JAL Chairman to promote customer service; aiming to boost employee morale

Japan Airlines new Chairman, Kazuo Inamori, is reportedly considering plans to transfer jobs directly involved with customers (for example at check-in counters) back to JAL employees, as part of efforts to improve customer service at the airline (Kyodo, 03-Feb-2010). Mr Inamori added that he plans to introduce an "amoeba" style of management to improve employee morale and enhance profitability (Asahi Shimbun, 03-Feb-2010). (Under the "amoeba" method, employees are divided into teams of up to several dozen members with a team leader which "manages" the others to increase earnings per hour. The performance of each team is evaluated at the end of each month and disclosed to all company employees on the first day of the following month).

Japan Airlines: "I think that JAL was a bureaucratic organisation. I want to change the minds of its executives and other employees so that they become conscious about profits and losses," Kazuo Inamori, Chairman. Source: Asahi Shimbun