UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business ---------------------------------- Mai Duc Nam SCHEDULING SOFTWARE APPLICATION TO REDUCE SHIFT WORK EXHAUSTION: A CASE OF WEIGHT AND BALANCE GROUP IN SAIGON GROUND SERVICES JOINT STOCK COMPANY MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business ---------------------------------- Mai Duc Nam SCHEDULING SOFTWARE APPLICATION TO REDUCE SHIFT WORK EXHAUSTION: A CASE OF WEIGHT AND BALANCE GROUP IN SAIGON GROUND SERVICES JOINT STOCK COMPANY MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SUPERVISOR: PROF. NGUYEN THI MAI TRANG Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Executive Summary Fatigue, which is the common issue of every single worker in any area, tends to be worse in the service industry, especially in 24/7 continuous service like aviation, rail or medical. Comparing to all industries, shift work is a different element of service. For example, labor in aviation field like air traffic controller, cabin crew and ground staff mentioned shift work as a common cause of their fatigue beside specific job’s traits.
The consequences of fatigue are low productivity, poor health and even high turnover rate which should be paid more attention by human resources management as an important task. In this case, imbalance shift distribution is the main cause of increasing fatigued level. Obviously, shift arrangement would not only decide how effective and appropriate shift system is, but also play a key role in fatigue level of workers. 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge all who supported me during my study without whom I wouldn’t be where I am today.
I would especially like to thank my supervisor – Professor Nguyen Thi Mai Trang for all her advice and guidance, without her help this could not have been possible. I also would like to show my gratitude to my colleagues at work and classmates at ISB for their continuous support. I also send my sincere thankfulness to my parents and friends for their support and encouragement. 4 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Table of contents 1.
Fatigue in service and aviation industry. Fatigue in Weight and balance group of ground operation department. Effort – reward imbalance. Shift working exhausted.
Annual leave shortage. First alternative solution: Software application. Second alternative solution: Erasing level barrier. Third alternative solution: Flexible shift.
36 List of Figures Figure 1: Saigon Ground Services JSC Organization structure. 8 Figure 2: Ground operation department structure of Saigon Ground Services JSC. 8 Figure 3: Causes fishbone diagram. 18 Figure 5: The Best Employee Scheduling & Shift Planning Software of 201717.
25 Figure 6: Original ERI Model8 (Siegrist, 1996). 41 Figure 7: Current ERI Model8 (Siegrist, 1999). 41 5 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com List of Tables Table 1: Data of fatigue measurement. 11 Table 2: Estimated cost for scheduling & shift planning software.
25 Table 3: Estimated cost for level change. 28 Table 4: Flexible shift options. 30 Table 5: Organization action plan for applying Software in shift arrangement. 34 Table 6: Interviewee’s demographic.
37 6 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Company background Saigon Ground Services26 (SAGS) is a subsidiary of the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), SAGS is now the leading ground handling company in Vietnam. SAGS are offering a full range of ground services to a diverse customer base of international and domestic airlines at Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN), the country’s largest and busiest aviation gateway. SAGS also expanded their business to Da Nang International Airport from 01 May 2015 and to Cam Ranh International Airport from 01 July 2016.
Over 10 years of experience in ground handling, SAGS have obtained and successfully renewed the ISO9001 quality management certification and the industry ISAGO (IATA Safety Audits for Ground Operations) registration. In 2016, company’s revenue is over VND 876 billion, increased 46% than 2015. SAGS already set the new milestone with over VND 1,000 billion in 2017. 7 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Company structure Source: http://sags.vn/About-Us/Organization-Chart/ Figure 1: Saigon Ground Services JSC Organization structure. Ground operation department Weight and Operation Loading balance Source: Made by Author based on SAGS’s data Figure 2: Ground operation department structure of Saigon Ground Services JSC. Weight and Balance group belongs to Ground Operation Department. They are responsible for doing load sheet and contributing to the accuracy of passenger, baggage and cargo weight for captain and airlines load control center.
Weight and Balance activity is always 8 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com included in service level agreement of all airlines, which have been provided ground services by SAGS. Meanwhile, Loading group is only in charge of international flights and cargo flights. Operation group involves in coordinating of international flights and domestic flights. Shift working hour is a trait of aviation industry, there are fourteen different shifts at Weight and Balance group, nineteen shifts at Operation group and twelve shifts at Loading group to ensure handling flights.
This study concentrates on Weight and Balance group because of its typical traits and involvement in all kind of flights. In addition, Weight and Balance group not only has suitable organizational size but also allows author to access secondary sources and collect primary data. There are three levels of skills for Weight and Balance staff. Entry level (level 1) focuses on narrow body aircraft, level 2 is on wide body aircraft and level 3 is on cargo flight.
Weight and Balance group includes one manager, three deputy managers, two supervisors and sixteen members. Employees are required to work 48 hours per week and the schedule changes weekly. Furthermore, they are arranged specific flights with their ID beside flight number on SAGS management information system (SMIS) each day. Fatigue in service and aviation industry Aviation industry is 24/7 service therefore shift working is the only way to keep every task being done constantly, which is similar to railway industry or healthcare industry.
There is no doubt that fatigue is common status of labors in these industries. Shift work4, which has been associated with fatigue, is frequently cited as a major cause of fatigue. Fatigue is 9 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com defined5 and operated in different ways, for example in terms of increased sleepiness and reduced alertness. According to the report from International transport workers’ Federation2 in 2009, 46% of respondents felt that fatigue was an issue happening in the most of the aviation workers they represent with 35% respondents said that most of aviation workers feeling burned out from work but more than half show that only some workers had this feeling.
Pursuant to fatigue statistic indicated in occupational groups including cabin crew, ground staff and air traffic service workers with more than 50% respondents reported that most of the ground staff workers felt tired in the morning as a fatigue symptom. This proportion is the same in case of feeling used up at the end of the workday of ground staff workers. In addition, fatigue6 has been pointed out as a serious problem by ICAO and has been defined as “A physiological state of reduced mental or physical performance capability, resulting from sleep loss or extended wakefulness, circadian phase, or workload (mental and/or physical activity) that can impair a person’s alertness and ability to perform safety related operational duties. Fatigue in Weight and balance group of ground operation department In first stage of collecting data, 11 employees had been asked about fatigue symptoms by several short questions about quality and quantity of fatigue according to the health care professional27.
Feeling in the morning has been described by employees that sleepy, tired, headache. Employees also mentioned that the feeling depends on types of shift and sleeping time. The feeling after finishing shift is more similar, tired and leave immediately was the 10 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com common answers. Most of employees said they used caffeine or energy drinks during shifts, more than a half of frequent use.
To be objective and measurable, visual analogue scales9 was used to measure fatigue level, scale have been done by employees after finish their shift. Although result could be limited in terms of quantity due to author’s work schedule, this scale could support health care professional question for describing fatigue picture. The below table was made from scale result, Sags management information system (SMIS) and Weight Balance group weekly schedule. Table 1: Data of fatigue measurement Name Date Shift type Measure Nguyen Cong Tri 21jul Splitted 0 1.7 Nguyen Anh Tung 21jul 9am 7.7 29jul 9am 6 Nguyen Hoang Phuoc 22jul 7am 8 Nguyen Huu Minh Nhat 22jul 9am 3.8 Tran Manh Hung 21jul 7am 7.5 Source: Created by Author based on visuak analogue sacles9, SMIS and weekly schedule.
All figures above show that fatigue at weight and balance group exists by given evidence and statistic. Problem identification Fatigue in aviation is a chronic disease, each department is suffering fatigue in different contexts, therefore it is necessary to find out the reason and its consequences based on specific group. Thus, this study focuses on fatigue at Weight balance group of SAGS. 11 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Several literatures and papers have been used as relevant sources to provide the potential factors are effort – reward imbalance, shift working and annual leave.
Moreover, six people joined in-depth interview from management level, frontline employees and former staffs in the weight and balance group. Their sharing about fatigue at work combines with literatures and papers. This points out some crucial reasons leading to fatigue at weight and balance group of SAGS including effort – reward imbalance, shift working exhausted and annual leave entitlement shortage. Effort – reward imbalance Statistics contributed by International transport workers’ Federation in 2009 about effort and reward are clear.
Specifically, effort in work relates to heavy workload, responsibility, working overtime meanwhile reward includes receiving respect from supervisors, treating fairly, support, salary, prospect for promotion. Effort-reward imbalance (ERI)8 model of Siegrist & Weber, 1986 was cited in N. van Vegchel’s paper that represents job demands and obligations imposed on the employees, occupational reward distributed by the employer consisting of money, esteem and career opportunities. ERI model also shows that the imbalance could cause sustained strain reactions, working hard without receiving appreciation is an example of a stressful imbalance.
Luong Nguyen Minh Khoa admitted that overtime is a common situation but there are no reward policies and he thought it is quite difficult to figure out. The imbalance of responsibility for his flights and what he received may lead to frustration. 12 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Nguyen Hoang Phuoc stated that: “I’m satisfying with current salary but there is no official recognition on overtime effort, people accept to work overtime as a job characteristic.
Overtime means I spend too much time for work and less for myself, it makes me tired. Nguyen Van Lam - deputy manager mentioned he always tried to support employees leave shift on time. He understood that company has no money policy for overtime but managers recognize employee’s effort by choosing for training and promotion opportunity. Shift working exhausted James McIntosh1 mentioned on Medical news today that rotating shifts made it more difficult for workers to maintain a regular sleep-wake cycle, affecting negative to sleep quality and potentially weakening insulin resistance.
"Some of the most serious and persistent problems shift workers face are frequent sleep disturbance and associated excessive sleepiness," report the NSF. Symptoms relate to shift work including indigestion, irritability and reduced concentration. Time issue was pointed out in the report from International transport workers’ Federation2 in 2009 as well, “shift work in general puts workers at heightened risk of fatigue and rotating shift systems are known to be even more hazardous than regular shift patterns as the body rhythm cannot adapt to a regular time pattern”.