MAHB Advocates Inclusive Work Culture To Meet Aviation Industry's Fast-paced Challenges
By Kisho Kumari Sucedaram
BANGKOK, May 14 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) is reshaping its workplace culture to attract younger aviation talent while balancing the strengths of experienced employees as airports worldwide undergo rapid transformation driven by digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI).
Its group chief people officer, Nadiah Tan Abdullah, said that the airport operator is looking at a culture that effectively combines employing young people with the resilience, speed and ambition to upskill with the expertise and wisdom of experienced employees to improve productivity in a highly challenging, fast-paced technological and digital environment.
She said the airport operator is moving away from traditionally hierarchical workplace structures towards a more open and inclusive culture that encourages collaboration and continuous learning.
“Traditionally, airlines and airports, especially in Asia, have been quite hierarchical,” she said.
A hierarchical system is one in which an organisation or structure is arranged into successive levels or layers based on importance, authority, or rank.
It implies a top-down, ranked structure, like military ranks, corporate management, or classification systems, in which higher levels hold more power or authority than lower ones.
“We have created a whole new culture of creating an open culture,” Nadiah said during a panel session at Airports Council International Asia-Pacific & Middle East Regional Assembly, Conference and Exhibition here today.
She said that MAHB, which manages 39 airports, is also repositioning itself to appeal to younger generations entering the workforce while recognising the value of experienced employees who possess institutional knowledge and operational expertise.
“When you have young people, you have resilience, speed and ambition. However, when we have a more experienced workforce, we have institutionalised experience and also collective wisdom,” she said.
Nadiah said the challenge is to combine both into an effective workforce.
She said that MAHB has introduced structured talent development initiatives, including leadership and mentoring programmes, to bridge generational gaps and strengthen workforce capabilities.
According to Nadiah, the rapid pace of technological change and digitalisation requires airport operators to accelerate employee upskilling to improve productivity and enhance passenger experience.
“The technological changes, including digitalisation, require that we quickly move people and upskill them quickly so that we can then move up in productivity change and also move the experience of our passengers through our people’s capability,” she said.
Nadiah noted that experienced workers continue to play a crucial role despite AI being increasingly adopted across airport operations.
“Long-serving employees are still super on point and very relevant,” she said.
Nadiah also stressed the importance of communication and leadership during organisational transformation, particularly following MAHB’s privatisation exercise last year.
“While we have this change, we are still on track with our mission of being the best-connected airport.
“Consistently communicating the vision, consistently communicating the reason why we need to change, and consistently showing why the change is important to us,” she said.
She also said airports today could no longer operate independently, as collaboration among various stakeholders within the aviation ecosystem had become increasingly important.
“For MAHB, we have the customs, immigration, ground handlers, and airlines, but they are not all on our payroll.
“More and more, we see constructive collaboration between all stakeholders is becoming much more important,” she said.
Nadiah added that employee engagement and psychological safety were equally critical in ensuring successful transformation within large organisations.
“Transformation fails most of the time because we do things at the top, but we forget to personalise communication,” she added.
-- BERNAMA