Human Resource Management - Purpose, Functions, Recruitment, Selection, Benefits, Effectiveness, Importance of Employee Relations

This report discusses the purpose and functions of HRM, strengths and weaknesses of different approaches of recruitment and selection, benefits of HRM practices in context of employee and employer, effectiveness of different HRM practices in context of increasing organisational productivity and profitability, and importance of employee relations in context of influencing HRM decisions.

Human Resource
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................1
P1. Purpose and functions of HRM.............................................................................................1
P2. Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches of recruitment and selection.................2
P3. Benefits of HRM practices in context of Employee and Employer......................................5
P4. Effectiveness of different HRM practices in context of increasing organisational
productivity and profitability......................................................................................................6
P5. Importance of employee relations in context of influencing HRM decisions......................7
P6. Key employment legislations and its impact on HRM decision making..............................8
P7. The applications of HRM practices......................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
The business organisations are highly depend on the three key resources in order to run
their business operations smoothly i.e. physical resources such as machine, equipments, etc.,
financial resources such as debt, capital etc. and human resource. Among all these resources
people play pivotal role in the growth of the business. In order to manage the human resource of
the organisation the organisations use strategy named as human resource management (Al-
Ajlouni, 2019). Human resource management is basic concept of managing the people of the
organisation effectively in order to provide them with job satisfaction and align them towards the
organisational goals. The present report on human resource management is based on British
Airways. The organisation is the airline organisation and is the second largest UK flag carrier
airline company based in London, UK. The report will discuss the purpose and scope of the
human resource management. In regard to this the report will cover strengths and weaknesses of
different approaches of recruitment and selection. Further benefits of HRM practices in context
of employer and employees and evaluation of these practices in regard of organisation
productivity and profitability is discussed. Moreover report will outline importance of employee
relations in respect to influencing HRM decision making. At last report will highlight the
applications of HRM practices.
Main Body
P1. Purpose and functions of HRM
Human resource management is the effective process of recruiting, deploying and
managing employees of the organisation. The aim of HRM is to hire best candidate who can
enhance productivity of company and help in achieving goals of the organisation. In British
Airways, HRM identify requirements of employees and hire best candidate which help them to
maintain competitive advantage.
Purpose of HRM
 Maintain high morale- Purpose of HR managers in British Airways is to improve
motivation level of the employees so that they can deliver better productive services to
increase profits of the company (Arunprasad, 2017). They motivate employees by
providing financial and non financial benefits which increase efficiency in performance
1

and boost confidence of the employees. The suitable direction is provided by HR which
assist them and improve performance level of employees.
 Maintain manpower inventory- The main purpose of British Airways HR managers is
to recognise actual requirements of employees in the working place and recruit skilled
and knowledgeable candidate. They provide direction to the company in hiring right
candidate at right job on right time. It will help in accomplish current and future
requirement of manpower inventory so that company will execute its business operation
on time.
Functions of HRM
 Managerial function- HR of British Airways, perform managerial function like
organising, staffing, directing, controlling activities of workplace in order to achieve
organisational goal (Bastida, 2018). They plan staffing process to hire best workforce as
well as direct them to enhance productivity and then control their actions to improve
effectiveness in working environment.
 Operational function- HR managers of British Airways, execute operational function
such as procurement of employment, compensation, development, healthy relationship,
stability of employees and so on (Bello-Pintado, 2019). In this HR pay attention to the
development programmes for workforce to improve its current skills and knowledge. HR
of British Airways provides healthy working conditions and compensation to retain their
best staff.
P2. Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches of recruitment and selection
Recruitment
The recruitment is the well known approach of the human resource management in which
organisations influence and inspire the probable candidates to apply for the job opening. It is the
process of attracting talented applicants. British airways use two ways of recruitment in order to
pinpoint talented applicants for an organisation. The two approaches of recruitment used by
British Airways are:
Internal Recruitment
The elementary process of recruitment in which British Airways approach the workers and
employees from the inside of the organisation. For internal recruitment the two approaches used
by the British Airways are:
2

Transfer: The process of internal source of recruitment in which the HR manager of the British
Airways shift an already working employee from one location to another with the same amount
of responsibilities.
 Strengths
The employees are benefited in their personal and professional growth by working in new
environment and also its job opportunities are increased.
 Weaknesses
The employers may have to incur the additional cost of training of employee to transfer in new
area and if employee doesn't adjust in new place may lead to loss of productivity.
Promotion: Promotion is the best way for internal recruitment and also for the management of
human resource in this the current employees is upgraded to higher level position on the basis of
performance.
 Strengths
This the best method to motivate and retain the employees also the employees get opportunity to
enhance their capabilities with more responsibilities (Chanda, 2020). This is the best way to
increase job satisfaction.
 Weaknesses
Sometimes this may become reason of internal disputes in organisation if deserving employee is
not promoted which may hamper the employees performance and can lead to conflicts in British
Airways.
External Recruitment
The external recruitment is the elementary process of recruitment in which the recruiters of the
British Airways evaluate the candidates from the open pool in order to hire the candidates with
new skills (DEVI, 2018). British Airways is the reputed company therefore, this is better
approach of recruitment in order to attract talented employees. The different approaches of
external recruitment used by the British Airways are:
Advertisements: The advertisement is the form of external recruitment in which organisation
publish their advertisement of vacancy for particular job role in print media and social media.
British Airways also use this method of recruitment.
 Strengths
3

The advertisement has strong potential to reach the people in every corner and attract the talented
candidates for the British Airways. As company is multinational organisation therefore, this is
beneficial to attract the candidates from world wide.
 Weaknesses
The advertisements is the slow process as the feedback is not immediate therefore, it is not
applicable during urgent hiring.
External Agency: There are several agency that are linked between he job seekers and the
organisations (Gilal and et.al., 2019) . Multinational organisations like British Airways use this
method of recruitment in which agency provide the organisation with some outstanding CV.
 Strengths
This is effective way of recruiting as the pool of candidates is already selected one therefore,
requires less efforts and time also response is immediate.
 Weaknesses
It is costly form of recruitment as agency cost very high amount of fees to the organisations and
candidates for information.
Selection process
Selection is the process of the hiring the candidate by brainstorming and evaluating the job
profiles of selected list of candidates (Hameed and et.al., 2020). British Airways use different
methods of selection as the job role. Some basic methods of selection used by the British airways
are:
Interview: The interview is the process of the face to face meeting of candidate and interviewer.
In this the selector of the British Airways ask the question to the candidates to analyse its
capabilities and knowledge
 Strengths
The interview is best way to analyse the personality, body language, gestures and real knowledge
and skills of the candidate.
 Weaknesses
The interview is the time consuming and costly form of selection process for the British
Airways.
4

Aptitude test: The aptitude test is the written exam in the form of multiple choice questions or
the one word answer of mathematics and general knowledge to check the mental ability of the
candidate.
 Strengths
In British Airways this method is useful as this is standardized and also there is no bias
judgement of the candidates.
 Weaknesses
This method requires the time for evaluation as the results are not quick and also setting
questions for the test is difficult.
P3. Benefits of HRM practices in context of Employee and Employer
Managing the employees is a difficult task for which British airways use different HRM
practices which are beneficial for both employee and employer (Kellner, 2019). Some of the
HRM practices are discussed below:
Recruitment and Selections
It the HRM practices in which the duty of the HR manager of the British Airways is to recruit
and select the talented employees for the organisation (Krishnaveni, 2018). In this the British
Airways use different ways of recruitment to attract candidates and selection tools to hire the
best candidate among the alternatives.
Benefit to employee's
 This practice helps the employee's to have biased free judgement of their capabilities and
also by this they get opportunity within the organisation to get promoted.
 This practices keeps the employees motivates for the internal recruitment in order to gain
promotions or transfers for their performance.
Benefit to employers
 the employers will get chance to recruit the best talent outside the organisations and also
through this the employers can attract the talent from all over the world.
 The employers get benefit to motivate their employees through the promotion and
internal recruitment. Hence, this also build trust among the employees for the employers.
Training and Development
The practice of upscaling the skills and knowledge of the current and newly employed
employees of the organisation in order to foster their capabilities and to guide them properly as
5

per their job roles (Memon and et.al., 2020). British Airways effectively use this technique of
HRM to enhance the productivity of the organisation.
Benefit to employee's
 This helps the employees to achieve their need of self actualization in order to stay
motivated and dedicated towards the objectives of the organisation.
 This also helps the employees in personal and professional development which is useful
for their career growth and also to grab the opportunities within British Airways.
Benefit to employers
 This practice of HRM helps the employees in retaining their employees and also to build
their confidence to increase their productivity towards the firm.
 This HRM practice help the employers of the British Airways in garbing new
opportunities of the market with the trained and skilled employees.
P4. Effectiveness of different HRM practices in context of increasing organisational productivity
and profitability
HRM practices aims at the improvement of the skills of employees and managing the
employees by motivating and encouraging them towards the organisational goals. The
effectiveness of the HRM practices help the employers of the British airways to manage the
conflicts of the people, increase the employees potential for work, provide them better
opportunity, align the people towards company's mission and vision and much more
(Mohammad and et.al., 2017). It is critically evaluated that the effectiveness of above HRM
practices helps the British Airways in increasing profitability and productivity as discussed
below:
Recruitment and Selections
The Recruitment and selection practice is the most common and well known practice of
the organisation. In context of British Airways the company use external agencies, social media
in order to hire the most talented and well trained crew manners in order to improve their
passenger service in the flight. Also company has effective recruitment techniques to hire the
best pilot from all across the world that are licensed and have the capabilities to fly new
technology fleets. The recruitment and selection also help the British Airways in hiring the
employees from within the organisation. This build the employees motivation and that also
6

pursue them to optimally utilize their capabilities for productivity and profitability of the British
Airways.
Training and Development
The training and development practice of HRM is the strong tool which huge value for
the employers and employees of the British Airways. In British Airways the employers conduct
and arrange the training and development session for the pilots to learn new technology aircraft's
for which company also appoint experts from the best flying institutions. This helps the the
company to quickly grab the new technology for the better service and sustainable development
that also reduces their cost of fuel and increase profitability (Nam, 2018). In British Airways the
cabin crew members are provided with new language learning course this boost employees
growth and skills and also convince them to work hard for organisations productivity.
P5. Importance of employee relations in context of influencing HRM decisions
The HR ensure positive employee relationship in order to improve employee performance at
working place. If British Airways fail to maintain good relationship with their employee then
overall productivity of company gets affected (Ojo, 2019). HR manager of British Airways focus
to improve employee relation so that their HRM decision will achieve organisational goal.
Retain loyal employees-Losing loyal customers is the biggest loss for the British
Airways profitability so HRM focus to provide healthy and comfortable environment which
appreciate loyal employees to retain with the company. HR encourage healthy relation and
provide training to the employees to build its skills and capabilities. It also beneficial for
employees career opportunities so, loyal employees will stick to the company welfare.
Fewer workforce conflicts- Scope of workplace conflicts will decrease with the help of
healthy and positive relationship. Peaceful workplace deliver advantage of strong relation with
employees and employers which ultimately support and help in HRM decision making of British
Airways. Because decease in conflicts improve productivity and appreciate employees perform
in effective way which accomplish HRM goals. The HR of respective company can easily
circulate its norms and principle in the workplace which help in achieving employees and
organisation goal.
Increased productivity-The positive relationship with employees boost confidence to
perform in productive manner and generate revenue of British Airways. When employees feel
comfortable then they also perform best practices of business activities. The HR manager of
7

British Airways build harmony at workplace by providing rewards in favour of work
contribution.
Enhance motivation- HR of British Airways, develop positive relationship with their
employees which enhance motivation level of workforce (Sammarra and et.al., 2017). HR
deliver rewards and compensation to encourage motivation level of employees. This will ensure
empowered morale of employees who promote business of British Airways.
P6. Key employment legislations and its impact on HRM decision making
Employee legislation includes rights of employee that help in improving relationship with
employers. These laws protect interest of employees and employers to enhance performance and
profitability of company. Several employment legislation which impact HRM decision making
of British Airways are as follows-
Equality Act-This act is the combination of Race Relation and Disability Discrimination
Act that ensure equal opportunities to the workforce of British Airways. This law does not permit
any kind of discrimination on base of sex, age, religion, and gender (Shin, 2018). This will
promote confidence, harmony and reduce conflicts at the workplace. HR of British Airways
have to follow this regulation otherwise their operations can be terminated by the government.
Employment protection Act- Under this Act, HR of British Airways provides certain
structure of working hours, salary, pension. This will improve employee motivation and they
enhance their productivity to accomplish company goal. Company should give appropriate
amount of salary package based on its skill and qualification otherwise court will announce
organisation at breach of law.
Health and Safety Act- The employer of British Airways ensure health and safety of the
employees in the workplace. Employees are the essential assets which improve company
revenue so it the responsibility of organisation to ensure safety and healthy measures in its
business practices. HR of British Airways can maintain health and safety of employees by
providing them safe equipments, positive working environment and travel opportunities which
access safety and health management in their operational system.
Dismissal and employment Contracts- In British Airways, employees and employers
both can terminate the job position in entity. The employers can utilise dismissal whereas
employees can utilise resignation. This law is mutually followed by employees and employers in
8

the organisation. Employee must deliver written statement of resignation to the organisation
before 1 weak.
P7. The applications of HRM practices
Job description
Job title: Flight attendant
Department: Ground duty
Report to: Cabin Crew Manager
Company: British Airways, UK
Job Summary: The flight attendant of the British Airways are responsible for attending
passengers and welcoming them into flight (Singh and et.al., 2021). They also ensure the
passenger's safety and comfort in the flight during their journey.
Roles and Responsibilities
 Their duty also include adequate supply of foods and beverages, ensuring sanity and
cleanliness in cabin and functioning of all the emergency equipment.
 There role is to guide the passengers to wear their seat belts and switch off phones
before take-off for safety.
 They also conduct all the safety checks before the flight.
 They assist passengers in finding their seats.
 Manage and monitor passengers and cabin crew rules and regulations. Prepare report of flight incidents.
Qualification Requirements
 3 years of graduation in any science background. Certificate of Cabin crew course
Experience
 1-2 years of experience as the flight attendant.
Person specification
Skills Required Desired
 English fluency *
9

 Great communication
and interpersonal skills
*
 Team management
skills
*
 MS office Knowledge *
 Customer centric
approach
*
 Knowledge of another
language
*
 Critical thinking and
problem solving skills
*
Interview questions
 Tell me about yourself ?
 Specify your strengths and weaknesses
 Why you want to become flight attendant
 Tell any 3 key duties as flight attendant
 Tell me what additional language you speak other than English.
Offer letter
14 August 2021
XYZ
British Airways Plc
London, UK
([e-mail])
Dear ABC,
We are pleased to inform you for your selection as a flight attendant position at British
Airways. All your duties and responsibilities, financial offering and other benefits of this
10

position are discussed in below attachment (Yap Peng Lok, 2019). We are delighted to see you
are our organisation. For confirmation Kindly sign the duplicate copy of this document and
resend us till the 30 august 2021.
We are looking forward to see you at our organisation.
Sincerely
XYZ
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that for large organisations like British Airways
management of the staff, pilots and crew members is highly essential in order to provide the
tourists and customers outstanding service. It is very important for the British Airways to hire
talented employees for which choosing effective recruitment and selection technique is important
part of HRM. As part of HRM the British Airways must adopt effective HRM practices like
training and development and appraisals to enhance the level of profitability and productivity
among employees. Hence, For human resource management British Airways should also comply
with all the legal rules and regulatory in order to have ethical Human resource practices.
References
Books and Journals
Al-Ajlouni, M.I., Nawafleh, S. and Alsari, H., 2019. The moderating effect of electronic-HRM
on training and employee performance relationship: a moderated model. International
Journal of Management Practice, 12(4), pp.511-532.
Arunprasad, P., 2017. Inevitable knowledge strategy: A paradigm shift in strategic HRM
practices to augment firm’s performance. Employee Relations.
Bastida, R., Marimon, F. and Carreras, L., 2018. Human resource management practices and
employee job satisfaction in nonprofit organizations. Annals of Public and Cooperative
Economics, 89(2), pp.323-338.
Bello-Pintado, A. and Garcés-Galdeano, L., 2019. Bundles of HRM practices in family and non-
family firms: the impact on enhancing performance. The International Journal of
Human Resource Management, 30(21), pp.2971-2992.
Chanda, U. and Goyal, P., 2020. A Bayesian network model on the interlinkage between Socially
Responsible HRM, employee satisfaction, employee commitment and organizational
performance. Journal of management analytics, 7(1), pp.105-138.
11

DEVI, J.K., 2018. Influence of Green HRM practices on employees performance level–a study
with reference to literature review. IJRAR-International Journal of Research and
Analytical Reviews (IJRAR), 5(3), pp.329-332.
Gilal, F.G and et.al., 2019. Promoting environmental performance through green human resource
management practices in higher education institutions: A moderated mediation
model. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 26(6),
pp.1579-1590.
Hameed, Z. and et.al., 2020. Do green HRM practices influence employees' environmental
performance?. International Journal of Manpower.
Kellner, A., Cafferkey, K. and Townsend, K., 2019. Ability, Motivation and Opportunity theory:
a formula for employee performance?. In Elgar introduction to theories of human
resources and employment relations. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Krishnaveni, R. and Monica, R., 2018. Factors influencing employee performance: The role of
human resource management practices and work engagement. International Journal of
Business Performance Management, 19(4), pp.450-475.
Memon, M.A. And et.al., 2020. Satisfaction matters: the relationships between HRM practices,
work engagement and turnover intention. International Journal of Manpower.
Mohammad, J.U. And et.al., 2017. Mediation role of job satisfaction on HRM-operational
performance relationship: A three-way moderation effect by gender. The Journal of
Developing Areas, 51(3), pp.437-452.
Nam, J. and Lee, H., 2018. High commitment human resource practices and employee behavior:
a multi-level analysis. International Journal of Manpower.
Ojo, A.O. and Raman, M., 2019, April. Role of Green HRM practices in employees’ pro-
environmental IT Practices. In World Conference on Information Systems and
Technologies (pp. 678-688). Springer, Cham.
Sammarra, A. and et.al., 2017. Enhancing knowledge sharing in age-diverse organizations: The
role of HRM practices. In Age Diversity in the Workplace. Emerald Publishing
Limited.
Shin, S.J., Jeong, I. and Bae, J., 2018. Do high-involvement HRM practices matter for worker
creativity? A cross-level approach. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 29(2), pp.260-285.
Singh, S.K. And et.al., 2021. Knowledge-based HRM practices and innovation performance:
Role of social capital and knowledge sharing. Journal of International
Management, 27(1), p.100830.
Yap Peng Lok, S. and Chin, T.L., 2019. Linking Green HRM Practices and Employee
Sustainability Engagement. Global Business & Management Research, 11(2).
12