Human Resource Management of Silvertail

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
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Executive summary of the case study
Silvertail is a popular airline firm, which has undergone restructuring process to attract new
segment of customers. However, the management thinks that older employees are incapable
to meet current objectives. Hence, they have taken decision to eliminate older employees.
This can have impact on their brand image. In this report, different diagnosis tools like
fishbone diagram, force field analysis were done for analyzing the problem. In addition,
different interventions are proposed by using tools like appreciative enquiry and downsizing
table. Action plan is framed through the help of Lewin’s change model.
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Table of Contents
1. Case study overview...............................................................................................................4
2. Problems of Silvertail.............................................................................................................5
3. Diagnosis of the company......................................................................................................5
4. Assessment implication........................................................................................................10
5. Interventions.........................................................................................................................11
6. Action plan...........................................................................................................................17
7. Conclusion............................................................................................................................19
Reference list............................................................................................................................20
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What are the reasons behind HR problem in Silvertail?
Procedures Policy
Technology People
Older staffs are
unwilling to leave
job
Deregulation
of industry
Good
workplace
Advanced
technologies
Need of
younger staff
1. Case study overview
The case study has mentioned two airline organizations including Singapore Airlines and
Silvertail Airlines. Both of these airline organizations are national competitors of each other.
In the 1980s, the government has made the decision of deregulation for dealing with the
increasing pressure on this industry. It has been decided that newcomers will face fewer
barriers than before in terms of entering into the market, specifically for the cases of low-cost
carriers. This decision has a great impact on the Silvertail Airline. Suddenly the level of
market competition has increased for this company and they fail to respond to this sudden
change immediately. This company has gone through certain structural changes to cope up
with this situation. They have decided to target the younger generation of customers.
However, the majority of their existing employees are older and the HR department of this
company thinks that they need younger employees to manage their new younger target
customers.
Figure 1: Fishbone diagram
(Source: Created by the Author)
In the above-mentioned fishbone diagram, it can be seen that older staff members of this
company are not ready to leave their jobs; however, new and young employees are required
to deal with young target customer groups. It can be seen that the deregulation of the airline
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industry by the Australian government has a great impact on the company policy. This
company has ensured a good workplace for its employees and they have all the advanced
technologies to beat their competitors. However, the comfortable working environment is the
main reason behind the reluctance of the staff members to leave their jobs of this company.
Due to this reason, the management consultant Bobbi and the recruitment director of this
company, Sam is planning to reduce the comfort of employees. They are going to increase
hardship for employees so that they leave their positions on their own.
2. Problems of Silvertail
For the deregulation of the airline industry, Silvertail has to face some market-related
problems. The introduction of low-cost airlines by competitors has impacted the business of
Silvertail and they lost competitive advantage. The share price of the company has reduced
and investors got angry. In response, Silvertail airlines gained a new image and promoted it
as young, innovative and new airlines. However, to match its new image and target younger
segments of customers it is essential for them to recruit young and energetic employees as
frontline staff. It is an essential problem that the majority of their frontline staff are senior and
unable to satisfy the needs of targeted customers. These employees are unwilling to leave the
job voluntarily even after offering a redundancy offer.
In response, the recruitment director of the company, Sam has taken some unethical harsh
decisions, which will harden the lives of senior employees. This includes giving the duties in
long haul flights, offering them three stars hotels during traveling. Moreover, they have
decided to rewrite the job description of the company and internal competency requirements
will be made tougher. These unethical policies will make the lives of senior employees
tougher and they can be forced to resign.
3. Diagnosis of the company
a. Concept fan
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Tackling older employees
Employer
branding Competition with industry start ups
Providing training to old employees
performance Convincing staffs to take voluntary retirement
Promote employer employee relationship
Improve and
promote good
corporate culture
Offering contractual jobs
Brand
awareness
Brand image
Proper marketing communication
Figure 2: Concept fan
(Source: Created by the Author)
A concept fan is a technique of finding alternatives regarding a specific problem. This
process helps to find all obvious solutions to a problem (Toolkitforthinking.com, 2019). This
process of problem-solving helps in detailed diagnosis and it helps in taking a step back.
This, in turn, helps in achieving a broader viewpoint of a problem. A list of alternative or
creative solutions can be generated through the help of this diagnostic tool.
In this case study, Silvertail airlines want to match their new image and new target segment
of customers. For this restructuring process, they want to get rid of the older workforce as
soon as possible. The older workforce performs the duty of cabin crew and ground staff and
they are not fit with the company's new objectives. Management of this airline is adopting
unethical techniques for gaining a competitive advantage in the industry. However, Ugboro
(2016) stated that adopting unethical approaches for gaining a competitive advantage in the
market may decrease the satisfaction level of stakeholders and reduce the corporate image. In
the case study, it can be seen that sam has taken different unethical decisions that decrease
the motivational level of employees and can impact on staff performance. In other words, the
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