"It will either be tears of joy or anguish for 20,000 MAS employees - The Star/Asia News Network May 25, 2015
PETALING JAYA - Anxiety is at its highest and morale lowest for the 20,000 people working for the national airline. It will either be tears of joy or anguish when they get their termination and re-employment letters in a matter of days.
Malaysia Airlines (MAS), one of the country's biggest government-linked companies, will terminate its entire workforce to start afresh as a smaller airline with a regional focus rather than international.
The only person spared is chief executive Christoph Mueller, who was hired to lead the new airline but was then roped in to manage the transition.
Today, an administrator will be appointed. He is Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi, executive chairman of the consulting and audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. He will sign all the termination letters, which will be sent out on Wednesday.
The termination is aimed at easing the migration of MAS into a new company, MAS Bhd, which will begin operations on Sept 1.
The appointment of administrator marks the beginning of the eventual end for MAS as an entity as Faiz's job will be to clean up MAS for closure and transfer all the assets and liabilities to MAS Bhd, as provided for in the MAS Act 2015. About two-thirds of the 20,000 staff will be offered jobs with new conditions. It was reported earlier that 6,000 staff would be axed but sources now say that in effect, it is that 6,000 roles that could be cut and some of those roles could be done by more than one staff.
It's not quite Mueller's style, going by his own words. In an interview with Cambridge University business school last year, Mueller said the first year of a restructuring was like going to war and it was "difficult to create a winning team from an existing management team in a turnaround".
Whatever his strategy, Mueller is busy working out a tough business plan for the new airline. A large number will have to leave immediately but will receive their salary and benefits only at the end of August."
Reality bites!
Lessons for me are:
1. GLCs are indeed long life animals protected by the iron-rice-bowl government in most countries. Unfortunately, most of those countries are also quite broke and down and hence cannot continue the charitable act of paying employees, including the management, for doing nothing! So, reality sets in!;
2. will MAS Berhad be better than MAS? It is anybody guess. If Mr Mueller is paid well enough, he may actually try harder if he is motivated by money. Of course, if he is NOT, then hopefully it is just the sense of achievement when he can turnaround a dead duck to one flying high that truly motivate him;
3. alas, just getting Mr Mueller motivated will not be quite enough as turnaround play normally will need a critical mass of employees in the company to be JUST as committed as the senior management to want to turnaround the situation for more than just dollars and cents. The intrinsic motivators like pride, sense of achievement, doing the impossible, etc must be present before the dollars and cents help!
All the best to Mr Mueller and ex-MAS and present MAS Berhad folks. History awaits!!
PETALING JAYA - Anxiety is at its highest and morale lowest for the 20,000 people working for the national airline. It will either be tears of joy or anguish when they get their termination and re-employment letters in a matter of days.
Malaysia Airlines (MAS), one of the country's biggest government-linked companies, will terminate its entire workforce to start afresh as a smaller airline with a regional focus rather than international.
The only person spared is chief executive Christoph Mueller, who was hired to lead the new airline but was then roped in to manage the transition.
Today, an administrator will be appointed. He is Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi, executive chairman of the consulting and audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. He will sign all the termination letters, which will be sent out on Wednesday.
The termination is aimed at easing the migration of MAS into a new company, MAS Bhd, which will begin operations on Sept 1.
The appointment of administrator marks the beginning of the eventual end for MAS as an entity as Faiz's job will be to clean up MAS for closure and transfer all the assets and liabilities to MAS Bhd, as provided for in the MAS Act 2015. About two-thirds of the 20,000 staff will be offered jobs with new conditions. It was reported earlier that 6,000 staff would be axed but sources now say that in effect, it is that 6,000 roles that could be cut and some of those roles could be done by more than one staff.
It's not quite Mueller's style, going by his own words. In an interview with Cambridge University business school last year, Mueller said the first year of a restructuring was like going to war and it was "difficult to create a winning team from an existing management team in a turnaround".
Whatever his strategy, Mueller is busy working out a tough business plan for the new airline. A large number will have to leave immediately but will receive their salary and benefits only at the end of August."
Reality bites!
Lessons for me are:
1. GLCs are indeed long life animals protected by the iron-rice-bowl government in most countries. Unfortunately, most of those countries are also quite broke and down and hence cannot continue the charitable act of paying employees, including the management, for doing nothing! So, reality sets in!;
2. will MAS Berhad be better than MAS? It is anybody guess. If Mr Mueller is paid well enough, he may actually try harder if he is motivated by money. Of course, if he is NOT, then hopefully it is just the sense of achievement when he can turnaround a dead duck to one flying high that truly motivate him;
3. alas, just getting Mr Mueller motivated will not be quite enough as turnaround play normally will need a critical mass of employees in the company to be JUST as committed as the senior management to want to turnaround the situation for more than just dollars and cents. The intrinsic motivators like pride, sense of achievement, doing the impossible, etc must be present before the dollars and cents help!
All the best to Mr Mueller and ex-MAS and present MAS Berhad folks. History awaits!!
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