Sleeping on the Job

Good management consultants are very well aware that poor performance on the part of employees is often (not always, admittedly) caused by system problems rather than by idleness, incompetence or lack of training and qualifications.

During the past three weeks, the media's response to reports of air traffic controllers who fell asleep on the job - leaving aircraft to land without direction from the tower - bring to mind the hypocritical words of Police Captain Louis Renault in the 1942 movie Casablanca: "I'm shocked, shocked to find gambling..." A fair question, however, is to ask whether there are many people who can reasonably work the midnight shift, in an environment where there is little activity, and not spend a significant amount of time fighting against sleep - and sometimes losing the battle.

The fault lies with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which, in a shortsighted attempt to save money, assigned a single controller to midnight shifts at many airports where there is only sporadic activity during that time period. That the FAA's system created the problem, rather than the employees, is clear.

While the controllers in question have been suspended from their jobs pending the investigation, your correspondent believes that all of them, save only the one who made himself a bed of cushions and slept deliberately, should be exonerated. The solution is to have a minimum of two controllers in each tower on midnight shift, regardless of the expected level of activity. That is now the case and, since one of their priorities will be to keep each other awake, sleeping can now legitimately be considered grounds for disciplinary action.

In a workplace where poor performance can cost many lives, holding employees accountable is critical. Management, however, must do its part by providing the necessary resources. That Hank Krakowski, Chief of Air Traffic Control at the FAA, accepted responsibility and resigned is honorable: the fact that the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (the controllers' union) has been asking the FAA to address this issue for twenty years points out the real issue.

What other critical issues has the FAA left untended? For all our sake's let us hope that they are few and none are critical.