Employee Relations in the Airline Industry

This assignment delves into the complexities of employee relations within the airline industry. It examines the specific challenges faced by airlines due to their unique operating environment and explores various human resource management strategies and practices aimed at fostering positive employee relationships. The focus is on understanding how legal frameworks, cultural diversity, and industry-specific demands shape employee relations in this sector.

Human Resource management

TABLE OF CONTENTS
2

INTRODUCTION
The main aim of the report is to provide information about human resource management
concepts and its impact on employees of hotel industry. As per the present case scenario, Hilton
hotel was taken which is currently opening 50 rooms at Stratford City to offer quality of unique
services to their customers. In addition, report describes about the current state of employment
relations for the hotel industry and employment law affects the Hilton hotel as selected service
industry. Along with this, present study explores processes of different service industries
businesses and assesses the contribution of training and development activities in improving
services of hotel and entire industry.
TASK 1
1.1 Role and purpose of human resource management
Human resource management is a function of business management which is designed to
manage the human resource’s needs of the organisation along with maximising the performance
level of employees. . Human resource management includes a set of various processes through
which human resources are recruited, trained and maintained to achieve the objectives and goals
of Hilton Hotel Stratford. In United States, Hilton Hotel is a market leader in the service
industry. Human resource management is also concerned with recruitment, selection, training,
development, maintenance and motivation of human resources in Hilton Hotel. In the changing
environment of service industry, human resource management helps to select right person for the
right position at the right time (Torrington and et. al., 2009). Performance of Hilton Hotel
depends on capability and efficiency of human resources who are working there.
This management is mainly concerned with the development of knowledge, skills and
abilities of human resources in order to perform tasks efficiently in Hotel Hilton Stratford. Hilton
Hotel was facing few problems related to management of human resources because it is currently
opening 50 rooms at Stratford. For the solution of this problem, Hilton Hotel appoints a trainee
human resource manager. The human resource manager has to focus on both organisation and its
employees. Role and purpose of human resource manager is to hire the staff persons, train them
and develop their performance to achieve the objectives of organisation (Simons, 2011). Roles of
human resource manager in Hilton Hotel have been stated below:
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❖ Identification of employees - In this process, HR manager identifies and forecasts the
requirements of personnel or human resources at Hilton Hotel. To meet the requirement
of human resources, HR manager uses the selection and recruitment methods. With the
help of these methods, candidates are selected and hired to fill the vacant post in Hilton
Hotel.
❖ Assessing the Training needs of employees- HR manager has to analyse the
performance of employees and also has to identify the training needs of existing
employees such as staff people, managers, etc. of Hilton Hotel. For the development of
employees, HR manager conducts development and training programs to enhance the
performance of employees which will help to increase the productivity of Hotel (Wright,
and McMahan, 2011).
❖ Maintaining Relation between employee and management- HR manager has to identify
the gaps which are creating problems between employees. He has to ensure that relations
among employees, managers the company are positive or not and also has to evaluate
communication gap between them.
Maintaining cordial relation is also fruitful for the organisation as it builds the
communication channel between the employees. The employees are able to interact with
their senior and subordinates which contributes to the positive environment of the hotel.
❖ Welfare of staff members - HR manager has to ensure about the welfare of employees
and customers of Hilton Hotel. For this purpose, he or she has to analyse the working
environment of Hilton Hotel which should be safe for employees and customers. He has
to identify proper services and facilities are given to customers in order to satisfy their
needs and make them comfortable (Harvey, 2009)
❖ Employee Reward and appraisal - After monitoring the performance of all the
employees and according to their performance level, Hilton hotel has to appraise its
employees and reward them in terms of financial or non-financial incentives. It will also
motivate the employee and increase employee participation in the organisation.
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1.2 Human resource plan based on analysis of supply and demand
Human resource plan is a continuous procedure which identifies future and current
human resources requirements for Hilton Hotel in order to achieve its goals.
Post Required for 50 rooms in Stratford
Food and Beverage Manager 2
Banquette manager 1
Line Manager 1
Assistant Managers 2
Receptionist 1
Chefs 6
Waiters 12
Bar staffs 6
Cleaning Staff 7
Security Guard 4
This plan is an important component of strategic human resource management for reducing the
level of employee turnover and maintaining competitive advantage. As per the given case study,
requirements of human resources are evaluated which are mentioned above in the table. These
estimated requirements are for 50 rooms which are opening by Hilton Hotel in Stratford city.
(Source: Haleem, 2014)
The changing environment as well as internal and external factors influences Hilton Hotel to
make human resource planning. Human resource plan includes basically five steps that have
been described below as:
❖ Assessing human resources- HR manager has to focus on business activities and
practices of employees. The assessment of human resource starts with environmental
analysis of Hilton Hotel. Performance of employees directly affects the productivity of
Hotel so HR manager should analyse the performance level of employees of Hotel on the
regular basis (Amos and et.al. 2009). With the assessment of human resources, HR
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manager can analyse that employee's performance and business practices are meeting the
objectives and aim of Hilton Hotel in an effectual manner or not.
❖ Demand forecast- HR manager has to monitor the availability all existing staff as well as
positions in order to identify the personnel requirement on vacant positions in Hotel.
Manager has to build a plan which identifies future and current human resources
requirements. In this step, demand forecast of human resources is analysed in human
resource plan.
❖ Supply forecast- After analysis of demand forecast, HR manager evaluates the supply
forecast to meet the demand forecast in Hilton Hotel. Supply forecasting is a procedure of
estimating the availability of personnel or human resource which are followed after
demand forecasting (Gberevbie, 2010). Human resource manager needs to consider both
internal and external supply for forecasting the supply of human resources in Hotel. For
this purpose, cited company invites personnel to fulfil vacant posts in Hotel. These
personnel can be selected from the both internal and external environment of Hotel.
❖ Matching demand and supply- This step is concerned with the forecast of future
demand and supply of human resources. The step of matching brings both demand and
supply in equilibrium position. Through this, over staffing and shortage problem will be
solved. In situation of over staff, company needs to reduce existing employment
(Torrington and et. al., 2009).
❖ Action plan- This is the last step of human resource planning and this step is concerned
with shortage and surplus of human resources in Hilton Hotel. This step includes major
activities such as recruitment, selection, training, development and socialisation (Storey,
2007). In this, performance of human resources is monitored to check the effectiveness
HR planning executed by the HR manager. This action plan should be updated according
to time and changes in environment of Hilton Hotel.
The human resource plan is justified as it is made with companies compliance on the
human resource policies and management. The plan will serve beneficiary for recruitment
process of the company as it will allow to meet the demand and supply of the employees on the
organisation.
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TASK 2
2.1 Assessing the current state of employment relations for the hotel industry
The hotel industry is labor intensive and is dominated by the behaviour of employees
working in the organisation. Working conditions in this sector are different from all the other
industries. The density of employees working in a sector affects the working relations. Also the
cultural significance of the countries from where the employees are recruited plays a crucial role
for the hotel industry. The hospitality industry is highest growing segment of economy. The main
objective of hotel industry is to provide superior quality of hospitality services to wide range of
customers. To maintain the brand image and reputation in market Hilton hotel ensure that it
strictly follow the rules and regulations laid down by UK government and EU.
2.2 Impact of employment law on the management of human resources in service sector
In UK, government of country and legislations are framed different laws to improve the
relationship between employees in service sector industry. In this regard, several acts and
regulations including Employment Relations Act, equal opportunities and Employment Rights
Act were prepared by government. These laws can be explored in detail as follow.❖ Employment Relations Act, 2004: This act was framed to implement change in new
statutory procedure for employers and establishing appropriate relationship employers
and employees (EurWork, 2004). As a trainee Human Resource Manager at Hilton hotel,
it is responsibility of him to aware about basic provisions of this act such as simplifying
the legal requirements, widening unions’ ability and extending the protection against
dismissal etc.❖ Equality Act, 2010: This legislation was drafted to provide equal work opportunity to an
individual without any business on the basis of gender, income and country elements. In
the context of grasping business opportunity and reducing issues, it is necessary for the
HR manager at Hilton to follow this act in their recruitment and selection process (The
Equality Act, 2010). For example, enterprise offers an array of services such as room
service, fitness room, baggage storage and foreign currency exchange to their customers.
In order to enhance motivation level of staff-members, it is required for HR manger of
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company to follow this act and assigns roles and responsibilities on the basis of their
skills and knowledge at workplace.❖ Employment Rights, 1996: The main purpose behind applying this legislation to
overcome human resource related problems including unfair dismissal, time off rights for
parenting and provide reasonable notice before dismissal (Lucas, 2014). By considering
law, human resource department of Hilton hotel can be able to solve employee’s conflict
and job dissatisfaction related issues in a significant manner.❖ Contracts of employment: Presently, different types of laws including employee
relocation, status, fixed term employment contract and maximum weekly working hours
were developed by UK government to improve working condition of employees within
servicer sector industry (Nestoroska and Petrovska, 2014). By following this regulation,
HR manager at Hilton would be able to solve employment related various problems
including ill health retirements, maternity and paternity rights, dismissal and retirement in
a significant manner.❖ Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS): It is a non-departmental public
body and it is developed for promoting and facilitating strong industrial relations and
resolving disputes between groups. By following guidelines of ACAS, company would
be able to perform varieties of organisation functions like strategic direction, policies and
priorities in work effectively in hotel industry (Hafeez and Aburaw, 2013).
The Labor Law of United Kingdom was developed wage and hour law regarding to
establish a minimum wage for employees. For example, if organisation will not follow this act
then it will unable to maintain better relationship with their employees and retain them with the
firm for long time period (Lo, 2015). Due to change occur in labor markets and organisation
needs, it is essential for enterprise to follow equal opportunity and employee right act. Without
considering these laws, HR manger at Hilton would be unable to carry out their day to day
business operations in a proficient manner.
As per the act, it is necessary for human resource department of company to provide
appropriate leaves in a variety of circumstances to their employees. On the other hand, Equality
act, 2010 will affect the way of working and HR policies of firm in service sector and encourages
enterprise to provide equal opportunity to an individual at workplace without any discrimination.
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It is identified that there is direct relationship between employment relationship and law on
service industries businesses. If any change comes in regulations then it will influence HR
strategies and relationship among employees of different departments (Bloom and Van, 2011).
For example, due to change arise in the Employment Relations Act 2004, statutory
protection and terms and conditions of employment related changes were occurred and affect
human resource services of the whole service sector industry in UK.
From the given case scenario, it is clear that hotel is opening 50 rooms at Stratford City
and offers variety of services to their customers within stipulated time. In the context of
managing different services at workplace, it is necessary for HR manager within hotel to follow
employment laws and regulations at workplace. Along with the employer, these regulations are
beneficial for employees in the context of improving their positions and reduce the chance of
injustice with them. The other impact of employment laws and federal legislations in service
industry can be seen in forms of maintaining labor relation, examining employee criminal
records and understand the requirements of employees like reimbursement and records retention
in the dynamic changing arena of employment law (Simons, 2011). Despite of that, laws and
regulations developed by UK government helps the entire service industry to minimise the
organisation's liability in all aspects of HR operations in a significant manner. Moreover, by
applying these regulations, HR manager at Hilton hotel would be able to solve employee related
problems and maintain better relationship with them for long term perspective.
TASK 3
This task has been done in order to understand recruitment and selection process and
factors which can affect working of entire service sector.
3.1 Job description and personal specification for list of staff
Job description can be explored in term of detailed description of the role and
responsibility of an individual related to work. On the personal specification for particular job
can be defined in form of personal qualities and capabilities of an individual to perform specific
task in a significant manner (Torrington and et. al., 2009). However, there are different factors
including labour market, employment laws and person specifications can influence the
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recruitment and selection of enterprise. For example, employment law (Equality Act, 2010) will
force firm to provide equal work opportunity to an individual on the basis of their skills without
any discrimination. Besides that, change occurs in market also affects methods of recruitment
and advertising (Lo, 2015).
As a position of HR manager, a person should have required variety of skills including
good people management, handle high perform team and experience to manage complex change.
In detail, job description and personal specification of human resource manager can be enlisted
as follow.
Table 1: Job description and personal specifications of service staff
Job title Service staff (waiter or cleaning staff)
Job location Stratford City
Job summary Service staff will be responsible for performing varieties of
tasks including room & food service, shoe shine, baggage
storage and many more (Edwards, Scott and Nambury, 2007).
Reporting to Line manager
Working conditions 8 work (in different shifts)
Personal specifications
Education/Requirement: Minimum metric passed
Language: English and French knowledge
Communication: Good verbal and oral communication
Prior-experience: Experience of working in service sector
Skills and duties: Candidate should be able and willing to work
flexible hours
Characteristics: Supportive and friendly nature
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Table 2: Job description and personal specifications of receptionist
Job title Receptionist
Job location Stratford City
Job summary Receptionist will be liable for providing information to
their customers about hotel services.
Reporting to Line manager
Working conditions 8 work (in different shifts)
Personal specifications Education/Requirement: Minimum metric passed
Language: English and French knowledge
Communication: Excellent verbal, written and oral
communication
Prior-experience/Fresher: For the post, both fresher
and experience candidates can be applied (Armstrong,
2011).
Skills and duties:
❖ Applicant should be ready to work in flexible
hour
❖ At internal level, knowledge of Outlook, Word,
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Excel and Power-point should be required.
Characteristics:
❖ Good communication and listening skills
❖ Patience (Hafeez and Aburaw, 2013.)
Table 3: Job description and personal specifications of banquette manager
Job title Banquette manager
Job location Stratford City
Job summary Manager will be responsible for coordinating the delivery of all
food and beverage.
Performing functions in all Banquet and Meeting rooms (Simons,
2011)
Reporting to Sales and food & beverage manager
Working
conditions
8 work (in different shifts)
Personal
specifications
Education/Requirement: Graduate
Language: English and French knowledge
Communication: Excellent verbal, written and oral
communication (Bloom and Van R, 2011)
Prior-experience/Fresher: Experience candidates can be
applied who have industry experience.
Skills and duties:
❖ Flexible working hour
❖ Controlling cost and quality of services
❖ Maintain record of inventory and ensures to meet customer
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specifications.
❖ Post-sales duties
❖ Planning and staffing
❖ Post-event duties (Wright and McMahan, 2011)
Characteristics:
❖ Good communication and listening skills
❖ Patience
3.2 Compare different selection processes of different service industries businesses
Recruitment and selection processes are varying as per industry to industry. In addition,
different factors including the labor market, economic, political and technology change influence
the methods adopt by service sector companies. In hotel industry, different procedures are
performed including agents are appointed for selected areas, pre-screening of applicants, set-up
interview and processing of paper work (Kleynhans and et.al., 2009). Selection task is performed
on the basis of suitability of person to work and characteristics of candidates. For example,
Marriot and Hilton companies are recruited employees on the basis of communication, personal,
decision making and interpersonal skills of candidates.
On the other hand, in restaurant industry, employees are recruited and selected by
applying different techniques such as preliminary phone interview and face to face interaction
and selection etc. In addition, external recruitment methods are applied in these sectors to choose
talented candidates and on the basis of profile the experiences of employees. Along with this,
differences are raised in recruitment and selection processes on the basis of job description,
person specification and method of recruitment adopt by firms (Kumar, 2010). However,
legislation and employability law of different countries can create problem for organisations in
selection of talent. In construction and manufacturing sector, labours are recruited on the basis of
their physical fitness and capability and HR department not emphasises on other personal
qualities like skills, education and qualification.
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On the other side, when recruiting employees for hotel and hospitality industry, HR
department concentrates on candidate’s skills, knowledge and communication skills. For
example in restaurant industry, employees are recruited on the basis of their experience and
customer satisfaction elements (Harvey, 2009). On the other hand, in hotel sector, skills,
education, personal characteristics and many more factors are considered for recruitment and
selection of an employee.
Despite of that, for selecting employees, human resource department of Hilton can apply
different tactics including preliminary interview, selection test, employment interview, physical
examination and employment contract (Wiley, 2012). Besides that, firm can also conduct
psychological test to measure personality dimensions of an individual. On the basis of job
analysis process, firm can be able to assign roles and responsibilities to an individual in a
significant manner.
TASK 4
4.1 Assess the contribution of training and development activities
In order to perform effective operation of a selective service industry business, proper
assessment of training and development are required. For successful implementation of T&D
program, it is necessary for HR manager to establish adequate link between induction
programmes and training. Without establishing proper link, enterprise would be unable to
provide proper training to their employees and enhance their skills (Amos and et.al., 2009).
There are several reasons for which enterprise will require to provide training to their staff-
members that can be enlisted as follow.
Role and need for training: For different purposes, HR department of company will require to
provide training to their staff.❖ New hire orientation: Training and development activities are required for new
employees at Hilton to aware them about organisation culture and enhance their morale
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by increasing their skills. Focused training is required for new staff-members to
overcome their shortcomings and increase their contribution in the success of enterprise.❖ Improvement in performance: From the given case, it is found that hotel want to open 50
rooms at Stratford City to offer variety of services to their customers and meet their
expectations in a significant manner. In order to attain its objective, it is necessary for HR
manager at Hilton to address shortcomings and weaknesses. It can be achieved through
emphasising on training and development activities (Storey, 2007). By providing training
to its employee’s on the base of their skills and potentials, enterprise would be able to
ensure that quality of services and maximum comfort will be provided to guests.
Figure 1: Training and development needs❖ Increased employee satisfaction: For increasing satisfaction of their staff-members, it is
responsibility of human resource department to interact with their employees. For
example, by interacting with service staff, line manger at Hilton will be able to
understand their problems and solved them in a proper way (Edwards, Scott and
Nambury, 2007). If their problems will be solved at right time then they will motivate to
give their best at workplace.❖ Self-driven and increased productivity: By getting training from their supervisors and
trainers, employee will enable to perform their task independently. It will encourage
company to create a culture of continual learning and develops necessary skill sets in
employees (Gberevbie, 2010). By developing their knowledge and communication skills,
enterprise would be able to enhance their productivity and better perform as compared to
other competitors present in the market.
Training versus development:
The main purpose of training is to develop knowledge and skills in the employee
according to requirement of job profile. For example, HR manager provides training to service
staff to enhance their skills and carry out day to day hotel operation activities in a significant
manner. It is a group base activity and focuses on today needs (Armstrong, 2011). On the other
hand development is individual based activity and it provides opportunity to firm to develop
strategic approach. For example, HR manager at Hilton emphasises on self assessment procedure
to self direct himself for the future assignments.
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Types of training and development activities:
For providing training to its employees, HR department of company can apply different
strategies at different levels within hotel sector. At strategic level, case study, computer base
training, workshop and team building exercise can be conducted. On the other hand, at tactical
level, HR manager at Hilton can adopt role playing, lectures, audio-visual training and job
rotation approaches (Torrington and et. al., 2009). Besides that, orientation, lectures, simulations
and computer base training can be beneficial for new candidates to familiar them about
organisation culture and enhance their knowledge level.
Impact of training:
The impact of training and development activities on an organisation can be measured in
terms of achieving overall objectives of enterprise. In addition, skills of employees, knowledge
area and customer satisfaction are the other major criteria’s to measure the effectiveness of
training and development activities at Hilton. Besides that, on the basis of cost analysis, decision
making power of an individual at different levels and contribution of employee in growth of the
company, efficiency of T&D plan can be measured (Lucas, 2014). Furthermore, appraisals and
performance measurement approaches including 360 degree feedback, balance score card and
self-appraisal can be adopted to enhance skills of an individual employee at workplace. The main
benefits of training and development can be seen in forms of increasing productivity, efficiency,
enhancing contribution of employees and job satisfaction at workplace.
Barriers and strategies to overcome issues
By applying T&D activities, HR manager at Hilton would be able to offer quality of
services to business and leisure travellers within stipulated time. However, along with several
benefits some barriers including lack of employee’s initiative, conflict, culture, poor skills and
lack of leadership are also associated with T&D activity that can create hurdle in successful
execution of training activities at Hilton Stratford City. Apart from this, competency-based
training and evaluating training needs against organisation objective, human resource
development will be able to overcome training barriers and enhance skills of their employees in a
significant manner (Nestoroska and Petrovska, 2014). By considering different factors including
budget, culture, lack of vision, time& staffing, poor quality trainer and job silos, management of
UK base hospitality firm can be able to enhance efficiency of training and development program
in a significant way.
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CONCLUSION
On the basis of current research report, it can be said that training and development
plays an active role in increasing employee knowledge and satisfaction at workplace. By
considering different acts including Employment Relations Act, Equal opportunities and
Employment Rights, HR manager at Hilton would be able to increase transparency in
human resource management processes in a significant manner. Besides that, training
and development methods can be beneficial for company to enhance skills and
knowledge of their employees. By considering different issues like job silos, lack of
commitment and lack of vision, human resource department can able to overcome
barriers and attain organisation objectives in a significant manner.
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