British Airways: An In-Depth Analysis of Human Resource Management

This report offers a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices within British Airways. It begins by examining the core role and purpose of HRM, highlighting its significance in organizing and managing the airline's workforce. The report then delves into the creation and justification of an HR plan, considering supply and demand dynamics, particularly in relation to new flight services. It assesses the current state of employment relations within the airline industry, including unionization, collective bargaining, and employee participation. Additionally, the report explores the influence of employment law on HRM at British Airways. Furthermore, it compares the selection processes of different service industries. Finally, the report 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 implications for the airline's HRM strategies.

Human Resource Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1. Analysing of the role and purpose of human resource management in British Airways.....3
1.2. Justifying a human resources plan based on an analysis of supply and demand
for British Airways.....................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
2.2. Assessing the current state of employment relation in the airline industry........................5
2.2. How employment law affects the management of human resources in British Airways.. . .5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
3.1. Discussing a job description and person specification for a British Airways......................6
3.2. Comparing the selection process of different service industries businesses........................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
4.1. Assessing the contribution of training and development activities to the effective
operation of British Airlines.......................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is the valuable assets for any organisation. Human resource
management is the process of organising, managing, staffing the main resource of the company,
its productive workforce. Human resource department plays an important role in organising
employees in British Airlines, as they provide a guide to face the challenges with the changing
knowledge, technology and trends for the economic needs of effective human resource
management. The present report is based on the Human resources management in the British
airways. The present report will discuss the role and purpose of the human resource management
in thee British Airways.
Further, the report will demonstrate the human resource plan with the effect of demand
and supply in the airline industry. The report will also discuss about the current situation of the
employee relation in the airline industry. The report will demonstrate the affect of different
employment laws and legislation on the human resource management of British airlines.
Furthermore, the report will compare the selection process of different company in airline
industry. The present report will help in understanding the contribution of training and
development activities in British airlines.
TASK 1
1.1. Analysing of the role and purpose of human resource management in British Airways.
Human resource management plays a significant role in British Airways. It is process of
organising, planning and managing the most important resource of an organisation, its work
force. A productive and thriving workforce is the most important components of a successful
organisation. Human resource management in British Airways is responsible in organising and
managing the workforce so that they can effectively perform their working in company. It
requires for human resource management to use their employees as an asset to the company, it
comes in human capital management (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Their are different role and
purpose of human resource management in British Airways.
Role of Human resource management:
The HRM team helps the management of the company to make strategies so that the
company can manage the employees of the company as a resources. It includes the process of
recruiting and hiring employees, coordinating employee benefits program and making different

strategies for training and development of the employee. The main role of Human resource
management in British Airways is maintaining the staff level, which helps in ensuring that
company has right people, in the right job, at the right time (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Human
resource management role of recruiting is continuous process with the expansion of the company
and with the increasing of its flight shifts. It gives the HR department in fulfilling their role to
understand the various role in British Airways, the qualification required to fill specific role.
The HR management also plays an role in maintaining employees as they are considered
as the lifeblood of an organisation. HR department plays an important role in keeping employees
engaged with the organisation so as to retain the employees. The human resource management
helps in complying with employment legislation and rules for managing the employees in
company.
Purpose of Human Resource management:
The purpose of human resource management is to coordinate people in British Airways
so that they can work together to achieve the organisational goals. One of the main purpose of
the HRM is to fulfil the need of the staff and maintain employee satisfaction. HRM helps in
accomplishes this by using people, process and technology that focuses on the internal parts of
the company rather than on the external environment. A successful HRM helps in creating a
bridge between the management and company's workforce. Human resource management helps
in implementing the process and policies which are helpful in attracting, recruiting and retaining
the quality workforce in company (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). The another main purpose oh
human resource management in British Airways is that they communicate to the people and also
helps in adapting organisational culture and structure to their needs such as by re-engineering
process. Moreover, HRM also helps in leading the employment life cycle which includes hiring
new employees evaluating their performances, whether they are up to the acquirement of job or
not.
1.2. Justifying a human resources plan based on an analysis of supply and demand
for British Airways.
The human resource team of British airways has created an HR plan wich assist it in
accessing the demand and supply of new employees in the organisation. As per analysing the
scenario, the HR should make an effective planning by analysing the supply and demands of the

employees. At the time of peak season, the demands for the employees also increases, that will
leads the problem for the HR department to find a appropriate candidates for the planned job role
(Belobaba, Odoni and Barnhart eds., 2015). For the supply of the employees, at the time
required, the HR team can make a plan to recruit the employees before the peak season. They
can give them effective training so that at the time of demand came, they can have the sufficient
supply of the candidates for the flights.
The HR plan as per the new flight service of British Airways to Madeira is:
Supply Demand Staff Role Number of staffs Hours of work
The company
needs to recruit
more skilled
employees in
order to increase
the supply of
workforce in
British Airways.
The HR
management must
estimate the needs
or demand of the
employees for the
new flight
services of British
Airways.
The HR plan
should have
proper
specification of
the staff roles and
responsibility that
they need to be
done. These
employees will
have to perform
their roles
effectively to
provide
excellence
services to the
customers.
As per the
working hour
which is specific
by the policies,
number of air-
hostess needs to
be 2, the flight-
attenders will be
15 and 3-4
ground staff is
required.
Pilot will work
for 8 hours, 2
pilots will be
there in flight.
Flight crew will
work for 12
hours. Cabin crew
will work for 10-
12 hours a day.
Staff role Number of staff Staff turnover Number of staff hired per year
Cabin crew role is to
give excellence
service to the
For 50
passemngers flight
1-2 flight
As per the
statistical data
2015, the umber of
HR hired 2000 crew members
each year.

passengers and make
their journey
comfortable
attenders is
required. Flight
from Heathrow to
Madeira will
requires 4-5 cabin
crew members
consist of one
pilot and a co-
pilot.
Another flight,
Hormony 8-9
crew members are
required as the
journey will be of
13 hours.
employees in
British Airways is
43322. it has
around 11% of
turnover from
2010 to 2015. at
present company
has 45000 of
employees which
comprises 16500
cabin crew, 3900
pilots, 4700
engineers. It has
also been seen
from data that
approximately
1650 cabin crew
members leaves
job each year.
Role of pilot is
technical and very
important, they have
to operate the
aircraft have have
responsibility of
safety of all the
passengers and cabin
crew members.
Flight will
required 2 pilot.
Justification:

As per the plan of human resource departments, for the new flights to the Madeira,, the
HR has to recruits different employees to perform different roles (Bamber and et.al., 2013). As
shown in the table, the HR has to make A plan to recruit 2 pilots. A flight requires 2 pilots in
order to operate single flights; hence for four flights 8 pilots will be required. Their working hour
will be 8 hour, to take flight of 4 hours from Madeira to Heathrow and from Heathrow to
Madeira. Similarly to attend the flight 4-5 flight attendant per flight would be required. The case
will be for ground staff members and luggage department will need to be recruiting.
TASK 2
2.1. Assessing the current state of employment relation in the airline industry.
The efforts of the company to manage and improve relationship between the employee
and company are employee relation. The company that has good employee relation reflects the
fair and consistent treatment to its employee. The employee relation helps in engaging
employees to the company, their job and helps in enhancing their loyalty towards the company.
Employee relation helps in enhancing the productivity of the workers which helps in achieving
the organisational goals. Employee relation can affect the airline industry in many ways.
Unionisation structure: There are trade union or unionisation that helps in representing the
collective interests of the workers. In the current state in airline industries, an individual does not
directly contacting to the management of a company. A representative from the employees will
communicate to the higher authority regarding different issues over salary, wages, working hours
and other working condition. In the airline industry, all the airline company’s employees has
formed as unionisation for protecting the benefit of the employees in the company.
Collective bargaining: In airline industries, it is a process through which the members of trade
unions and the management of company are negotiating to each other in order to maintaining the
employee relation efficiently in the company. In airline industry, with the help of trade union it is
very easy for employees and employers for negotiation and making agreements on various
aspects such as promotion and benefits in order to handles many disputes over that things.
Employees participation and empowerments: in airline industry, companies are also involving
the employees and staffs in the process of planning and taking decisions regarding the
organisational activities. They are providing roles and responsibilities for the accomplishment of

the company’s goals and objectives (Factors Influencing Strategic Employee Relations, 2018).
The involvement of the employees will tend to decrease in the chances of conflicts between the
employee and manager. It also helps in improving the relation that is an important factor which
contributes to the growth of the company. However, The empowerment in the airline industries
are giving responsibilities related to the satisfaction of customer through their skills.
Grievances and Disciplinary procedures: It involves the mechanism in the airline industry
where the trade unions and managers are making formal as well as informal meetings in order to
solve the problems of the employees in company. The code of conduct for the employees and
staff members are also planned for disciplinary process that will also be implemented by the
airline industry which will help in strengthen the relationship of employees and management of
the company. This is an another way of airline industry to maintain employee relation in the
company, which helps to reducing the chances of conflicts and encouraged the employees to
work in order to accomplished the company’s goals.
2.2. How employment law affects the management of human resources in British Airways.
Human resources department of British Airlines is responsible for compliance of a
multitude of employment and workplace related laws in company. There many employment laws
and legislations that can affect the human resource decisions and strategies in British Airways
(Barnard, 2012). The following are some employees law and legislations that affect the HR in
British Airline:
Employment legislations:
There various laws that are being framed by the laws for the protection of employees in
the workplace. Some laws are Equal employment opportunities, it helps the employees to be
protected from ant type of illegal discrimination on the range of race, age, or gender etc. human
resource department should ensure to follow the law. If company fails to follow the rules they
have to pay compensation or the penalty as per the rule. Another law is Equal pay act 1963,
which ensures that all the employees in the same job in British Airline should be paid equally.
There should be no biased on the basis of gender for equal (Dau-Schmidt, Finkin and Covington,
2016). This laws can affect the decisions and policies oh human resource management, they had
to be ensure that all the employees should Pay equal wages on the basis of their shifts and
working hours in British Airlines. Moreover, the health and safety act implies to provide the
safety and healthy working areas to the employees of British Airways.

However, the UK legislation also implies the Pregnancy discrimination act of 1978,
which prohibits discrimination or dismissal of women because of her pregnancy. The company
has to give her maternity leaves and provide her the job security. The British Airline's human
resource department are also compiled by law to recruit the employees at the wages that being
framed by the law. The management than , had to change their decisions of recruiting less staffs
by providing more salary (Twomey, 2012). There are some Advisory and Arbitration services
organisations that are provided employee suggestions regarding their employment issues and the
employees laws and regulations that are being framed to protect them.
Employees Rights:
All employees pose some basic rights in workplace that covered under the employee’s
right act. It mandatory for all the companies to make strategies and policies that enables their
employees to enjoy certain employee rights in the workplace. These rights are directly related to
make the company and the workplace to be safe and healthy. Such rights include the right of
privacy, fair compensations, and freedom from discrimination. It is the responsibility of the
human resource management to make proper policies to complying the employee right law in the
company so that employees feels free from any kind of discrimination in the company (Blanpain
and Bisom-Rapp, 2014). The employee rights can affect human resource department as they
need to change their policies of compensation and wages as according to the laws, it can also
affect the revenue of the British Airways.
Another act that has been imposed by UK is Employment relation act, 2008. this act give
emphasis on the democratic rights of the workers in British Airways. The company needs to have
a simple procedure of registration, employees must have collecting bargaining, and to resolve the
disputes and conflicts which may arises in company. The management should create and develop
an working environment where employee can perform well and increase their productivity. This
laws will impact the HR to manage the strategies as per the law which also helps in improving
the overall performance of organisation.
Human resource department needs to change its strategies and make effective policies to
keep the employees safe as they have to attend the flights, safety and protection equipments
needs to provided that can increase the cost of the British Airways.

TASK 3
3.1. Discussing a job description and person specification for a British Airways.
For the Cabin Crew London City, the British Airlines is going to appoint a Air-hostess.
Job description: it is the simple document that is going to present the general duties, task and
other responsibilities that an air-hostess has to perform. An air hostess, also called flight
attendants are responsible of all the people in the flights (Kanchanachitra and et.al. ,2011). They
have to review the safety measures to the passengers before the flights, they have to bring the
requested and requirement of passengers to them. Their jobs brings responsibilities of safety
check at various times during the flights.
Responsibilities: The air-hostess has to possess following responsibilities and roles that may
varies as per the flights timing and members of staffs in the flights.
 The main duties of airhostess are to ensure that all the passengers are seated comfortably
and safely in the flights.
 They have to reviewing the safety measures of the flights to the passengers that also
includes the using of safety equipments
 They are responsible for the pre flight briefing. Crew are informed of flight details, tytthe
schedule, the number of infants on board and if there are passengers with any special
requirements.
 Welcoming the passengers on board and directing them to their seats.
Qualification: To be an air hostess the person should have a foundation degree or the post
graduate degree. Foundation degree can be in their interest field like, hospitality management,
language, and travel management. They should be able to speak in different languages especially
in English as this the most common language.
Experience: A person should have the relevant past work experience services, as the company
are taking the person who have the potential and skills (Esteves, Franks and Vanclay, 2012).
Sometimes British Airlines also recruits the airhostess from the colleges, as according to their
qualification and skills.
Skills: an air hostess should have the following skills:
 They should have good communication skills.
 They need to have exceptional customer services.

 They should be confident while communicating with different range of people.
 An air hostess should have good co-operation skills as they have to work with different
team day to day.
 They should have the ability to deal with the situation calmly and quickly.
 They should also have the flexibilities of working in unsocial hours on any day in year.
3.2. Comparing the selection process of different service industries businesses.
Selection procedure is to choose the best candidates for the specific job according to its
qualification requirement. British Airlines process of selection is done by inviting the
applicants and through recruitment from the hotel management colleges and institutes
(Furnham, 2012). They shortlisted the candidates the selected the most appropriate
candidates on the basis of the job.
On the other hand, Transport for London hires an agent or executive to done the
recruitment and selection processes for the company. The comparison of two service
industry is as follows:
Step British Airways Transport For London
1 Company will upload the information of
career webpage and on company's website.
New vacancy information will get
uploaded on company's website.
2 Applicants has to fill the questions online . Applicants has to register through
login using ID and passwords.
3 Applicants will have to fill complete
interest form to specify their reason to
join.
Applicant have to select the vacant
post they are applying for.
4 Online application form has to filled which
contained their complete information.
Applicant have to give the situational
judgement test
5 BA will invite them on an assessment day
to the applicant who have scored high.
The candidate has to give a wriiten
test to know their skills and
knowledge.
6 Medical check: candidates have to submit
their complete medical report to ensure
that they are physically fit.
The person selected will be called for
an interview

7 Training will be provided to the selected
candidate
Medical check-up reports will be
collected.
8 They will be on floor to work as per their
job roles
The offer letter is than, being
provided to the selected candidate.
TASK 4
4.1. Assessing the contribution of training and development activities to the effective
operation of British Airlines.
Training and development is an formal ongoing efforts which are made by company to
increase the potential and skills of the employees, so that they can improve their
performance in the company through training and development programme(Cummings and
Worley, 2014). company can increase the quality of employees performance which helps in
increasing their efficiency to perform the business activities in British Airways efficiently.
Following are the contribution of training and development in British Airways:
 Increased productivity: training and development helps in improving the efficiency
of employees so that they can work with their full efforts. It will help in improving
their performance and productivity will be increased.
 Reduction of errors and accidents: because of the lack of knowledge and proper
skills, many errors occur in the operations of the business activity(Goetsch and
Davis, 2014). Training and development will help in providing proper knowledge
and skills to the employees of British Airways.
 Uncover employee Potential: Many companies overlook the potential and skills in
their employees. With the help of training and development programs, employees
will get a chance to show their potential and skills. They can also share their ideas to
the management.
 Consistency: Training and development programs ensure that employees get
consistent experience and background knowledge. All employees have to be aware
about the expectations and procedures within the company (Huxham and Vangen,
2013. ). The consistency is relevant to the company’s basic policies and procedures.