Strategic HR Management and Qantas Airline Analysis

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of the human resource (HR) strategies implemented by Qantas airline, examining key elements such as HR strategic planning, employee motivation and retention programs, and corporate communication to employees. The report highlights the import...Read More

Essay

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, organisations are seeking to create much competition among them,
through expanding their market or attracting more customers. The rapid change is
stemming from globalisation or advancement in information system which have caused
higher competition. As there are many organisations who are setting their goals and
objectives according to their performance and strategies which are adopted by them 1.
For example, some of the objective of entity are making strong customer base,
improving productivity and quality of products and services, increasing sales and many
more. The realisation of these goals can also be achieved with the help of human
resource management in organisation. In modern era, human resources are considered
as most important source in today’s firm. In this report, key elements of HR strategy are
explained in context of organisation’s strategies of their employees. For this Qantas
airline company is taken who is operating their business at international level.
MAIN BODY
Human resource management is concerned with the development of both
individuals and organisation to operate their business at international level. HRM is not
only securing and increasing the talents of individual workers, but also, they are
implementing some useful programmes to enhance communication process between
organisation and employees. There are many prime responsibilities of HRM which
includes; recruiting and selecting of employees, utilisation of work force, appraisal of
work force performance, implementation or execution of reward system for staff and
employees. For example, HR manager of Qantas are having major responsibilities
which is associated with organising training and development activities of employees 2.
They should be aware of fundamentals of learnings and motivations and must be design
in careful manner that should give benefit to organisation as well as individuals.
To support organisation human resource, higher authority need to focus on the
programmes, policies, procedures which has been applied by HR in order to run their
1 Grinblatt, M. and Titman, S., 2016. Financial markets & corporate strategy.
2 Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource
management. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge
Revivals). 67.
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business function smoothly. Here are some key elements of HR strategy which make
position of Qantas strong in competitive market.
Human resource strategic planning, links HR management directly with the
strategic plan of organisation. It guides company in making appropriate strategies and
plans in order to successfully meet with their mission. As it will also support organisation
to predict the future needs after analysing current human resource or external labour
market to operate their business at international level.
Employee motivation and retention programs; as employees of company are
considered as most valuable assets and have to be manage them accordingly are most
crucial function. It is responsibility of HR that they should conduct proper training of
each and every employee so that they can execute task in appropriate manner. In
Qantas, HR had designed and delivered employee engagement and loyalty solution for
coping with the organisation goals and objectives 3. They had provided solution to
employees which boost them in performing their activities in best and effective manner.
As they are rewarding employees for their achievement in different ways. Else this
strategy is important for organisation to be considered in HR because they are also
making contribution in attaining goals and objective of organisation.
Corporate communication to employees; when organisation is creating or
implementing new strategies, then they have to convey this to staff in proper manner.
Communication process should be used efficiently through which manager can easily
interact with their employees and make healthy relation with them. Through this also,
manager come to know about the issues which are facing by employees 4. Along with
this it should also involve in corporate strategy through which organisation can take
appropriate decision.
Culture in global economy is to be considered as critical factor for organisation to
operate their business at multinational level. Qantas is flag carrier in Australia which is
largest airline in terms of fleet size and providing international flights. While making any
3 Litov, L. P., Moreton, P. and Zenger, T.R., 2012. Corporate strategy, analyst
coverage, and the uniqueness paradox. Management Science. 58(10). pp.1797-
1815.
4 Kleinbaum, A. M. and Stuart, T. E., 2014. Inside the black box of the corporate
staff: Social networks and the implementation of corporate strategy. Strategic
Management Journal. 35(1). pp.24-47.
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strategy, organisation needs to understand cultural differences which are considered
during initial step through this they can acquire both knowledge and skills regarding the
different culture agent of their roles and responsibilities. As there are many customers
who are belonging from different culture so it become essential for organisation to
analyse their needs. It is responsibility of HR to provide training according to culture of
employees which will also supports them in performing their activities in appropriate
manner. Although cross-culture training assists global manager ability in an effective
way with the help of different phases of development 5. As high level of cultural
intelligence managers is playing significant strategic roles and they are helping to
organisation to span their international boundaries at different levels. In this manager
can also deal with those issues which are facing by several customers who are
belonging from different culture.
Qantas had announced the detail of cost reduction programme and capital
expenditure in order to review their strategy analysis. As this company had taken
permanently action in order to reduce cost which are included in the part of Qantas
Group. This entity is trying to reduce the cost of productivity which will also minimise the
cost of services. As competitor of this company had been increased in context of
strategy because they are making strategies to attract their customers also. The
strategic analysis of Qantas indicates that there are a wide number of corporate level
strategies which can be adopted by organisation in order to run their business function
smoothly. With the help of corporate strategy organisation can achieve their operational
efficiency with the help of integrating simple business process and also to focus on
productivity at same period of time 6. In addition to this, major strategy of company is to
reach safety in its operation by providing world class services to customers. Along with
this, this company is also highly dedicated towards the environment by concentrating on
environment protection initiatives. Thus, corporate level strategy is providing high class
air travel services where Qantas is targeting different region and tying to attaining higher
5 Kreng, V. B. and Huang, M. Y., 2011. Corporate social responsibility: Consumer
behavior, corporate strategy, and public policy. Social Behavior and Personality:
an international journal. 39(4). pp.529-541.
6 Zhu, D. H. and Chen, G., 2015. CEO narcissism and the impact of prior board
experience on corporate strategy. Administrative Science Quarterly. 60(1). pp.31-
65.
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international growth by doing alliances with major competitors. Else, organisation wants
to achieve high level of growth in term of number of destination or routes and these can
only be achieved by making appropriate strategic plans for a particular time period.
Further, it is responsibility of manager to monitor these strategies on regular basis in
order to deal with the issues which are facing by employees.
Corporate strategy is concerned with strategic decision which are taken by
organisation and affecting to entire objectives. An example of corporate level strategy is
financial performance of company, human resource management, allocation of
resources etc. As there is different type of corporate level strategy which has to be also
considered in HR strategy 7. One of the strategy is that “Value-Creating”. In this strategy
businesses are seeking to edge out their competitors by capturing more market share.
Through this, it adds values in goods and services which is exploiting in the scope of
economies. Besides this, resources and capabilities of business can be shared across
the organisation which will also reduce costs and increase the efficiency of employees
in targeting their mission. A key-idea behind this strategy is that Qantas can offer more
products and services to customers in order to attempting large market share.
Another strategy is, “Value-Neutral”, in this organisation is not much concerned
about allocating the resources in market. Through this strategy, it creating synergy
among departments in order to reduce work force. Well it will support to organisation in
securing steady cash flow during the year. Last strategy is, Value-reducing strategy, in
this stakeholders or customers are perceiving that business is getting from
diversification and assisting organisation in targeting demographics which is also putting
mechanism in order to prevent unnecessary growth 8. With the help of this strategy, it
will help to organisation in targeting those customers through which sales and
profitability of firm will increase during the year.
The corporate level strategy can be executed by organisation with the help of
functional. The strategy of Qantas is expanding their air travel services across the
7 Munro, V., 2013. Stakeholder preferences for particular Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) activities and Social Initiatives (SIs): CSR initiatives to
assist corporate strategy in emerging and frontier markets. The Journal of
Corporate Citizenship. (51). p.72.
8 Kim, L. S., 2015. Convergence of Information Technology and Corporate
Strategy. Journal of the Korea Convergence Society. 6(6). pp.17-26.
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region while getting significant support from numerous functional level of organisation.
Functional area includes different areas such as; human resource management,
marketing, sales and many more. Through these company can successfully execute
their corporate level strategy and expand their business at different sector. The function
of human resource management is highly crucial from the perspective of executing
effective plans at international level for attending growth. HRM support to organisation
in recruiting and selecting high talented employees to perform operation of business
across the new destinations 9. An expansion strategy of Qantas generally involves new
destination and aircraft which would require additional employees who are having skills
and capabilities to resolve the issues of customers. These can effectively attain by entity
with the help of effectiveness of HRM functions.
Apart from this, there are different types of human resource strategies which
should be included in corporate level strategy such as; to reduce labour cost, encourage
employees by providing them reward or bonus which will enhance their performance,
implementing new techniques for improving information accessibility etc. All these
strategies will help organisation in preventing all hurdles and issues which are faced by
employees. Thus, it makes strong position of company in competitive market. Further,
while implementing HR strategies appropriate procedure should be followed by entity
which must ensure about that company is meeting with their goals and objectives and
future needs. Besides this, if there is well-defined strategy, then it clarifies the roles and
responsibilities of HR team 10. Along with this, it also determines the structure, cost of
resources which are required by HR to deliver best quality of services and ensured that
these activities are aligned with their business needs. To operate business at
international level, it is essential for organisation to monitor and regulate all these
activities in effective manner so that fruitful decision can be taken by firm. While instead
of serving and helping employees, HR had to support and boost the employees in
building their capacity for performing the task and towards the achievement of
organisation aims.
9 Moradlou, M. and Karshenas, H. R., 2011. Design strategy for optimum rating
selection of interline DVR. IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery. 26(1). pp.242-
249.
10 Zadeh, M., 2011. HR Strategy and Its aligning with organizational strategy and
human capabilities. Iranian Journal of Management Studies. 2(2). pp.5-29.
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Apart from this, there are different tools of HR strategies which has to be
analysed by organisation to run their business in effective manner. These are workforce
planning, recruitment & training, to motivate staff, training and development. Is it
responsibility of human resource manager to manage the task which are performing by
employees. They should provide according to their capabilities so that it become easy
for them to execute the task in appropriate manner. Moreover, whatever task which are
performing by employees should done according to plans which is implemented by
higher authority 11. Else, it will help to employees in making contribution for achieving
organisation goals in effective manner. In addition to this, recruit potential candidates
who are capable for performing their activities at international level. After words, to
improve the sales and profitability of company conduct training for employees and staff
so that they can attract customers in order to serve best quality of services to them.
In modern era, there are many revivals of this company such as Easy Jet, British
Airways who is also providing services at international flights. As these companies are
reducing the cost of services in order to attract large number of customers and
capturing large market share to beat their competitors. But sometimes it become critical
for HR team to perform their function at high level expectation of organisation. So, for
this they have to make appropriate plans and procedures which make easy for them to
attain goals of organisation. An organisation performance of company is also depending
upon what kind of strategies has been adopted by Qantas. However, these strategies
should be interlinking with all other departments to make coordination and achieve
objectives in appropriate manner. Apart from this, it provides more opportunity to entity
to improve their existing performance and increase their sales and profitability during
the year. For this, HR needs to create and install a robust performance management
process which set out the objective of entity for all the level of staff who are working in
organisation. This gives an opportunity to firm in order to develop line manager skills so
that they can perform their activities in appropriate manner at national and international
level. Along with this, they have to identified that what strategies and procedures has
11 Sandoval, N. R. and et. al., 2012. Strategy for directing combinatorial genome
engineering in Escherichia coli. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences. 109(26). pp.10540-10545.
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been adopted by their competitors who are targeting them. A critical part for the success
of robust performance can be review through the positive feedback which has been
receive by organisation.
In recent year, there is also major change in several business trends which had a
significant impact on the board of HRM. Nowadays, there is a rapidly use in the new
technologies where organisation can provide services in more effective manner. If there
is any change in organisational structure at international level, then it became problem
for human resource management 12. So, they have to make and adopt strategies in
such a manner where corporate strategy will suitable for organisation in working
functions of entity. Along with this, activities should be done in hierarchical manner so
step by step issues of employees and customers can be resolve in effective manner. In
addition to this, business owner had to establish and maintain productive working
atmosphere where organisation can meet out with their aims and objectives in specific
time period.
CONCLUSION
After summing up report, it can be concluded that corporate and HR strategy are
playing essential role in developing and expanding business at international level. It is
responsibility of higher authority to adopt those strategies which are perfectly suited for
organisation in efficiently performing their business activities. Along with this, these
strategies should be monitor and controlled on regular basis which help to Qantas in
serving best quality of services to customers at international level.
12 Scullion, H. and Collings, D., 2011. Global talent management. Routledge.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
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