A Blindingly Stupid Example of Change Management

An airline president wanted his Boeing two-engine 737s to fly faster. He has asked the Boeing, if it can help, and she assured him that they could…so they added two additional engines to each airplane.

After a few weeks of service with the added engines, the airline president asked his Operations Manager ( Business leadership development ) if his airplanes were flying faster. The president was surprised to hear that, in fact, they were flying slower … and that the amount of oil-related engine failures on the old engines was beyond dramatically.

The action-oriented, hands-on president decided to investigate first hand and sat in the jump seat as one of his crews got ready for a routine flight. The copilot cautiously and consciously read the checklist, and the pilot systematically complied. CoPilot: “Start engines 1 and 2,” and the Pilot responded, “Engines 1 and 2 started.” The pilots then proceeded to make the flight with two engines running and two engines not in use.

After landing, the president asked the pilots if they were aware of the extra two engines. They were quick to respond: “Are you joking, of course ( Business leadership development ) we are aware! Dragging those things around expenditures us an addtional 15 minutes of tiime and 3,000 pounds of fuel on that last leg alone!!”

“Then why don’t you start them and use them?” asks the bewildered president.

the pilot says hello. “Are you joking? Our union contract specifically states that we fly two-engine aircraft!!”

The president retreated from the cockpit and deplaned to watch the fuel and oil crew do the turn-around of the aircraft for the next flight. He wondered maintenance workers apparently confuse the rain and forth between seeing the four machines…providing haphazard at best oil level checking and filling.

After the plane backed away from the gate, the president walked forward to the maintenance man to inquiry him what the hell was going on. The maintenance man replied,”Beats the heck out of me! I’m supposed to be checking oil on two engines ( Executive leadership training ) before each flight, but I obviously have four to check now…and not enough time or aid to get it done before the pilot begins the engines. In addition,I’m still making an effort to find out why two of the engines never need any oil and the other two are too hot to approach to put any in!”