sure.

[Sunfish]

From Pprune, you get snippets, vignettes, anecdotal stuff and opinions, plus the odd fact and factoid.

However, not one of them portrays QF as a workers paradise and most portray it as dysfunctional and inefficient, providing examples to boot, and even the resident QF trolls don't try to challenge these statements. There is too much volume, consistency and spectrum for it to be a few odd axe grinders.

There is a line from the Theban plays that is appropriate: "Just because a fool says the sun is shining, doesn't make it dark outside."

Workplaces do NOT have to be dysfunctional and unpleasant to maximise shareholder returns, in fact, quite the opposite.

[speedbirdhouse]

A more dysfunctional and incompetent bunch of bullies and thugs you will never find.

From the staff's perspective Qantas is run not so much as a company but a regime.

They use fear and intimidation to manage their staff. Think of 1935 Germany and you wouldn't be too far wrong.

Sunfish speaks at length on the rise of the corporate psychopath.

I can't think of ANYONE in the department I work for who isn't one.:ugh:

[blow.n.gasket]

I'd put Qantas up there with Telstra as far as disfunctional ,idiologically driven management is concerned.
It would probably end up being neck and neck if you were to look at who has been taken to the AIRC more!

[speedbirdhouse]

If you believe that the latest Skytrax results are accurate in their customer satisfaction results you would have to wonder what qantas could [easily] achieve by re-engaging their staff.

Oh, how to do that you ask?

Simple.

Listen to them, support them and afford them the respect they deserve.

[another superlame]

Skytrax must be a QF funded entity. There is no way with the way they treat staff and passnegers that they should be in 3rd place.

And has anyone noticed that Uncle Geoff has been extremely quiet of late, his legacy is that the airline is crumbling around him as a testament to his brutal tactics.

I guess the board has gagged him in a hope that he can't do anymore damage, it is 2 years too late I believe.

Now AJ has the job of rebuilding the airline but with no funds with which to do it after Geoff sold everythingto make a profit.Typical corporate short sightedness.

[Tester Call 121.5]

New movie out...

"DEMISE OF ANSETT"

Playing the Roll of Eddington.... Geoff Dixon
Playing the Roll of Toomey....... Alan Joyce

Bit parts................ everyone else.

[fordran]

Playing the role of Vincent.........John Vincent
Playing the role of Brown...........Michael Brown
Playing the role of Edwards........Dave Edwards

Gee the name of many of the Engineering Managers is the the same as the Ansett ones. What an amazing coincidence.