HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Abstract
The airline and aviation industry belong to a service industry. This industry is among the highly competitive industries and comes under the category of advanced technology and safety sensitive. The industry deals with the customer, employees and the associated people. The industry is very diverse in every aspect in terms of culture, operational activities and the services it services. The vast workforce belonging to the industry is trained to reduce the human error in this field and to increase the quality performance.
The study has analyzed the significance of human resource management practices in this industry. The research study also ponders upon the fact that the HRM expertise is very essential in the hiring, training and development and creating equal and better opportunities of employees. The role of strategic human resource management is very critical, if practice and implemented well, as it helps the industry to align the long-term strategic objectives with the human capital.
Introduction
This research report is about human resource management in the field of Aviation Industry. The report carries a brief description of the human resource management; its role in the organization and the areas comes under this the field of human resource management. Further, this report discusses the human resource management practices in the organization and the categories related to this. There are seven practices of human resource management. Afterwards, introduction of the aviation industry has been delivered followed with the human resource management practices in the aviation industry. These practices work with the operational side in the industry, catering the recruitment and selection in the organization of this industry. Moreover, these practices are important in creating employment opportunities and diversity, training and development, employee security, communication and team building.
Human resource management is defined as the management function which has been formulated and implemented to manage the employees, improve their performance and to attain the best from them in order to achieve the organizational objectives (Bratton, & Gold, 2009). Human resource management designed the systems and processes that help administer the human capital and give directions related to the work. Human resource department in the organization performs activities that include
- Finding out the need of human capital in the organization
- Conducting recruitment and hiring process
- Facilitation of employee in performing the tasks
- Managing compensations
- Training and development
- Making policies related to employees
- Setting relevant procedures in the organization (John, 2002).
HRM also concerns with the client relations and industry associations.
Human Resource Management Practices
The effective and efficient human resource management encourages a well-organized human resource system and best practices. This system accelerates organizational performance; ensures improved organizational behaviors and helps the organization to obtain a competitive edge in the market. Many people have worked on the practices of human resource management, among them Pfeffer’s work is well known. Pfeffer (1998) identified 16 HRM practices, among them 7 were developed later. These practices are:
- Security of employees
- Careful and particular hiring of new workers
- Teams that are self-managed with decentralized decision making
- Relatively increased compensation in accordance with the performance of the employees
- Comprehensive and pervasive training
- Lessen status inequality and salary discriminations across the board.
- Comprehensive sharing of business information across the organization
Aviation Industry
The word aviation means flying or operating aircraft. The aviation industry is about different facets of aviation that is flying or operating aircraft. It also includes different airlines, training centers, regulatory authorities and merchants. The job of this industry is to transport people from one place to another all over the world. People use the services of this industry for leisure and business. This industry grows about 7% a year, provide over 57 million jobs around the globe and contribute 2.2 million dollars in the economy on an annual basis. There are several airlines and number of aircrafts that provides services to the people across the world; however, the largest market of the world for the aviation industry is United States of America.
HRM Practices in Aviation Industry
The current global economic conditions are rapidly moving, with lots of uncertainties carrying, the world is witnessing many changes and fluctuations in many industries of the world. Among them, the aviation industry is the fastest growing industry and a dynamic division of the global economy. The changes in the global economic condition call for a change in the industry as the future demands may lead the industry to grow. These future demands cannot be done with the best utilization of human capital. The industry needs a good leadership that assists the industry to accelerate at a much faster pace for moving forward in such a dynamic and diverse environment. In doing so, it is important to acquire skillful and potential workforce that is capable of managing the tasks and performing the duties. It is also viable for the industry to develop the human capital and retains them according to the best of the needs.
Operational Human Resources in Aviation – Recruitment & Selection
In the aviation industry the selection of pilots and cockpit crew is the main focus, it has been done on the appropriate qualification and flying skills of the pilot. However, with the passage of time the focus is also shifting on the ability of pilots to work well in any situation. It has been observed that not only technical skill are enough for the pilots, interpersonal skills are far needed for the best performance of pilots and the safety of the plane. The studies have shown that the industry is facing lot of challenges; these include qualitative people who can be placed at front line. The head of the People Department of The Southwest Airlines suggested that for front line people, the skills are not as much required as the attitude. Therefore, the recruiter should have to ensure that hired person will be the best cultural fit for the organization.
Another key factor that has been highlighted is the “flexibility” of the people in the organization that how flexible they are in order to adjust in a particular situation. In order to maintain a good pool of talent in the organization, it is important have good talent management team which is very scarce in this industry.
Employment opportunities and diversity
Diversity has its distinctive role in the organizations irrespective of the industry. Especially when it comes to the international organizations that have operations throughout the globe, it has been observed that diversity often leads to the major success of the organizations if used well (Price, 2007). Around hundred years back, it was to observe that any woman or minority will be a part of the aviation industry. However, with the passage of time women has been employed on equal benefits in terms of salaries and compensations, work and behavior. It has been part of the corporate statement of different organizations to take affirmative action on any act of discrimination on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, color, religion, nationality, disability.
In the aviation industry, diversity has played a major role in terms of marketing strategies to strengthen the workforce diversity. Cultural diversity brings in innovation and new dimensions with new fresh and different ideas that help the organization to attain a competitive edge over its competitors.
Training and Development
Training and development is a continuous process planned and executed by different organization in order to groom and transforms the employees in accordance with the need of the organization. Training helps organization to meet the future needs from the human capital (Wilkinson, Bacon, Redman, & Snell, 2010). Training and development is very important in the aviation industry. All employees including the pilots, crew members and sir traffic control staff need to keep updated with the latest technologies and practices. This strategy is important for the safety and security of the craft as well as the passengers. The internal staff and management personnel must be trained and developed in order to maintain better operations and good quality of services.
Different companies acquire different tools for training and learning for their employees and proper evaluation and on job performance depicts the effectiveness of the tools and the methods applied. In this course, the comparison of the knowledge and scale of skills of the employees before and after the training shows the effectiveness of the training program and the employee’s ability to retain. These measures help the pilots, crew members, air traffic control staff and another workforce to gain the knowledge and to judge the areas where further improvements are needed.
Employee Security
Employee security is the key factor to establish and maintain in any industry and any organization. In the aviation industry, it is important to make sure that employees feel safe and secure under the working conditions. The management in the aviation industry looks out for the obstacles faced by the employees at their work force; it has been also observed that whether the employees maintain the energy level desired to perform on job activities. The organizations also facilitate their employees with the facilities, resources and tools required in performing the job responsibilities and better results. It has been also the practice of the aviation industry to make preventive measures when any safety and security issue has been raised.
Communication
In the aviation industry, communication plays a vital role. There are different divisions in an organization in the aviation industry such as services department, state safety program, air transports, flight section unit, and standards of all the flights, security, and air space and others, and therefore it is important to communicate with each department. It also provides services regarding air navigation, environmental control and air traffic management. So in order to integrate between all the departments and to develop coordination in them, the human resource management plays its role by way of facilitating the communication between different departments and among the employees across all levels.
Team Building and Management
In the aviation industry, team building plays a vital role in improving performances. There are certain tasks that have to be performed by working in the team. This leads the team members to work closely with each other, understand the situation and respond appropriately. In the aviation industry, different groups have been developed comprising of individuals having different level of expertise. This strategy of forming groups helps in strengthening the trust in the workforce; the differences have been understood which led the departments and officials to solve the conflicts. In doing so, the collaboration among the employees has increased which generates a better understanding environment for the management and employees and accelerates the communication.
The outcome of current HR practices in Aviation Industry
With thorough studies about the aviation industry, it has been come into observation that aviation industry is on its edge to deteriorate, the customer satisfaction is declining with the increase in customer complaints. In order to raise the customer satisfaction and enhance the experience of the customer on board and the flight, it is very necessary to increase and enhance the service quality. For this reason, it is very significant to hire best people, who have a great potential along with desired attitude for the job.
Authority and Ownership for Employees
Like other industries aviation industry has major functions that need to collaborate with each other, these include building up strategies, the operational activities and human resource management. Hence, the main job in the above-mentioned function is to select the best and required potential, to give them the optimal opportunities, diversity management, and taking off the organization in the right direction.
Strategic Human Resource Management and Aviation Industry
Strategic human resource management is an approach of human resource management to align the human resource processes with the strategic framework of the organization. This has been implemented to attain long-term goals of the organization from the human capital of the organization. This approach is concern with the long term future need of the organization for the human capital, issues of employees, maintaining quality and cultural values (Salaman, Storey, and Billsberry, 2005).
In the aviation industry, the term “strategic” plays its role in terms of the decision-making process in order to identify the opportunities, figure out the key issues and the solutions of the issues. This strategic process helps the organizations to align the resources to bring out the positive and productive change in the performance and services of the aviation industry. The human resource management processes in the aviation industry are very critical and demands a very high level of customer services and standards as compared to the other service industries.
The aviation industry is highly volatile, for the safety, security and fast growth the organizations belong to this industry heavily rely on the advancement made in terms of technology. With the new and advanced equipment, the up gradation of the workforce is highly important. The industry is facing less supply of human capital as compared to the demand. The high cost of manpower along with a high cost of training hampers the hiring of well-qualified, skillful and potential candidates.
Conclusion
Even though, the aviation industry is among the fastest growing industries, however the industry has its challenges to face, these include decreasing customer satisfaction over a passage of time. The competition in the aviation industry is very high, and the supply of manpower in the industry is less as compared to the demand, hence the industry is facing pressure. It is important for the growth of the industry to improve the service quality, after all the industry is offers services. Diversity is a major role in the aviation industry, if handled well; it can be used as a great marketing tool for the organization. Diversity helps in generating good revenues from that tactic. Strengthening diversity will also to generate a great talent pool for the industry and potential candidates from a diverse background will encourage pursuing their careers in this industry. In the aviation industry the selection of pilots, cockpit crew members and the air traffic control staff are the key focus for recruitment and selection. For better recruitment and selection, it is important to identify the right skill set for each position and then hire employees. For instance, employees at the cabin crew need to be judged from the attitude rather than skills. In these jobs, attitude plays a major role of the personnel in handling different situation.
Recommendations
The aviation industry is among the volatile industries of the world. The industry is going through a rapid change in the past decade. In this changing environment, it is important for the Human Resource managers in the industry to meet the challenges by developing a system that caters the need of staffing and managing them. It requires proper evaluation and recruitment according to the desired needs.
The HR management must need to focus on communication in different departments of the aviation industry; this will help the departments to place their right need for the department. In addition to this, increased level of communication will facilitate harmony and bridge the gap between the management and employees.
Another important factor for the human resource management in the aviation industry is to align their objectives with the strategic objectives and plan an action plan in accordance with that. Job security must be provided to the employees. Maintain a plan for any emergency or challenging situation, the management may outsource some facilities for the aviation activities to focus more on the core activities.
References
Bratton, J. & Gold, J. (2009). Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, 4th edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
John, L., (2002). Human Resources in Organisations. Financial Times Press.
Pfeffer, J. (1998). Seven practices of successful organizations. Org Dev & Trng, 6E (Iae), 460.
Price, A. (2007). Human Resource Management in a Business Context, 3rd edition. London: Cengage.
Salaman, G., Storey, J., and Billsberry, J. (2005). Strategic Human Resource Management: theory and practice. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
Wilkinson, A., Bacon, N., Redman, T., & Snell, S. (2010). The SAGE Handbook of Human Resource Management. SAGE Publications Ltd.
