The Perceived Effectiveness of the Initial Cabin Attendant Training Program (ICAT) of Philippine Airlines

Abstract

Training has become an integral part of an organization's human resource component. Many companies allot a large budget for training of their employees. Training is defined as the systematic acquisition of skills, rules, concepts or attitudes that results in improved performance of people in any work setting, the aim of which is to produce more competent people. Training effectiveness involves a more complex analysis, not only in terms of whether or not the training is well done, but also in terms of what is achieved as worthwhile for the organization that sponsors it. Training efficiency, on the other hand, is a way of assessing the changes achieved during training. According to Donald Kirkpatrick, there are several components of an effective evaluation program. One of the most comprehensive and widely used models of evaluation is Donald Kirkpatrick's, which comprised the four levels of the model, namely: Reaction Evaluation, Learning Evaluation, Transfer of Learning Evaluation, and Results Evaluation. Reaction is the term used by Kirkpatrick to refer to how well the participants liked a particular training program. Evaluation of participants’ reactions consists of measuring their feelings; however, it does not include a measure of actual learning. The second level of analysis in the evaluation process is that of learning. Kirkpatrick defines learning as the "understanding and absorption of principles, facts and techniques by the participants”, and identifies certain guidelines or standards for evaluation in terms of learning. Kirkpatrick's third level in the evaluation model is transfer of learning. In the HRD literature, there are relatively few examples of studies that have specifically attempted to assess the transfer of training skills or knowledge to the job. Kirkpatrick's fourth level of evaluation is results or impact on the organization. Based on this precept, the researcher has focused on the evaluation of a particular training in the field of airline management, where Kirkpatrick's model was applied. The study sought to find out what happens after the training program is done? How effective is the training program? Thus, the researcher posits the ‘research problem: How Effective is the Initial Cabin Attendant Training Program (ICAT) as Perceived by the Domestic Cabin Attendants of Philippine Airlines? This study seeks to find out how this kind of training program fares to safety professionals. The following sub-problems have been formulated by the study: What are the factors that can measure the effectiveness of training in airline emergency preparedness? How does the initial cabin attendant training program help ease the passengers during airline situations/emergencies? How does the initial cabin attendant training program shape the psychological perspective and attitude of the respondents towards flight safety? What is the level of effectiveness of the Initial Cabin Attendant Training Program? The survey questionnaire was used to gather perceptual responses from domestic cabin crew trainees. The questionnaire which includes open-ended and close-ended questions, is designed to determine the importance and implications of the ICAT program to the cabin crew and passengers. The researcher only focused on recurrent class of presently hired domestic cabin attendants in the said evaluation because of the nature of the respondents’ work in which all of them have regular flights. But their responses were nevertheless verified through interview schedule conducted with the head of the iICAT program, and the Assistant to the Vice President for Training and Development of Philippine Airlines. The interview was designed to ask the managers about the nature and implementation of the training program, as well as their own evaluation of the program. The researcher found out that the Initial Cabin Attendant Training Program (ICAT) evaluation is highly favorable, based on the results of the quantitative and qualitative data from both respondents. The ICAT program is the foundation training given to cabin attendants on service for them to acquire some safety standards. Without this, no one gets to become a PAL cabin attendant who must have the knowledge of all the basics and awareness of all possible situations and actions to be taken in case of airline disasters. The overall rating of the training program with a mean value of 4.69 is highly favorable according to the responders who learned new ideas from the training program. Also, the training aids/materials received highly favorable rating with a mean score of 4.53, perceived by the respondents to have contributed to their learning process. Lastly, the trainers and management were rated highly favorable based on the overall weighted mean value of 4.62, indicative of their roles as good training facilitators who speak clearly and audibly, and the strong support given by management, respectively. The ICAT program had achieved success in preparing the cabin crew to become efficient and effective safety professionals to ensure PAL's service culture. They are aware of the basic skills in airline preparedness through adequate information given during the training and competent trainers who gave cabin crew the skills of knowing what to do in time of disasters, a critical role of flight attendants in helping ease out the trauma of passengers during airline emergencies. There were problems or hindrances as experienced by the trainees, such as the clash of different personalities, misunderstanding among the trainees, time management, and pressure from their parents. Not being able to hold and operate the safety equipment is also a problem, for they only see them in pictures with no actual hands-on. They also had problems with the trainers who are said to be biased, who handled the lessons in a fast pace, and who always assumed that the trainees must know everything, thus, had caused some fears among the trainees. There are also a lot of unfriendly senior cabin attendants who employed the seniority rule on the juniors. More importantly, since the location of the training is not accessible for other trainees, there should be a dormitory for them to stay during the course of the training, especially those coming from the provinces. Based on the findings, the study concluded that there are certain factors involved in the ICAT training as measures of effectiveness. These include the awareness of the objectives and skills implied by the training program and the equipment of knowledge among the cabin attendants of the things they should learn before flying. The levei of effectiveness was also rated as highly effective. This was also determined by the results of the appreciations and commendations survey given to people on board. Therefore, based on the assessment of the respondents and the results of the most recent survey on customer commendations, it was concluded that there was an increase in appreciation and satisfaction of passengers through the quality of service provided by the cabin attendants of Philippine Airlines, achieved by the ICAT Program. The researcher recommends further improvements in the training program. Even if the skills are taught by the training, there are other basic concerns which the study likes to recommend: the inclusion of courses like self-defense in case of hijacks on board, plane flying or operation in case pilots get incapacitated, physical workout, and foreign language courses with more emphasis on communication skills.