Analysis of Human Resource Management Practices in British Airways

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Travel and Tourism Human Resource management
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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................3
Task-1..............................................................................................................................................4
Task-2..............................................................................................................................................8
Task-3............................................................................................................................................11
Task-4............................................................................................................................................15
Conclusion....................................................................................................................................19
Reference list................................................................................................................................20
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Introduction
The study analyses the importance of the human resource department in travel and tourism.
The study includes four sections. The study includes the analysis of the human resource
department from every different aspect. The study also includes essential HR plans for the
aviation industry. The British Airways industry is chosen here for the analysis.
British Airways is considered the largest airline in the UK. The airline has the largest fleet
size in the United Kingdom. The airline was established by the British government in 1974.
The British Airway board was established to manage the two nationalized airlines. The
airline is considered the second largest airline measured by the number of passengers. The
organisation is popular for using the latest technologies such as biometric gate and others
(Britishairways.com. 2019).
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Task-1
Introduction
The section of the study analyses the role and purpose of the human resource management
in British Airways. The other category of this section analyses the creation of human
resource plans.
Analysis of the role and purpose of HRM in British Airways
There are many functions of the human resource department in an organisation. The key
duty of human resource management is recruiting and training (Solnet et al., 2015). The
human resource personnel of the BA is responsible for the employees who are the
components of that successful organisation.
 Recruitment and training- Recruitment is important for captivating and screening
the special talents in an organisation. The human resource department is responsible
for preparing the job description and selecting the suitable candidate for a job role.
British Airways deals with the technology so that the company will need more such
persons who are familiar with the latest technological trends. The human resource
department searches for suitable candidates for a job post and conducts interview
round. The personnel evaluate the person specification and interview report and
select the candidate (Ślusarczyk and Golnik, 2014). Human resource management
also includes the training of new employees as well as the old employees. The
technology is changing rapidly in the UK. The human resource management
conducts a training session so that the new employees can understand their duties and
the old employees can learn about the new technologies. In this way, the department
continues the employee retention process.
 Compensation and performance appraisal- The human resource department is
responsible for preparing the payrolls for employees. The department analyses the
person specification and the job specification and makes decisions on compensation.
The department encourages the employee by benefitting them with bonuses and other
rewards. This helps to motivate the employees for work (Gupta and Shaw, 2014).
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 Resolving conflicts and building commitments- Employee relation is a very major
factor, which can affect an organisation favorably or unfavorably ( Coen and
Rebocho, 2016). The human resource management of BA maintains the employee
relation so that they can curb the chances of rising conflicts. Conflicts leave a major
impact on the on the working process of the organisation. The department has helped
the organisation to ignore such issues. This has made the working environment of the
organisation better. The HR personnel engages the employees in multiple activities
so that the employees can get enough time to know each other.
 Preparing company standards- Preparing company standard is one of the most
important jobs of the HR department. The company standard helps the employees to
understand their behavioral limitations in an organisation. The company standard
also guides the management to take actions against an employee if they violate the
rules and regulation of the company (Hale et al., 2015).
 Tracking the employee records- The department tracks the attendance of the
employees. The health and other information of the employees are recorded by the
personnel so that the employees get leaves and health scheme for their treatments.
The department has contributed to making the working environment tangible, which has led
the employees to job satisfaction. British Airways has been able to exploit from their
employee growth with the help of this department.
Creation of a Human Resource (HR) Plan
The human resource department of British Airways sets the HR plan for both the peak
season and the off-peak season. The plan is outlined below for better understanding.
Roles
Creation of an HR plan
HR plan for peak season
Key position Required staffs Working hours
per day (hours
per day)
Preparation
time
Projected staff
turnover
Pilots 12 6.5 3 2
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Engineers 7 8 2 1
Administrative
staff
8 8 2 2
Cabin crew 10 7 3 0
Table 1: HR plan for peak season
(Source: created by the learner)
HR plan for the off-peak season
Key position Required staffs Working hours
per day (hours
per day)
Preparation
time
Projected staff
turnover
Pilots 8 5 3 3
Engineers 7 8 1 0
Administrative
staff
8 8 2 1
Cabin crew 6 5 2 2
Table 2: HR plan for the off-peak season
(Source: created by the learner)
The section of the study concludes that the human resource department is responsible for the
recruitment and training process of this organisation. The study has further provided
effective HR plans for the peak and off-peak seasons for handling the demand of customers.
According to the travel jargon, the whole year can be divided into three seasons. This
division includes peak season, off-peak season and shoulder season (Bubalo and Gaggero,
2015). The HR plans show that the requirement of staffs changes according to the peak and
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off-peak season. People generally choose the peak season for traveling so that the demand
for air transportation increases in that time. The need for staffs and other resources increases
in that time. The working time may also be increased according to that. The human resource
department may need to compensate the employees for the extra hours of work so they need
to set an effective plan for the BA, which will address the needs of BA and lower the
expenditures.
In the off-peak season the demand of the air transportation as it is said that the time is not
suitable for traveling. The requirement of the employees’ decreases and the working hours
may also be decreased to save the extra expenditures of the company.
The need for employee turnover will be increased in off-peak season as the need of
employees will be reduced so that there will be no need of recruiting new staffs.
Conclusion
The section of the study concludes that the human resource department plays a major role in
the setting a plan and taking care of the well-being of the employees in an organisation. The
section includes two different HR plans for both the peak and off-peak season.
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Task-2
Introduction
The section of the study includes the analysis of the current state of employment relations in
the British Airways. The section also outlines the laws, which can affect the human resource
management department of BA.
Assess the current state of employment relations in the airline industry
The employment relations play a major role in an organisation’s growth. The relation
between two employees is known as employee relation. The human resource management of
the aviation industry maintains the employee relation in British Airways. The well-
maintained employee relation helps the organisation to acquire the maximized growth of
employees. Employee relation is very much essential for achieving human satisfaction and
high productivity (Men, 2014).
The human resource department of BA is responsible for maintaining the employee relation
of employers and employees. Employee relation may affect the labor market demographics.
The employee relation will help to curb the chances of rising conflicts. Conflicts affect the
productivity of an organisation. The collaboration of work can enhance the quality of
production. British Airways needs to upgrade their services as per the latest changes in
technology. If the employees collaborate for a new project, the organisation will be able to
achieve their goals (Marchington, 2016). The employee relation will help the Industry to
have a tangible working environment. The employee relation is a process, which helps to
interact with the employees of an organisation. The demand for air transport is increasing
day by day and the competition in the aviation industry is also increasing with respect to
that. The well-maintained employee relation will help the employees to cope up with the
challenging situation and face the competitive market together.
Strategies for finding the solutions
British Airways has been able to maintain the employee relation and acquire the highest
growth of the employees. The current state of employee relation in the industry is
satisfactory. The airline industry is concerned about the working time of the employees so
that they have been able to maintain the employee relation (Yeh, 2014).
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The human resource department of the British Airway should take care of the fact that the
workplace is free from toxic causes of conflicts such as favoritism and others. The hierarchy
of employees should be transparent. The personnel should promote the positive attitude that
will help to enhance the positivity of the employee relations. The HR department conducts
different types of activities and other things apart from the work so that the employees can
get enough time to connect with each other. The connection will help to produce
collaborative work (Reilly and Williams, 2016). Employee retention encourages the
employees for working. The need of the employees should be determined and the personnel
should focus on resolving their problems so that the employees will feel comfortable to
work in such environment. The organisation will be able to maximize the growth of the
employees (Wong et al, 2016).
Discuss how employment law affects the management of human resources within BA
The human resource department has to prepare company standards with the help of
employment legislation. The employment legislation are the laws, which basically empower
the employees. The employees of an organisation hold some rights to protect themselves.
The employee can complain against the organisation if they think that the organisation is
violating the rules.
Equity act, 2010: The act aims to provide a simpler form of a legal framework, which will
help the employees to fight against discrimination. The act protects the employees from
being judged based on their age, race, gender reassignment, disability and others ( Forde and
Slater, 2016). The compensation of men and women were different for a similar job profile
in the UK. The equity act empowers the employees to complain against the organisation if
they are violating the rules.
Employment relations act, 2004- The act was established and motivated in 2004. The act
helps the employees to demand the leaves like paternal and maternal leaves and awards like
employee tribunal. The employees can fight against the violation of such rules
The civil aviation regulations, 2004- The act was established by the Civil Aviation
Authority. The act is used by the industry to take care of the health and safety of their
employees. The human resource department of British Airways follows the act while
preparing the company standards for their company (Lelieur, 2017).
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Working time regulation act, 1998- The act outlines the working time of the workers. The
act helps the organisation to ensure that no workers are working for an extra time. The
employees can also demand the bonuses if they are working for an extra time.
The laws can affect the working of the human resource department. The personnel of British
Airways should prepare the laws as per the employment legislation. The compensation
process of the human resource department can be affected by this law. The department
should keep a closer eye on the employees so that they can avoid the violation of rules such
as antidiscrimination act. Every organisation has own rules and regulations the human
resource department should focus on preparing such rules for the organisation. The company
needs to ensure that the employees of the organisation have understood the significance of
such laws (Koppelman, 2014). Violation of employment legislation can leave a major
impact on the growth of the organisation and stain their corporate image. The department
should listen to the problems and needs of employees in order to address their resolve that.
This will help the organisation to avoid unpleasant situations.
Conclusion
The section of the study concludes that the human resource department of British Airways
should keep in mind that the organisation needs to be free of any kind of toxicity. The
employee satisfaction can assure the increased amount of profits. The HR department is
responsible for maintaining such laws.
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Task-3
Introduction
The section of the study includes the discussion on the importance of job description and
person specification. The section also includes the comparison of the selection process of
two different organisations.
A discussion of the job description and person specification for Cabin Crew, BA If you
have decided to use a different job from BA then you MUST provide the documents for
this (JD and PS)
The job description helps the HR personnel to select the suitable applicants for a job role.
The job description includes the information about the general requirements of a
designation. The job description is important for outlining the requirements of the job role.
The employees can understand their duties by referring to the job description. The human
resource plans the job description before recruiting any new employees so that they can
ignore any misunderstanding of the duties. If the department lists the requirements before
conducting an interview it will be easier for them to select a suitable person ( Verboncu and
Zeininger, 2015).
British Airways
Title of the job Cabin Crew
Department of the Job British Airways, International transport
Job description
 To attend the pre-flight briefing
 To greet the passengers
 To check the safety equipment
 To make quick decisions in a medical emergency
 To inform the passengers about the safety care procedures
 To serve the meals and refreshments to the passengers
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 To ensure the disembark of the passengers at the end of the journey
 To check whether any luggage or other things of passengers are left
Table 3: Job description for the post of cabin crew
(Source: created by the learner)
The provided job description is prepared for the job role of cabin crew ( Taylor and Moore,
2015). The applicants can be able to understand their job roles by referring to this job
description. The HR department will need the job description while setting questions for the
interview. The compensation will be made upon their duties. The freshly recruit will clearly
understand their responsibilities.
Essential Desirable
Skills  Good communication
skill.
 Has to be team player
 Has to be calm and
patient in tough
situations
 Must have a high
confidence level
 Has to be flexible
 Physical fitness
 Need to have the
interpersonal skills
 Swimming skills
 Problem-solving
capability
 Ability to deal with
confidential
information
Qualification  Must have 2 or more
GSCE in college
 Has to be 18 or above
 Knowledge of
languages more than
the two
 Primary medical
knowledge
Table 4: Person specification
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