Analysis of Human Resource Management Practices in British Airways

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Human Resource Management in
Service Industry

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................2
AC 1.1 an analysis of the role and purpose of human resource management in a selected
service industry with reference to British Airways.....................................................................2
AC 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
AC 2.1 Assess the current state of employment relations in a selected service industry............7
AC 2.2 discusses how employment law affects the management of human resources within
British Airways............................................................................................................................9
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................11
AC 3.1 Discuss a job description and person specification for a selected service industry job 11
AC 3.2 Compare the selection process of different service industries businesses....................13
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................15
AC 4.1 Assess the contribution of training and development activities to the effective
operation of a selected service industry business......................................................................15
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................................17

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: HR plan for British Airways..............................................................................................5
Table 2: Job description for BA cabin crew vacancy....................................................................11
Table 3: Person specification for BA cabin crew vacancy............................................................11

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: British Airways airline services.......................................................................................1
Figure 2: Functions of HRM............................................................................................................3

Introduction
British Airways (BA) is the leading airline industry and they provide quality of flight services
and ground services to their passengers and their skilled and qualified employees only manage
that. This report will discuss the importance of human resource management in BA because they
are planning to start a new airline service in a new destination. The report will also discuss
various functions related to the HE department which help BA to achieve their competitive
benefits. The report will further create a job description and job specification for cabin crew
vacancy in the organisation. The report will discuss the contribution of training and development
in the growth of BA.
Figure 1: British Airways airline services
(Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-45440850, 2019)
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Task 1
AC 1.1 an analysis of the role and purpose of human resource management in a selected service
industry with reference to British Airways
Introduction
Human resource management (HRM) is important in every sector including airline industries
because this management helps the organisation to manage the performance of their employees
and that maintain working efficiency level (Bratton and Gold, 2017). HRM is essential and
effective in British Airways because this department helps the whole organization to hire skilled
and qualified cabin crew members, ground staff and other employees required for airport
services. HR department provides proper training to the cabin crew members and ground staff so
that the quality of airlines services can be provided to their customers.
HR manager also conducts various programs such as “Managing People First” through which
they explain the importance of customers in their sector. For example, HR manager of British
Airways organizes “Managing People First” training program in which all the service
requirements of customers are explained to staff members such as how to deliver the service,
resolve the customer's problems etc (Bailey et al, 2018). The main objective of the human
resource unit is to improve the service quality of British Airways by improving the skills and
abilities of their employees.
Role and purpose of HRM in British Airways
HRM is the formal system which is devised for people management in the organization in which
the HR manager handles all the roles and responsibility of the employees. HRM is considered as
the practice of hiring, recruiting, managing and deploying the employees of the organisation
(Collings et al, 2018). In the context of British Airways, their HR department mainly focuses on
hiring skilled and qualified employees so that their service quality can be improved. The HR
department of BA handle their employee's training and development for improving their
performance in airline industries.
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Functional activities of HRM
HR strategy: HR manager focus on identifying the effective HR strategy so that all the
employees will perform effectively. HR strategies and plan cover proper work design, HR
planning and removal of the gap that are identified in current status and their vision.
Recruitment and selection: HR manager of BA also conduct proper recruitment and selection
process to hire skilled employees for flights and ground. Internal and external recruitment source
is used by the HR manager to appoint existing or new employee for the vacant post. The further
interview process is conducted to select the eligible candidate (Malik, 2018).
Reward and performance management: HR manager also analyzes the current performance
status of the employees so that lacking skills can be identified. From their performance further
benefits or performance appraisal so their performance management. HR manager provides non-
monetary and monetary benefits rewards to their employees for motivating them.
Training and development: Personal and professional personality development of the employees
is also considered under the responsibility of the HR manager. They conduct training events for
their employees and develop their lacking areas.
Figure 2: Functions of HRM
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HR strategy Recruitment
and selection
Reward and
performance
management
Training and
development

(Source: Author, 2019)
Purpose of these functions in the context of British Airways
In the context of BA, the HR manager or HR team need to conduct all these functions so that
flight services, ground services and airport services can be properly delivered to their customers.
HR manager needs to select an effective HR strategy and organise the recruitment and selection
process for hiring the staff members for their airline services. By the skill and qualification select
the deserving candidate (Wilton, 2016). Further, provide them with training for their
development and offer some benefits to manage their efficiency level.
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A.C 1.2 Justify a human resources plan based on an analysis of supply and demand for a selected
service industry business
HR plan and its importance in the organisation
Human resource planning is considered as the process which evaluates the future and current
requirement of human resource in the organization and for this HR manager need to create a
proper HR plan. HR plan or planning also serves the connection between HRM and the strategic
plan of the organisation (Reilly and Williams, 2016). HR plan or planning is important in British
Airways so that they can evaluate the vacant post in the organization and hire qualified
employees to fulfil their future needs. HR plan also helps to fill the requirement of employees in
the organization to achieve the BA set target.
Difficulty while creating an accurate HR plan
There are various types of challenges faced by the HR manager while preparing an accurate and
effective HR plan such as- attracting top talent for the post, adopt the employee changes,
competition etc. Due to these factors sometimes challenges are faced to hire skilled and qualified
employees for their organisation. It is difficult for the HR to create an HR plan accurate as per
the requirement of British Airways because every time it is not possible to forecast the needs of
the organisation in respect of human resources (Kispal-Vitai and Wood, 2018).
Supply and demand of labour and its impact on HR planning
The HR functions also support the entire organisation while analysing the requirement of the HR
as per the availability of the resources and budget for recruitment and selection. According to the
vacant positions and job profiles availability in BA, the required number of employees is
predicted. From the projection and analysis further demand of employees are identified and that
will decide the source of labour supply in the organization. This forecasting will affect the HR
planning because the further change in the demand for labour will take much time and delay the
process of hiring and a long way to labour supply will become expensive for BA.
Table 1: HR plan for British Airways
Employees
roles
Required skills Type of
job
Number of
working hours in
a week (hours)
Current
employees
Current
employee
turnover ratio
Staff demand
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Cabin crew Customer handling,
polite
communication,
service delivery and
interpersonal
management skill
Full
time
33 160 22% 170
Luggage
handing staff
Luggage
management skill,
proper handling
skill and
communication
skill.
Part
time
32 150 32% 320
Pilots for
flights
Attractive
personality and
knowledge of flight
functions
Full
time
28 80 27% 70
Flight
cleaning staff
Ability to be polite,
hygienic factor and
knowledge about
safety principles.
Part
time
31 180 36% 140
Engineering
for IT unit
IT knowledge,
understand all the
functions about
flights.
Full
time
30 220 16% 180
Justification for the above HR plan
The above HR plan is created as per the requirement in British Airways as they currently have
various human resource requirements. According to the job role, full time and part time job are
specified for every sector. With the help of the above plan, it is justified that the requirement of
human resources such as- pilot, cleaning staff, cabin crew, luggage handling and engineering
staff is required. Currently, BA is facing high employee turnover in cleaning staff due to which
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they need 140 staff in the cleaning department. This HR plan is prepared by considering the
supply and demand of the employees in each department.
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Task 2
Introduction
Employee relation is the term which refers to the efforts required to manage the relationship
among employer and employee. The organisation with the proper employee relation can provide
quality of treatment to every employee through which employees also offer commitment towards
their role and organisation. On the other side, employment legislation is considered as the law
which governs employment in the organization with every employee. Employment legislation
also affects the employee, employer and union.
AC 2.1 Assess the current state of employment relations in a selected service industry
Employee relation in British Airways
In the organization, the employment relationship is effective and healthy which manage the
performance and commitment of every person towards BA. It is analyzed in the context of BA
that their managers also support employees and business to achieve their set goals by following
all the rules and regulations to protect everyone rights in the organization. All the employees
maintain proper communication and interaction with each other whether they are flight staff or
ground staff and that help them to avoid internal conflicts (Jesinoski et al, 2016).
The current state of employment relation in British Airways
By considering the employment relationship in BA, it is analysed that currently there are various
types of problems and issues occurred between employer and employee and that damage their
understanding level and increase the chances of conflicts. There are various types of factors due
to which internal conflicts between employer and employee are growing such as- the global level
of competition, the growth of new airlines industries, technology change etc. These factors
change the mindset of the employees and that conduct problem between employer and employee
(Amankwah-Amoah, 2015). The employees of BA are not getting proper attention, training for
development and professional growth as per global market requirement due to which problems
are occurring, and that is disturbing the employment relationship in BA.
Role of a trade union in the employment relation
British Airways have different types of trade unions such as- staff members, union leader, and
workers etc. who are playing an important role in this type of problems. Due to the problems
between employee and employer, the union trade informal group conducts a strike in which they
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