Mel Airways - Human Resource Management - Essay Example

Mel Airways’ case study-Human Resource Management The paper will seek to first and foremost analyse the HR strategies needs that are specific for the requirements of Mel Airlines that deal with performance issues, and ensuring that the personnel and management practices conform to various regulations (McNamara, 2001). This would in turn be studied in the context of the specifications of the organization, and the specific demands of its individualistic culture. The paper will then look to provide answers to two specific questions. These are: first, the extent to which a strategic approach has been adopted in the management of the HR functions by the owners of the Airlines and second, it will draw up a set of recommendations in line with HR management theories that will enable Mel Airlines to retain, in the long run its positions as the No.1 no frills airline through a better management and streamlining of its HR management functions. The essay is in essence a study of HR management and it is in this context that the analysis that has been presented here needs to be understood and analyzed. The following section will seek to answer the question about whether or not Mel Airways and its founders have followed a a strategic approach towards the management of the human resource functions of the organization. It will for this purpose analyse first and foremost the factors that make an approach strategic and measure the initiatives taken at Mel on a yardstick. Taking a strategic approach to human resource management would mean that the company has to take decisions regarding its HR functions not in isolation but in the context of the overall culture of the company, the existing system of feedback to and fro employees that helps the organization align itself with personal goals and functions (Massy, 1994). A strategic approach also requires that the organization makes an assessment of global and the immediate human resource environment within which the organization is required to function; it also means that an organization has to ensure that the there is in place a system that forecast and readies itself in accordance with the human resource requirements that are most likely to arise (Das and Waqar, 2007). Ideally, a strategic approach will also make space for a system that analyses the job functions and does a competency audit of the employees. Beside these, the strategic approach cannot under any circumstances forego the traditional functions that are associated with a successful HR management program of any given firm. These would in turn include: 1. Usage of powerful "coaching" questions to help employees attain personal and organizational goals. 2. Usage of competency-based recruitment and selection techniques. 3. Management and motivation of employees by using the basic principles of strategic human resource management. The idea is in this particular framework is simple. The organization needs to be used as a starting point and then should be in place a strategic, competency based facilitation model of Human Resource Management which deals with all of the practical aspects of managing people in the workplace in activities ranging from the assessment of the global environment to the identification of staffing needs and competencies that impact human resource decisions (Schuller and Jackson, 2007). In the context of the history that has been provided for the case of Mel Airways there are certain things that become obvious and some that need a greater depth of study in order to be understood. The airline is in essence a no frills kind of an organization which means that is a typical low cost carrier that provides customer the basic service of taking him from one destination to the other one with as little for the asking price as is possible. But an overview of the case material that has been provided when put in the context of the global market positioning makes it clear that just by virtue of being a low cost carrier Mel Airwyas can no longer be assured of a lead in the business. The reason for this is that there is now greater competition in the business. What this means is that in order to keep up the success and the profits there is more by way of value for money and customer satisfaction that Mel Airways would have to provide to retain its edge in the market. If one was to try and figure out an answer to the question about whether or not till date the organization has really taken a strategic approach to the management of human resources, the answer would clearly have to be a no. This can be said with some level of authority and absolution by virtue of the fact that there are high levels of attrition that plagues the organization-in most cases attrition translates into lack of employee job satisfaction and this in turn is a mirror for the absence of strategic planning while dealing with human resource management issues (Pynes, 2009). What this would translate to in real terms is that the organization lacks initiative and strength that would command employee loyalty. Second, there is information that the way in which the airline staff deals with the customer leaves much to be desired. There are customer complaints about how efficient and unfriendly the staff actually is (Supplied case study material). All of this however seems to be fast changing as there is now a recognition within the management of the need for a strategic method of HR management most of which is another way of stating that what the airline lacked in terms of flight number and other amenities it would make up by providing a customer wit excellent service thereby adding value to the airline. It is in this context that the airline management goals can now be said to have been aligned with those of the human resource management policies. There has also been recognition in the official capacity of the problems that exist within the system and this would probably be termed as the starting point of development of a strategic method by which human resource dilemma can be dealt with. There are various steps that have to be taken by an organization if the approach has to be defined as being a strategic approach to the management of human relations. In the present capacity after an overhaul of the process by which employees are managed and the importance that the organization places on value that a well trained and managed staff can bring to an organization, it can be said that there is now in place a plan for strategic HRM. Human resources alignment means integrating decisions about people with decisions about the results an organization is trying to obtain (US office of personnel management report, 1999). By integrating human resources management (HRM) into the agency planning process, emphasizing human resources (HR) activities that support broad agency mission goals, and building a strong relationship between HR and management, agencies are able to ensure that the management of human resources contributes to mission accomplishment and that managers are held accountable for their HRM decisions (Hendry, 1995). The basic idea would be to ensure through these initiatives an effective management of human resources that would in turn become more responsive to mission-related needs because it would take place at the line level, and the HR staff would be able to expend more of its energy on broader organizational issues. This is particular approach is evident in application terms within the new slogan that the airline decided to adopt post introspection: “Mel Air, the first choice for efficient affordable travel helped by helpful, friendly staff”. This is a clear sign that the very company is being integrated with the talent pool that is available at its disposal and the industry in question being a part of the hospitality circuit, what can be said without doubt is that an effective management of staff with the view to providing the customer value for his money would help the organization go a long way in keeping true to its goal. In the above analysis therefore we have observed how it is essential to take certain steps in an organization making it the starting point for operational change. It can be concluded that the airways was severely lacking in any kind of a strategic or dynamic HR initiative that would differentiate it from others while in its hay days. Changes are now being instituted and correct steps have been taken, but there is still a lot more that needs to be done. The Following section will make an analysis in the context of the first part will look to suggest methods by which the organization can make its approach to HR management more strategic, dynamic and a lot more effective. The idea behind a taking a strategic approach is actually simple. An organization’s human resources are of critical importance- i.e. the skills, behaviors, and interactions of employees have the potential to provide both the foundation for strategy formulation and the means for its implementation (Colbert, 2004). There is also a belief that a firm’s HRM practices are instrumental in the development of the strategic capability of its pool of human resources. It is in fact for this purpose that the company management has made the effort of issuing cards to each one of its employees bringing them within the ambit of the organizational goals, making them feel like a part of the team. In conclusion the above section has discussed basically the fact that there is an obvious attempt on the part of the Mel Airways ownership to ensure a more strategic approach to the process of HRM but despite these attempts there is still a lot more that needs to be done in order to bind the strategy so as to make it a competitive advantage. The attitude survey that has been conducted by is demonstrative of the fact that the employee moral is down, the attitude is generally unfriendly and not conducive to the development of the requisite goals that the organization is now striving to achieve. It is facts like these that brings is to the second part of the analysis where the paper will try and develop strategies and methods on the basis of which Mel Air can keep its position as number 1 while completing the goals that have been set forth by the organization. First and foremost the perceptions about the top level of management being autocratic need to be addressed. The reasons for this particular set o mid in the middle and lower rung of the employee chain arises from the Top-Down model of decision making the organization employees. The higher echelons of management are not necessarily aware of the problems that are faced by these employees or the needs of the customers at the day to day level. The top down approach to functional and operational management of an organization is a hierarchical style of decision making that has been considered by some as being autocratic and high handed (Mora G R, 2006).  The solution to this problem is simple. The decision making process needs to be made more interactive, diverse and democratic. By allowing for a ‘bottoms up’ process of decision making and management, not only is the problem of perception dealt with, it will lead to an increased level of employee participation and interaction thereby leading to greater job satisfaction and lesser rates of attrition. Further, it would give the manage met the benefit of access to information related to customer feedback that only the ones dealing with it on a day to day level can provide. This requires that the managers be converted from being theory X managers to theory Y managers who work on the assumption that employees are hard working and motivated rather than on a belief that they are lazy and self seeking individuals. This could b done by increasing interactions between employees and managers and by holding workshops to train managers in a better manner. There are theories related to HR that have been developed over the years that focus basically on what is known as Employee Relations. Most of these theories juxtapose two basic variables: expected contributions and offer red inducements (Tsui and Wang, 2002). These are in essence spot contracts defined by relatively narrow sets of inducements offered by employers and low contributions expected from employees. This in fact is the culture in most firms around the world today including Mel. The problem with this kind of a set up is that there is no real bond that can be created between the employee and his work or the company that he is working for. It is this chain that needs to be broken in order to better the Employee Relations. The approach therefore needs to be replaced with what is known as the mutual investment approach. From the very outset, there has to be a communication of the value of long term loyalty and commitment to not just the task but to the job (Losey et. Al., 2005). Every recruit needs to be made aware of the inducements that are on offer. This can be achieved by following a process initiated by peer recruitment and team based interviews. The idea is to ensure that the new comers fit into the organization and its culture and are not taken just in order to fill a vacant position. This in fact is the sum of the Demming principle. Third there has to be some amount of stress that has to be put on training and development for the staff. The idea behind this focus is not just to improve skills for the current job but also to prepare the employee for future responsibilities. Job rotation and participation in cross functional or cross divisional tasks can get rid of the feeling of stagnation and boredom that seems to have set in (Charvatova and Veer, 2006). The idea is to give the employee a new challenge, continuously helping him evolve thereby adding greater value to the organization’s resources with the same amounts of inputs. There is also a certain amount of stress that needs to be laid on promotion from within the organization itself, thereby help remove the feeling of alienation and disillusionment from the staff. The performance evaluation criteria and processes need to be related to broad contributions. In addition to individual evaluation, performance appraisal by peers and based on team performance should be made a more common feature. The broad based contributions can be captured in what is known as the 360-Degree feedback mechanism. Finally, the key to using compensations and benefits in building a mutual investment oriented employee relations process is not focused merely on increasing the absolute pay or benefits but communicating preferred behavior and accentuating long term investment in employees. Family friendly benefits are one way of doing this. The above section therefore, has made a number of recommendations take could help in the HRM of the organization making it more flexible, reducing risks of attrition and increasing the overall efficiency. These include, the adoption of a ‘bottom up’ approach, an interactive process of decision making, better employee relations though the effects of the Demming principle, and the usage of training and development programs among other things. In conclusion, essay has discussed a number of ways in which Mel Airways can retain its position as the ‘numero uno’ low cost carrier like it has done over the past decade. The analysis that has been presented above makes it obvious though that there are some requirements and changes that need to be made at the organizational and functional levels related to human resource management in a strategic manner. This would include not just a greater interaction on the part of the management and the top rung of the management hierarchy but within the overall ranks of the employees. There also needs to be affected some kind of change in the culture of the organization making it more interactive and inviting, work should not be just a task that the employee performs, it should be something that they would voluntarily want to do. It is here that the mutual investment tool that has been suggested by the paper would help accentuate every dimension of the organization in accordance with the demands of time and space. The basic idea should remain the maintenance of an organization that can compete in the dynamic global environment through the build-up of a committed workforce that is eager to contribute to company’s success. 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