Human Resource Management in British Airways

This report delves into the significance of Human Resource (HR) management within service-oriented organizations, using British Airways as a case study. The HR manager's role in recruiting top employees and implementing effective training programs is highlighted, along with the impact of employment laws on organizational strategies and decision-making. Training and development are emphasized as crucial for enhancing employee performance and achieving competitive advantage in the hospitality industry.

Human Resource Management
1

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Task 1.........................................................................................................................................3
LO 1: Understand human resource management.......................................................................3
1.1 Analyse the role and purpose of human resource management in a selected service
industry...................................................................................................................................4
1.2 Justify a human resources plan based on an analysis of supply and demand for a
selected service industry business..........................................................................................5
Task 2.........................................................................................................................................7
LO 2: Understand the effect of employee relations and employment law on service industries
businesses...................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Assess the current state of employment relations in a selected service industry.............7
2.2 Discuss how employment law affects the management of human resources in a selected
service industry business........................................................................................................8
Task 3.........................................................................................................................................9
LO 3: Understand the recruitment and selection process...........................................................9
3.1 Discuss a job description and person specification for a selected service industry job...9
3.2 Compare the selection process of different service industries businesses.....................11
Task 4.......................................................................................................................................13
LO 4: Understand training and development in service industries businesses........................13
4.1 Assess the contribution of training and development activities to the effective operation
of a selected service industry business.................................................................................14
Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................16
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................17
2

Introduction
Human Resource Management (HRM) is defined as a systematic approach to manage and
develop workers within an organization so that it can gain a competitive advantage. HRM in
service sectors has gained much importance nowadays. Basically, it includes the various
developmental process i.e. planning, organizing, motivating, training, and so on. Service
industry requires HRM in their business to maximize benefits and optimize resources (Chand,
2010). HRM plays an important role in managing the salaries and payment of employees and
assessing performance appraisal. There are various laws to protect the rights of the employees
at work and HRM tries to safeguard these rights of the employees.
The assignment is prepared on the basis of the implementation of HRM in service industry
e.g. British Airways. It will show the roles and responsibilities of HRM at British Airways. It
will also analyze the benefits and purpose of HRM considering the demand and supply of the
sector. In this report, various laws protecting employee’s rights at work will be discussed.
The report will highlight the recruitment and selection process of British Airways and it will
depict the ways of improving employee’s job performance and efficiency.
Task 1
LO 1: Understand human resource management
Human Resource Management (HRM) refers to the strategic approach of managing the
workers of an organization to a gain competitive advantage. According to Boxall and Purcell
(2011), HRM is a process of hiring and improving employee’s performance to maximize
organizational benefits. An HR manager has a pivotal role in developing the performance of
the employees. The success of the service industry largely depends on proper implementation
of HRM strategy.
3

1.1 Analyse the role and purpose of human resource management in a
selected service industry
Human Resource Management and Planning plays an important of in managing the
employees and achieving the business objectives of British Airways. The roles and purposes
of HRM in a service organization like British Airways determines the success of the
organization.
Roles of HRM in British Airways
British Airways is one of the largest airlines in the UK. It has a large number of employees to
run its daily operations. To manage these people HR plays certain roles to bring efficiency in
the service.
Figure 01: Roles of HRM at British Airways (self-made)
HR Planning: Planning indicates forecasting future needs and demands of HR in the
organization for the betterment of the service. The HR manager of British Airways has to
estimate HR needs to fulfill the business objectives. It shows the way of hiring the right
number of employees at the right time.
Recruiting: Recruitment is one of the most important roles of HRM. It refers to the overall
process of selection to the appointment of an employee in an organization (Bratton and Gold,
2017). British Airways always recruits employees from different backgrounds especially
form Hospitality Management background. The HR manager conducts aptitude tests and
interviews to select the most talented one. It allows the organization to hold a competitive
position in the service industry.
Training: According to Guest (2011), training refers to the process of increasing the skills
and knowledge of the employees in an organization. After recruitment, the HR department of
the British Airways arranges training program to increase the skills of the employee. It helps
the organization improve the efficiency of job performance.
Monitoring: Monitoring is a surveillance system where the HR monitors the work of the
employees and provide guidance. At British Airways, the monitoring system is considered a
4

vital part for ensuring better service. For this, HR managers monitor the work activities of
each department and check the performance of the employees.
Budgeting: Another important role of HR managers is to estimate the budget to conduct the
operations of each department. Budgeting is creating a plan for spending money (Briscoe et
al., 2012). The HR department of British Airways always tries to monitor the budget and
ensures a better relationship with the employees.
Purpose of HRM in British Airways
British Airways, being a top-notch airliner in the service industry, serves several purposes.
The benefits and purposes of HRM are mentioned below:
Maintaining good relationship: The HR managers and the employees work together to
enhance the skills and improve the interpersonal relationship. British Airways creates a
friendly environment by providing different incentives and supports to the employees.
Providing superior customer service: British Airways is committed to providing superior
service to its customers by improving the performance of the employees. HR department
serves this purpose.
Checking the labor market: HRM tries to forecast on the labor market in the service
industry to be informed about the future needs and demands of the sector (Berman, 2012). So,
the HR manager of British Airways always keeps an eye on the labor market.
Retaining the skilled employees: Another purpose serving the HRM is to retain the skilled
employees of the organization. At British Airways, HR department provides numerous
benefits and services to retain the skilled employees.
1.2 Justify a human resources plan based on an analysis of supply and
demand for a selected service industry business
Human resource planning refers to the process in which organisation identifies and
analyses human resource needs for an organisation to achieve its goals and objectives. It is
the procedure which determines that organisation will require adequate number of qualified
personnels at a proper time to perform duties and tasks requires to meet organisational
targets. In context to British Airways Human Resource Planning will help them to identify
existing and future needs of the organisation which will assist them in delivering proper
5

services and facilities to their customers. As the respective organisation is providing new
services for flights to Madeira from Heathrow, proper human resource planning will assist
organisation in recruiting the prospective candidates in order to meet organisational
objectives of attracting and satisfying large number of customers.
Importance of Human Resource Planning
Human resource planning fulfils the objective of man power requirements and
enables the organisation to work efficiently. It helps in the development of human resource
by identifying the skills requirements for performing task and organises various training and
developmental sessions to enhance required skills and ability in employees.
Steps for creating HR plan are as follows-
Identify future HR needs- Need for Human Resource in respective organisation is
identified in order to meet specific organisational targets. Before taking decisions regarding
recruitment of employees ,factors should be considered such as nature of work, skills and
capabilities required in order to perform task.
Consider present HR capabilities-British Airways should consider the capabilities
of present HR by analysing their work performance as well as finding factors where the
current employees lack in performing task.
Identify gaps between future needs and present capability- In this step gap is
identified between the future requirements as well as present capability of human resources.
This helps British airways to recruit employees with more knowledge and skills compared to
the existing employees which enables the organisation to provide better services to its
customers.
Formulate GAP strategies- After analysing the gap, it is the responsibility of HR
manager at British airways to formulate gap strategies which enables in reducing the
identified gaps such as proper training and development to the employees as well as proper
staffing and selection which will help in reducing the gaps and assist in achieving
organisational objectives.
Analysis of demand and supply for British Airways
It is required for the company to analyse the demand and supply of human resource.
With this analysis, existing human resources of British Airways is compared on their skills
6

and capabilities which helps organisation to identifying their future requirements and leads to
forecasting of demand. Forecasting of demand and supply of human resource will assist
company to gain higher competitive advantages. According to the scenario of British airways
it requires more than 10 employees who can effective provide services to the passengers.
BA Demand and Supply
Staff duties- Role of staff in BA are as follows-
 They are responsible for providing good customer services at the time of arrival and
departure.
 To check customers comfort and requirements during the journey.
 To resolve customer complaints and provide them immediate solutions.
 Verifications of passengers identification and printing boarding passes.
Number of staffs- As per the mentioned case of BA, requirement of staff is more
than 10 . Time duration is four hours and four flights from Heathrow and same returning per
week in peak season.
Hours of working- The flying hours and working hours are different
things. .Maximum hours for Airport Operation Manager in BA is 60 hours in 7 days , 100
hours in 14 days and 190 hours in 28 days.
Staff members role as well as number of hours required them to work to deliver new flight
service to Madeira is described below-
BA Flight Areas Job roles/ staff roles Staff Needed Hours of work
required
Checking areas Role of staff is to
check ticket at the time
of entry and issue
boarding passes
accordingly.
4 12 hours
Operations Areas Staff is responsible for
managing and
maintaining airline
efficiently
6 16 hours
Help Desk Provide required 6 5 hours
7

information to the
passengers
Maintenance and
luggage areas
Staff is responsible for
proper maintenance of
aircraft as well as
helps in handling and
passengers luggage.
10 14 hours
According to the current state of British Airways, it has been ascertained that
respective organisation has a well established employee relations which would help them to
increase their flight services in a better and a efficient way. They also maintains a effective
culture at their work place which motivates their work force to work their task efficiently and
able to attract large number of customers which in turn would lead to increase productivity
for the company.
Task 2
LO 2: Understand the effect of employee relations and
employment law on service industries businesses
2.1 Assess the current state of employment relations in a selected service
industry
Employee relations refers to the company's efforts to manage and develop relationship
between employees and employers. It helps in proper communication between employees and
supervisors in order to maintain effective employee relationships. Concept of employee
relationship is not limited to employee and employer. It has a greater scope to employee and
employee, employer and employer. In context to British Airways, it develops an
understanding of Employee relations according to current trends.
British Airways is the leading airline industry in United Kingdom and has to able to
maintain an effective employee relations and it doesn't fluctuate with time. In order to
maintain effective relations in employees airline industry have started developing their own
trade unions in order to protect interest of every employee in the organisation. Another aspect
in order to maintain and develop employee relations is employee empowerment in which
employees are given authority to choose their own trade unions and can focus on achieving
personal goals rather than only focusing on organisational goals.
8

 There is an effective employee relationships in British Airways as the whole
operations are regulated and developed through a desired plan of action which is
properly communicated and consulted to all the employees. It creates a positive as
well as healthy environment and motivates the employees to work efficiently.
 Respective company implements effective strategies for the employees such as
providing training to them in order to increase their skills and capabilities which
motivates them to perform effectively and provide better customer services.
 In order to maintain effective employee relationship British Airways have launched
an effective as well as efficient program which is Industrials Relations change
programmes which focussed on improving relationship between managers and trade
unions. This program will reduce the communication barriers as well as creates open
and honest interactions between the employees and employers which enables the
employees to work more productively for the organisation.
 Respective organisation also believes that in order to develop employer- employee
relationship, management should treat employees equally in context to provide
opportunities for their future growth. BA tries to maximise employees full potential
by training and carer developmental methods which enables them to make the
employees loyal towards their work.
 In order to maintain effective employee relations team working is very important in
the organisation since it enables them to achieve organisational objectives efficiently
which cannot be achieved by single person alone. In context to British Airways they
maintains effective team working among all the individuals through clear
management structure.
Current state of employee relations in British Airways
2.2 Discuss how employment law affects the management of human
resources in a selected service industry business
Employment laws provide security and protect the rights of the employees. According to
Snell et al. (2012), implementation of employment laws ensures a good relationship with the
employees and enhance the welfare of the employees. The law facilitates maintaining
9

smooth relationship with the employees. There are some laws that affect the management of
human resource of British Airways which are mentioned below:
Employment Relations Act 1999: The act provides the basic information about the
recognition of trade union. For protecting the interest of the employees it is obligatory to
recognize the trade unions by the employers. This act will help British Airways in achieving
the trust of the employees and providing job security and satisfaction.
Employee Rights Act 1996: This act provides the surety of basic rights of the employees
like minimum wage, holidays per year, maternity leave, lunch break, minimum notice, etc.
This act affects British Airways in formulating wage and salary structure. For this, the HR
manager of British Airways needs to train the employees to take the leave for an urgent
reason and should provide job protection.
Data Protection Act 1998: Organizations should not disclose any information of the
customers to the outsiders. The information should be collected in a confidential way and
should be destroyed after a specific time period. The HR manager of British Airways should
consider this in collecting information about the customers and maintain a good relation with
the customers.
Equal opportunity Act 2010: Equal opportunity act describe that an organization cannot
discriminate the employees on the basis of gender, race, age, religion disability, etc.
Employees should be treated equally to ensure employee satisfaction and better performance
(Daley, 2012). British Airways should implement this in formulation HR strategy. The HR
manager should prevent any biases in hiring people.
Task 3
LO 3: Understand the recruitment and selection process
3.1 Discuss a job description and person specification for a selected service
industry job
Job description is the document that describes the general tasks, duties or
responsibilities that an individual has to perform in the respective organisation. It is narrative
in nature which describes specification such as qualifications or the skills needed to perform
job as well as the salary range. This description greatly helps the employee in analysing their
10

own skills and knowledge against the requirement of job. Job description is greatly helpful to
the employers of the organisation because with the help of this they are able to select the right
candidate for the specific job role (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Job description is generally
developed by conducting a proper job analysis which includes determines the task an
individual has to perform in organisation. It should not state only the current situation of the
organisation or the what is expected from the candidate. It should also defines goals that
needs to be achieved in future .
British Airways is the leading airline industry in the United Kingdom. Employee’s
appointed at this company are selected after analysing their knowledge, skills and abilities to
perform job. This service sector industry develops an understanding of the concept of job
description of Airport Operation Manager .
Airport Operation Manager are the employees which are trained by the experts and
professionals in order to attend the passengers in Airline. Major role of these members is to
provide better customer service to passengers and ensures them by providing a comfortable
and a safe journey. These employees are provided adequate training in order to deal in
emergency situations and benefits customers. Job description of Airport Operation Manager
will include following details.
 Job description of Airport Operation Manager will include necessary skills and
knowledge required in order to perform tasks in BA.
 Airport Operation Manager of British Airways should strictly follow the safety and
punctuality rules. They are required to manage and maintain all the operations and
functions accountable for Heathrow.
 Job Description of Airport Operation Manager will include that there is specific code
of conduct which employees working in airlines has to follow strictly (Bratton and
Gold, 2017).
 It also includes the risk associated while performing the job. As the job of Airport
Operation manager is highly risky as they have to perform their task in ongoing flight
due to which all the declarations and risks involved in job are adequately discussed in
job description.
Person Specification
11

Person Specification is a narrow concept and includes less information compared to
Job Description. This document includes information such as qualifications, skills,
experience, knowledge and other attributes which a candidate must posses to perform job
duties. These specifications are used as base for recruiting and selecting an employee. This
helps the company to save a lot of time in the recruitment process and helps in streamlining
the operations. It also helps the employee to identify the skills and qualifications required to
apply for the job (Brewster and Hegewisch, 2017). Personal specification for the job of
Airport Operational Manager of British Airways will include the following details.
 Airport Operation Manager should have good communication and interpersonal skills
in order to properly attend the customers in airline.
 Their is no such proper knowledge or the qualifications required as well as the degree
required but candidates which are already trained as Airport Operation Manager are
highly prioritized (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow, 2016).
 As an Airport Operational Manager it is important to be physically fit and should
carry a attractive personality in providing excellent customer services to passengers.
 It is also required for an Airport Operation Manager to be well aware of different
languages to interact with customers of various countries. This will greatly help the
manager in providing better services to its customers.
3.2 Compare the selection process of different service industries businesses
Recruitment is the overall process of identifying and attracting the potential aspirant to fill up
the empty posts of the organization. On the other, hand selection is a very complicated
process of choosing the right candidate from a pool of applicants. According to Lievens and
Chapman (2010), the selection is screening applications so that right candidate can be
recruited from among the job aspirants.
The selection process of British Airways
British Airways needs more employees to meet the demand and for this right person should
be selected. For recruiting the best candidate, British Airways considers the candidate’s
education, knowledge, experience, and performance.
12

Figure 03: Selection process of British Airways (self-made)
The selection process of British Airways starts from job circulation on the web-page of the
company. The aspirants then apply from there and full up some online questions. If the
answer to those questions is yes then they have to complete an interest form. Then they have
to fill up an online application form. After filling online form the candidates face an online
psychometric test including different tests e.g. verbal reasoning, situational judgment,
numeracy, etc. An assessment session then completed. The next step to check the background
of the candidates and conduct a medical test. After successful completion of the previous
steps, the aspirants are offered for training and starting the career as a cabin crew.
The selection process of Transport for London
The selection process of Transport for London for the position of customer service assistant is
different from that of British Airways. The selection process of Transport for London is given
below:
Figure 04: Selection process of Transport for London (self-made)
The selection process of Transport for London begins with job advertisement on the webpage
or via a recruitment agency. The applicants are to login via the company webpage. From
there, they have to fill up an online application form. The job aspirants then face a situational
and judgmental test. After successful completion of the test, the applicants are invited to sit
for a written test. The candidates, who successfully passed in the written test, are then called
for viva. References are taken and a medical test is done after the interview. After completing
all the process, an offer letter is given to the right candidate.
Barriers to effective selection
The prime objectives of a selection process are to recruit people having competence and
skills. Some barriers may hinder the process of achieving the goals. These must be removed
to hire the best employee for the organization. The selection process of British Airways is
given below:
13

Figure 05: Barriers to effective selection (self-made)
The perception of understanding others wrongly can be a barrier in selecting the right people.
Fairness is bringing transparency in the selection process i.e. no one should be discriminated
on the basis of their demographic characteristics. Validity is a test that increases the
possibility of success but it doesn’t ensure job success properly. Reliability produces a
consistent result but it may unable to forecast job performance. According to Pilbeam and
Corbridge (2010), external and internal pressure must be avoided to hire the right candidate.
So, despite all the barriers, the HR manager must ensure transparency in the selection
process.
Task 4
LO 4: Understand training and development in service industries
businesses
Training and development are regarded as one of the most vital parts of any business
organization. Training refers to the enhancement of the skills of the employees and
development is related to the further improvement for better performance. Training is
associated with increasing employee’s specific skills and knowledge and development are
focused on growth and future performance of the employees (Khan et al., 2001). It is
essential for the service company like British Airways to arrange continuous training and
developmental programs.
Differences between training and development
14

Figure 06: Differences between training and development (source: Maingi, 2010)
4.1 Assess the contribution of training and development activities to the
effective operation of a selected service industry business
Training and development play an important role in the effective operations of British
Airways. It improves the skills of the employees and enhances performance. It also
contributes to the personal development of the employees. At British Airways, employees are
supervised by the seniors to get the maximum benefit. There are two methods of training
followed by British Airways to train their employees i.e. on the job training and off the job
training. On the job training includes job rotation, apprenticeship, coaching, etc. Off the job
training includes lecture, case study, action learning etc.
15

Figure 07: Training methods at British Airways (Shaw, 2016)
Benefits of Effective Training
Training increases the skills of the employees of British Airways. It renders an effective work
process and brings efficiency in the process. Effective training helps in the effective operation
of the company in the following ways:
 Training increases the professional skills of the employees
 Training facilitates promotion and ensures future progress
 Training minimizes mistakes and improves quality
 Training helps in achieving the target within the time
 Training provides an effective work environment
According to Phillips (2010), effective training enhances employee’s job performance and
improves the quality of the service. Developmental activities are focused on the future growth
of the employees. It ensures job safety and commitment. British Airways has a
developmental policy for the employees to bring satisfaction to work. For example, if there is
a technological change in the service process then the employees need to be trained to
effectively operate the process. Thus in this way, training and development help in the
effective operation of British Airways.
16

Conclusion
Human Resource is an important element in any service organization without which
organization cannot perform its basic operations. The report described the selection and
training process of British Airways. The HR manager recruits the best employees for the
organization. The study identified various laws of employment affected the strategies and
decision making of the organization. Training and development enhanced the performance of
the organization enabling employee’s giving their best efforts. As the hospitality industry is
customers focused, the HR manager needs to focus on training and development. British
17

Airways conducts a rigorous training program to enhance service excellence and achieve
competitive advantage.
Bibliography
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Berman, E.M., Bowman, J.S., West, J.P. and Van Wart, M.R., 2012. Human resource
management in public service: Paradoxes, processes, and problems. Sage.
Boxall, P. and Purcell, J., 2011. Strategy and human resource management. Macmillan
International Higher Education.
18

Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Briscoe, D., Tarique, I. and Schuler, R., 2012. International human resource management:
Policies and practices for multinational enterprises. Routledge.
Chand, M., 2010. The impact of HRM practices on service quality, customer satisfaction and
performance in the Indian hotel industry. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 21(4), pp.551-566.
Daley, D.M., 2012. Strategic human resources management. Public Personnel Management,
pp.120-125.
Guest, D.E., 2011. Human resource management and performance: still searching for some
answers. Human resource management journal, 21(1), pp.3-13.
Harzing, A.W. and Pinnington, A. eds., 2010. International human resource management.
Sage.
Khan, R.A.G., Khan, F.A. and Khan, M.A., 2011. Impact of training and development on
organizational performance. Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 11(7).
Lievens, F. and Chapman, D., 2010. Recruitment and selection. The SAGE handbook of
human resource management, pp.135-154.
Maingi, A., 2010. Employee training and development.
Mathis, R.L. and Jackson, J.H., 2011. Human resource management: Essential perspectives.
Cengage Learning.
Monk, E. and Wagner, B., 2012. Concepts in enterprise resource planning. Cengage
Learning.
Moutinho, L. ed., 2011. Strategic management in tourism. Cabi.
Phillips, J.J., 2012. Return on investment in training and performance improvement
programs. Routledge.
Pilbeam, S. and Corbridge, M., 2010. People resourcing and talent planning: HRM in
practice. Prentice Hall.
Shaw, S., 2016. Airline marketing and management. Routledge.
19

Snell, S., Morris, S. and Bohlander, G.W., 2015. Managing human resources. Nelson
Education.
20