Human Resource Management for Service Industries: Thomas Cook Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Management (HRM) within the service industry, using Thomas Cook as a case study. It begins by examining the role and purpose of HRM, emphasizing its importance in employee collaboration, commitment building, and capacity building. The report then justifies a human resources plan based on supply and demand analysis, detailing the steps involved in identifying key positions, assessing required capabilities, and implementing succession plans. The current state of employment relations within Thomas Cook is assessed, highlighting the importance of contractual and statutory rights, work regulations, and the impact of employment law on HRM practices. The report further discusses job descriptions, person specifications, and selection processes, comparing different service industry businesses. Finally, it explores the contribution of training and development activities to the effective operation of Thomas Cook, concluding with a summary of key findings and implications for effective HRM in the service sector.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT FOR
SERVICE INDUSTRIES

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 .........................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Analyse the role and purpose of human resource management in a selected service
industry...................................................................................................................................1
1.2 Justify a human resources plan based on an analysis of supply and demand for an
enterprise ...............................................................................................................................2
2.1 Assess the current state of employment relations in a Thomas cook service industry.....4
2.2 How employment law affects the management of human resources in an enterprise......5
TASK 2 ..........................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Discuss a job description and person specification for a Thomas Ccook service industry7
3.2 Compare the selection process of different service industries businesses ....................10
4.1Contribution of training and development activities to the effective operation of Thomas
cook......................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Human resources management is an important part of company. Every company is
having its different department to handle human resources in an enterprise. HR is having primary
concern with people of management (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). This department is
responsible for employees’ benefit, training and development, recruitment, performance
appraisal and rewarding. Employees are very important part of an enterprise. They decide the
failure and success of an organisation. No work can be done without workforces so it very
crucial to handle them properly.
The company which is taken into consideration is Thomas cook. Thomas cook is the
oldest and well known company for travel and tourism in UK. This is a services industry which
provides better services to its customers and tries to satisfy their needs. They are offering and
designing holiday packages for their customers and tries to bring new experience of travelling.
In this report the role of human resources management is discussed. Importance of
current employment relation has also been mentioned below. The various laws regarding
employment has an impact on business operations. The job description and specification is
mention. How training and development is important for a firm is described in this assignment
(Armstrong, 2011).
TASK 1
1.1 Analyse the role and purpose of human resource management in a selected service industry
It is the human resource which carries out all the business activities. There are HR
managers and professionals who have high responsibility to carry out these activities properly. In
this concept employees are real assets of an organisation. HR authority plays important part to
grow business. In context to Thomas cook their professional try to choose candidate those who
can bring ideas and innovation while designing attractive packages. HR main responsibility is to
motivate their employees and create healthy business environment. Following are the role of
HRM in services industry. Collaboration: In this professional and HR managers try to enhance employees’ skills
and motivate them to work together (Boselie, 2010). These authorities decide how to
assign job to people according to their skills and knowledge. To make employees more
flexible they assign different roles so that they learn to work in dynamic environment.
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Proper collaboration brings smoothness in business operations. This can help to build
strong relation between employees and management. Commitment building: HR manger make strategies and policies which increasing
employee engagement with an enterprise (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). For this
management tries to appoint right candidate for right job so that they get satisfaction from
their work. All the employees should be committed to their job and use their ability in an
effective manner. Engagement of employees is very important because it saves cost and
time of management to recruit new candidates again and again.
 Building capacity: HR helps enterprise to get competitive advantage. For this they need
to increase capacity of their workers so that they provide unique services to their
customers. Many firm conducts activities which help employees to grow and increase
their retention in an enterprise. This can increase customer satisfaction which help
companies to sustain for longer run.
The HR of Thomas Cook always motivates and trains their employees so that they can
bring healthy environment in an organisation. Employees of firm provide most unique offers to
their customers so that they can meet customers’ needs and also gain competitive advantage.
There are different department in Thomas cook such as HR, sales and distribution, IT,
destination representatives and finance & account department. All these levels are having their
own roles responsibility (Bratton and Gold, 2012). Workers in these department are specialised
in their work and they know how to complete task in effective and efficient manner
Purpose of HRM in travel and tourism industry is to control conflicts, managing people,
development of employees, leadership, improving communication, improve human relations, job
satisfaction. These all factors are proper address by HRM in an enterprise.
1.2 Justify a human resources plan based on an analysis of supply and demand for an enterprise
Human resources is very important part of any an enterprise. It is very crucial decision to
allocated human resources properly so that company can get good profits. For this activities firm
do human resources planning in which HR manager looks after position that need to be fulfilled.
Thomas Cook human resources planning is given below. Identify the key areas of position: First step is to identify the position where company
needs to hire candidate. For this Thomas Cook adopted human resources planning so that
they gave right position to right candidate. The company have different reason to recruit
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new candidate in an enterprise these reasons can be new product launch, old employees
died or leave job, employee is on holidays and others. Because of this reason firm needs
to fill in their vacant positions.
 Identify the capabilities for key areas and positions: In this step company identifies the
capabilities which candidates should have for a particular profile. Candidates are hired
according to job profile (Chand, 2010). They find certain skills and knowledge in
candidate while hiring for vacant position. For this firm list down all vacant positions and
notes down different capabilities in candidates to fulfil the job requirements. Identify interested employees: In this step company identify potential candidates and
match their skills and knowledge to job profile. HR Analyse whether these skills match
which required job capabilities or not. Firm identify whether candidates can complete the
task with effective manner or not. If employees are capable to perform then management
gives task to that particular person. Developing and implement succession plans: In this, enterprise identifies areas and
candidates to whom they can give succession planning. Management also conducts
knowledge transfer plans so that they can achieve their determined goals. Succession
planning refers to developing its employees for higher position. This can make
employees more flexible in nature and also they can perform at every level an enterprise.
This succession planning prepares their employees for future prospects.
 Evaluate effectiveness: Last step of human resources planning is to evaluate the
effectiveness of planning among the employees. It is very important to analyse
performance of workers (Chang, Gong and Shum, 2011). So that if there is any loophole,
company can correct it at that point of time. Enterprise compare standard performance to
actual performance. The implementation of all resources should be allocated in an
effective manner.
There are different requirements to do human resources planning. Following are the
requirements of Thomas cook to do human resources planning. Resourcing strategy: The main motive of this strategy is to allocate its resources in
effective manner. Thomas cook wants to achieve competitive advantage. For this they
need to make resources strategy. So that no wastage should take place and services
quality can be increased.
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 Scenario planning: This planning includes all situations which take place because of
environment changes. Company need to prepare its staff for future risk which take place
in firm (Chelladurai and Kerwin, 2017). So for this an enterprise need to do human
resources planning. There are many different situations which Thomas cook face. It
affects their sales of packages and other products. So to overcome from these scenario
organisations prepare its employees. Forecast of demand and supply: To meet customer demand at right time with quality of
product is very important for a firm. For that an enterprise forecast its future demand and
supply so that they can hiring people in their company. so that demand and supply can
properly met. Labour turnover analysis: Another reason to do human resources planning is to reduce
labour turnover. Company has to figure out labour turnover and Thomas cook have less
cost strategy so for that they need to see their actual labour turnover cost to measure
actual position of company.
 Flexibility: For travel and tourism flexibility is must. Flexibility refers to multi-tasking,
outsourcing sub-contracting etc. A company needs to do human resources planning to
bring flexibility in an enterprise (CHUANG and Liao, 2010).
2.1 Assess the current state of employment relations in a Thomas cook service industry
Employment relation is very important in an enterprise. This build strong relation
between employees and management. Employment relation helps to bring satisfaction,
motivation, increase productivity. This strong relation generates’ coordination and by workers
can share their skills, knowledge, ability with each. This can tend to achieve enterprise goals
with effective manner.
Employment relation brings harmony in an organisation. It resolves workers’ problem by
which their performance is affected. Employees’ relation not only gives benefits to an individual
but also to whole enterprise, customers, society and others. When an organisation is having good
relations with its employees that firm can sustain for longer in market and has competitive
advantage from its competitors (Guest, 2011).
There are elements which are considered to have ideal employees’ relationship are as
follows.
 Difference between contractual and statutory employment rights
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 Agreement and contract of employment
 The rules and regulation regarding work timing
 Termination of employment contracting
 Inequality in employment
In services industry employment relation is important. To build good employment
relation firm need to give job satisfaction, motivation and increase productivity. These factors
are essential in services industry (Gummesson, Lusch and Vargo, 2010). All the travel industry
are aware about contractual and statutory employment rights and they are applying it effectively
in their business. These are different rights which company need to address. All firms are
concern about working time, safety issues, work disciplines and termination of employment.
In UK employees need to maintain all rules and regulations while working with particular
enterprise. An employers are supposed to follow all laws of UK regarding workers of company.
In UK there is philosophy regarding employment relation is that employer and employee are in
position in which they can bargain the power. Thomas cook is a customer oriented company. UK
believe in win-win approach (Harzing and Pinnington, 2010). That means both the parties in
contract gets equal benefit. Because of these reason company adopt democratic style of
employee relation.
2.2 How employment law affects the management of human resources in an enterprise
For every enterprise law is guideline which tells how business activities should be
conducted. It is necessary for every country to follow legal laws govern by its government and
legal authority. UK also have many rules regarding employees. In an enterprise human perform
all activities. So participation of employees in an organisation is very important. There is
employment relation Act and employments right Act which are enforces to protect employer and
employees rights. These also help to establish good relation between employer and employees.
Employment relation Act discuss following employees matter.
 Independent contractor
 Obligation of employees and employee
 Termination of employment
 Collective bargaining
 personal grievance
 Wages and payment of employees
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 Dismissal notice
 Child care
 Unfair dismissal
 Employer insolvency
Thomas Cook is having corporate strategy of with competitive advantage through its
unique products and its Human Resources. For this a company needs to reduce its cost of labour
turnover and motivate the employees. The practices which are taken by firm for its human
resource should not be unethical and illegal (Hendry, 2012). Because of this reason these Acts
are implemented by the firm. Thomas Cook allows its employees to engage in union activities.
Thomas cook gives holidays on Saturday and Sunday to its employees and working hours are
also kept flexible according to industry requirements. Employment Rights Act also have a major
impact on business environment. Employees should have all the rights which he/she is entitled
for.
It is under purview of law that all the workers of an enterprise should be treated equally.
No discrimination should be made by anyone in the organisation. Thomas Cook provides
incentives based on performance. It helps company to control cost of an employment. By this,
enterprise can bring same opportunity for every worker and if they get higher incentives their
motivation level also increases. If firm gives equal opportunity then it can bring multi-cultural in
a business unit.
UK has certain laws which protect interests of an employee. If company members are
involved in certain union activities they get benefits by government of country. Under Minimum
Wages Act 1998, it is stated that minimum wages should be £6.31 for those who are 21 years
old.. There should be 28 paid holidays in a month for employees and any worker is not allowed
to work more than 48 hours at stretch according to working time Regulation Act 1998. There are
right of children care which employees received by a company. Under employment Act 2008 an
employee should have flexible working patterns (Hoque, 2013).
There is a huge impact on human resources practices on Thomas cook business operation.
To give employees training, development and motivation, company needs to consider laws
regarding HRM so that they can make effective policies. Firm needs to recruit candidate
according to UK rules and regulations. They have to provide minimum wages and fixed working
hours. Every employee of Thomas cook has a right to safety in their job and have healthy
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business environment. By abiding to such basic laws, this firm can generate good reputation in
market and prevent legal issues.
TASK 2
3.1 Discuss a job description and person specification for a Thomas Cook service industry
Job description is a document in which employees’ roles and responsibilities are
mentioned. The required skills and knowledge which company want in their candidate should
listed in this document. (Kern, 2014.). It is a general written statement which includes duties,
and key result areas that are to be performed by employees. Job description is used to form the
basis of job specifications. For example, Thomas Cook is hiring candidate for customer services
(Low, Chen and Wu, 2011). So for that it has designed the following job description:
JOB DESCRIPTION
Organization Name Thomas cook
Division Customer service
Designation Customer services agent
Location London
Report to Human Resource Manager
Job summary Customer services agent of Thomas cook makes sure
that customers are taking packages with it should be
satisfied. The agent needs to solve customer enquiries
about hotel, flights and other information.
Roles and Responsibilities  Checking customer details
 Providing accurate information
 Solving their inquiry regarding hotel, flights
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and conveniences
 Updating customers if any changes in flight
timings, hotel check in and check outs.
 Solving transaction issues
 Promoting and updating customers about new
offers and deals.
Skill Required  A strong knowledge of particular field
 Excellent interpersonal, oral and
communication skills
 Should have required qualification
 Person should has ability to work in team
 Person should have ability to solve problems
and issues effectively.
Personal Qualities  Commitment to public communications
 Should be honest and flexible in nature
Salary 15000 pond
Working hours 9:30AM to 7 PM
JOB SPECIFICATION (Personal profile)
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 The candidate should be above 18 years old (Mathis and Jackson, 2011)
 A person should have under graduate degree.
 Person should be willing to work in flexible schedule
 Candidate should able to work in stressful conditions
 The candidate background and medical check should be done by an enterprise before
final placement.
Dimensions Where- Call centre How – By using telephones, computer and reservation systems
 With whom – With executives and other service staff of customer
Job description helps the candidates to understand their roles and responsibilities. They
can decide whether they want to apply for particular job profile or not. It makes clear to
employees about job environment and its working condition. Following are steps by which job
description and job specification can be prepared (Meredith Belbin, 2011). Collect background information: First step is to identify the candidate background
information (Mok, Sparks and Kadampully, 2013). So that they can formulate job
description. It is very important to see background because after that they can provide
right job to right person. Select representative position: After background check a company choose right position
to right candidate. For this an enterprise need to see which position needto hie
candidates. There are different department in organisation. In which department HR
needs to recruit employment. After back ground check particular job profile is offered. Collect job analysis data: In this a company designs the roles and responsibility which
can be fulfilled by particular job profile (Nadiri and Tanova, 2010). After this enterprise
collects their personal data and match that information with job requirements. Develop job description: After analysing the data job description is preparing where job
identification, job summary, duties and responsibility, relation to other jobs, timing of
interview, salary, timing of office are mention. These factors vary from different job
profiles. Every position in organisation having their own roles and responsibilities. The
experience and qualification also differ from different designation.
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