Evaluating HRM Policies: British Airways and Ryanair Strategies

This essay provides a critical evaluation of the Human Resource Management (HRM) policies and strategies employed by British Airways and Ryanair. It begins by defining HRM and its importance in managing employees effectively, highlighting that HRM policies encompass recruitment, selection, compensation, training, and retention. The essay then introduces British Airways and Ryanair, outlining their respective scales and operational reach. It discusses the different approaches each company takes, such as Ryanair's performance-related pay structure and British Airways' focus on employee monitoring and training. The motivation for selecting this topic includes personal interest in HRM, a perceived gap in research comparing the two organizations, and career aspirations in the field. The aim is to critically evaluate the HRM policies and strategies of both airlines, with objectives including understanding the positive and negative aspects of each company's approach, comparing their strategies, and suggesting improvements. The methodology involves using a positivism research philosophy, an inductive approach, a descriptive research design, and a qualitative research strategy, relying on secondary data collected from books, journals, and company websites. The essay is structured into chapters covering the introduction, literature review, research methodology, data analysis, and conclusion and recommendations, providing a systematic analysis of the topic.

CRITICAL EVALUATION OF HRM
POLICIES AND STRATEGIES OF BRITISH
AIRWAYS AND RYANAIR

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1
1.1 Title........................................................................................................................................1
1.2 Background to the organization/context................................................................................1
1.3 Motivation. Why do you want to do it?.................................................................................2
1.4 Aim and objectives................................................................................................................2
1.5 Method. How are you going to do it?....................................................................................3
1.6 Discussion of each chapter....................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Title
“Critically evaluate the HRM policies and strategies of British Airways and Ryanair”.
1.2 Background to the organization/context
Human Resource Management (HRM) can be defined as a process in which organization
governs its employees. In other words, it can be determined as a function which is designed to
make the employees work with their full efficiency (Thite, Wilkinson and Shah, 2012). HRM
policies are the types of guidelines which are adopted by different organizations to manage the
employees. If organization identifies any type of issue related to HRM then they make use of
different strategies with the help of which firm resolves these issues. HRM policies include
recruitment, selection, compensation, training, retention, etc.
British Airways is one of the largest international airlines and flies over 170 destinations
which are nearly to 80 countries. On the other hand, Ryanair is a European based Irish airlines
and connects 200 destinations at 31 countries. In this modern world, there are many HRM issues
like acquisitions, mergers and bankruptcies, etc. which enable the organization to make use of
different strategies in solving them (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Different companies follow
different types of policies among which these policies are selected according to the challenges
which HR face because of employees or it depends on the situation which are faced by the
management.
In this context, both British Airways and Ryanair follow different types of HRM policies.
Among which Ryanair has adopted policies like performance related pay structure. According to
this policy, employees are paid as per their performance. Further, workers are provided with
incentives for the extra work they do (Roome, Raven and Martineau, 2014). On the other hand,
British Airways monitors their employees which focus on identifying the areas in which they
need improvement. According to their requirements, organization provides them with training so
that they can improve their skills and capability. Further, they have a systematic recruitment
process in which firm have four different rounds in which organization select most capable
candidate.
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Theories being used by both the companies to motivate there employees is related to motivation,
leadership development, recruitment and selection, employee appraisal, Training and
development
.
Strategies of Ryan air Strategies of BRITISH AIRWAYS
Productivity based pay incentive
Self-fund training for their self-development
Performance related pay structure
High Performance Leadership (HPL) system
Diversity and inclusiveness
Training and development
1.3 Motivation. Why do you want to do it?
There are many motivational factors because of which this topic has been selected;
among which following are some of the factors:
Personal interest: I have personal interest for the selected topic that is the HRM, its
functions, strategies, roles, etc. In addition to this, I have personal interest in the policies which
are been followed by BA so as to support their employees and help them to improve their
performance level. By analysing the HRM policies and the strategies which are been adopted by
BA and Ryanair, I will be able to understand the ways through which they are handling their
problems.
Not much research: Many researches done on HRM policies and strategies with different
organizations like British Airways and Ryanair but no research is carried on comparing both
organizations. This will be helpful for the cited firms and people who have interest in this field.
With this research, readers will be able to identify all the strategies which are been adopted by
cited firm in solving their issues.
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Future career in this field: I want to develop my career in human resource management
and by understanding the strategies and policies which are being used at British Airways and
Ryanair, I will be able to gain knowledge for the issues or problems which they face. Along with
that, in order to solve them, I will study what all strategies they adopt to overcome them.
1.4 Aim and objectives
AIM
To critically evaluate HRM policies and strategies of British Airways and Ryanair
OBJECTIVES
 To understand positive and negative aspects of HRM strategies used by British Airways.
 To understand positive and negative aspects of HRM strategies used by Ryanair.
 To compare HRM policies and strategies of British Airways and Ryanair.
 To suggest improvement in HRM policies and strategies of British Airways and Ryanair.
1.5 Method. How are you going to do it?
Different methods will be used to identify the HRM policies and strategies of British
Airways and Ryanair. In this context, following are the methods which will be adopted for this
research topic:
Research philosophy: In order to conduct the research in an effective manner, researcher
will use positivism research philosophy (Eggert, McGlynn and Altekruse, 2013). The main
reason of adopting this method is that it will enable the researcher to focus on the objective
rather than the subject of topic which is critical evaluation of HRM policies and strategies of
British Airways and Ryanair. In other words, it will enable to make the research more effective
and researcher will be able to focus on objectives efficiently.
Research approach: Inductive approach will be adopted as hypothesis testing will not be
done and general information will be collected with the help of which specific topic will be
covered (McClaren, 2015). This will enable the researcher to get appropriate information
regarding the topic and then different models will be adopted through which the research
objectives will be achieved.
Research design: In this research design, descriptive will be used as it will enable the
researcher to conduct current investigation. This research design will be used as it is required to
survey the managers of both the organizations that are British Airways and Ryanair. With this
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respect, descriptive research is one of the best research which enables to conduct the survey
effectively (McClaren, 2015).
Research strategy: Qualitative strategy will be used for this research as it will help the
researcher in understanding subjective concepts of different types of policies and related
strategies which are been adopted in both the cited organizations.
Data collection: In order to achieve the objectives effectively, researcher will use the
secondary data. In this context, information will be collected with the help of books, journals and
different websites of British Airways and Ryanair so as to achieve aim and objectives effectively
(Mackert, Champlin and Damásio, 2014). Through collection of data, research issue will be
resolved in an appropriate manner.
1.6 Discussion of each chapter
In order to understand the current dissertation in a systematic manner Research will be
divided into different chapters which will help in accomplishing investigation in an effective
manner. Following are the different chapters which will be covered:
Chapter 1- Introduction: Brief introduction will be given on the topic which is HRM
policies and strategies adopted by organizations and more specifically British Airways and
Ryanair will be covered. In addition to this, the issues which will be faced by both the
organization related to HRM policies and strategies will be discussed (Mackert, Champlin and
Damásio, 2014). Further, it will include the aim and objectives and the entire investigation which
will be covered ahead will be included. Different types of strategies will be used by the
researcher and the chapter wise information will be given which will enable the reader to
understand the report effectively.
Chapter 2- Literature Review: Detailed information regarding the topic will be covered.
This will also cover the past research which has been done on the same topic. This is very
helpful in achieving aim and objectives in a systematic way.
Chapter 3- Research Methodology: This will include all the types of research methods
and designs which will be used by the researcher so as to conduct the research. It includes
research like data collection, designs which will be used, philosophy, approaches, etc.
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Chapter 4- Data Analysis: When the research data will be collected with the help of
different research methodology, then the collected data will be analysed (du Plessis and Van
Niekerk, 2014). In this context, this chapter will help in analysing all the finding and will help
the researcher to come up with a meaningful conclusion.
Chapter 5- Conclusion and Recommendations: This will state the outcomes through the
research conducted. In addition to this, appropriate recommendations will be made with the help
of which cited firm and the readers will get benefited.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Thite, M., Wilkinson, A. and Shah, D., 2012. Internationalization and HRM strategies across
subsidiaries in multinational corporations from emerging economies—A conceptual
framework. Journal of World Business. 47(2). pp.251-258.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Roome, E., Raven, J. and Martineau, T., 2014. Human resource management in post-conflict
health systems: review of research and knowledge gaps. Confl Health. 8(18). pp.2-12.
van den Brink, M., Fruytier, B. and Thunnissen, M., 2013. Talent management in academia:
performance systems and HRM policies. Human Resource Management Journal. 23(2).
pp.180-195.
Eggert, T., McGlynn, K. and Altekruse, S., 2013. Response to fibrolamellar hepatocellular
carcinoma versus conventional hepatocellular carcinoma: better 5-year survival or
artefactual result of research methodology?. Gut. pp.gutjnl-2013.
du Plessis, H. and Van Niekerk, A., 2014. A new GISc framework and competency set for
curricula development at South African universities. South African Journal of Geomatics.
3(1). pp.1-12.
Mackert, M., Champlin, S. E. and Damásio, M. J., 2014. eHealth and health literacy: A research
methodology review. Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication. 19(3). pp.516-528.
McClaren, N., 2015. The Methodology in Empirical Sales Ethics Research: 1980–2010. Journal
of Business Ethics. 127(1). pp.121-147.
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