VOLUME 4 NUMBER 6
1994
C E L E B R A T E
A N D R E C O R D
Malaysia Airlines’ Corporate Vision
and Service Quality Strategy
Abdullah Mat Zaid
Malaysia Airlines’ vision is to become “An Airline
of Excellence”, offering the very best to its
passengers in terms of safety, comfort, service and
punctuality. This vision was amplified by our
chairman in the company’s 20th anniversary
commemorations in October 1992.
The mission has been stated in three main thrusts
as follows:
(1) To make Malaysia Airlines one of the leading
standard bearers for the airline industry in
terms of safety, efficiency and quality of
service.
(2) To develop Kuala Lumpur as the preferred
gateway into Malaysia and the South-East Asia
region.
(3) To make Kuala Lumpur a major cargo
transhipment area for the Asia-Pacific rim.
Among the key initiatives taken to meet our
mission for the future are a fleet modernization and
network expansion programme, an upgrading of
our in-house maintenance and engineering
facilities, development of modern infrastructure
and computer systems and training and developing
of personnel to meet the needs of the future. In
addition, top management has refocused its goal on
creating a customer-driven and quality-oriented
culture in the launching of the company-wide
Destination Service Excellence (DSE) programme
in July 1991. (The DSE programme is an extension
of Total Quality Management to provide a clear
focus on customer requirements at the heart of
business processes in Malaysia Airlines and to
create a quality service culture through internal
communications and human relations management
practices which can firmly reflect the importance
the company places on good customer service.)
At the second DSE Convention held by
Malaysia Airlines in October last year, which
carried the theme “Enhancing World Class Quality
through Competitiveness”, our chairman Tan Sri
Zain Azraai inspired the employees by reiterating
top management’s commitment to the vision for
Managing Service Quality, Vol. 4 No. 6, 1994, pp. 11-15
© MCB University Press, 0960-4529
11
Malaysia Airlines to become “An Airline of
Excellence”.
Tan Sri Zain stressed that in any organization
there are four areas within that paradigm of Total
Quality which emphasize continuous improvement
which need to be addressed:
(1) The individual in an organization: it has been
said that the key to creating a Total Quality
organization is first to create a Total Quality
person who uses a true-north compass that is
objective. This compass is used to find and
focus on the organization’s future direction.
(2) Managerial effectiveness: which is basically to
nurture a win-win partnership between the
individual and the organization, and between
the organization and its customers.
(3) Organizational productivity: for which quality
should be seen to start from the top. The
leadership of the organization must be
intimately involved to see that the quality
paradigm is planted into the minds and hearts
of all staff.
(4) The non-human side of the organization: in
terms of equipment, facilities, processes and
systems; these also contribute to the
customers’ impression about the type of
quality to expect of the company.
In the concluding part of his address, Tan Sri Zain
said that the DSE programme is a philosophy, a
paradigm of continuous improvement which is not
the programme of the company but the philosophy
and value of everyone in the company. He summed
up: “It has been said that Quality will give an
individual or organization a long-term competitive
advantage. And if it is in the character of the
individual and in the culture of the organization, it
cannot be duplicated by anyone.”
Our managing director, Dato’ Kamaruddin
Ahmad also offered some pertinent directions to
the participants at the convention with his
statement of the challenges facing the company
and the service quality strategy which has been
developed. The Malaysia Airlines service quality
strategy which he articulated is briefly as follows.
The first step Malaysia Airlines took in
developing a service strategy was the embarkation
 MANAGING
SERVICE QUALITY
on a company-wide thrust towards service
excellence, when the DSE programme took off in
July 1991 to position the airline as “An Airline of
Excellence” in the Asia-Pacific region. This
strategy has lately been reinforced by a
comprehensive review of the company’s business
processes so as to align the people and systems
components of the business process with the
customer-driven strategy.
The service quality strategy addresses two main
thrusts.
(1) To reinforce the Total Quality philosophy in
the Malaysia Airlines service culture through
the springboard of TQM. The philosophy
embraces the concept of “quality in everything
we do”, including decision-making, work
processes, work environment, teamwork and
so on.
(2) To improve customers’ perceived quality of
Malaysia Airlines. This covers both the
technical and functional aspects of our service
offerings.
Reinforcing the Corporate Culture to Foster
Change
Conscious efforts are being made to reinforce the
customer-driven focus and quality-orientation
conveyed in top management’s vision for
excellence to all employees. The DSE programme
forms the main vehicle for company-wide
definition and understanding of the shared values
through top-down communication as exemplified
in the management speeches at DSE conventions,
as well as bottom-up communication of
departmental missions and quality improvement
projects to the DSE Council chaired by the
managing director from time to time. Values
are also shared through other internal
communications processes such as the in-house
newsletter (Berita MAS), by way of reports on the
progress of service initiatives and to publicize the
achievements of employees who have provided
excellent service to customers. The in-house
newsletter also features a column called “From the
MD’s Desk” which serves as a regular reminder to
all employees on examples regarding the right way
to satisfy customers and to provide top-quality
service. External speakers have also been invited
from top-quality organizations such as IBM and
Shell to share their experiences on service quality
with our employees at Saturday Encounters held
from time to time.
To help employees understand better what is
expected of them in terms of serving customers,
training programmes have been conducted for
employees at all levels to educate them on what
quality customer service is at Malaysia Airlines
and on basic service standards such as telephone
12
etiquette and handling customer complaints.
Employees have also passed through the Quality
Improvement Team (QIT) training programmes
under the DSE project, and employees have taken
the initiative to form cross-functional action teams
to identify specific problems in quality or service
in their working environment and to propose
solutions to management. These action teams help
to promote a quality culture in the company by
inculcating cross-functional improvement
processes which make quality customer service an
ongoing agenda in the company.
We believe that the more that service quality is
discussed within the company, the greater the
understanding will be of what it means in the day-
to-day working environment of the employees and
the better the company will be in achieving it. We
are still a long way from saying that the DSE
quality customer service approach has been
completely integrated into the company, but what
we are clearly seeing is a significant transformation
of the corporate culture that is becoming more
customer driven and quality oriented.
Communicating Externally with Customers
While setting the right corporate culture is crucial
to achieving good service quality through internal
communication processes to motivate employees
and to ensure that the company’s aspirations are
well understood by everyone, we have also to
communicate externally to ensure that customers
understand what the company is offering in terms
of service, to manage their expectations and to
persuade them to buy our service. This external
communication process forms an important part of
managing the evidence by providing tangible clues
to help customers, as well as employees, form the
right mental picture of the intangible service
offered by Malaysia Airlines. An example is in
advertisements which feature employees to show to
customers the importance of service through
people, but advertising is only one of the ways in
which external communications can help to
improve the customer’s perception of quality
service.
Malaysia Airlines’ Advertisements
The advertising medium plays a major role in
Malaysia Airlines’ communication strategy but
other media are also used such as press releases,
the in-flight magazine Wings of Gold,
familiarization tours of Malaysia Airlines’ facilities
for travel agents, journalists and the general public,
and so on.
Malaysia Airlines launched two major
advertising campaigns in October last year for both
the domestic and international markets.
 VOLUME 4 NUMBER 6
1994
The “Care” commercial was aimed at the local
Malaysian market reinforcing a promise Malaysia
Airlines has always nurtured since the company
was incepted in 1971. The “Care” positioning
theme promised the level of caring that goes into
every aspect of handling the diverse needs and
expectations of our passengers. A woman is seen
anguishing over her pet budgerigars that are being
carted into cargo, a pregnant woman needs help
with her luggage, an old woman is rather
bewildered and a child is separated from her parents
in the mad rush to catch the flight. As usual, with
ease and sincerity, the calm and caring staff from
Malaysia Airlines sort and iron out all the problems
captured at the moments of truth. Staff involvement
is crucial towards underlining the credibility of the
advertising message – which is why, for the first
time, more than 60 staff participated in the first of
the series titled “Care”.
In addition to the “Care” commercial, three other
commercials have been developed on the themes of
“Reunion”, “Mulu” and “Special Fares”.
● The “Reunion” commercial shares happy
moments of family reunions among Malaysians.
● The “Mulu” commercial demonstrates the
extensive network served by Malaysia Airlines
domestically.
● The “Special Fares” features some 40 different
choices available for Malaysians to fly around
the country on economical value-added fares.
The underlying promise conveyed in these
commercials is to show that Malaysia Airlines
cares, and that the new advertisements are not
cosmetic, in line with the company’s “Destination
Service Excellence” strategy.
The main thrust of the international advertising
campaign titled “Vision” was to project the size and
stature of Malaysia Airlines in a futuristic sense
which reflects a modern, global and futuristic
mental picture of the airline in the minds of the
target consumers.
The futuristic strataport is in the aerodynamic
shape of Malaysia Airlines’ kite logo to symbolize
the modernity and expansion of the airline and this
vision is used as the springboard to convey a
thousand dream flights. The “Vision” commercial
also conveys the message that Malaysia Airlines
has made great leaps forward from its previous
stature as a relatively young airline, in that it now
carries more passengers than any other airline from
South-East Asia on some of today’s most advanced
aircraft, and spans a truly international network of
90 destinations across five continents.
Also, to reflect the Malaysian character of the
“Vision” commercial, a large number of Malaysia
Airlines in-flight crew and Malaysian actors were
involved in the lead roles for the advertisement.
The computer-generated visual presentation of
Malaysia Airlines as a futuristic airline helps to
13
enhance the recall value of the commercial as well
as to create an airline advertisement that is clearly
differentiated from others. The 90-second
commercial has received overwhelming praise from
both industry sources as well as the public at large
since it was launched last September. It is said to be
the most ambitious television commercial ever
undertaken by an advertiser in Asia, using state-of-
the-art visual effects developed by a company
owned by George Lucas and Lucas Film Ltd, which
won 12 Oscar awards for block-buster films such as
Star Wars and ET and is also responsible for the
box-office success Jurassic Park.
New Uniforms for Front-line Employees
By managing the tangibles associated with the
service experience, marketers have the opportunity
to reinforce other service quality dimensions with a
quality look – not necessarily by looking expensive
or elegant but by paying attention to basics such as
cleanliness, orderliness and customer-friendly
systems to the extent that such tangible evidence is
appropriate to the target market and overall service
strategy. This means attention to the smallest detail
that competitors might consider trivial and
unworthy of investment. Yet, it is the visible details
that can add up for customers and signal a strong
message of caring and competence.
Malaysia Airlines’ experience in presenting a
quality look as a component of its service quality
strategy extends through many areas in the physical
environment of the airline, including the decor of its
front-office ticketing counters, its Golden Lounges
at the airports, the cabin interior of its aircraft, the
uniforms of its cabin crew and other frontline staff,
the presentation of in-flight meals, the appearance
of our check-in counters, and so on.
Besides modernizing the aircraft fleet with the
latest new generation B747-400, A330 and B737-
400/500 aircraft, Malaysia Airlines has
implemented a new quality appearance for all
frontliners since last year by introducing a
collection of new uniforms for cabin crew and
counter staff designed by Gherardini of Italy. While
the timeless sarung kebaya with batik motifs has
been retained for female staff, uniforms for the male
staff have for the first time in 17 years seen a visible
change to a style that is more in vogue.
Quality Meals
In the many other little things that we do that
present a quality look to our passengers, I can draw
from the example of the award Malaysia Airlines
received from Inflight Research Services of London
last year ranking Malaysia Airlines top in First
Class service from a survey of 31 international
airlines.
 MANAGING
SERVICE QUALITY
Malaysia Airlines scored highest in three service
dimensions of cabin crew courtesy, meal
presentation and quality of meals served. In the area
of meal presentation, Malaysia Airlines excelled
mainly because of the great attention given to the
finer details of the meal presentation, e.g.:
● Presentation of the bar service, with a good
selection of internationally known liqueurs,
wines and champagnes served by experienced
and capable cabin staff.
● Branded quality glasses, plates, bowls and
cutlery which carried a good and consistent
corporate image, presenting a pleasing and
exclusive feel to the First-class cabin. In
particular, Malaysia Airlines uses cut glass for
its First-class drink service, and it was revealed
that less than 25 per cent of the airlines surveyed
offer this extra touch of exclusivity.
● Presentation of salt, pepper and butter is of a
very good standard and appearance – unlike
several airlines which make use of plastic
cartons for butter and paper sachets for salt and
pepper.
In the case of the quality of meals served, this
pertained mainly to the condition and appearance
of the food at the point of service rather than the
type of food served on board. Malaysia Airlines
was ranked top on quality of meals served in terms
of the meals being served in the best condition, that
is the food served was fresh and appealing and
retained a good flavour and appearance.
Flexible Menu Policy
Continuous improvements are being made to the
in-flight menu, in keeping with the new menu
policy (started last year) to increase the cycle of
change to meet the changing needs and
expectations of customers, based on feedback from
voyage reports and passengers. This new policy
creates better flexibility in customizing to the
different tastes and preferences of the passengers
by offering a greater variety of meal combinations,
a more extensive range of appetizers, and creative
food preparations with the aim of being on par with
the cuisine served in excellent hotels.
The new menus for international flights feature a
variety of tastes and flavours of Malay, Chinese,
Caribbean and Mediterranean cuisines. The health
aspect of travellers has also not been ignored, due
attention being given to low-fat content, calorie
count and cholesterol levels in the menu preparation.
Quick Meal Option for First-class
Passengers
We have also introduced a quick meal option for
First-class supper services on the flights between
14
Kuala Lumpur and London since last October. This
is basically a standard tray set-up service which is
available to those passengers who do not wish to
go through the standard full-course supper service
for First Class, which is otherwise delivered on a
service trolley.
The quick meal option is timed especially for
flights departing around midnight to cater to those
passengers who wish to have a quick supper and go
to sleep. This meal service alternative was
introduced based on feedback obtained from
Malaysia Airlines Esteemed Travellers (MET) who
attend special MET luncheons and food-tasting
sessions organized by the airline.
In view of the favourable response from
passengers, this quick meal option was extended to
other flights in our menu change for the summer
1994 season.
Prompt Meal Service for Golden Club Class
Passengers
We have also made improvements to service
procedures for those passengers travelling in
Golden Club Class. This has resulted in a reduction
of the service delivery time by more than 25 per
cent to about 1.5 hours, without affecting the
quality of service.
Beverage Service on Cart for Economy
Class Passengers
This is another improvement we have made for the
Economy Class passengers which was
implemented in the summer 1994 season.
Previously, our cabin crew offered juice and beer
as standard choices for after-take-off beverages in
the Economy Class while passenger requests for
other drinks were entertained separately. The new
service for beverages to be delivered on the cart
will offer passengers the drink of their choice on
the cart without their having to wait for a separate
service.
Cabin Crew Proficiency in Foreign
Languages
Cabin crew proficiency in a variety of foreign
languages is another aspect of customization
strategy employed by Malaysia Airlines. We
already hire cabin crew from other nationalities
such as Mexican, Korean, Japanese and South
African. We are also fortunate to have a multi-
racial composition in our Malaysian crew, who are
proficient in foreign languages besides English,
such as Indian and Mandarin, but they are
encouraged to master more foreign languages by
way of bonus and cash incentive schemes.
 VOLUME 4 NUMBER 6
1994
Taking Advantage of Technology
Information technology (IT) has long been a tool
used in product development to gain a competitive
advantage, and it is now being used even more
effectively in service conception and delivery.
Airlines generally invest substantially in
technology such as computer systems, modern
aircraft and other high-tech equipment for
reservations, scheduling, engineering maintenance
and in-flight entertainment. Malaysia Airlines has
invested heavily in these areas which is necessary
to keep up with the competition, or to improve the
speed and efficiency of operations, and I shall not
go into all these.
There are two particular examples I can
highlight from Malaysia Airlines’ experience with
leveraging technology to add-value for the
customer as follows.
Computerization of Catering Operations
While this can be viewed as a measure to improve
efficiency, Malaysia Airlines will be able to
provide even better service to its customers with
more effective and efficient systems in place.
The main areas of computerization earmarked
for catering operations which serve the customer
directly are the Menu Planning system and the
CUISINE (Catering Update Information System
Introducing Necessary Effectiveness) production
system. Both systems will be in place before the
end of this year. The Menu Planning System will
greatly enhance the Cabin Services employees’
ability to plan the food menu with the aid of
software tools, while the CUISINE will help the
catering production people to produce meals with
up-to-date information on passenger volume and
recipes.
Investment in Training Technology
Training of Malaysia Airlines’ staff at all levels
continues to receive top emphasis in the company’s
quest to provide quality customer service. The
company’s commitment to training and
development is reflected in the fact that it has spent
RM20 million last year in this area.
A Training and Development Symposium was
organized recently to update trainers in the
company on the latest trends, methods and
opportunities in the improvement of in-house
training. The symposium carried the theme “How
to Link Our Training Programmes to the Malaysia
Airlines Strategy” and it brought together some of
the country’s best minds in the field of training and
development practices. The symposium was also
designed to inform participants on training
prospects and to enable them to conduct in-depth
analysis through discussion and networking.
15
A specially designed training scheme was also
introduced last year to enhance the skills of our
trainers, called the Training and Development
Qualification Programme (TDQP). The first batch
of 25 trainers started the programme in July 1994
under Dr Chris Saville, a training consultant from
the United Kingdom. The programme adopts a
training methodology which enables trainers to
understand the competencies of a good trainer and
to become more effective in conducting training.
On successful completion of the programme, the
participants are awarded a Certificate in Training
and Development (CITD) jointly awarded by the
UK Institute of Training and Development and
Malaysia Airlines.
There are many other programmes we have set
out to improve the training skills of our staff and I
cannot possibly complete the list.
I should also mention that Malaysia Airlines has
invested RM140 million on a new high-tech
training centre which began operation in May
1994. The new training centre will house the
Learning Centre, Computer Centre and a hostel
within an area of 3.3 hectares with facilities for
conferences and lectures, banquet facilities and a
swimming pool. Malaysia Airlines intends to
develop the training centre into an intelligent, high-
tech development centre benchmarking world-class
management institutions. The concept is to build
Malaysia Airlines into a learning organization
through the training centre, where staff can
continually expand their capacity to create results
they truly desire, where new patterns of thinking
are nurtured, where collective aspirations are set
free and where people are continually learning how
to learn together. This concept is based on
management’s belief that organizations that will
truly excel in the future will be the organizations
that discover how to tap the employees’
commitment and capacity to learn, at all levels in
the organization.
Conclusion
In a future issue of Managing Service Quality we
shall complete this look at Malaysia Airlines’ quest
towards becoming “An Airline of Excellence” by
reviewing some of the means for measuring and
monitoring service quality within the organization,
and then conclude with a view of where the
company is now in relation to that goal and what
remains to be done.
Abdullah Mat Zaid is Director of Customer
Services, Malaysia Airlines.