British Airways: HRM, Objectives, Functions, Strengths & Weaknesses

This report provides an overview of Human Resource Management (HRM) at British Airways, focusing on its purposes and functions. It highlights how British Airways aligns HRM practices with its business objectives, emphasizing recruitment, training and development, and performance management. The report details specific programs like the “Putting People First Program” and various performance evaluation methods such as ranking, 360-degree feedback, and Management by Objectives. Furthermore, it discusses the strengths, such as campus placements and online hiring, and weaknesses, including high training costs and potential loss of experienced candidates, associated with British Airways' HRM strategies.

Running Head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 1
Human Resource Management: British
Airways

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Table of Contents
LO1: Purpose and Functions of Human Resource Management.....................................................3
Purposes.......................................................................................................................................3
Functions......................................................................................................................................4
Strengths and Weaknesses........................................................................................................5

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LO1: Purpose and Functions of Human Resource Management
British Airways (BA) is an international airline organization that is carrying over 33 million
passengers all over the world. The company is involved in managing the cargo operations,
scheduled passengers and other services. It has two bases one is Gatwick and Heathrow. It has
become one of the largest multi-national airlines in the world (British Airways, 2018). To attain
its business objectives, British Airways is making investment on its human resources that can be
considered as the most suitable bridge between human resources and success of company. The
functions of HRM assist the organization in managing the employees and their responsibilities
which are given by senior management. At British Airways, these all functions are organized
effectively to achieve its purposes. The primary purposes and functions of HRM at BA are given
below:
Purposes
To achieve the business objectives of British Airways
British Airways is using the best practices to recruit its human resources so that it can achieve its
objectives effectively. To achieve its goals and objectives, the role of HRM at BA is to hire, train
and grow the employees and where required to detain or dismiss them. The organization is able
to lead the employees towards objective through effective training program. The major purpose
of HRM is to develop their skills and abilities so that they can help the company to achieve its
goals (Bratton and Gold, 2012).
To establish a pool of competence in organization
British Airways has adopted a typical development program like individual learning and
individual employee development so that it can attain a pool of competence. Through this, the
employees are able to survive in an unforeseen business conditions.
To enhance the relationship between performance and rewards
British Airways is engaged in managing its human resources in order to establish an improved
relationship between rewards and performance. The management at company understands that it
is the best way to motivate the employees. So, it has adopted some reward schemes which will

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finally align with goals of airlines (Eaton, 2017). It has implemented a performance related
bonus scheme that is paid to all employees.
To develop a high performance culture in the organization
This is one of the most significant purposes of any company because HRM can help the
company in establishing high performance culture in major ways. At British Airways, HR
division makes sure that its staff is working on its responsibilities appropriately that supports the
organization in maintaining an organizational culture. It has adopted innovative and advanced
technology to establish high performing culture (Boxall and Macky, 2009).
Functions
At British Airways, the functions of Human Resource Management not only assist in the
management of current employees, but also in planning the changes that will affect the future
requirements for staffing. These functions are applicable to the resourcing and workforce
planning in British Airways. Three primary functions of HRM at British Airways are given
below:
Training and development
Training and development is one of the major functions of Human Resource management, to
which managing is responsible to manage the training for existing and new employees, who need
enhancing their skills and abilities. British Airlines have adopted various training programs
which enable the changes in attitudes and values across the company. The company has a
training program i.e. “Putting People First Program” that is aimed to more than 20000 employees
(Ford, 2014). These employees are trained to make major focus on customers. HRM division at
BA has adopted these training and development programs to enhance their potentiality towards
customer service delivery. It has aligned these functions with the strategic goals and objectives
of British Airways.
Performance Management
Performance management is another important function at British Airways that assists the
organization in attaining above mentioned purposes. Under this function, the firm uses different
methods for measuring and managing the performance of its employees. Performance evaluation

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is essential for understanding the growth and productivity of human resources whether they are
meeting the standards which are set by the companies. British Airways use different methods
under performance management function such as ranking method, 360 degree feedback system
and Management by Objective. Under ranking method, British Airways gathers the feedback
from customers via telephones and mails on various points like behavior, interaction and airline
services. After that, manager ranks the performance of employees considering this feedback.
Under management by objective method, the contribution of each employee in organization’s
objective is considered (Storey, 2014). Under 360 degree feedback method, team members,
customers, senior managers, staff is involved. It also considers the delivery of services and
communication to ensure the service quality. It also helps in managing and evaluating the
performances of employees at British Airways.
Recruitment and Selection
Recruitment and selection are two important functions when a company plans to fill the vacant
position in organization. Recruitment is the process that is used to generate pool of candidates
with the needed abilities and skills. After the completion of recruitment, organization recognizes
the most suitable employees via selection process. British Airways hire the fresher candidates
through campus placement from educational institutions and provide them training for enhancing
their skills. In addition to this, it also recruits the candidates via online portals and organizes
online interviews. It gives the priority to the local candidates that indicate partiality among
candidates. The major focus of company is on hiring the trustworthy candidates and recruiting
them through internal process (Adverdmuzoo, 2017).
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
 Conducting campus placement from educational institutions helps in attracting the people
with updated and quality knowledge. For example, these institutes give assurance about
the knowledge and capability of candidate.
 Online hiring enhances the speed and productivity of application for both organization
and applicants.
 Conducting online interviews can assist the organization to save the time of walk-in at
organization’s workplace (Kurtz and William, 2017).

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 Through online portal, company can approach a large pool of candidates.
Weaknesses
 Hiring a fresher candidate requires an effective and huge training that increases the
administration cost of British Airways.
 Sometimes, people leave the organization in between the training and development
program.
 The management at British Airways follows the stiff kind of training which leads to
experienced candidate’s loss (Adverdmuzoo, 2017).
In this way, British Airways has managed its human resources in an effective way. The company
is using significant Human Resource strategies and functions so that it can meet the overall
objectives of organization.

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References
Adverdmuzoo, 2017, Recruitment and Selection Process in Easy Jet vs. British Airways
[Online], Available from https://medium.com/@muzoo2695/recruitment-and-selection-process-
in-easy-jet-vs-british-airways-532d2f5baecc. [Accessed 9 April 2018].
Boxall, P., and Macky, K., 2009, Research and Theory on High-Performance Work Systems:
Progressing the High-Involvement Stream. Human Resource Management Journal, 19(1).
Bratton, J. And Gold, J., 2012, Human Resource Management: Theory And Practice. 5th Ed.
Basingstoke: Palgrave.
British Airways, 2018, British Airways: Book Flights, Holidays & Check In Online, [Online],
Available from https://www.britishairways.com/en-us/home#/. [Accessed 9 April 2018].
Eaton, J., 2017. Globalization and human resource management in the airline industry. UK:
Routledge.
Ford, J.K., 2014. Improving training effectiveness in work organizations. UK: Psychology Press.
Kurtz, J. and William, A., 2017. Influential Role Of Employee Perception Of Recruitment And
Selection On Performance. Australian Journal Of Economics And Management Sciences, 7(5).
Storey, J., 2014. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management. UK: Routledge.

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