Idris Jala Insight to Turnaround Management

Idris’ formula for turning MAS around

Before he gets into the thick of action in Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS), Idris Jala, the incoming managing director reveals his plan and philosophy of turnaround management.

Idris Jala plans to tap into talent inhouse at MAS using the same five “ingredients” he used to turn around Shell MDS (M) Sdn Bhd. Addressing a group of academicians in Penang yesterday, he outlined the need for the following:

1. Going for the impossible;
2. Anchoring everything (ranging from strategy, plan, activities, processes, structure and culture) on a profit and loss statement;
3. Instituting discipline in action in a rigorous and relentless manner,
4. Changing one’s leadership style depending on the team development; and,
5. Praying for divine intervention.

“These are the ingredients for my turnaround recipe which I hope to take to MAS as I have every confidence that the employees there can do it,” he told the campus community. Idris said one of the reasons he had agreed to join the national carrier was due to the challenge that many people are of the belief that a turnaround “cannot be done.”

Idris is currently the managing director of Shell MDS, which is the multinational Royal Dutch Shell’s middle distillates plant in Sarawak.

Conceding that he would be joining MAS at a time when the global airline industry was going through tough times, he said:

“Failure is the least of my worries at the moment since there are people in MAS who can help in turning it around ... If we can unleash their talents, I am convinced we can do it.”

Asked if he planned to hire new people at MAS when his new contract takes effect on December 1, Idris said since the airline had already taken in several consultants, there was no need to do this.

“I intend to work with the existing team,” he added. Idris, who is also Shell Malaysia Gas and Power vice-president, was picked to head MAS in September this year after the managing director’s post held by Datuk Ahmad Fuaad Dahlan fell vacant in mid-August.

I am impressed with the 5-point plan for turnaround. It had worked for Shell and there is no reasons that it would not work for MAS.

But a word of caution to Idris: "The culture and political environment in MAS is distinctively different between the two corporations. In Shell, you do not have to face political interferences and patronages. Shell need not worry about UMNO Youth and the likes of Hishamuddin, Khairy and other moronic personalities such as Datuk Badruddin Amiruldin and his cohorts who will once too often, shows some form of interests in business management.

Another aspect that Idris Jala has to be clear is the fact of social responsibility and national objectives. While Shell's corporate directions and philosophy in business management is to fully anchor everything (ranging from strategy, plan, activities, processes, structure and culture) on a profit and loss statement, this management system directs managerial actions to focus exclusively (tho' not absolute) at the financial perspective as the prime goal setting and getting. In other words, tho' the corporations may have other areas to balance, such as Internal Business Process, Customer Satisfaction, & Learning and Growth (Balance Scorecard Perspective), and that all four areas are supposely integrative and complementary to each other, however, bottomline management will have far equitable and overriding rights over and above the other three.

In MAS, it is a national carrier and it need to be sensitive to the needs and aspiration of the social environment and sustaining the national programme for uplifting the living standards of the mass population as a whole. The main issue is that the per capita income and the domestic consumption power of a large proportion of the population is far far below the line of determinable consumption capability and capacity.

Another major area of concern is the cultural inheritence, bad habits, and communal participations in the corporate hierarchies. It is not unknown that in the historical years at MAS, meritocracy is secondary and in its place, selective equality and anointive procurement system is the ideology ingrained. Senior management will have to buy and bow to high level connectors and regulators. They will be required to seek blessings and noddings for certain business decisions and transactions. They have to apply Kautim Management (nepotisma and cronyisma). Procurement awards are politically directed or in the alternative, they are barriers to entry and non-competitive pricing are shielded and obscured from global reach.

Last, but not the least is the human resource management and the reward system continuum. The two management system have processes that are archiac and dogmatic, but are deeply ingrained and forms the backbones of contemporary corporate philosophy of Malaysia Incorporated. It is calcified and constitutional by application. To radically change it would be disasterous for any new CEO or MD. Idris Jala will need to understand and adapt the ideological dogmas and creatively and innovatively apply his management philosphy to derive expected results and yet at the same time, brings exceptional results to turnaround a damn sick system.

Can he do it? Maybe.

Why am I positive? Well, look at his Fifth-pointer - Praying for divine intervention!

Well, if he gets Divine Intervention, he will succeed.

You mean God will help him?

Yes and No. But what he need and pray for, is not only the One who created him and us; but the one who has the power to destroy him.