Analysis of HRM Practices in Service Industries: British Airways

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Human Resource Management for
Service Industries
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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.......................................................................................................................................................4
LO 1. Understand Human Resource Management...................................................................................4
TASK 2..........................................................................................................................................................7
LO2. Understand the effect of employee relations and employment law on service industries
businesses...............................................................................................................................................7
The effect of employee relations and employment law............................................................................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................................9
LO3. Understand the recruitment and selection process........................................................................9
TASK 4.....................................................................................................................................................13
LO4. Understand training and development in service industries businesses.......................................13
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................17
References.................................................................................................................................................18
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Introduction
Human resource management (HRM) which is commonly known as human resource (HR) is the
management of the people within the organization. There are three major responsibilities of a
Human resource manager which are employee benefits and compensation, staffing, and
designing and defining work. For studying human resource management effectively, the chosen
service industry is British Airways. British Airways in the United Kingdom is the second largest
airline and the flag carrier which is based on the fleet size and carrying passengers in easy jets. In
this study, the discussion about the human resource management for service industry will be
done. An analysis of the purpose and role of the human resource management will be done in the
airline industry and with reference to British Airways and also an HR plan will be created
depicting the roles and responsibilities of the staffs. The effect of employment law and
employment relations will be discussed. Recruiting and selection process will be made and at
last, a guidance note for the development and training in the industry will be made for the staffs.
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TASK 1
LO 1. Understand Human Resource Management
Since British Airways has gained the agreement for the flights from Heathrow to Madeira, it has
become important for the British Airways to analyse the role and responsibilities of human
resource management and also to create an HR plan which will justify the roles and number of
staff require and also the working hour in delivering the new flight service.
The human resource management is important for an organization for managing and recruiting
the staff within the organization. It deals with the issues regarding performance, development of
the organization, wellness, safety, motivating employees, managing the workplace,
compensation, training the staff, etc. but the main role of HR is to manage people and maintain a
good culture and environment in the workplace. With effective human resource management, it
can contribute to giving overall company direction greatly and can help in achieving the
objective and goals of the company rapidly and effectively (Helmreich and Merritt, 2017).
The role and purpose of human resource management in British Airways with explanation are as
follows:
 Human resource management plays an important role in maintaining a good relationship
between the employees of the organization. The welfare of the employees is involved in
human resource management by considering the interest of the employees.
 HR helps in recruiting employees for various department of the company; the employees
are selected on the basis of a criterion which has been set by British Airways (Coller, et.
al., 2016). The employees who can work efficiently and effectively in British Airways are
identified by HR.
 In the British Airways, human resource management for the betterment of the
environment of the workplace considers all the thoughts and ideas of the employees so
that every employee of the company work as a team they do not feel that they are not the
part of the company’s growth.
 The proper training is given to the existed and new employees of British Airways by HR
so that they can work efficiently and effectively. Many personal and groups training
sessions are organised for training the employees and also to make them understand the
importance of the work they are appointed for.
 Training the employees of tackling the customers and also to make the environment good
and employees friendly is also the responsibility of human resource management.
 The human resource management also plans to give the employees rewards for their hard
work, and effective and efficient work so that they stay motivated and work more
efficiently and also the employees who are not taking their work seriously will get serious
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and will work hard in order to gain the reward. This can make a good working
environment in the workplace and will also help in the growth of the company rapidly.
Human resource planning
Introduction
Human resource planning is important for improving effectiveness, motivation, and human
capital in the organisation. The planning includes the development of the selection process and
recruitment and technique appraisals.
Objective
British Airways needs to develop an organisation plan typically for the future needs of the
company’s supplies, capacity, financing, demand, and equipment. To make an organisation plan
which will help the company put good efforts in the new flight route from Heathrow to Madeira.
Vision
To make a major impact in the new route business too.
Values
Respect everyone; serve nicely to everyone, loyalty to the work, and quality.
Supply and demand
Madeira airport which is situated in Portugal is a very busy airport which has made a record of
2.46 million passengers in 2014 and hopes to exceed 2.5 million in the upcoming years. Since
the demand and supply are very high, it can bring a lot of profit to British Airways. After gaining
the agreement for the flights from Heathrow to Madeira, British Airways have to put more
efforts to stay in the industry and also to grow more and more (Orasanu, 2017). The demand for
flights in the route Heathrow and Madeira is very high and the agreement says that there can be
seven flights in the peak summer from Heathrow and also seven returning flights from Madeira
and in other seasons there can be four flights from Heathrow and four returning flights from
Madeira per week.
Below is the plan for delivering the flights effectively and efficiently.
Season Staff role Number of staff
required
Required work
hours per flight
Peak summer  Manage
onboard and
off-board crew
Thirty to forty Three hours and thirty
minutes
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 Provide the
best service to
the customers
All other seasons  Manage
onboard and
off-board crew
 Provide the
best service to
the customers
Fifteen to twenty-five Six hours
From the above study, it is clear that human resource management is very important for the
growth of the company. It helps to have a good working environment and in building a good
relationship within the workplace. The importance of human resource planning has been
depicted in this study.
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TASK 2
LO2. Understand the effect of employee relations and employment law on
service industries businesses.
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The effect of employee relations and employment law
Date- 9th of April
The employee relation is the management of the personnel for the industrial relation function and
sometimes also labeled as the industrial relations for the academic field. Employee relation is
something which plays a big role in the development of the company. Employee relation is
concerned in maintaining the employee-employer relationship by the involvement of the
bodywork which contributes in the satisfactory of the morale, productivity, and motivation and
also in solving the problems and issues which affect the work situation.
The airline industry is one of the largest industries in the global market. The technology is
growing but the technological advancement would be non-exploitable without the people. Since
the competition in the airline industry is growing rapidly it has become important for the
companies to have a good employee force within the organisation and also to have a good
employee relation environment within the workforce. The employee relation of the airline
industry is good in many companies and other companies are working on building the employee
relation in their workforce (Cascio, 2015).
Teamwork is very important to achieve the company’s goals and objective which cannot be
achieved single handed. British Airways have many strategies and with proper human resource
Management has made the working environment strong which help the employees to work better
with efficiency in the team. British Airways' human resource topmost priority is to treat every
person of the company with respect and also with paramount professionalism. The human
resource of British Airways is efficiently working on their employee relation and has a good
reputation regarding this. They provide many training sessions to the existing and new staff
members of the company which helps in developing and maintaining the good staff morale and
also to ensure that all the staff members work as a team.
The employment law may affect the human resource management of any business industries in
many different ways. Human resource professionals must be ready for the ever-changing arena
of the employment law for minimizing the liabilities of the industry in every aspect of the human
resource. International labor law is a law which protects the rights of the employees. This law
does not just protect the rights of the employees in the airline industry but can also help in
keeping the passengers safe. Labour law includes minimum wage, labor relation, and overtime
rule.
The employees of the airline industry must provide minimum wage to employees of the industry
which have been decided by the International airline group. Not giving the minimum wage
which has been decided can make the human resource management difficult to manage the
employees who are in anger regarding the salary. The employees of the airline industry have the
right to go on the mediation or strike to protest their cause but the cause should be eligible. The
human resource management has to listen to all the causes of the employees and if found
eligible, have to take appropriate steps to fulfill the requirement. The employees of the airline
industry sometimes may have to 24 hours a day which can lead to many problems in their health
and also lead to misbehaviour of the employees to the customers which are not good for the
reputation of the company. But the overtime rule says that an employee can do overtime if he/she
wants to. So to manage such an employee is difficult for human resource management (Golden,
2012).
The employment law helps the human resource management not just to create a good recruitment
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process, it also helps the human resource management to keep the employees happy with their
job and to make them stay in the company. But it also makes it difficult for human resource to
manage the employees.
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TASK 3
LO3. Understand the recruitment and selection process
A discussion of the job description and personal specification for Airport Operations Manager or
Cabin Crew will be done in this study. And the comparison between British Airways and
transport for London in terms of the selection process will be done.
The cabin crew is the employees of the company who fly on the aircraft with the people and their
main purpose or job is to look after the passengers. It is the responsibility of the cabin crew to
keep the passengers safe and fulfill all their needs which can be fulfilled. British Airways is in
the need of cabin crew members for the British Airways City Flyer. To be in the British Airways
cabin crew, the member should be ready to provide safety compliance all the time and also
deliver world-class service to the customers as the British Airways is known for their service and
behaviour standards.
The qualifications required for this job are as follows:
 The participant should be aged 18 or above at the time of applying.
 English speaking and writing both should be fluent.
 The participant must have a valid passport.
 The participant should have the ability to obtain and retain an airside pass.
 The participant should be flexible and be able to work in every shift.
 The participant must not have a tattoo in the body which is not coverable.
The skills which are required are as follows:
 The participant must be ready for delivering service with excellence and should be
passionate about it.
 The participant should know and understand the importance of security and safety of the
customers.
 The participant should know how to handle a difficult situation and stay calm.
 The participant should have good communication skill and have enough confidence to
deliver difficult messages to the customers.
 The personal and professional standards should be upholding high.
 The participant should have a positive attitude towards every task given and should
perform it perfectly and efficiently.
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Comparison of the selection process of the British Airways and transport for London
The selection process of British Airways The selection process of Transport for
London
Vacancies are placed on the BA careers
webpage- the vacancies are placed on the
website of the BA careers.
Vacancies are placed on the website of
transport for London- the vacancy placed on
the website on the website on the transport for
London and it give the structure of the job
application.
Essential requirement- candidate fulfill the
online questions relating to the right to live in
the UK, passport allows to unrestricted travel,
don't have to disqualify of the conviction of
post which I am applying, verifying references
after getting the job, age or spoken and written
English.
Applicant must create the own login id and
password for the applying particular job.
Candidate must create a login id and
password for the particular job. They properly
mention the first name, last name.
Select vacancies- the candidate must select the
vacancies related to transport London
vacancies.
Completion of online form- candidate
required to fulfill online form by filling basic
information i.e. address.
Online situational judgment test- it is a
situational based test that the employer takes
the test of the candidate for behavior and
attitude towards work. They give any situation
to the candidate then they see how he reacts
(Chan, and Schmitt, 2017).
Online psychometric tests- this test is to
check the candidate potential and know the
candidate to perform the job. The test basically
shows a strong correlation between job
performance and test scores. If the candidate
Take the written assessment test- the fifth
step of recruiting is taking candidate written
assessment test. This test basically for
measuring knowledge of a particular feature of
the job.
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performs well in the above test then it is
confirmed to candidate perform well in the job.
The psychometric test including the following
test also-
 Numerical reasoning
 verbal reasoning
 spatial reasoning
 situational judgment test
 Critical thinking test (King, et. al.,
2013).
Assessment day- those candidates who passed
an online psychometric test they will give the
test of multiple choice questions, group
discussion, role play in various positions and
give interview verbally.
Those candidates who are successful in the
written assessment test they called back for the
interview. Generally, two people take the
interview.
Background check and medical check- it
must be the proper check of the background
and medical check of the candidate. It must be
ensuring candidate physical fit.
Medical questionnaire must be taken from the
candidates who have been selected. Recruiter
examines the medical fitness of the candidate.
Training period- there is a proper mention of
the training period in the offer letter for e. g.
Cabin crew training generally for 3 to 6 weeks.
It also provides a safety course to the
candidate.
Give offer letter made regard to the position
made – employer give offer letter to the
candidate after fulfilling all stages of the
interview of the candidate.
The discussion about the job description and personal specification has been done for the cabin
crew of the British Airways in which the skills and qualification required for the job has been
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