JUST PLANE CULTURE
few aviation maintenance programs starting up around the nation and an increased emphasis in high school on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs that include aviation technology. My fear is that these students are being sold on aviation maintenance and being lured into the industry. Yes, there are jobs available in an economy with high unemployment, so it is a relatively easy sell. Plus, the stigma of “mechanic” was removed and now we must be referred to as an aircraft maintenance technician (AMT). As I said, job satisfaction is directly related to the
degree of passion a person has for the career and the clear and accurate understanding of what that job entails. If we are selling a perception and these students later discover that the perception doesn’t match the reality, job satisfaction will be aff ected. Job satisfaction is also directly associated with employee engagement. How enthusiastic would a person be to engage in their work if they are not satisfi ed in what they are doing? I used to quote a research study done many years ago that employees are roughly evenly distributed as 1/3 actively engaged, 1/3 actively disengaged and 1/3 neutral. How dismal is it that we can’t engage more employees? Now the latest poll shows only 17 percent are engaged in their work. Fortunately, those who are actively disengaged remain about 1/3 but those who are neutral have grown. We are growing a working population that seeks mediocrity, doesn’t do much and only does what is needed to keep from getting fi red. This minimalist attitude aff ects performance, effi ciency,
quality, safety and productivity. Just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so it is that an organization is only as strong as its weakest culture. You need to build that group before building the rest. You don’t maximize the performance of your car by installing a giant carburetor if your exhaust pipe is only one half inch in diameter. People’s passions are developed at a young age. Those passions are already established by the time they get to high school. They might not know what they want in a career and will have to iron that out later. That is why so many college students change majors halfway through — they discover their hidden passion in a career path, maybe. Don’t get me wrong – promoting STEM programs for aviation maintenance in high school is great, as those programs might trigger that passion in someone. They might also lure someone who has a passion for French literature into aviation maintenance. If the students are logical, and few high schools students are, so this would be directed to their parents, they will ask which is a better economic decision — a career in aviation maintenance or in French literature? They
have just lured someone away from their passion and potentially set them up for future job dissatisfaction. Of course, they can justify this by saying they provided the person with a viable career and fi lled a void in the declining aviation maintenance ranks, but they also contributed to the growing ranks of neutral engagers. If you have been in this business long enough,
you have run into these people who have a passion elsewhere. I met one mechanic who only talked about being a pastry chef and even went to school for it. Another guy I knew just wanted to be a farmer like his parents but he needed a job so he went into aviation. These two people were good and conscientious mechanics, but just didn’t have that extra spark. The reverse is also true. A good friend of mine who was one of the passionate few aircraft mechanics took a job in manufacturing because of a layoff . He is still in manufacturing after 20 years. When I had lunch with him recently, we talked only about airplanes. He still has the spark for aviation and said he wished he was still working on aircraft but he couldn’t aff ord it now. He was making too much money as the chief manufacturing engineer for several plastics plants. (As a side note, what made him so successful was his knowledge of aviation maintenance. Additionally, he introduced preventive maintenance, periodic checks, predictive maintenance and failure rate tracking into the fi eld of manufacturing.) How do we keep from attracting people that are taking
the wrong career path? Drive the promotion of STEM programs and aviation maintenance programs down to the grade school level, including students’ parents, and continue that promotion all the way through high school and college. It’s not the hard sell in high school to make a choice now, rather a soft informational communication stream slowly fed throughout the student’s educational journey, later introduced as an option amongst many career options. Water seeks its own level, so let the student seek theirs.
Patrick Kinane is an FAA-certifi cated A&P with IA and commercial pilot with instrument rating. He has 50 years of experience in aviation maintenance. He is an ASQ senior member with quality auditor and quality systems/ organizational excellence manager certifi cations. He is an RABQSA-certifi ed AS9100 and
AS9110 aerospace industry experienced auditor and ISO9001 business improvement/quality management systems auditor. He earned a bachelor of science degree in aviation maintenance management, a master’s of science degree in education, and a Ph.D. in organizational psychology. Kinane is presently a senior quality management systems auditor for AAR CORP and a professor of organizational behavior at DeVry University.
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