Analysis of HRM Practices at British Airways: A Report

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Human Resource Management for Service Industries
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................11
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................16
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................20
Reference List................................................................................................................................21
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Introduction
Human resource management is an effective management approach for the overall development
of people in an organisation. It deals with hiring, maintaining and motivating people. It is one of
primary functions of the service industry, as it brings employees for accomplishing
organisational goals to provide better service to customers. The report will analyse the functions
of human resources in relation to British Airways (BA), which is a renowned airline company in
the UK. An HR plan will be created by considering staff demand and supply for new flight
service to Madeira. The report will discuss the scenario of employment relation in the airline
industry. It will compare the recruitment and selection process of British Airways and Transport
for London. Some guidance notes will be prepared for training and development activities.
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TASK 1
Introduction
Human resource management plays many roles in terms of selection, reward management,
employee relation, and others. The task will focus on the major purposes of HRM. It will reflect
an HR plan in accordance with flight service from Heathrow and Madeira.
An analysis of the role and purpose of human resource management in a selected service
industry with reference to British Airways
The purpose of human resource management varies depending on different functions, which are
as follows.
Recruitment and selection
The purpose is to find and hire qualified permanent or contractual employees for BA. The
department focuses on negotiating benefits and salaries and preparing employee contracts
(Anyim et al., 2012). Another purpose is to meet the legal requirements of in accordance with
ethical practices associated with flight service.
Performance management
The sole purpose of performance management is to evaluate employee performance by setting
some standards (Mester et al., 2018). It assures and ensures that employees are performing their
duties effectively in relation to the highest standard of flight service. Designing a feedback
mechanism is another important purpose of this function.
Employee relation
The purpose is to ensure that employees have a clear understanding of rights in relation to the
union. Mediating conflicts among employees and the employer is another purpose of this
function (Herriot, 2013). The function resolves disputes among employees.
Training and development
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The purpose is to manage ongoing training of existing staff and on boarding training for new
staff required for the flight service that is going to be started for Madeira. The function carries
out activities like conferences, external educational courses, internal meetings and others for the
development of employees. Another purpose is to evaluate employee performance through
regular assessment.
Roles
Human resource management of BA has different roles such as HR business partners, recruiters,
job analysts, learning and development specialists, employee relation specialists, compensation
manager, and others. HR business partners support the management in specific areas of business
operation. Job analysts gather and examine information regarding required positions in order to
prepare job descriptions. Recruiters search for talent pools, who can participate in the
recruitment process of BA. Compensation managers prepare compensation plans for staff and
handle benefit programs (Bratton and Gold, 2017). The duty of employee relation specialist is to
advise the management of BA regarding each aspect of union and management relationship.
The HRM model is followed by organisations to manage the workforce effectively. The major
versions of HRM model are a soft approach and hard approach. Hard approach treats staff as
resources, which can be handled from a cost perspective. British Airways follows a soft approach
in which it concentrates on human elements. It prioritises on investing in training, development
and employee benefit program with an aim of gaining staff commitment for a longer a period.
Creation of an HR plan
HR plan is a comprehensive plan that includes various HR activities such as recruitment,
selection, succession plan, development program, reward management, and performance reviews
(Stredwick, 2013). The HR department of BA is producing an HR plan aiming at the staff
requirement for Madeira flight service in peak and off-peak seasons of the year. The plan must
be created in relation to the strategic direction of the organisation. It focuses on two important
components such as forecast of labour demand and supply. Employment need is forecasted based
on the unit demand, trend predication, customer demand, and other aspects. HR plan for peak
summer season and rest of the year will be prepared in below tables.
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HR Plan for Peak season
Key positions Staff required Working hours
(Per day)
Preparation time Projected staff
turnover
Pilot 8 4 3 2
Engineers 2 4 3 0
Administrative
staff
3 4 3 1
Cabin Crew 12 4 3 1
Table 1: HR Plan for staffing
(Source: Created by the learner)
HR Plan for off-Peak season
Key positions Staff required Working hours
(Per day)
Preparation time Projected staff
turnover
Pilot 6 4 3 1
Engineers 2 4 3 1
Administrative
staff
3 4 3 1
Cabin Crew 8 4 3 1
Table 2: HR Plan for staffing
(Source: Created by the learner)
Human resource needs vary as per different seasons of the airline industry. In summer, number
of passengers book tickets and travel. Therefore, four flights are enough for going and returning
journey. In peak season, more employees are required for providing a successful flight service.
In off-peak season, fewer employees are required due to less demand for flight service from
Heathrow to Madeira. The HR plan for staff requirement is flexible, as it is capable of adapting
with changing business environment. If some employees will take casual or sick leave,
alternative members will perform their duty. By focusing on projected employee turnover,
leaves, and season demand, the HR department has decided the number of each staff role. Under
any circumstances, the flight service will not be stopped due to labour unavailability. The staff
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roles including the pilot, administrative officers, engineers and cabin crew are required for
delivering the new service.
Conclusion
The functions of HRM in BA perform different roles and their purposes are different for the
employee development and growth. BA adopts the soft approach of HRM for acquiring
employee commitment and improved business performance. The HR plan for Madeira has been
created by considering seasonal demand, leaves and expected employee turnover.
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TASK 2
Introduction
Employment relation is the relationship between the employees and the organisation. The task
will determine the condition of employment relation in the airline industry. It will discuss the
employment laws affecting human resources within BA.
Assess the current state of employment relations in the airline industry
Employment relation is concentrating on the individual as well as the collective relationship in
the workplace (Herriot, 2013). It is helping line managers to establish a trust-based relation with
employees. A climate of good employment relation with high levels of commitment,
involvement and engagement help in improving business outcomes in the airline industry.
Employee relation issues normally arise in the airline industry due to the change in contracts,
nature of work, labour market demographics, technology, and global competition. It is found on
many levels such as the workplace, industry sector, national and international level. The key
players of employment relation in the airline industry of UK are the GMB Union trade, British
Stewards and Stewardesses Association, British Airline Pilots Association and others
(Prospect.org.uk, 2019). Additionally, Government agencies are concerned with providing better
workplace to employees.
Human resource management of BA has formulated some practices and policies in order to
maintain a good employee relation. The major parameters are employee involvement and
communication, employee right and discipline. The trade union has an important role in
maintaining the relationship among the workers and the management. It is an organisation with
members, who are employees or workers. In the UK, the above-mentioned trade unions are
trying to maintain a healthy relationship among the employer and the workers. They negotiate
agreements with employers on behalf of employees regarding the working condition and pay
structure. If any airline company takes steps regarding large-scale redundancy, trade unions
discuss these changes. They concern with issues and problems of employees by providing them
with the actual employment right. Trade unions attend grievance and disciplinary meetings with
employers to solve issues.
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The intensity of labour is high in this particular industry, as it aims at service people. Pilots,
cabin crews and engineers play a risky and critical job while serving people. They have some
demands that their respective employers need to fulfil. Some players in this industry are trying to
reduce labour cost to increase their financial performance, which is enabling the trade union to
raise voice. The cost-cutting measures of British Airways have resulted in severe industrial
disruption in the late 90s (etf-europe.org, 2019). The company has also focused on outsourcing
by considering the franchised operation. The new way of using labours at low cost is another
reason for conflict among the management and workers. In recent years, workers have taken
industrial actions including strike, protests, and others to get their right.
In order to avoid disputes in the airline industry, many methods have carried out in the UK.
Under a grievance procedure, staff can make complaints to the management directly and discuss
their problems. Under the single union agreement, on employee represents the entire workforce
to solve problems related to lower pay, bad working conditions, and others. Additionally, ACAS
or Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Services are an impartial and independent organisation
of UK that suggests some better solutions to prevent problems happening in the initial stages
(Advisory, 2013).
Discuss how employment law affects the management of human resources within British
Airways.
Employment law involves a number of practices that help in smooth business operation within
BA. The common legislations are as follows.
General Data Protection Regulation, 2018
The major principles of this legislation are fairness and transparency, data minimisation, data
accuracy, storage limitation, and data confidentiality (ico.org.uk, 2019). The management in BA
tries to limit the storage required for data, which reduces the data stealing. It focuses on securing
the financial and business data of the company as well as securing credentials of employees. The
HR department has placed some security measures for holding and protecting data. It also
ensures that data are used in the organisation in a fair and lawful manner. HR department of BA
ensures that access is given to those people who can use the data in a confidential manner.
Maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of data is the major duty of HR department.
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Equality Act, 2010
It came into place in 2010 and it aims at providing a consistent, simpler and an appropriate legal
framework that will prevent employees from discrimination (Legislation.gov.uk, 2019). Under
this legislation, HR department protects staff from characteristics such as religion, gender, age,
race, and others. It advises the management to treat people fairly. Human resource managers
oversee the policies, procedures, and practices those may have a negative effect on employees
having inequality characteristics.
Employment Right Act, 1996
Dismissal and redundancy are important elements of this legislation. Dismissal occurs, when an
organisation terminates the contract and a fixed contract ends. The HR department of BA
oversees whether the employer is acting reasonably of fairly while dismissing employees. It
adheres to the ACAS code of practices while following the dismissal procedures. Redundancy
occurs in the case of business or workplace closure. HR managers have formulated a policy to
deal with redundancies and negotiate with trade unions.
Health and Safety Act, 1974
It defines the fundamental structure for the regulation and enforcement of health and safety in the
workplace (hse.gov.uk, 2019). HR department agrees to perform some general duties as per this
Act for the well-being of employees and passengers. Under this Act, passengers are provided
with safety tools inside the flight to deal with emergencies. HR managers of BA encourage
safety engineers to oversee the physical conditions of the workplace and flights and report the
same. They emphasise on the maintenance of equipment to avoid any accidents.
Conclusion
The task has described the major elements of employment law along with their influence on the
human resource department of BA. It has analysed the current scenario of a trade union in
reference to the airline industry.
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TASK 3
A discussion of the job description and personal specification for Cabin Crew, BA
Introduction
From the perspective of any particular organization, both training and recruitment can be
described as the two most essential things. Both recruitment and selection includes, posting
prefabricated job description, major functions like arranging the process of recruiting new
employees, selection test design, formulating training process and many more. This specific task
will be helpful at creating a job description and personal specification for the job role of cabin
crew. A brief comparison in between the selection processes for cabin crew of British Airways
and service attendance of Transport London will be assessed.
Through the help of job description, it is possible for any individual to show their responsibility
regarding a job role. Skills and qualification can be described as the two most required things in
any form of job description. Job description in accordance with Cabin crew for BA has been
described below:
British Airways
Title of the job Cabin Crew, London City
Department of the job British Airways, City Flyer
Key Responsibilities
 To conduct work from the perspective of procedures, policies and principles of that
specific organization
 To write prefabricated report after the completion of any journey
 To be able to deal with any kind of medical and non-medical emergencies
 To verify the quality of safety equipments for the passenger base
 To maintain a prefabricated and high standard of proving service to the passengers
 To deliver service while maintain the quality standard of BA
 To attain training seasons in order to maintain safety procedures
 To maintain the safety standards of European Aviation Safety Agency in a prefabricated
manner
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Table 3: Job description
(Source: Created by the learner)
From the perspective of any particular organization, both training and recruitment can be
described as the two most essential things. Both recruitment and selection includes, posting
prefabricated job description, major functions like arranging the process of recruiting new
employees, selection test design, formulating training process and many more. This specific task
will be helpful at creating a job description and personal specification for the job role of cabin
crew. A brief comparison in between the selection processes for cabin crew of British Airways
and service attendance of Transport London will be assessed.
Job description from the perspective of cabin crew has been reproduced in order to perform a
prefabricate job analysis. Human resource department of British Airways has been crafted this
specific document after analyzing the departmental position (Britishairways.com, 2019). Other
skills and knowledge is also required for the job specification of cabin crew. Fundamental
components regarding this job description includes job title, which reflects the nature and duties
of the job role. Into the next part, that document provides some specification regarding the
department from which a person will conduct his/her job. A list of responsibilities has been
discussed in that document, which includes safety compliance, daily activities, service quality
management and many others. However, in that document, only the primary responsibilities of
cabin crew have been enlisted. Additionally, purpose of that job role has also been analyzed in
that document. Some of the basic skills from the perspective of cabin crew have also been
analyzed in this document.
Specification regarding any person generally includes all of the major attributes, which is
required to be a potential candidate from the perspective of being a cabin crew of British
Airways (Airways, 2017). Specification of a person, who is willing to be a cabin crew, has been
enlisted below:
Essential Desirable
Skills  Being very energetic
and passionate
regarding service
 Has to be contain the
ability of working into
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