There is always a degree of fascination surrounding the services offered at an Airport. The discipline in the uniforms and the chaos of the moving crowd, together result in quite a complex system. Yet, each entity functions periodically following quite the standard norm with varying levels of amplitude depending on time of the year. What is more intriguing is the constant inter phase between familiar and unfamiliar. With a million customers zooming in and out, the likelihood of coming across the same entities is least likely. That neither dampens the zeal nor ability to give them the best service possible.
When dealing with such complex systems, customer service is one essential aspect. The strategic planning and management is another dimension which, as zooming customers, we rarely pay attention towards. Think of your childhood fascination traveling. The pilot, the stewards and stewardess, the people who stamp our passports and take away our luggage, and those really lucky staff in fluorescent coats who roam around in mini cars between the large airplane parking lots. That was all the people we knew about and for some that is all we still know of.
By exploring the field of systems thinking, one gets to gradually realize the several subsystems working towards being one large system of success. As customers, we see this success in terms of quality of service and management. The lack of it as dissatisfaction and failure. However, view this system from a different lens. Perhaps as an engineer, a business development manager, a strategic planning associate. You see the depth in its working, the dimensions, the risks and the phenomenal juggling of several domains. In all beauty one sees the actual work behind the scenes. No time for rehearsals, touch ups and script proofreading. Every part is being played as and when by working abilities, technical knowledge, soft skills and efficient planning. Airports are well defined systems to study and learn from.
