STAFF DEVELOPMENT
“We are very much focused on overseas business at the moment as we see it as a key new driver of growth,” comments Lee, who admits that Incheon Airport’s venture into the overseas market is still at an early stage. Performance is the third key value of the company’s management philosophy, and Lee says that he is particularly proud to be associated with a company that has made an annual profit for the last seven years whilst maintaining the highest possible service standards.
“Incheon has made a profit since 2004, only three years after its opening. Isn’t this great?” smiles Lee. “However, I’m even more proud of our competitiveness and high customer service levels. We were named the best airport in the world in the ACI’s ASQ awards for the first time in 2005 and have held on to the title for six consecutive years. This is unprecedented.” In terms of people, Lee argues that an airport’s human resources are its “biggest corporate asset in a knowledge-driven business environment”. “We believe in providing adequate opportunity for the training and education of our staff as we believe in career development. In addition we have introduced many initiatives in order to motivate the talent pool and keep our corporate culture open-minded,” says Lee. Being socially responsible for its actions is also a major driver of Incheon Airport’s management strategy, according to Lee, who goes as far as declaring that businesses that neglect their social responsibilities will ultimately struggle to survive.
When it comes to the provision of career advancement for its staff, few gateways could match the host of opportunities and possibilities offered by the innovative Korean airport operator.
Indeed, the airport operator introduced its own in-house MBA courses for staff back in 2006 and the programme, developed in collaboration with local universities, continues to go from strength to strength today.
“It is true to say that we are very strict about ethics and ethical issues,” continues Lee. “As part of this philosophy, I encourage our staff to take a very simple newspaper test. It involves reading an article and then asking themselves that if an article appeared in their local newspaper about a decision and action they made, and their family and friends read the article, how would they feel about it? I want them to know that all actions have consequences.”
Lee insists that the importance of growth to the company’s business strategy needs no explanation, and therefore the company’s management team is always on the lookout for new business opportunities, both at home in South Korea and internationally.
Courses were initially focused on a typical MBA programme and the subjects were ‘Business Strategy’, ‘Human Resource Management’, ‘Finance’ and ‘Marketing’ with classes conveniently taking place at lecture rooms in the passenger terminal. It proved such a big hit with staff that Incheon Airport decided to upgrade and expand the programme in 2008, and from August that year the MBA programme has focused more on aviation and been opened up to non-airport authority staff. As a result, airport staff from different government agencies, airlines, concessionaires and business partners now participate in the MBA programme and this has had the knock-on effect of increasing the levels of co-operation and goodwill between them. Furthermore, in 2009 Incheon International Airport Corporation became the first company in Korea to
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