Flyways Aircraft Company: Human Resource Management

This article discusses the challenges faced by Flyways Aircraft Company in terms of organizational culture, diversity management, performance management, and training & development. It explores theories and strategies in human resource management to address these issues and improve overall performance.

Flyways Aircraft Company
HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT – 940392
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Flyways Aircraft Company
Flyways Aircraft Company has been operating in multiple countries and builds and supplies
aircrafts to more than 50 countries. The company has its subsidiaries in China, Singapore,
Vietnam and Australia. Adam O’Meara, CEO of Flyways Aircraft Company, has become
increasingly aware about the problems that the company is facing, which also might make a
company turnover quite imminent. Adam O’Meara is planning to maximize shareholders’
return on investment and achieve a higher share price for the company in order to secure his
job as his job is already on the line.
There are a number of functional areas where the company has been experiencing
inefficiencies, which is making the situation even worse for the company. The first issue that
Flyways Aircraft Company is experiencing is related with its organizational culture. The
culture of the organization is not very positive and is not motivating the employees to
perform better. The second issue being faced by the company is the inability of the managers
to manage a diverse workforce. The employees are facing a problem while working with
people belonging to different age group, cast, nation, etc., which makes it difficult to promote
team work in the organization and develop synergies. The third issue being faced by the
company is related with its ability to manage the performance levels of its employees on an
international level. The final issue being faced by the company is related with training and
development of its employees.
The basic objective of this approach is to review the case of Flyways Aircraft Company from
a human resource management perspective and consult some human resource managerial
theories from the field of diversity management, training and development, organizational
culture and international performance management. To gain a better understanding of the on-
going problems at the subsidiaries of Flyways Aircraft Company, the report will also consult
some famous academic journals, such as The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management Review,
Journal of Management, etc. By the end of the report, the reader will definitely have a greater
knowledge about the concepts in international human resource management, issues pertaining
to international human resource management and how they can be dealt with to ensure
success for a multinational organization, such as Flyways Aircraft Company.
An organization’s culture is defined as the set of beliefs, assumptions, values, ethics and
morals that govern the social and psychological environment in the workplace. In simple
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Flyways Aircraft Company
words, it is a definition as the way in which things are done in a workplace (Willcoxson &
Millett, 2000).
The most widely used theories in the context of organizational culture is the one that was
given by Edgar Schein in 1988. In his theory, Schein defined three levels on which the
culture of an organization exists. The first level according to the theory is artifacts. Artifacts
are difficult to measure but can be observed, felt and heard by an employee when he or she
enters a new workplace (Schein, 2010). The second level under this theory is values, which
deals with goals, morals, standards, ideals, etc. Values of an organization are generally
measured through survey questionnaires. The third level under this theory is underlying
assumptions. This level of organization culture deals with the phenomena which is not
recognized in the organization or is difficult to be explained (Hogan & Coote, 2014). Schein
formulated this theory on the basis that an organization cannot develop a culture in a single
day. An organization’s culture is developed over a period of time as the workforce
experience changes in their internal and external environment.
Utilizing this theory to analyze the case of Flyways Aircraft Company, we can clearly
observe that the organizational culture of the company lacks proper values and the underlying
assumptions of the culture have become increasingly negative because of the lack of interest
of the senior level management. Over a period of time, the staff has become highly resistant
to change programs and lack of values has increased their tolerance towards quality related
issues. The staff has developed a cultural value where they feel that near enough is good
enough, which kills their motivation to perform better for the achievement of organizational
as well as individual goals. Furthermore, the lack of values amongst the employees also
hinders their ability to work within and across teams, which is having an overall impact on
the quality of the products and organizational performance. The organization needs to look
into its corporate culture using different theories and models and work on all of the levels
because the culture in the workplace has become inappropriate at artifactual, value as well as
underlying assumption level.
Diversity management is a concept that allows business organizations to include employees
from varied backgrounds in their workforce. It enables business organizations to recruit
employees from different parts of the world and make good use of diverse skills and
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Flyways Aircraft Company
competencies. Diversity management has become a necessary evil for organizations that are
operating in multiple countries.
Diversity is can prove to be of a huge benefit to business organizations if they are able to
manage it in a proper way. One of the pioneer theories in the field of diversity management is
the Resource Based Theory of Diversity Management, which identifies four organizational
resources i.e. human resources, physical capital, financial capital and corporate capital
resources (Yang & Konrad, 2011). The theory also suggests that organizations with a diverse
workforce are able to perform better than those organizations that have a homogenous
workforce, when the right corporate strategies are implemented. According to Choi & Rainey
(2010), when diversity is managed properly in the workplace, it can have a number of
positive effects on the employees, such as greater job involvement, higher performance,
better retention rates, etc.
Comparing the case of Flyways Aircrafts to the studies and theories discussed above, it can
be clearly seen the problems being faced by the company in the market are also a result of the
inability of the company to manage a diverse workforce in its subsidiaries. The company has
not been able to promote an environment where people are comfortable in working with
employees from different generations or cultural background. Because of the inability of the
company to manage workplace diversity, the employees have grown intolerant towards each
other and their relationships are strained. Even the human resource department of the
company does nothing to govern the interactions between the employees of the company. The
company being a multinational company and having customers in over 50 countries will have
to employ a diverse workforce to handle the demand of the customers, which makes it
imperative to manage workplace diversity properly. The failure of the company to manage
workplace diversity appropriately is fostering a negative social environment in the workplace,
which is ultimately having an impact on the overall performance of the organisation.
Performance management is a system that allows human resource managers to set goals for
individuals in order to keep them motivated and assessing their progress towards the
achievement of the goals set for them. Performance management has gained a lot of
importance in the past few decades as it can make a huge difference in the overall
performance of a company.
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Flyways Aircraft Company
Two most commonly used theories in the field of performance management are the Goal
Setting Theory and the Expectancy Theory. According to the Goal Setting Theory, proposed
by Edwin Locke in 1968, the performance goals set for an individual play a vital role in
motivating him or her for a superior performance (Lunenburg, 2011). The failure of an
employee to achieve the goals makes them either improve their performance or modify their
goals to make them more realistic. The Expectancy Theory, proposed by Victor Vroom in
1964, suggests that an individual is more likely to adjust his or her behavior in accordance
with the goals set for them (Agarwal, 2011).
With respect to the case of Flyways Airways Company, performance management is a
serious problem and is one of the biggest issues that can be attributed for the present situation
of the company. Even though performance management is there in the company, performance
appraisals are conducted only in the Australian subsidiaries. Furthermore, there are no
performance appraisal programs intended for the expatriates, which is leading to the failure of
most of the expatriate programs (Wang & Varma, 2017). Furthermore, the company has no
idea about the importance of setting goals and communication of expectations, as suggested
by the two theories discussed above. Lack of individual and organizational goals is creating a
messy situation for the company. The company has no clear set goals that could measure the
performance of the individuals, departments or even its foreign subsidiaries. This results in
confusion and the company ends up issuing manufacturing order for spare parts to one of the
subsidiaries while another subsidiary already has the same spare part in surplus. Not only
does it cause a burden on the financial resources of the company, it causes wastage of efforts
and time on the part of the workforce, while the overall profitability is clearly suffering. The
inability of the company to implement an efficient performance management system is
fostering a workplace environment where the employees are not motivated enough to perform
better and are happy with whatever they are able to achieve with an ease.
Training and development programs are planned interventions implemented by business
organizations to make their employees learn new skills and competencies, which helps them
in performing their job duties and responsibilities in a better way (Obisi, 2011). One of the
top theories in areas of training and development is the Theory of Reinforcement, which was
proposed by Skinner (Critchfield & Miller, 2017). In his theory, Skinner suggested that
training and development programs should be aligned according to the strategies of a
company and also with the organizational goals and objectives. Training and development
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Flyways Aircraft Company
programs should have positive outcomes and should be associated with certain rewards,
which can be in the form of a bonus, salary raise, promotion, incentive, certificates for
completion of training, etc. Such rewards can ensure a positive outcome and can also help in
reinforcing the training and development programs and their lessons amongst the employees.
Training and development strategy at Flyways Aircraft Company is not one of the best in the
industry. The company pays no attention to training and development of its employees, which
can be seen from the fact that the training program for an expatriate being sent to a foreign
subsidiary is not more than half a day. The human resource department of the company ha
generalized the needs of the expatriates on the basis of information available to them through
online resources. Above that, the company does not even have an orientation program for its
new recruits and it becomes difficult for new employees of the company to get used to the
workplace. Analyzing the case of Flyways Aircraft Company using the theory of
reinforcement, it can be seen that the company has been having issues with its employees
because it has never tried offer promotion, rewards and career development opportunities to
its employees. It not only kills their motivation to undergo training and development
programs but also prevents them from achieving new skills and competencies, which could
help them in developing their careers and performing better in their job positions (Bell,
Tannenbaum, Ford, Noe, & Kraiger, 2017). As a result, a number of key employees of the
company have already been approached by some competitive firms, which has increased the
turnover ratio for the company.
From the information discussed above, it can be clearly seen that human resource
management at Flyways Aircraft Company is not at its best and the company has no idea
about the importance of core and non-core functions of human resource managers. Even
though the company has its human resource management department, there are a lot of
inefficiencies in it as none of the functions, i.e. fostering an organizational culture,
performance management, diversity management and training and development, are being
properly designed and implemented.
As per the theories discussed in the fields of diversity management, organisation culture,
training and development and performance management, each one of the above can help an
organisation in becoming more efficient and performing well in the market. Some solutions
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Flyways Aircraft Company
that can used by the company to solve its problems and start an improvement process as soon
as possible, are discussed below:
The company needs to consider human resource management as its top priority as of now and
hire an experienced human resource manager or a third party to help the human resource
management department in planning and implementation of its core and non-core functions
(Collings, Wood, & Szamosi, 2018).
The company has lost its market reputation and its share as well because of its inability to
change with the changing market trends. At present, the company can become competitive
again only by implementing planned interventions and bringing about changes in its human
resource management policies. The company needs to involve all of its stakeholders and
share the urgency for implementing a change in its inefficient policies (Todnem By, 2005).
There is an urgent need for the company to understand the importance of having a strong
organisation culture and start developing its own organisation culture at all levels. The
company will have to foster positive values amongst its workforce and inform the employees
about the benefits of working as a team and also of the quality of products (Laforet, 2016).
Further, the company will also have to foster an environment where the employees are more
open towards new experiences and are ready to change their work habits, in order to achieve
individual as well as organizational goals and objectives.
The company needs to develop a clear-cut strategy for implementing training and
development of its employees, especially for expatriate programs. It is importance for the
company to understand that it is only through the competencies and skills of its employees
that it can achieve a competitive edge in the market. The company needs to offer its
workforce with rewards and career development opportunities, which would motivate them to
undergo training and development programs, which would ultimately have a positive impact
on the overall performance level of the organisation (Khan, Khan, & Khan, 2011).
The company needs to develop an international as well as a local performance management
system, which should be based upon key performance indicators. Key performance indicators
will help the company in clearly identifying the performance levels of its employees,
departments as well as of the subsidiaries, in terms of figures and numbers (Eckerson, 2009).
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Flyways Aircraft Company
Performance appraisals should also be a part of performance management systems and each
subsidiary should conduct its own performance appraisals at regular intervals. Such a system
would foster a workplace environment that is competitive and more performance oriented.
The nature of the company’s business makes it imperative for the company to have a diverse
workforce and managing workplace diversity is a necessary evil that will have to be dealt
with. The company needs to be more open with its employees about diversity and should start
taking initiatives that would promote team work across all of its subsidiaries (Guillaume,
Dawson, Otaye‐Ebede, Woods, & West, 2017). The employees can also be sent for training
and development programs that would be aimed at increasing their cross-cultural awareness
and would also give them a better understanding of the synergies that can be developed while
working in teams.
The process discussed above is difficult and would not overturn the position of the company
in a single day but it would surely start a change process that would render fruitful results for
the company in the long run. Not only will the company be able to manage its employees in a
better way, but would also be able to perform better in the market and become more
profitable.
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Flyways Aircraft Company
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