Human Resource Management For Service Industries on British Airways

TASK 1

1.1 Analysis of the Role and Purpose of Human Resource Management:

The management of all the activities related to the performance of employees depends on the efficiency of human resources. This department at British Airways plays a vital role in providing quality services to their customers. Along with that, the HRM provides planning and forecasting, monitors the budget, recruits skilled employees, handles their employment contracts, monitors their performances, and introduces training and development programs (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Apart from these, some of the key roles of HRM are as follows:

We Promise Exceptional Assignment Writing & No AI Shortcuts !

Order Now View Samples Assignment help

Conscience: It is up to the human resource management to keep the employees satisfied. Thus, human resource management periodically reminds the upper management of their obligations and roles towards their employees, and this in turn helps to retain skilled and talented staff in the company.

Teamwork: The managers and human resource departments are responsible for enhancing the performance of their employees at every level of the organization. In British Airways, they act as an advisor to managers as well as the staff in facilitating teamwork to effectively achieve their organizational goals.

Building Commitment: Human resource management acts as a counselor for the employees and helps them understand the impact of their hard work to engage them more in the organizational activities and build their commitment towards the company.

Performance Enhancement: By introducing the staff members to effective training and development programs, the HRM of British Airways helps to enhance the performance of its staff members.

The HRM of British Airways has a definite purpose, which is as follows:

Staffing: The key purpose of HRM is to hire the best possible personnel for effectively conducting the activities of the company.

Internal Customer Management: The HRM manages the employees in the organization and helps to give quality care and effective treatment to these employees.

Cultural Sensitivity: HRM considers the beliefs and cultural values of the employees and aims towards conducting the procedures without violating these cultural aspects.

Laws: HRM considers the employment laws and helps the organization to consider its roles towards the employees in its full capacity.

Compensation and Performance: HRM works towards enhancing the performance of the employees and sets up compensation and incentive schemes according to their performance.

Employment Relations: HRM helps in maintaining employment relationships in the organization for the smooth running of the activities.

1.2 Human Resource Plan:

Human resource planning refers to the ongoing process of organized planning to maximize human resources. Managers of British Airways need to develop a flexible human resource plan, as the success of the company heavily depends on human resources (Baum, 2016). Various aspects are required to be considered while making the HR planning process. It includes employees availability with specific skills, etc. Thus, to make HR planning, the following steps need to be taken by the management of the firm. For their trips to and from Madeira, the HR plan for British Airways is as follows:

TASK 2

2.1 Assess the Current State of Employment Relations in a Selected Service Industry

Employees act as pillars for any organization as they serve their best at their roles and responsibilities with potential skills. Employee relations deals with the practices for ensuring that employees are productive for the organization and satisfied with their jobs (Sadeghi et al., 2018). Employee relations at British Airways offers employee recognition and policy development for sorting out all types of problems. Employee relations is a wider concept that involves maintaining a healthy working environment that satisfies the needs of management and individual employees. Employee relations at British Airways help in improving employee morale, conveying exceptions, and building organizational culture to build employment relations. The following measures are adopted by Allied Healthcare that are discussed below:

Collective Bargaining: In the service industry, workers always have to bargain with their employees on terms and conditions related to employment. It is generally identified due to the rising voice of trade unions, in which leaders confront all the requirements of employees towards the company. Such requirements include increments in wages, reducing working hours, and other grievances. An organization also supports the demand for a trade union to maintain good relations with them and achieve their loyalty to the company for a longer period.

Employee Participation: British Airways should have a sufficient amount of skilled employees to provide effective services to the customers, due to which management needs to achieve the loyalty of their employees, which can be possible through maintaining better relations with them. For this, the management of British Airways should conduct training and development programs, performance appraisals, rewards, and compensation, etc. that increase the satisfaction level and working behavior of employees within an organization.

Culture: It plays a significant role in establishing a better relationship with the workforce through creating workplaces and cultures that support the equality and welfare of employees. In British Airways, the rules and guidelines are strict, which brings demotivation among employees and creates fear of termination as well. On the other hand, if the culture is favorable to employees, then it increases the morale of employees, which in turn increases their work commitment to the company.

Structure: Prior, hierarchy is followed by British Airways, where employees receive proper guidance and instructions to follow as well as being restricted from being involved in the decision-making process. But now, the firm has given employees the freedom to share their views and suggestions with top-level management without facing any communication gaps. This will develop the satisfaction level of employees, which in turn will develop health relations with management.

Grievances and disciplinary procedures: To resolve issues and grievances among employees, British Airways should form a conflict-resolving team whose main responsibility is to maintain a healthy environment at the workplace by resolving all conflicts among employees.

2.2 Discuss How Employment Law Affects the Management of Human Resources

Employment laws emphasize and cover various areas of law that are directly related to employees, employers, employment, and workers compensation. Employment laws are implemented all over the nation, and employers and employees must follow them.

Employment laws cover a wide range of areas that exist in the workplace. Employment laws can assist an employee or an employer in various areas, which include employment discrimination, disability accommodations, family and medical leave act compliance, wage and hour issues, disciplinary and termination issues, and maternity and paternity rights (Ross, 2018). Some of the employment laws are mentioned below:

Employment discrimination laws: Employment discrimination laws convey that an employer cannot discriminate against any potential employee based on certain characteristics, which include gender, age, caste, national origin, race, and disabilities. In context with British Airways, it is found that there is no discrimination against employees based on age, gender, national origin, or race. It creates a positive impact on the management of human resources, as no such discrimination is followed by organizations (Barrow and Lyon, 2018). For example, the Disability Discrimination Act of 1992, etc., protects the interests and rights of disabled employees at the workplace in an organization.

Right to fair compensation: This employment law focuses on rights that are concerned with the daily wages and salaries of employees. Moreover, the Equal Pay Act of 1970 states that both men and women should get equal pay or compensation for the same work. It will be considered illegal to pay anyone more than the other for the same quantity of work. In context with British Airways, it practices equal pay to both men and women so human resource management has no issues in concern with compensation or wages.

Maternity and Paternity Rights: These rights are under the Civil Rights Act, in which both father and mother can claim leave to take care of their newborn child. In this context, British Airways is concerned about maternity and paternity rights, and they provide leaves, due to which human resource management has to hire competent employees to replace them for a short duration.

TASK 3

3.1 Discuss a Job Description and Person Specification for a Service Industry Job

Refer to Appendix

Job description refers to a document that includes a detailed description of the required post that needs to be filled in a company for which the firm hires employees. British Airways must provide effective requirements with a detailed description of the purpose of this job role and the roles and responsibilities that are required to be fulfilled by the candidates to effectively get selected in the firm. For British Airways, a job description is prepared for cabin crew members. The purposes of this job are handling employees, conflict management, and ensuring safety and welfare. Where employees are concerned, cabin crew members effectively manage each employee and ensure their satisfaction and engagement with the firm. Moreover, they are required to set pay and compensation packages for employees. This position also requires conflict management between employees and customers effectively while maintaining the utmost professionalism. Another purpose is assurance of safety and passenger welfare during and after flights and ensuring their comfort throughout the flight duration.

The roles and responsibilities of the cabin crew include the availability of refreshments, ensuring safety, using first aid in a systematic order, displaying safety procedures during requirements, fulfilling the basic needs of each customer, and so forth.

3.2 Compare the Selection Process of Different Service Industries Businesses

Selection is a process that depends upon different organizations's needs, strategies, and objectives. The selection process is a negative approach for short-listing the candidates based on the responsibilities of the job, experiences, characteristics, and qualifications. Selection is considered a final process, and this decision is finally taken by either middle- or top-level managers. The selection process is concerned with selecting the most appropriate candidate through various tests and interviews. The selection process involves the collection of activities that include screening, eliminating unsuitable candidates, medical checks, checking references, and interviews. Some of the selection methods used for hiring purposes include application forms, CVs, face-to-face interviews, aptitude tests, group discussions, presentations, and personality profiling.

Different service industries have different selection processes that are based on organization goals and objectives. Comparison of two different service industries are described below:

Comparison between the selection process of British Airways (BA) and Transport for London (TfL)

• BA displays its job openings on their official websites, whereas TfL recruits through advertising on official websites as well as taking the help of a recruitment agency.
• In BA, applicants should fill out the questionnaire forms as well, given only psychological tests, whereas TfL candidates are given situational judgment.
• On qualifying from the recruitment process, BA provides sufficient training and learning programs, whereas in TfL selected candidates are directly appointed for the offered positions.

Few more samples on human resources management:

• Human Resource Management for Service Industries
• Case Study on How Service Industries Manage Their Human Resources

TASK 4

4.1 Contribution of Training and Development in Effective Operation:

Training refers to the activities for performance enhancements of the employees regarding a specific job, while development refers to the overall advancement of an employee in terms of their personality, profession listlism, or experience (Brewster and Hegewisch, 2017).

Lack of training: In a leading airline sector like British Airways, it is important for the staff members to undergo training as to enhance their skills and performance in achieving their objectives (Tracey, 2016). The need for training in British Airways is as follows: Different passengers are having different needs at different times. Training would allow the staff to be flexible in their working process so that customers are not facing any difficulties while getting their services.

• Good training would develop expertise among the staff members, which would increase the company's reputation.
• Training is essential as it would decrease employee turnover and would improve retention, which would reduce costs of staffing and hiring.

Types of Training Programs: In Britain, different types of training and development activities are required to retain the staff at every level of the firm. These are:

• Technology-Based Training: In British Airways, this type of activity includes training of employees with the technological equipment and tools to manage well the aircraft needs.
• On-the-job training: This refers to the ongoing training process while monitoring the job of the employees. British Airways superiors monitor the working style of the employees and communicate their shortcomings spontaneously (Leberman and McDonald, 2016). This helps the employees to take corrective actions while working in the future.
• Soft Skills Training: These skills are crucial for employees in British Airways, as the quality of their treatment has a heavy dependency on soft skills. Employees are trained in these skills via interactive training sessions to increase their abilities.

Benefits of Training and Development: There are many benefits associated with training and development, which are as follows:

• It helps increase the morale and job satisfaction among employees.
• It increases the efficiency of the employees.
• Training and development help employees update themselves with innovative technological tools and equipment.
• Regular training and development programs would enhance employee performance and would reduce employee turnover.

Why evaluation of training against overall objectives is important:

However, it is essential to evaluate the training methods of organizations according to the needs of the employees. Sometimes an organization fails in training its employees due to its rigid training methods, which do not serve the actual objective of the firm but rather the personal objectives of the leaders. The prime objective of British Airways is to provide quality services to their passengers. Therefore, the training programmes should be based to achieve this objectives. They should also help skilled and talented employees achieve the objective to ensure their long-term retention, which is the ultimate objective of human resource management.

Conclusion

It is thus concluded by this report that human resource management is essential for driving organizations towards success. Productive management of human resources in British Airways would allow the firm to hire skilled talent and retain its potential employees. Moreover, the company needs to introduce systematic human resource planning, as it would help the firm manage the staff in an uncertain environment. Developing internal employment relations is crucial, as it would enhance productivity and facilitate effective communication. The firm should abide by the employment laws and must not violate these laws in any manner. The company also should adopt efficient recruitment and selection methods to hire potential employees. British Airways should invest its resources in interactive and productive training and develop programs to enhance the performance of its employees. This would enable the employees to develop a commitment to the company, and the company would be able to provide quality care to the employees.

References

Books and journals

• Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
• Barrow, C., and Lyon, A., 2018. Modern Employment Law. Routledge.
• Baum, T. ed., 2016. Human resource issues in international tourism. Elsevier.
• Brewster, C., and Hegewisch, A. eds., 2017. Policy and practice in European human resource management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield survey. Taylor & Francis.
• Collings, D.G., Wood, G.T. and Szamosi, L.T., 2018. Human resource management: A critical approach. In Human Resource Management (pp. 1-23). Routledge.
• Collings, D.G., Wood, G.T. and Szamosi, L.T., 2018. Human resource management: A critical approach. In Human Resource Management (pp. 1-23). Routledge.
• Leberman, S. and McDonald, L., 2016. The transfer of learning: Participants' perspectives of adult education and training. Routledge.
• Marchington, M., and et al., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.
• Ross, A., 2018. Workplace law: Abandonment clauses abandoned FWC updates six modern awards. Proctor, The 38(3), p. 34.
• Sadeghi, A., and et. al., 2018. Survey of Nurses' Job Satisfaction in Educational and Therapeutic Centers of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences. Scientific Journal of Hamadan Nursing & Midwifery Faculty. 26(1). pp. 40-48.
• Tracey, W. R., 2016. The human resources glossary: The complete desk reference for HR executives, managers, and practitioners. CRC Press.

• Case Study on How Service Industries Manage Their Human Resources

UPTO55%

Avail The Benefit Today!

To View this & another 50000+ free

Enter Email

Submit