Assessment of HRM Practices at British Airways: A Comprehensive Report

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes British Airways' HRM.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SERVICE INDUSTRIES

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 2
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................ 3
1.1 ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE AND PURPOSE OF HR DEPARTMENT IN BA........................................3
1.2 ANALYSIS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND FOR JUSTIFICATION OF HR PLANS FOR BA.....................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................ 7
2.1 ASSESSMENT OF THE CURRENT STATE OF EMPLOYMENT RELATION IN THE GIVEN SERVICE
INDUSTRY.......................................................................................................................................7
2.2 DISCUSSION ABOUT IMPACT OF EMPLOYEE’S LAW ON THE HRM OF BA................................9
TASK 3.......................................................................................................................................... 11
3.1 A DISCUSSION ON THE PERSONAL SPECIFICATION AND JOB DESCRIPTION FOR CABIN CREW
AT BA........................................................................................................................................... 11
3.2 A COMPARISON OF SELECTION PROCESS OF BA AND THE TRANSPORT FOR LONDON.........13
TASK 4.......................................................................................................................................... 15
4.1 NEED AND EFFECTIVENESS OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS AT BRITISH
AIRWAYS...................................................................................................................................... 15
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 18
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................19
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INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management (HRM) is a procedure in management where all the process,
operation and working of an organization are managed effectively by an HR manager. The HR
department has the responsibility to hire talented persons who would take the company to a
great height. The given report is based on assessing the functioning of HRM for the given
service industry, British Airways (BA) in this case. Furthermore, various employment laws would
be discussed with their significant impact on the HR department. Besides, the supply and
demand for the human resource would also be discussed for BA.
In addition to this, a comparative study would be done to on hiring and selection process of BA
with other organization within the given industry which would provide keen details on hiring
process and responsibilities for the given job specification. This attempt has been made to find
out how human resource management works in the airline industry and identify those factors
which affect its efficiency.
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TASK 1
1.1 ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE AND PURPOSE OF HR DEPARTMENT IN BA
HRM is a pillar of strength for each and every industry. The major portion of the revenue for the
airline industry comes from public transportation where there is a wide interaction between
customers and management. In BA, various departments function together so as to cater good
services to the customers and here the role of HR department become more prominent. The HR
department covers larger functional aspects and hires suitable candidates for each department
(Santana, et al. 2018). Nevertheless, there are various roles and purposes of HR department of
BA which are described below:
Accurate Selection and Recruitment Process
BA is one of the leading organization in the field of travel and tourism industry where highly
skilled professionals would be required to provide basic and necessary services to the
customers. These services include sales and marketing, operation, ticket checking, legal and
maintenance staff. The role of HRM is to utilize a separate hiring process so as to ensure
competencies in the selection of suitable candidates. Furthermore, the recruitment and
selection process in BA would have the same procedure of conduction of assessment test and
interviews which would be followed by a proper medical checkup (Bailey et al., 2018).
Rewards and Benefits
The major role of HR is to keep the employees working in BA happy and satisfied. It is evident
that there are long working hours for the workers at the airways. This would increase mental
stress among them which could be removed by assessing their performance and rewarding
them for their work. Moreover, some monetary benefits and perks should also be provided to
enhance their productivity (Santana, et al. 2018).
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Performance Appraisal
The purpose of the HRM department is to monitor the performance of the employees so that
there would not be any impact on the working of the organization. The HRM would devise such
strategy where the good performing employees would be rewarded and bad performing
employees would be reprimanded so as to keep a balance in the working effectively (Eaton,
2017).
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1.2 ANALYSIS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND FOR JUSTIFICATION OF HR PLANS FOR
BA
Human resource planning is a large process which involves the examination of the goals and
objectives, forecasting the demand and supply of the existing workforce so that the
management of BA would be able to access its present workforce, identify any flaws in its
working and thus provide good HR policies for the welfare of the given organization. For BA, the
goal of human resource planning is to:
 Assurance for the availability of the workforce for the planning of new flight
 Proper management of arrival and departure of their flights on international airports
(Belobaba et al., 2015)
As per the given case study, BA has proposed to start an international flight from Heathrow
Airport to Maderia. With the commencement of this new flight, there would be a requirement
of new employees which would work in shifts at the different operational functions at BA. The
duration of flight would be of four hours and there would be four flights from Madeira to
Heathrow per week and 6 rounds per week during peak summer time. The given study would
discuss a strategic HR plan which could be effectively utilized by BA to sustain their new flight. It
includes:
 The proposed 4-hour flight plan for 6 times a week would give 48 fly hours and conclude
with ground maintenance tasks. For such a task, there would be a requirement of a well-
conditioned aircraft with a dedicated staff. It would include maintenance staff, cabin
crew, aircraft pilot and ground staff. Besides, the ticketing and reservation department
would also bear some workload (Eaton, 2017).
 There would be an enhancement in workload which would raise the expectation to hire
new employees. Nevertheless, the HR department would conduct an analysis to identify
the time slack left vacant by the current employee so that they could be filled by them
so as to save time and money.
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 To meet this supply and demand, the HR would issue notice related to job vacancies on
the company's website and other public forums. The hiring will take place on
established rules and standards and in only those departments where there is an urgent
requirement of the employees.
 Immediately after the selection, employees would receive training for their respective
department and would soon start their working as per the company’s requirement
(Belobaba et al., 2015).
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TASK 2
2.1 ASSESSMENT OF THE CURRENT STATE OF EMPLOYMENT RELATION IN THE
GIVEN SERVICE INDUSTRY
Employment relation is a step taken towards enhancing cooperation and understanding among
employees by the management so as to reduce conflicts and work together with them to
achieve organizational goals (Mills, 2017). For the given service industry British Airways (BA),
the employee relation could be defined as:
Organisation Culture
If the employees are provided with a good organizational culture, they would be able to work in
the given office environment with great ease. This would further help in the reduction of any
grievances and issues occurring in the office. Thus, BA has the responsibility to provide a good
environment to the employees where they would be able to work with their full capacity and
help the organization to achieve their growth in a correct manner (Scott, et al. 2018).
Unionization and Structure of Trade Unions
For the welfare of the employees, trade unions have been formulated which works to provide
benefit to the employees in an efficient manner. The most important one is the World
Federation of Trade Union (WFTU) which works for protecting and safeguarding the rights of
the employees. Moreover, it also ensures that better compensation is provided to the
employees so that they would be able to work and sustain themselves in an effective manner
(Moon, et al. 2018).
Grievances and Disciplinary Procedures
According to this procedure, the grievances faced by the employees during their work period
are effectively sorted out by the HR management of the BA. In addition to this, they also face
various disciplinary issues which affect their efficiency and could be solved only through proper
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mechanism. So implementing this procedure, BA would be able to enhance employee relations
and would result in better efficiency and productivity in the office premises (Mills, 2017).
Collective Bargains and Negotiations
This step is taken to negotiate between management and employees by the trade unions so
that the employees would be able to gain better facilities in terms of working hours, wages and
promotion so that their confidence would boost up to a higher extent.
Provision of Empowerment to the employees
The provision of empowering the employees by providing them with some power and authority
would bring in them a sense of belongingness. Moreover, by providing them with full
responsibility and allowing them to take part in the decision-making process would make them
work for their best and enhance their productivity in an effective manner. This would be
beneficial not only for the employees but also for the organization and enhance their growth
and productivity (Wang and Seifert, 2017).
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2.2 DISCUSSION ABOUT IMPACT OF EMPLOYEE’S LAW ON THE HRM OF BA
Employment laws are the regulations which are framed by the government so as ensure proper
facilities to the employees and no violation of their rights by their respective employers. The
aim of this law is to provide social welfare to the people and protect individual rights in a
significant manner. Besides, they assist the organization to create welfare policies for the
benefits of its employees in an effective manner (Pfeffer, 2014). The employment laws put
emphasis on the human resources management of British Airways to provide necessary care to
its employees, in addition, to achieve their objectives in a significant manner.
Equality Act, 2010
According to this act, there would be no discrimination against any individual in terms of
training, salary, allowances and other benefits and all would be entitled to get the same
facilities as described in their contract. Moreover, management of BA would ensure that there
would not be any discrimination and bias against any individual and all would be treated
equally as per the given law (Flynn and Schröder, 2018).
Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974
According to this act, it is the responsibility of the management of BA to provide a healthy
working environment for the employees where they could work safely without compromising
with their health. An assurance must be provided by BA that they would abide by this law and
would implement all necessary safety equipment so that there is no compromising with the
health of the employees. Besides, it should also maintain safety procedures so as to avoid any
kind of accidents which might harm or threaten the life of the people (Hunt, 2018).
Employer’s Liability Insurance Act, 1969
According to this act, all the employees working in BA are liable to get insurance facilities so
that they could protect themselves from any kind of unforeseen accidents or physical injuries
while working in future. This act would help the employees to avail all the benefits which are
provided in the insurance and thus would be able to work in an effective manner.
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Data Protection Act, 2018
According to this act, the management of BA would ensure that all the private and important
data related to their employees would be provided with high security and there would not be
any theft to their data by hackers using the online medium. Besides, BA would also ensure that
if there is a requirement of utilization of data of the employees for some users, it would be
done only after they have given their consent (Flynn and Schröder, 2018).
Thus all the above-given employment laws affect the management of human resources in BA
since they directly impact the decision-making process of the HR department of the given
organization. Besides, it is the responsibility of the given airline industry to abide by these laws
and protect itself from any unwanted issues and problems.
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TASK 3
3.1 A DISCUSSION ON THE PERSONAL SPECIFICATION AND JOB DESCRIPTION
FOR CABIN CREW AT BA
The job description contains the responsibilities and duties of the employees and the
expectations of the organization. The purpose is to describe the activities of the job role and
the employees would perform according to the role. The job description for Cabin Crew at BA is
explained as follows:
JOB DESCRIPTION
Job Description Job Title: Cabin Crew
Work Experience:
Should have the experience of 2 years in the
Hospitality Industry, Aviation Industry or in the
Customer Service would be preferable
Department: BA Citi Flyer
The requirement of Knowledge and
Competencies:
o English communication should be
excellent both written and verbal
o Should be able to work in different shifts
o Interpersonal skills should be good to
interact with passengers
o Have soft and technical skills for handling
different works
o Should have mental and physical fitness
o Should possess the ability of quick learning
Job Requirements:
The candidate who has excellent English
communication will be preferable. The physical
strength is needed and should be flexible to do
work in rotational shifts. Should be able to tread
water whilst and fit the lifejacket in the emergency
conditions. Should possess the problem-solving
skill and manage the tough situations.
(British Airways, 2019)
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