Human Resource Management for Service Industry: British Airways Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) within British Airways, focusing on various aspects of its operations. The report begins with an introduction to HRM and its significance, followed by an examination of the role and purpose of HRM within British Airways, including how it aligns with the airline's goals. It then delves into the creation of an HR plan, specifically addressing staff allocation, working hours, and roles required to deliver new flight services to Maderia. The report further explores the current state of employment relations in the airline industry, discussing the challenges and strategies employed by British Airways. It also analyzes the impact of employment law on HRM practices, such as the Equality Act and Data Protection Act. Additionally, the report includes job descriptions and personal specifications for Cabin Crew, along with a comparison of selection processes between British Airways and Transport for London. Finally, it evaluates the contribution of training and development activities to the effective operation of British Airways. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and recommendations, providing valuable insights into the effective management of human resources in the service industry, particularly within the context of a major airline like British Airways.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT FOR
SERVICE INDUSTRY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
AC1.1 role and purpose of human resource management in British Airways............................1
AC1.2 creation of HR plan based on supply and demand to deliver new flight service to
Maderia with justification of staff role, hours and number of staff............................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
AC2.1 an explanation of current state of employment relation in airline industry.....................4
AC2.2 Discussing the manner in which employment law affects the management of human
resources within British Airways ...............................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
AC 3.1 Job description and personal specification for Cabin Crew of British Airways............6
AC 3.2 Comparison of selection process of British airways and transport for London ............1
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................2
AC4.1 The contribution of training and development activities to the effective operation of
British Airways...........................................................................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is the effective part of organisation which plays an
important role to solve issues related to organisation (Reiche, Harzing and Tenzer, 2018). Role
played by human resource management is improved performance management of employees,
develop organisation, safety, and to motivate employees in achieving organisational objectives.
This present report provides role and purpose of human resource management with the creation
of HR plan. Current state of employment relations and explanation of employment law which
affects management of human resources. Personal job description is provided for Cabin Crew of
British Airways with the selection process between BA and TfL. Further, in this report training
and development activities in service industries is also to be explained.
TASK 1
AC1.1 role and purpose of human resource management in British Airways
Human resource management of service industries plays an important role to manage the
overall business policies of an organisation. To maintain business policies of British Airways, it
is difficult for human resource management to maintain effective policies which overall provides
safety and security in organisation (Collings, Wood and Szamosi, 2018). To meet goals of the
organisation, it is important for human resource management to appoint right person at the right
place of organisation.
It is also the duty of human resource management to develop an effective policy for the
Cabin Crew members of aircraft which encourage employee to work hard in organisation.
Effective safety tools also have been provided to pilot and Cabin crew members so that in case
emergencies they will able to save lives of own and customers. For the use of safety equipment’s
effective training and development programs have to be developed by human resource
management for their employees of organisation.
For the effective development of HR policies, mainly three approaches are developed by
management to achieve competitive advantage (Bianca, 2018). First approach used by human
resource management is the Universalist approach which is used to describe guest of
organisation. This approach used to derive best practises in organisation to achieve future goals.
Second approach used by HR for British Airways is fit or contingency approach. By this
approach HR focus on both internal and external practises which is for selection, appraisal,
development and reward. Resource based approach is also used by human resource management
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to achieve competitive advantage and to utilize proper resources by proper allocation is
development in an organisation.
Human resource management practises of British Airways is developed to create
motivation among employees and to provide effective commitment to employee regarding large
payment which overall helps them to achieve success of company. More emphasis of HR in
British Airways is to motivate employees by which effective remuneration with share ownership
is provided to employee by which greater involvement of employees will develop in
organisation.
Effective recruitment strategy is also developed by human resource management so that
right person is selected to achieve greater performance in organisation. To achieve profitability
in British Airways, HR develop Resource Based Model. By this model, effective decision is
developed to allocate proper resources which helps to outsource routine activities of the
company. Therefore, this model overall helps human resource management to achieve goals by
reducing cost and by providing higher quality of services to customers of the business market
(Boon and et.al., 2018).
AC1.2 Creation of HR plan based on supply and demand to deliver new flight service to Maderia
with justification of staff role, hours and number of staff
To deliver new service flight to Maderia, there are many factors which has to developed
by human resource management which is in accordance with demand and supply. British
Airways has recently sign agreement to provide new flight service to Maderia from Heathrow.
Duration of flight is four hours and per week, there will be four flight take off from Heathrow
and four flight return from Maderia in peak summer season. In rest of the year three flights take
off from Heathrow and three return from Maderia per week. For proper allocation of staff, their
working hours and their role is as follows-
Justification Demand Supply
Staff role To perform effective work,
staff role in aircraft is to be
excellent. To deliver new
flight service to Maderia there
must one pilots and one co-
To develop effective new
flight services, staff role to
play in an aircraft is not that
much. Company do not have
extra two pilots which perform
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pilot in one aircraft. Minimum
Cabin crew is to be developed
which effectively guide
customers of an aircraft. If
there are passengers more than
19 and less than 51 then one
flight attendant is required.
services in new flight. And
that mush extra attendant is
also not there to deliver
services in three aircraft's.
Therefore, as a HR new
recruitment is to be developed
so that right person is hired for
right place (Banfield, Kay and
Royles, 2018). Training and
development activities are
provided for performing job
role in organisation.
Number of hours to work Demand of pilot to work in
aircraft per day is 9-14 hours.
For Cabin crew members,
working hours is minimum 9
hours.
To deliver new flight services
to Maderia and Heathrow,
company so not have sufficient
Cabin crew which work for 9
hours therefore, for effective
flight service working hours is
to be maintained by appointing
more sufficient members in an
aircraft. Effective training is to
be provided to employees
regarding hour of work they
have to do so that they get
prepared to work in
organisation.
Number of staff required To develop effective service in
aircraft there would be
minimum number of staff who
work accordingly. Two
For new service flight, British
Airways did not have
sufficient employee which
provide their service in flight
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groups of staff are required
variable staff and fixed staff.
There must one pilots and one
co-pilot in one aircraft.
Minimum Cabin crew is to be
developed which effectively
guide customers of an aircraft.
from Mderia and Heathrow.
Effective staff is to be recruit
so that best services is
provided to customers. To hire
staffs for new flight service,
human resource department
will develop effective
recruiting to hire people at
right place for right job.
TASK 2
AC2.1 An explanation of current state of employment relation in airline industry
From the last few years, there has been recent development change in airlines industries.
British Airways also have developed their employee relation in which they consider their
employees as 'most valuable asset'. Therefore, employee relation has become difficult challenge
for them to maintain in organisation (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Airline industries have to
develope appropriate structure in which encourage staff to work to develop initiatives for welfare
of company by which overall service of organisation gets improved. To view perception of every
staff member, consultation is known as effective approach by which services provided to
customer is in effective manner. This effective approach of organisation will overall help to
attract large number of customers from business market.
To achieve organisational objectives and meet its future needs, positive culture in
organisation develops effective motivation between employees so that they work hard to achieve
business goals. In airline industries, culture of organisation also positive and flexible in which
staff members will easily carry out business operation as per their own style. This flexible culture
overall helps company to develop effective motivation skill by which their participation of doing
work get increases which overall boost employee satisfaction at workplace. This flexible culture
will help leaders to develop effective long term relationship with the employees. This
relationship overall helps leaders to get to know employee expectations form organisation.
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Conflict management is also developed in airline industries by which employee issues get
easily solved in organisation which also encourage employees to work better in achieving
business needs (Guest, 2017). Conflict management also helps British Airways in developing
their business by managing workplace in an appropriate manner. For human resource
management empowerment is another factor which satisfy employee needs and encourage them
to work hard in organisation. In airline industries, each employee has some have their own duty
to perform which overall work as empowered which enhance satisfaction level of employees.
In airline industry’s current relation of employees is effective and provides benefits in
achieving organisational objectives and employees are also ready for taking challenges of the
company. Other procedure which developed in airline industry is proper disciplinary procedure
by which any misconduct or misbehave is not provided to employee with anyone in organisation.
This process helps human resource management to develop a positive environmental concern
which lead to develop favourable outcomes from employees of organisation (Hammond and
Churchill, 2018). Person who creates misconduct or misbehaviour with any employee of the
organisation will directly get suspended from work. This effective policies of human resource
management will overall help leaders to provide safety and security to employees in workplace.
Therefore, current state of employment for entire airline industries proves beneficial where
working condition in managed appropriately which leads to meet needs of organisation in
effective manner.
AC2.2 Discussing the manner in which employment law affects the management of human
resources within British Airways
In the context of business unit, employment laws and legislation are highly significant
which in turn places direct impact on the activities and practices of HR department. As per UK
system, there are several legislations with which business units including British Airways need to
comply. On the basis of UK framework HR department of British Airways need to follow below
mentioned laws and legislation such as: Equality Act (2010): In accordance with such law business unit cannot discriminate
individuals on the basis of age, gender, race, religion etc. Hence, firms are held
accountable for offering equal opportunities to the individuals (Fletcher, Alfes and
Robinson, 2018). Hence, British Airways require to offer equal employment
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opportunities to all the individuals and consider their skills or competencies at the time of
selection.
 Data protection Act (1998): Such law entails that business unit are allowed to disclose
personal information of their employees in front of others. Hence, BA needs to maintain
confidentiality pertaining to the personal information supplied by the personnel.
 Personal protective equipment at work (1992): This law entails that firm needs to
provide personnel with all the protective equipment’s which they need to carry out
activities more effectually. Hence, it is the responsibility of HR manager of BA to assess
all the possible undesirable events and thereby make safety arrangements.
 As per employment Relation and Right Act, HR manager of the firm needs to provide
personnel with privileges pertaining to maternity and paternity leave etc.
 In addition to this, HR department, within BA cannot dismiss their personnel without
giving any prior notice. Further, HR manager requires to offer opportunity to personnel in
relation to presenting their own aspects before termination.
Referring all the above depicted aspects it can be presented that employments laws have high
level of influence on the management of BA’s HR department. At the time of recruitment,
selection and development of employee management practices HR manager of BA should keep
in mind concerned laws and legislation. Moreover, if business unit will not comply with the
same then it may result into high employee turnover (Ford, 2014). Moreover, employee
satisfaction and motivation is highly affected from the practices employees by HR. In addition to
this, brand image of BA will be influenced negatively in the case not compliance with
employment laws and legislation. Apart from this, government authorities and concerned
departments also take actions in against to the undesirable activities performed by HR. Thus, it
can be depicted that for managing skilled and talented personnel within the firm HR manager of
BA should lay focus on considering employment laws and legislation.
TASK 3
AC 3.1 Job description and personal specification for Cabin Crew of British Airways
Name of the organisation- British Airways
Name of department- BA CityFlyer
Job title- Cabin Crew London City
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Job Purpose
A good job opportunity for the peoples to join Cabin Crew job in London City where excellent
customer service is to be deliver. BA City Flyer is wholly owned subsidiary of British Airways.
In this work profile individual has to work passionately where they have to provide the best
possible services to customers of the organisation.
Principal accountabilities
 Effective operational safety, security and health responsibilities are managed with high
standards and compliance with EASA. Requirements with relevant legislation is ensured
properly.
 Effective training is provided so that effective use of safety equipment is learned by
members. Safety compliance is necessary in organisation.
 Company provides the best world class service to customers with proper standards and
behaviour.
 All corporate policies and procedures are developed effectively with relevant legislation
in an organisation.
Personal specification
ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS PRACTICAL CAPABILITY AND BEHAVIOUR
 To apply for this job role a person must
have to 18 year or above.
 Person must have to appreciate needs of
safety in organisation.
 He/she must be fluent in speaking and
writing English.
 Must have to provide effective
customer service because they are
precious for the company.
 Applied person must have valid
passport in which right is unrestricted
to work and live in UK.
 Must have to enjoy interaction with
customers to provide them best services
according to their expectation.
 Person will go for a criminal record  Person must have to provide equal
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check in particular country where they
live and that must have ability to retain
airside pass.
respect and understanding of different
culture and backgrounds where
everyone will be treated equally and in
respect full manner.
 He/she has the capability to work in
shifts and to cover 24 hours a day, 7
day weeks and 365 days in year for
their career.
 Able to solve business issues and seek
solution in case of an emergency in an
aircraft.
Physical criteria
 Person who have applied for the job role must be mentally and physically fit to meet roles
and responsibilities of British Airways.
 If there is a problem regrading colour vision, then safety equipment and procedure
training is to be provided so that effective Cabin crew duty is to be provided by the
employee.
 Required height is between (5’2”) that is 1.575m and (6’1”) that is 1.85m and required
weight with proportion to height is at least 2.01m (6'7”).
 Person able to swim 50m in trading water for minimum 3 minutes and must be able to
assist people from water.
 In case emergency a person is able to lift weight of 25 kg so that quickly exit from
aircraft in particular situation.
 Person will able to fit into aircraft jump seat harness without seatbelt extension of
aircraft.
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Illustration 1: cabin crew of British airways
( source: British Airways Cabin Crew Recruitment – Step by Step Process, 2018)

AC 3.2 Comparison of selection process of British airways and transport for London
British airways cabin crew selection procedure
British airways in order to select the personnel’s for the cabin crew follow various stages
for the recruiting the right person fr the right job. For the recruitment and selection of cabin crew
British airways first place the vacancies on the BA career webpage to provide information about
the various vacancies to the candidates that are interested. After that, applicants those are
interested can complete the online questions for further interview process. After that, if the
applicant answers the yes to the question asked then they need to complete the interest form.
Then the applicant online – form is completed for further processing. In next step, those
applicants that meet the basic requirement are provided with the log-in to complete various series
of online psychometric tests that includes numeracy, verbal reasoning, Spatial reasoning and
situational judgement test.
Those applicants that pass the online test are invited to an assessment day where further
processing relating to recruitment and selection is done it includes multiple choice questions,
group exercise , role play and interview. Candidate that clear this stage are invited for
background check and medical check. Then the training offer is placed by British airways which
include the training period of six weeks. And at last, after completing the training period the
candidate is appointed a member of cabin crew and the recruitment and selection procedure is
completed after the appointment of candidate for the position of cabin crew.
Transport for London customer service assistant selection procedure
The selection procedure of transport for London includes various stages for recruitment
of the right person. Firstly, vacancies are placed on the transport for London website and some
are placed via recruitment agency. After that, applicants create login and password to the job
vacancy page on transport for London site. Once the applicants have selected the vacancy in
which they are interested then they can complete the online application. Those applicants that
meet the basic requirement of the selection procedure can complete the online situational
judgement test for further selection procedures. Those candidates that clear the test are invited
for written assessment session. The candidates that clear this stages are called for role play
exercise and interview. After that, references are taken up and medical questionnaire are done
and then offer of a position is made for the position of customer service assistsant.

TASK 4
AC4.1 The contribution of training and development activities to the effective operation of
British Airways
Different types of training
Training and development programme helps the firm in improving the skills and
knowledge of the employees to achieve the objective of the organisation effectively and
efficiently. Training helps in development of the employee’s skills to improve their performance
level. Induction programme is a process to through which company provide information to the
new employees about the culture, responsibilities and activities which are performed at the
workplace. There are various methods through which the employees are provided with the
training such as lectures, case study, seminars etc. there are various training activities which are
provided to the employees by the British Airways (Bailey and et.al., 2018). These activities are
relating to technical training, sales training, clerical training and communication training.
Technical training is provided to employees to provide them information about various software
and system used in the British airways.
Difference between training and development
There are various difference between training and development that includes :
Basis of difference Training Development
Meaning It is a learning process to
develop skills and knowledge
of employees as per job
requirement.
Development is related to
overall growth of employee.
Term It is short term It is long termed
Orientation It is job oriented It is career oriented
Focus Present future
Benefits and effectiveness of training
 It helps inn increasing overall productivity of organisation of British airways.
 Training assist in increasing job satisfaction for the employees.
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 Training provide benefit to the British airways in improving its performance in the
industry.
 It helps in utilising the resource of the firm effectively and efficiently.
 It provides motivation to the employees for their better performance.
Role and need of training
Training programs helps employee to strengthen those skills which required to develop to
improve overall performance in an organisation. This training and development program overall
brings employees at higher level in which they all have similar knowledge and skills to achieve
organisational objectives. Training programs helps human resource management to increase
motivation of employees in organisation by which they work with full of encouragement to
achieve organisational objectives and to meet future needs of the organisation. Training and
development programs also helps to employees about improvement of skill which needed to
increase in achieving overall organisational objectives (Zahra, Iram and Naeem, 2014).
Overall contribution of training and development program for the effective business
operation
Training and development programs in an organisation plays an important role to achieve
overall business objectives and to meet future needs of organisation (The Importance of Training
and Development in the workplace, 2018). This program also helps human resource management
to develop effective motivation among employees so that they are ready to take challenges of the
organisation and work effectively to solve that business challenges. Overall productivity in an
organisation will also get increased by the help of effective training and development program.
Training is a learning process to develop skills and knowledge of employees as per job
requirement and Development is related to overall growth of employee. There are various
methods through which the employees are provided with the training such as lectures, case
study , seminars etc. there are various training activities which are provided to the employees by
the British Airways to achieve overall business objectives. Therefore, this overall plays an
effective role in motivating employee and to achieve overall business growth.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that human resource management plays an
important role in developing effective business policies by which overall organisation objectives
get achieved in organisation. This report is based on role of human resource management in an
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airline industry. This report has presented role and purpose of human resource management with
creation of HR plan. That HR plan is in accordance with demand supply of resources required so
that new flight service will get developed in organisation. Further, this report also provided
current state of employment relation in British Airways and also employment law which human
resource management in which explanation of different acts is provided. In this report, job
description and personal specification is also provided for Cabin Crew members with their
selection process. Lastly, in this report importance of training and development is explained so
that its importance will increase by organisation. Therefore, it can be concluded from this report
is that to run effective business operation there must be effective human resource management in
organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bailey, C. and et.al., 2018. Strategic human resource management. Oxford University Press.
Banfield, P., Kay, R. and Royles, D., 2018. Introduction to human resource management.
Oxford University Press.
Boon, C and et.al., 2018. Integrating strategic human capital and strategic human resource
management. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 29(1). pp.34-
67.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Collings, D.G., Wood, G.T. and Szamosi, L.T. eds., 2018. Human resource management: A
critical approach. Routledge.
Fletcher, L., Alfes, K. and Robinson, D., 2018. The relationship between perceived training and
development and employee retention: the mediating role of work attitudes. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management. 29(18). pp.2701-2728.
Ford, J.K. ed., 2014. Improving training effectiveness in work organizations. Psychology Press.
Guest, D.E., 2017. Human resource management and employee well‐being: Towards a new
analytic framework. Human Resource Management Journal. 27(1). pp.22-38.
Hammond, H. and Churchill, R.Q., 2018. The Role of Employee Training and Development in
Achieving Organizational Objectives: A Study of Accra Technical University. Archives of
Business Research–Vol. 6(2).
Reiche, B.S., Harzing, A.W. and Tenzer, H. eds., 2018. International human resource
management. SAGE Publications Limited.
Zahra, S., Iram, A. and Naeem, H., 2014. Employee training and its effect on employees’ job
motivation and commitment: Developing and proposing a conceptual model. IOSR Journal
of Business and Management. 16(9). pp.60-68.
ONLINE
Bianca, A., 2018. The Role of Human Resource Management in Organisation. [ONLINE].
Available through <https://smallbusiness.chron.com/role-human-resource-management-
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The Importance of Training and Development in the workplace. 2018. [ONLINE]. Available
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qualifications/the-importance-of-training-and-development-in-the-workplace>
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British Airways Cabin Crew Recruitment – Step by Step Process. 2018. [ONLINE]. Available
through <https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2017/04/08/british-airways-cabin-crew-
recruitment-step-by-step-process-2017/>
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