HRM in Service Industries: A Report on British Airways (Course ABC123)

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of human resource management (HRM) within British Airways, a major player in the service industry. The report begins by outlining the roles and purposes of HRM, emphasizing its importance in maintaining workplace culture and improving employee efficiency. It then delves into the creation of a human resource plan, crucial for managing staffing levels during peak and off-peak periods. An assessment of current employee relations, including the influence of trade unions and technological changes, is also provided. The report further examines employment laws affecting HRM, such as equal opportunity and minimum wage regulations. Additionally, it includes a job description and person specification for cabin crew, along with a comparison of selection processes. Finally, it offers guidance notes for trainee managers, providing a well-rounded view of HRM practices within the airline industry, and highlighting challenges such as high staff turnover. The report provides an overview of the major employment laws affecting the management of human resources.

Human resource management
for service industries

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Analyse roles and purposes of HRM................................................................................4
1.2 Preparation of human resource plan.................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Assessment of current state of employee relations...........................................................7
2.2 Employment laws affecting the management of human resources..................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Job description and person specification:.......................................................................10
3.2 Selection Process..............................................................................................................4
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is concerned with managing the people in an organisation.
Human resources are concerned as the lifeblood of every organisation, hence efforts are made to
manage them properly through proper planning, recruitment and training so as to improve their
efficiency as well as effectiveness. HRM is very important in service industry as it helps in
maintaining workplace culture and environment. British airways, a global airlines company
which is owned by international airlines group has been founded on march 31, 1974. The
company has around 45000 employees currently employed with them. It is one of the largest
airline in UK. The report will include roles and purposes of HRM in airline industry, creation of
HRM plan, assessment of current employee relationship as well as employment laws that affect
the management of human resources(Anderson and Caldwell, 2017). Apart from this, job
description and person specification of cabin crew would also be discussed and comparison of
selection processes would also be done. Furthermore, guidance notes for trainee managers would
be prepared.

TASK 1
1.1 Analyse roles and purposes of HRM
Human resource management may be defined as a system within an organisation which
has been established in order to manage the performance of employees by training and
developing them in so as to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees.
Furthermore, human resource management helps in smooth running of the business,
maintaining harmony at the workplace and improving the productivity of employees.
Roles of HRM in British Airways
These are the 3 major roles of HRM
Working together - In British Airways, all the top level managers and HR department work
together in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of employees by assigning the
employees different roles in an organisation as well as by shifting them in different functional
areas so that they can increase their area of work(Analoui, 2017).
Commitment building – one of the important role of HR managers of British airways is to
improve the commitment of employees by motivating them to retain into the company for a
longer period of time. Furthermore, HR department should take care at the time of hiring
employees by selecting the right candidate at the right position.
Building capacity - HR department of brutish airways is laying down emphasis on building the
capacity of the company as well as its employees so as to gain the competitive advantage by
providing specialised services to its customers and being in a better position than its competitors.
Purpose of HRM in British airways
The 3 major purpose of HRM are:
To improve productivity - the main purpose of HRM is to improve the productivity of
employees(Bratton and Gold, 2017). British airways has layed down emphasis on improving the
productivity of employees, so that they work better towards the achievement of organisational
goals effectively and efficiently by serving the customers well.
To improve quality of work life – efforts have been made by British airways to improve the
quality of work life so that employees remain motivated and retain in the company for a longer
period of time.

Comply with legal regulations – British airways follow all the legal regulations that has been
imposed on the company by the government so as to reduce the complexities that may hinder the
smooth running of the business.
Functional activities of HRM
Recruitment and selection – one of the major functions of human resource department is to
recruit and select the best qualified employees from within as well as outside the organisation for
the job vacancies within the British airways.
Performance management - it helps in managing the performance of the employees with the
objective of increasing the productivity of the employees of British airways, so that they
contribute more towards the achievement of organisational objectives.
Training and development – human resource management includes training and developing the
current as well as new employees in order to improve their skills and abilities(Budhwar, 2016).
1.2 Preparation of human resource plan
Human resource plan may be defined as a systematic and efficient plan regarding the optimum
utilisation of human resource of an organisation so as to achieve organisational objectives
effectively and efficiently.
Human resource plan is very important as it helps in reducing the risk by providing competitive
advantage to the company. Apart from this, it also helps in identifying the demand and supply of
staff at a particular point of time in the company. Moreover, it also helps in smooth running of
the business.
It is difficult to produce an accurate HR plan because
·Forecasting HR requirement is a very challenging work and needs lot of efforts.
·Even gap analysis is not an easy task that is determining the current position as well as where
the company wants to be in future needs to be calculated(Daniel and Daniel, 2017).
·Furthermore, identifying the future need of human resources is very difficult.
Supply of labour means amount of employees required in order to run the business
smoothly. Human resource planning helps in determining the shortage of employees. It helps in
determining whether the shortage of staff could be overcome by improving the skills and
capabilities of existing staff members by training or there is a need to recruit more employees.
This decision is very helpful because if the shortage could be fulfilled by improving the skills of
the employees than it will help the company in reducing the cost of hiring new employees.

On the other hand, demand of labour means number of employees that the employer is
ready to hire. Human resource planning is very essential for labour demand in order to determine
wage rate, cost of capital and selling price of output.
Human resource plan for delivering new flight services to Madeira
Peak staffing may be defined as a time period when the requirement of employees would
be very high because of high demand for services. On the other hand, off peak staffing may be
defined as a time period where the requirement of employees would be least due to lower
demand of services.
In airline context, during peak period around 100 employees have to be recruited by the
airlines so as to meet the high demand of that period and around 50 employees during the off
peak time so as avoid excess cost(Harvey and Turnbull, 2016).
basis pilot Cabin crew engineers Admin staff
roles · Operation
of aircraft· safety of
plane and
passengers· all the
decisions
of the
flight after
its take off· Providing
services to
customers
such as
serving
refreshme
nts· ensuring
comfort
and safety
of
passengers· Planning,
designing
and
testing the
flights and
airports· resolving
issues and
reporting
problems· Handling
office
tasks· preparing
time
scheduling· making
travel
arrangeme
nts
Working hours 75 hours per
month approx
100 hours per
month approx
140 hours per
month approx
130 hours per
month approx.

Staff turnover in airline industry is usually very high that is around 11%. The main
reasons behind employees leaving the job were stress and less pay. This has created a need to
recruit more employees every year so fill the vacancy(Holloway, 2017). During peak period
large number of employees would be recruited in order to fill the place of job leavers as well as
to meet the high demand in the market.
TASK 2
Employee relation may be defined as a relation between the company and its employees.
Management of every company focusses on building strong employee relation so as to motivate
its employees and retain them in the company for a longer duration as well as to create job
satisfaction in the mind of employees.
Importance of employment legislation for employers
Employment legislation help the employers in reducing the complexities at workplace
and encourage smooth running of the business. On the other hand, it also helps in improving the
image of the company in the mind of public as a company which follows employment legislation
is viewed as a reputed company.
Importance of employment legislation for employees
Following all the rules and regulations in employment is not only beneficial for
employers but also benefits employees as it helps in protecting the employees against the treats
such as discrimination, health and safety, etc. In other words, it helps in protecting the employees
by preserving their rights and duties( Malik, 2018).
2.1 Assessment of current state of employee relations
Maintaining good employee relation is very important in airline industry. Current state of
employee relation in airline industry are not satisfactory as the employee relation crisis have
arisen in the present world.
The key trade unions in airline industry are· White collar trade unions - This trade union expressly represent the white collar
employees of airline industry. White collar employees are those employees which work
in the office such as clerical, administrative and technical employees. They carry out
strike because they are concerned regarding well being of white collar employees such as
maintaining good working environment, reducing the work load and increasing the pay.

· Airline pilots trade union - are also very famous in airline industry and they are formed
in order to maintain and improve the conditions of pilots such as negotiating in order to
improve the pay scale.
According to staff members of airline industry, the employee relations were not very
good as the trade unions formed in order to achieve common goals of staff members usually
carry out strikes in order to protect the interest of the employees of the airlines. This has
negatively affected the employee relationship and spoiled the harmony at the workplace(Momin,
2018).
Changing nature in aviation industry has affected a negatively affected the employee
relationship because· With the increase in global competition airlines have to cut down their air fare, which has
resulted in generating lower revenue. Hence, in order to maintain the stable profits,
companies have decided to lower the cost by reducing the pay scales of employees.
Hence, this have affected the employee relation adversely as the employees' satisfaction
level deteriorated.· Changes in technology also had a huge impact on spoiling the employee relationship, as
it is a human nature that changes are not easily accepted by the society because the
employees have to learn about new technology and will ultimately resist change because
of extra efforts.
2.2 Employment laws affecting the management of human resources.
These 5 are the major employment laws affecting the management of human resources· Equal employment opportunity act – this law was adopted by British airways to
provide equal employment opportunities to all the individuals(Robinson and et.al., 2016).
The basic motive was to reduce the discrimination at the workplace on the basis of
gender, caste, religion, pregnancy, etc. This will in turn also benefit the company as the
company can get the best talent from the available options.· Minimum wage – all the employees of the British Airways are covered under the
requirement of minimum wage, so that rights of employees does not get violated. This is
guided by the Fair Labour Standards Act which suggests that minimum wage should be
given to employees of the company. This has helped in effective management of

employees as the employees feel much more secured and retain in the company for a
longer period.· Overtime pay – this law has been adopted by british airways so as to compensate the
employees who wish to earn more by working more. This law suggests that overtime pay
sould also be given if the employee work for more than 40 hours per week. The basic
motive for providing overtime pay is that it will help in motivating the employees to
work more towards the attainment of the companies' success. Many employees of British
Airways are also covered by the Railway Labour Act(Shaw, 2016).· Family medical leave act – this law has been especially made to provide benefits to
those employees who have certain medical issues or their family members who need
some time to rest from the work. British airways has considered this employment law for
managing human resource of the company so as to create job satisfaction in the mind of
employees as well as developing the sense of belongingness in the mind of employees.· Managing disputes act – this law was adopted by British airways in order to keep the
employees satisfied by resolving disputes at the workplace. As this law provides the
employees benefits to sue the company for the breach of contract directly into the court if
the airlines break any employment contracts.
TASK 3
Purpose of Recruitment & Selection in British Airways
Recruitment and selection used to find right person for right place at right time(Simmers
and Anandarajan, 2018). Purpose of recruitment and selection of British Airways is to attract a
wide selection of candidate pool to fill a job vacancy. This is used to add new staff to the British
Airways. Purpose of recruitment and selection is to determine present and future requirements of
British airways. It helps to increase success rate and decrease employee turnover. By using
recruitment & selection quality, efficiency and transparency is created in organization.
These steps are followed in recruitment and selection:
Identify vacancy and evaluate needs: This is the first step of this process in this vacancy type
is identifies that this is newly created vacancy or replacement vacancy after that tasks, budget
and need of that role and others that will be done in this job is evaluated and according to that
requirement of knowledge or skills of candidate is decided.

Advertisement of the job: In this Vacancy which is created is advertised through different
channels or portals such as online portals (naukri.com, indeed, linked in etc.), newspaper mass
media and others to create a job pool.
Resume Screening: When a applicant pool is created then in this stage candidates are eliminated
who definitely do not fit for job.
Interview: After selecting resumes interview is conducting or candidates to select a right
candidate. For different jobs different interview methods are used like telephonic interview,
logical test, psychological interview, face to face interview, medical test etc.
Assessment: After interview assessment tools are used to select a right candidate such as
measure criteria, personal choice and others. By using these tools manager identify that which
candidate is more talented or suited for job(Wikhamn, 2019).
Reference Check: In this stage job related capabilities and attributes of candidate is checked by
interviewer according to requirement of job.
Job Offer: This is the final stage of recruitment & selection in this stage job offer letter is given
to the selected candidate which includes salary information, compensation plan, rules and
policies, working hours and official information.
3.1 Job description and person specification:
Job description: This is a document that clearly states the essential job requirements, job
duties, job responsibilities, skills required to perform specific job and salary details. It specify
functionary specifications such as qualification required, salary range, experience details etc. that
an individual applying for job needs to possess. The job description is used in recruitment
process to inform the applicants about job profile and requirements. Job description is most
important thing which a candidate gets about a job listing. Because it gives all necessary and
relevant information about job, which help to decide whether a job is relevant or not.
Person specification: This describes personal attributes that a job candidate must have in
order to complete the task of a position offered by British Airways. Attributes which included in
person specifications are qualifications, experience, skills, competencies, knowledge and other
personal attributes(Anderson and Caldwell, 2017). This helps to potential candidates to
understand the job's requirements and self-select accordingly. When a person specification is
write than it must be identify that it will be justifiable, measurable and non-discriminatory for

candidates. Person specification is derived from job description and used in selection decisions at
short listing candidate and interview stages.
Characteristics Job Description Person Specification
Meaning It is a descriptive statement
which describes roles and
scope of a particular job.
It States the minimum
qualification required to
perform a particular job.
Elements Job titles,duties, tasks,
responsibilities of job.
Candidates qualification, skills
and abilities.
Derived from It prepared from job analysis. It prepared from job
description.
Summarize It expresses what a employee
must do when he will selected.
It express what a candidate
possess for getting selected.
Job description and person specification of Cabin crew:

Job Title Cabin Crew Trainee
Reports to Human Resource
Roles & Responsibilities Ensure user the satisfaction
Check before to take off to safety regulations.
Pay attention to passengers with special needs.
Qualification Good secondary education
A degree on relevant field.
Title of the job Cabin Crew Trainee
Date: 28/03/2019
Person Specification
Qualification required Essential Desirable Met
Degree in hospitality
management/ languages/
tourism management/
leisure.
Good secondary
education
Advanced course in
languages.
Degree in public relation/
business/ social science.
Yes
Yes
Need of Experience
1