This unit helps the learners to understand human resource management which the help of the given questions:
- Understand the human resource management
- Analyse the effect of employee relations and law of employment on services industries ventures.
- Analyse the recruitment and selection process
- Evaluate training and development in services industries business.
INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management (HRM) or Human Resource (HR) is strategic approach for effective management of corporate worker which assist in gaining competitive advantages. It is made for maximizing performance of employees with respect to employer's strategic objectives and focusing on systems and policies. As HRM is significant for organisation for achieving result. It is important function of every firm to have skill and knowledge human resource. The given assignment is based on British Airway (BA) which is flag carrier and largest airline in United Kingdom created in 1974. It has 183 destinations along with subsidiaries BA city flyer. It has two hubs at Gatwick and Heathrow Airport. Here will discuss about role and purpose of HRM in BA and creative plan of an HR for analysing supply and demand within organisation. The current state of employment relations in airline industry and laws affecting management of HRM. The file has also discussed about job description and specification. The comparison of selection process between British Airway for Airport operation manager and hotel industry for Customer Service Assistant. For effective operation the contribution of training and development in service industry is very important (Armstrong and Taylorâ, 2014).
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TASK 1
1.1 Role and purpose of HRM
Human Resource Management
Human resource management is term describing formal systems for managing people of organisation. There are three basic responsibilities of HR manager including employee compensation and benefits, staffing and designing work. Its main purpose is maximizing productivity by optimizing employees effectiveness. The key areas are:
Planning and forecasting- HRM require proper planning and forecasting of staff requirement before selecting employees. The HR manager of BA have done planning for worker and accordingly publish vacancy in newspaper.
Recruitment process- The HR first find requirement of different job profile at organisation and work accordingly. As recruitment is positive process in which large number of candidate applies. BA manager have done recruitment for getting right candidate for required post.
Contracts of employment- It is an agreement between employees and organisation regarding job profile, designation, salary leave, which is managed HR. In case of breach of contact staff have to pay some fine to company. As BA is airline industry so there contract is compulsory and maintained by authority.
Role of HRM
Recruitment and selection- It is way for captivating, screening and selecting qualified and potential candidates for job profile. Its goal is attracting large applicant and selecting best out of which is positive process. Similarly, selection means selecting suitable employees for firm and negative process. It is important for corporation to reduce cost. The HR manager of BA have to play significant role in recruiting and selecting to get best staff. Through this suitable staff is selected.
Orientation- It is the way to guide and give knowledge about job profile, mission, vision, goal of organisation to new employees or joiner. It assist employees for assigned duties, job description and clarification of role. BA manager plays an effective role in this so that staff became aware about work to be performed and act accordingly (Aswathappa, 2013).
Training and development- Training and development are important role of HRM. It helps in improving current as well as future performance of each employees by increasing ability, knowledge and behaviour. In context of BA, it conduct training and development on regular basis for enhancing staff performance and increment of productivity.
Managing employee relations- As employees are the main asset and pillar of organisation. It is important to have good relations with staff member for increasing output and motivating them. It provide positive impact for personal and professional development. Thus, BA has mentioned good relationship with subordinates which is supervised by HR for success and survival.
Purpose of HRM
The main purpose of HR manager of British Airway is to manage employees of firm and achieve goal and objectives. It also motivate staff for performing effectively and efficiently. It focus on providing all the facilities to their working staff with positive environment.
Hard HRM
In this employees are treated as resource of business such as machinery and buildings. It has good corporate business planning and focus on HRM which is hiring, moving and firing. The communication and wage is minimum with little delegation of task. It has autocratic leadership style.
Soft HRM
The employees are treated as most important source of business and competitive advantage. They are treated as individual and accordingly needs are planned. It focus on roles and motivation. It has long term strategic and two way communication with good pay structure. It has democratic leadership style.
1.2 HR plan for analysis of supply and demand
Human resource Plan
(HR) plan is alignment of corporate strategy. It is document built on the basis of mission, vision goals and values. It provides information to HR function which support strategies and goal. It helps in finding gap between present and future capabilities. There are step for creative HR plan are as follows:
Identify future HR needs- The need of HR is identified and ask questions like
- what is nature of work
- what type of culture
- which system and process required
- what are risk
- what are skill required
Consider present HR capabilities- The present HR capabilities can be asked following questions
- how we doing against set benchmarks
- where do risk lies
- what current system support or hinder progress
Identify gaps between future needs and present capability- In this step gap is identified which includes policies, procedures, resource allocation and following question is asked
- how can gap be classified
- where gap appear between present and future
Formulate gap strategies- After gap identification, the strategies can be
- job design
- performance management
- training & development
- safety and health
- selection & staffing
- compensation & rewards
- employees relation
Share and Monitor plan- This is the last stage of HR plan in which all task are monitor. The understanding of plan helps in achieving goal and objectives. HR manager need to communicate successes and modification if required.
Demand and Supply Analysis
Demand is desire and ability to purchase goods and services. It is underlying force drives for expansion and economic growth. It arises from taste, experiences, price, related products and income. Supply is amount of product available for purchasing at price. It is determined by price, cost, price of other goods. Demand and supply analysis helps in knowing the requirement of consumer and availability of supplying power. BA also use this tool for knowing market and accordingly make plan. For example, during peak time the prices of ticket is high with respect to supply at BA.
BA Demand and Supply
Staff role- The role of staff as per BA are following:
- They have to responsible for service duties of passengers which includes arrival and departures, check out.
- To check about passenger comfort and cabin services by crew.
- They are responsible for customers services before, after and between flights.
- Taking reservations
- Issuance of tickets
- The answering question of passengers and assisting their needs
- Verification of passengers identification and printing boarding passes.
- Helping traveller for checking of luggage at ticket counter
- Checking delivery of baggages
- Conducting security for passengers and luggage if required.
- They should have command over English language
- Communication skill should be effective.
Number of staff- From the scenario mentioned in BA assignment the staff required is more which can be 10. The duration is four hours and four flight from Heathrow and four returning per week during peak time. Similarly, during other time three flights from Heathrow and three returning per week.
Hours of hours- The flying hour and working are different things. The maximum hours for BA is 60 hours in 7 days, 100 hours in 14 days and 190 hours in 28 days (Bratton and Gold, 2017).
For given organisation, 10 candidates for Airport operation manager and 6 for airport client service executive so that British Airways made a specific plan which is explained further -
- Source of recruitment - This involves internal recruitment by promotion, transfers & employee reference whereas external recruitment can be done through campus drives and walk in method. In case of British Airways, candidates for Airport operation manager and customers service executive are selected by external process i.e., campus drives & walk in which facilitate to welcome fresh talents in organisation.
- Selection procedure - The selection procedure to given designations consists three rounds like screening resume, written examination and then personal interview to analyse actual capabilities in British Airways.
- Determine remuneration - This compensation of selected candidates for both positions was decided according to skills, knowledge and experience of working in British Airways.
- Training - The training session has been conducted for selected candidates for both designations in order to make them aware for upcoming practical work and provide information about correct ways to deal with customers properly.
- Performance appraisal - After certain period of working, superior in British Airways conduct performance appraisals of selected employees through recheck their performance.
- Role & responsibilities - The duty of Airport operation manager consists to make passenger comfortable by giving required facilities and safety instructions in context of emergency landings. Moreover, role of customer service executives involves to solve every query of people and inform flight timing in appropriate manner.
The staff roles, numbers of staff and hours of work required to deliver the new flight service to Madeira described below:
Department |
Staff roles |
Numbers of staff |
Hours of work required |
Maintenance |
They keep working order, passenger comfort, preserving physical assets of aircraft. |
5 |
10 hours |
Reservations and Ticketing |
The staff check ticket, check in/ out at entry, issue of boarding passes and others. |
4 |
12 hours |
Staff Personnel |
These staff perform various responsibilities such as finance, accounting and work with line personnel. |
10 |
8 hours |
Operations |
The staff is responsible for airline feet of aircraft efficiently and safely. |
5 |
10 hours |
TASK 2
2.1 Current state of employment relations
Employee relation
It refers to a company's efforts to manage relationship between employees and employer. It assists in communication between employees and supervisees, corrective action and planning, disciplinary actions, and exploration and clarification of policies and procedures. It offers resolution, facilitation and consultation strategies for organisation issuers. The concept of employee relations is not limited with the equation between employees and employer but it has also scope to employee to employee and employer to employer. The main aim behind studying this concept is to develop an understanding about current employment relations in British Airways. Various current relations along with trends are mentioned below:
British airways is a leading airline in United Kingdom and employment relations of this company does fluctuate with the time. In the current scenario, airline companies are tending towards developing their own trade union so that interest of every employee can be protected. Trade union of this company is planning to get their selves registered under trade union act. Another aspect of employee relations is employee empowerment. According to the current scenario, employees are employees working in all organisations has freedom of developing union and empower themselves by focusing on their own goal rather than only focusing on whole organisation's goal. Current relations of employees of this company states that there should no boundaries of good physical appearance, for the employees of Airport operation manager as it involves sense of partiality on the basis of factors which can not be controlled.
Current state of employee relations in British Airways
- The employment relations are regulated through developing desired plan of action by organisation with the help of communicating, consulting and negotiating changes. These modifications are made by managers through directly negotiating with employee representatives from the different trade unions.
- Company visits and monitor plans introduced by other organisations in order to generate best strategies to gain success in employment relation issues.
- They have launched an effective as well as efficient program i.e., Industrial Relations Change Programme to improve relationships between managers and trade unions. It will facilitate to reduce communication barriers in order to understand concerning problem that come to the surface in proper manner.
- Due to change in technology, Airline need to create wealthy employment relations with staff and employees in order to improve productivity and solving problems at workplace.
- Airline has good relationship with their working staff so that they can fulfils their need and demand of customers along with providing facilities to employees.
According to the current state of British Airways, it has been ascertained that employees of this company has established a department of problem and grievance solving in which all the Employment including labours and workers can come and seek for help against the their issues. This department has a physical professional existence in which proper meetings are conducted for problem solving process. Culture is the another aspect from which current state of British Airways can be ascertained when specifically considering employees relations. The culture and corporate standards of airlines requires all staff members to dress alike and follow the code of conduct and behave in a particular way. This culture is still continuously adapted by all the airline companies.
2.2 Employment laws affects management of HR
Employment Law
It is a broad area encompassing all areas of the employees and employer relation. It also known as labour law. It consist of thousands of federal and states, administrative regulations and judicial decision. ACAS are the employment relations experts and a trusted source of advice for employers and employees, government and others. British airways work on to maintain needs of employer and employee that helps in maintain a good relationship enables in maximize productivity and make workplace environment more positive. By providing trade union it works to improve in employee relationship to resolve their conflicts and manage their work in proper manner. So all activities give good employment relationship between employees and employers.
Employment legislation- It is used to regulate individual employment relationships and establish the framework within which workers and employers can determine their own relation on a collective basis. In Airways Industry it provide protection such as minimum age for admission to employment work, the protection of young workers, equality of work, hours of work, payment of wages, occupational safety and health and maternity protection. By complying with relevant legislation, both employers and their staff members can ensure that their hiring processes, dismissal processes and their workplace as a whole, are fair for every individual.
Employment Relation Act - It is a legal link that is formed between an employee and employer when work is completed for monetary reimbursement. It is a right to be accompanied by a fellow employee or trade union representative during a grievance and disciplinary procedure. Dismissal or selection for residency automatically unfair if the main reason is connected to trade union recognition or collective bargaining (Brewster and Hegewisch, 2017).
Employment Rights Act- It defines the employment contract and states that it must be in writing and provided to the employee. In this Act all employees have basic right in the workplace including the right of privacy, fair compensation and freedom from discrimination. In aviation industry it provide protection against unlawful discrimination such as age, gender, disability and religion or belief. Protecting the pay scale of the employees and the employers.
Equal opportunities- These laws provide employees and employers in Airline equal opportunities related to any field by removing gender gap, disability benefits, race including colour, nationality, ethics or national origin and religion or belief.
Contracts of employment - Employment contracts are most often used by employees to show the employer's right to fire an employee was limited. In Airline, Employee contracts must be terminated according to the terms and provision of the employment agreement. Termination of employees represented by a labour union and covered by a collective bargaining agreement. An employee or employer can decide to terminate a contract of employment. Employees may terminate their contract by resigning and an employer may terminate the contract by dismissing an employees.
Ill health retirements, retirement, dismissal, maternity and paternity rights, parental leave
In airline, Ill health retirement is a retirement scheme which pay the employees in pension form any age if they are suffering from an illness. Retirement is when a person choose to leave from the workforce. It is the withdrawal from one's position on occupation or from one' active life. Paternity is for biological fathers only. They take it after the baby is born. They can take it a parental leave after their paternity leave. Maternity leave is for biological mothers only. Employees take it while they are pregnant and after the baby is born. They can take parental leave after their maternity leave (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow, 2016).
TASK 3
3.1 Job description and personal specification for Airport operation manager
Job description:
Job description is a statement which includes all the information about a specific job profile. This information involves all the valid and significant data such as job role, scope, designation, responsibilities, reporting, answerability and many more. This description is a considered as a fundamental technique by which all the conditions and rules of a job profile is communicated with selected candidates for a specific job designation. It is important to be familiar with all the aspects involved in a job which can be effectively communicated through this concept of job description. The main aim of using this concept is to ensure that candidates are well aware with their job roles and responsibilities so that no conflicts between employees and employers can be avoided. This process helps an organisation to increase their effectiveness and efficiency by evading the chaos which occurs due to lack of job role awareness. By reviewing the job description for a job profile, a candidate can ascertain their respective duties and responsibilities. It is important to communicate organisational goals with their employees so that they can prioritize their work. By using this type of document, candidates can even link their aims with overall organisational aims. Job description not only involves data about job profile but also the necessary information about the company such as vision and mission statement of the company along with main objectives.
British Airways is a leading airline operating in United Kingdom which deals in aviation industry. Employees which are appointed by this company and recruited after full examination of candidates as this type of companies consider their employees as their main resource and provide them all necessary information which is required by them. The service industry job which is selected to develop an understanding about the concept of job description is Airport operation manager.
Airport operation manager members are the employees which are trained by professionals in order to attend and communicate with the passengers of the airline. These type of employees has a job profile of providing excellent costumer service to passengers in to ensure their comfortable and safe journey. These employees are appropriately trained so that they can deal with security and emergency kind of situations. Job description of a Airport operation manager member will include following details in their job description which are mentioned below:
- Airport operation manager of British Airways is responsible for every medium level management operations such as operational activities and supervisory activities. Job description of this profile will also contain responsibilities and duties which has to be fulfilled by the employee.
- Job description of Airport operation manager of British Airways will have all rules and regulations which are required to followed. There is a specific code of conduct which employees working in airlines has to follow which should be described in this description.
- Job profile of Airport operation manager is usually considered as a risky job as employees has to operate in ongoing flight due to which all declarations and risks involved in job are adequately discussed in job description.
- Job description often includes qualifications, skills and knowledge which candidate should possess to operate effectively.
Person specification:
Person specification is a narrow concept and includes less information when compared to job description. These specifications are a part of description itself. This document includes qualifications, knowledge, attributes, skills and experience which should be possessed by an individual to be considered for a specific job. Person specification is a summary which states the features which should be possessed by an individual. These specifications are used as a base while recruiting and selecting an employee. Personal specifications for the job of Airport operation manager of British Airways is mentioned below:
- Airport operation manager members should have good communication and interpersonal skills.
- These type of employees should be confident and has a good problem solving skills.
- There is no such formal qualification or some sort of degree for Airport operation manager member but candidates which are already trained as a Airport operation manager are high prioritized.
- As a Airport operation manager member it is important to be physically fit and attractive.
- Good literacy skills and numeracy skills are also a part of personal specifications of Airport operation manager (Briscoe, Tarique and Schuler, 2012).
3.2 Comparison of selection processes for British Airway and transport for London
Selection process:
Selection is a process of appointing right person for right position. This is a procedure of matching the requirements of job profile with the candidates which are screened according to their skills, knowledge and experience. The process of selection is a responsibility of human resource manager which has the duty to recruit appropriate and suitable employees for a job designation. There are various steps involved in the process of employee selection which are preliminary interview, in which a short interview is conducted of all the employees. In the second step of this process which is receiving applicants is a stage where human resource manager gathers all the job applications. After this step, all the applications are screened for intermediate selection. Next stage in the process of selection is Employment test in which a written or online examination is conducted which has questions of general proficiency. In the next step, few candidates are selected are proceed for personal interview which is taken by the employer itself. In order to ensure the background of the employees, references are checked. Preceding to this method, a physical examination is conducted in which health status of the employees are ascertained. After completion of this process, final selection of the employees is conducted (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang, 201