Project Proposal Assignment: Fatigue Management for Airline Staff in Queensland

Question

Task: A project proposal assignment needs to be made on the topic of "Development of an intervention plan to reduce work fatigue among airline staffs in Queensland" by taking into account the "Sleep" factors and how it can create work fatigue.

Answer

Abstract
The project proposal assignment tries to develop an intervention plan through which work fatigue and tiredness would be reduced among the airline staffs of Queensland. The proposal is the first step towards failure research. The proposal has revealed the steps and methods that will be undertaken by the researchers to ensure an effective and successful study. Through the proposal, it could be seen that the researchers will undertake primary data collection methods, where the results of the research will be received through survey questionnaires and interviews. Other than the data collection and analysis methods, the proposal also provides background information about the study along with sturdy literature to support the evidential research.

Aims and Objectives
The aim of the research is to develop a strong intervention plan to reduce the fatigue and tiredness among the airline staff of Queensland. Airlines staff often get extremely fatigued and tired due to their irregular sleep patterns and timings of the flights. The presence of this fatigue hampers their daily work tremendously. The research aims to identify the reason for the fatigue among airline staff and make sure that the fatigue can be predicted with the use of an effective intervention plan. The aim of the project will be to find out the reasons for the fatigue among the airline's members. Based on those reasons, an intervention plan will be created which will help the airline employees to mitigate their issues of tiredness and fatigue. The objectives of the research are:

• To identify the reason for fatigue among airlines staffs of Queensland.
• To provide an intervention plan to reduce fatigue among the airlines' staffs of Queensland.

Introduction
In the widespread Airline industry, technological advancement has made it to be one of the most convenient means of transportation. But the work fatigue that is present here and similar to any other transportation industry. This issue, therefore, needs to be addressed to eliminate the risk of future accidents and injuries while carrying out operations. This project will focus on the identification and elimination of work fatigue among Airline workers in Queensland.

Background Information
The modes of operation along with the lifestyle of the Airline workers are a major reason behind this work fatigue. The tiresome schedules along with the odd shift hours often make the personal life of these workers miserable. Therefore, there must be a strong strategic plan to be able to resolve this issue. The operative terms and the quality of service cannot be compromised, so there must be a broader aspect for the newly developed approach which might help to mitigate the work fatigue (Tang, Chang, Wang & Lai, 2020). It is very true that the introduction of the new strategy at Queensland Airline service will bring some unrest in the workers but if the plan is for a greater benefit, the next objective will be a proper conveyance and successful implantation of the plans.

Significance of the Research
The research will be conducted on Queensland Airline services to understand the underlying causes and the flaws in the operative measures in the industry which can give rise to fatigue among the workers. The primary point of focus for this research will be the lifestyle of the Queensland Airline workers which includes their interpersonal relationships, family life, work-life balance, and also their means of commuting. The introduction of some healthy eating habits and diet and the elimination of alcohol will be included in this portion of the study. A night of improper sleep or maybe a hidden disease or anxiety can be the cause of tiredness and will be scrutinized in this study.

This will give the researchers a fair idea of the reasons behind the feelings of tiredness among the workers. The reasons will be grouped under the various tags of fatigues like socio-emotional fatigue, physical and mental fatigue, illness fatigue, transient fatigue, and circadian fatigue. There might be flaws in the operative ways of Queensland Airline services as well. Having consecutive work periods or being part of too many take-offs can bring in fatigue among the pilots and other crew members (Lee & Kim, 2018). This will help the researchers dig deep into the root causes and get a clear notion of how to build a strategic plan to mitigate the causes. Therefore, this will be significant research going forward and will help Queensland Airline services identify the best ways of operations to mitigate the cause while maintaining the quality of service.

Research Problem
The researchers will be responsible to highlight all the causes linked to this fatigue and even if the causes surround the wrong operative measures of the Queensland Airline services that too needs to be brought to attention. This will help to shape the new strategies and plan of action effectively and which will assure some positive outcomes on implementation. This will not be an easy task for the researchers to collect all this information while conducting the research study and they might face a lot of problems as this demands the accumulation of some major personal data regarding the workers as well as the Queensland Airline industry. The researchers will have to focus on their task and try to avoid any unwanted situations to successfully record the required data for the study.

Literature Review
In recent times, the number of people using flight as their mode of transportation has increased tremendously. So, the attendants are trying their best every day to improve the airline facilities. Unlike the journey of train or ships, the airline staff has more direct involvement with the passengers on board because of the confined quarters on aircraft. Moreover, the job of a flight attendant revolves around safety to a much greater extent than those of similar staff on other forms of transportation.

Figure 1: Possible Reasons for Fatigue among Flight Members

Work Life Imbalance for Airlines Staffs
During their working period, the airline staff faces a lot of problems in maintaining the balance between their professional and personal life. This has been shown in a lot of the other working fields too as well as in the airline staff of Queensland. Due to the immense busy schedule of the flight attendants, many of them were unable to return to their home for a couple of days or more, because they may be out of town and flew to another city or even country (O'Hagan, 2018). For that reason, they could not give much time to their family or even their partner (if any).

As a result, social life instability takes place and escalates other problems regarding these. The passengers get their hospitality whenever required by the airline staff but what if a staff member requires attention due to prolonged travelling? It’s a bit uncalled for. So, they need to take care of themselves, which results in malfunctioning of their health. Improper diet, lack of sleep and ceaselessly travelling on flight takes down their regular health and causes fatigue in many airline staff.

Personal aspects determining Fatigue among Airline Staffs
Human fatigue is a safety issue in aviation and has been from the beginning because it affects all of those who are responsible for the safety of flight, including the pilot, the air traffic controller, and the aviation maintenance professional. The flight attendants work day and night to fulfill the needs of the passengers and their own duties towards the airline facilities. This results in post-traumatic stress disorder in-flight attendants, popularly known as PTSD (Khadem, 2020). Many attendees may have a newborn in their house that needs to be fed every 2 hours. Nowadays the mother and father both are working persons in life. So, both require a sufficient amount of rest. But somehow, they both did not get enough of it. The pilots have it worse. After long hours of travel, the fatigue makes them feel lazy and tired even in their cockpit. A very important part of air commutation is to concentrate and makes impulsive decisions depending on the situation which is often impacted by this fatigue.

Sleep Factors
There are very less leaves for the workers in the position of flight attendants and have to work around 16-18 hours a day which usually creates a lot of physical and mental stress (Lee, Ok, Lee & Lee, 2018). In research it has been found that many flight attendees face jetlag and have trouble sleeping day after day; the attendees of Queensland’s airlines are not an exception in this case. They could not get their sleep properly for days, maybe for jet lag or even for the unfavorable conditions at home. However, the work of flight attendant demands to be presentable all the time, and therefore, even if tired they have to wear different airline-approved makeups to hide the stress and tiredness. Some of them may have their sick child who needs attention very often or some have nosy neighbors who cause trouble in their resting hours. These reasons also increase the chance of insomnia among the flight attendees, which results in unstable mental conditions due to fatigue and nausea.

Mental disorders leading to Fatigue
The health of the pilot is the priority to the attendees on board because the safety of their entire lives depends on them. Considering this, they have to very careful with their beverages and cannot choose anything them desire while in the cockpit.In such case, to maintain two members criteria on the flight deck it is needed for one attendant to take the seat of the pilot. This can be problematic so to avoid this often pilots have to control their condition which sometimes puts some muscular stress due to urinary pressures and adds to the condition of dehydration. As the days pass by eventually this also elevates the chances of other health disorders like heart diseases, gastritis, diabetes etc. As the famous quote says, “Health is wealth”, one cannot be happy or at peace while his body deals with health disorders like these, which also affects the person’s mental health as well (Bruce & Mulholland, 2020). In addition to this, when someone is unable to return home or is not getting enough time to spend with their families or loved ones, anxiety takes place followed by depression. This happens most of the time with the flight attendants of Queensland too. As per a survey done by the Los Angeles Times, it has been found that around 13% of commercial pilots are depressed.

Environmental Condition determining Fatigue among the Airline Staffs of Queensland
Flight attendants all over the world face this problem quite often. Although the passengers get the best service, the attendees face difficulties in regular travelling on the flight. In an investigation, it has been found that fatigue has been quite a trouble from the traditional sleep disorders, but also examined environmental issues such as noisy neighbourhood, working temperatures, low light levels and confined space.

Determinants of Lifestyle Fatigue
There is a common belief among people thinking that the flight attendants enjoy a cool life off spending their leaves on beaches or maybe sightseeing in the tropical regions (Kumari&Aithal, 2020). But the actual scenario is different as they rarely get such scopes due to the downtime being small. The attendees along with the pilots as well, need to have a proper diet plan, minimum or zero intakes of nicotine substance abuse and should be examined top to bottom by the medical representatives to make sure they are in the pink of their health as they don’t get chances for proper and effective medication.

Expected Outcomes and Benefits
The expected outcomes can be an effective intervention plan that will help the employees of the airlines in ensuring the exclusive tiredness of the Jodi does not hamper theory daily work. As mentioned earlier, it could be seen that employees working in the airline industry often face tiredness and fatigue due to their irregular flight schedule and other surrounding problems, such as sleep apnoea. Therefore, it is necessary to chalk out a plan that would not only identify the exact reason for the tiredness but also will make sure that the fatigue can be reduced. Satisfaction among the employees of the airline industry is the expected outcome of the intervention plan.

The research will also benefit the airline's staff in a major way. Sometimes, the airline staff fails to understand the reason behind their sleep deprivation or extreme tiredness. Moreover, the staff also fails to take proper care of themselves due to the hectic schedule and abrupt sleep patterns. The intervention will benefit the staff in reducing the problems and ensuring the fact that they can get a night of proper sleep and take proper care of the body irrespective of abrupt flight schedules and timings.

Methodology
This section will highlight the methods or the steps that will be undertaken by the researchers to complete the study and find out the effect of the intervention on the subject matter.

Research Onion

Figure 2: Research Onion

Research onion is a framework that is often followed by the researchers to carry a soother study. Research onion is the framework that portrays various layers t or steps that needs to be followed by the researchers in chronological order. It is a structural layered framework that guides the researchers in following the steps for an effective study. In this study, the researchers will use the research onion to make sure that no step in the entire study misses out. The research onion will help the researchers in ensuring that each procedure is being followed out with diligence.

Research Philosophy
Generally, there are several research philosophies that can be utilized on the basis of the convenience of the research. The major kinds of research philosophy include positivism philosophy and interpretivism philosophy (Snyder, 2019). These philosophies are being used as per the alteration by the researchers, as retired. Positivism philosophy refers to the philosophy where researchers try to analyze and judge the real or facts before conducting the research. The positivist philosophy is generally used on the basis of facts and real evidence. On the other hand, interpretivism philosophy is a study that allows researchers to derive information from the interpretation of the respondents. The entire study on interpretivism is based on the interpretation of the respondents.

In this research, researchers will conduct the entire study on the basis of the positivist philosophy. Positivism philosophy will help the researchers in analysing the positive and negative aspects of the study from the real events. The researchers will use positivism philosophy because it will help the researchers in deriving information from real events and facts, which will make the study more authentic.

Research Approach
Several research approaches include inductive approaches and deductive approaches. The research approach helps in framing out the entire study on the basis of the research objectives. Researchers use inductive and deductive research approaches on the requirement of the study. The inductive research approach is used by the researchers where the study provides an opportunity in creating new theories. Inductive approaches are being used by the researchers where the objective of the research is conducive towards the creation of new theories (Ørngreen&Levinsen, 2017). On the other hand, the deductive theory is used where researchers try to deduce information from the existing theories and models. The deductive approach is framed out on the basis of the objective of the study.

In this research, researchers will use the deductive because the researchers will deduce information from the existing theories and information. Researchers will deduce information from the literature to understand and identify the reasons for fatigue among the airline staff of Queensland. In this research, research will not use an inductive approach because there is no scope and time for researchers to create new theories. The research objectives play a major determinant in selecting the appropriateness of the approach. In this research, the aims and objectives of the study will be analyzed with the help of existing theories and literature. Therefore, the researchers will use deductive research approaches to the completion of the research study.

Research Design
There are several research designs that are being adopted to the study as per the requirement of the research. The several research designs include exploratory and descriptive research designs. The effectiveness of these two research designs is considered on the basis of the requirement of the study. In the case of exploratory research design, researchers do not judge or analyze the negative or positive outcomes of the study (Zangirolami-Raimundo, Echeimberg& Leone, 2018).

In the explanatory research designs, the results are being derived without understanding the implications or consequences of the results. On the contrary, descriptive research design helps the researchers in understanding the positive and negative outcomes of the results. Descriptive research designs help in providing a peek at the broader aspects of the study. In descriptive research, the responsibility of the researchers does not end on deriving conclusions. Rather the implication of the results is also analyzed. In this research, researchers will use descriptive research designs. This is because the descriptive research designs will help the researchers in analyzing the positive or negative impacts of the intervention that will be framed to reduce the fatigue among the airline staff of Queensland. The use or adoption of the descriptive research will help the researchers in analyzing the broader perspective of the intervention plan and its effectiveness.

Data Collection Methods
Out of several data collection methods, the most important data collection methods are primary data collection method and secondary data collection methods. Certain researchers use both the data collection method, which is known as mixed methods (Ngozwana, 2018). Primary data collection methods are entirely based on the information derived from the respondents. The second data collection method is a method where the information about the study is being collected on the basis of the existing journal, articles and other literary databases. Researchers use alternative data collection methods as per the requirement and convenience of the study. In this study, the researchers will collect the data with the help of the primary data collection methods.

There will be a need to gather some key information from the respondents or the participants whom the researchers will do by conducting some primary analysis of data through surveys and interviews. The researchers will survey the flight attendants of the Queensland airline industry. The survey will be carried out with the help questionnaire. The survey will take place via the internet due to the outbreak of the COVID 19. The survey questionnaire will carry 10 questions with options, which the respondents would have to fill. In this research, researchers will also use interviews as potential data collection methods the interviews will be conducted via the internet to get an in-depth analysis of the research topic. The planning of the intervention will become effective if a strict interview will be conducted.

Data Analysis Methods
As mentioned earlier, the data will be collected with the help of the primary data collection method. In this method, the researchers will carry out surveys through survey questionnaires. The responses of the participants will be gathered from online sites like survey monkey and Google forms. Responses will be scooped out from the participants on the basis of statistical data and representation. The collected answers will be presented through statistical graphs and bars. The responses of the participants will be transformed into a percentage for a better understanding of the data. The statistical representation will ensure a better understanding of the problem and the objective of the research can be modified, accordingly.

Sampling
The sampling size that will be considered for the study is 10 respondents. 10 cabin crew members of the Queensland airline industry will be surveyed. The survey questionnaires will be sent via digital platforms like email. The outbreak of the land has ensured that the entire survey is being carried online. The managers of the airline industry can be considered by the researchers for a further in-depth interview.

Accessibility Issues/ Limitations
Every researcher faces certain problems or hindrances while carrying out the study. No research can become successful without the mitigation of those issues. In this research, it expected that the researchers might face certain drawbacks or limitations. One of the potential limitations that will be faced by the researchers is the outbreak of the pandemic. The pandemic situation is extremely worse across the world. Due to the advent of the pandemic, most counties have declared continuous lockdown. Due to this strenuous lockdown, the flight systems and airline industry have been hampered effectively. There is no such potential activity of the airline industry in recent times. Therefore, it could be said that the accessibility of the information can be a possible hindrance for the research.

The complete lockdown will also restrict the researchers from conducting face to face interview with the respondents. The lack of the face to face interview might restrict the researchers in analyzing the facial expression and tone. Facial expression and tone play a vital role in determining the opinions of the people. In other words, it could be said that the outbreak of the pandemic would pose a serious threat towards accessibility issues of the research.

Ethical Considerations
Every research should be conducted on the basis of ethical considerations. The incorporation of ethical consideration makes a study efficient, reliable and trustworthy (Dodds& Hess, 2020). It will be extremely important for the researchers to ensure that the entire study is conducted through ethical bindings. It is the responsibility of the researchers to ensure that the study is ethically approved. No minors will be allowed within the research. The survey will only be conducted among willful adults. No compulsion forceful actions will be carried out while conducting the research. Consent of the respondents will be taken before asking the questions. The derived information from the primary data collection method will be completely used for academic purposes only. The researchers will make sure that no data will be used for personal uses. The researchers will not adapt or clone any false or illegal ways of retrieving data.

Timeline

Table 1: Timeline (Source: Self-Created)

Reference
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Dodds, S., & Hess, A. C. (2020). Adapting research methodology during COVID-19: lessons for transformative service research.Journal of Service Management. Retrieved from: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JOSM-05-2020-0153/full/html

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Appendix (Survey Questions and Interviews)

1. What is your gender?

• Male
• Female

2. How Long have you been working in Queensland Airlines?

• Over 2 Years
• 1 years
• Just joined
• Over 5 years

3. Do you think that tiredness is a major issue among airline staff?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Disagree
• Strongly Disagree

4. Do you agree that airline management tries to reduce fatigue?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Disagree
• Strongly Disagree

5. Would you support an intervention to reduce fatigue?

• Yes
• No
• Maybe