The Recruitment and the Selection Problem of Jet Blue Airways - Case Study Example

 Case Study of Human Resources Course Executive Summary Human resource management is the function of the organization that aims to recruit, manage and direct people working in any organization. Recruitment aims to search for the candidate for the employment and stimulates them to apply for the job. Selection has been a process of selecting the person who best fits the vacant position in the organization. The case study will deal with the recruitment and the selection problem of Jet Blue Airways. At the beginning it will proceed with the problem statement describing the major problem found in the case study. Then it will proceed with the key decision areas where the key decision criteria for evaluating the major decision will be dealt with. The analysis of the case study will be conducted putting stress on what had happened, why it had happened and what would be the adverse affect for the occurrence of the problem. Alternative analysis will also be done in the sections below. The study will further proceed providing the recommendations to the company, which will help to surmount the problems and guarantee the efficiency if properly implemented. Finally, the study will provide certain actions and implementation plans as those are very important to execute the strategies that have been identified in the recommendation plan. Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 Problem (Issue) Statement 3 3 Key Decision Criteria 4 Data Analysis 5 Alternative Analysis 9 Recommendations 10 Action and Implementation Plan 11 References 12 Bibliography 13 Problem (Issue) Statement The case study is related to Jet Blue Airways. From the case study it is evident that the organization provided superior services to its customers. The culture of the organization has been very inspiring with all the employees focusing on the improvement of the customers’ expectation towards the flight. The company has been providing importance towards the recruitment and the training program of the employees in the organization. The organization has been doing its duty right in serving the customers. However, the recruitment and the selection process of the organization have been quite complex focusing only at the ability of the applicants to provide quality service to the customers. Good recruitment and a selection policy determine the success of the organization. The other problems pertaining in the case study have been related to the leadership and the team work as the employees were found to be quite unhappy with the supervisors reporting that the leaders have turned to be quite dictatorial and inflexible. Therefore, the problem will be analyzed in order to arrive at a solution in the sections below. The following sections will try to analyze the problems related to recruitment and selection in the organization. The issue is related to the leadership in Jet Blue Airways and will also analyze the problems that the organization will face in the near future. Key Decision Criteria In order to analyze the problem, it is very important to identify the key decision areas. In order to evaluate the major decision various criteria are required to be met. The first thing that should be kept in mind is the purpose. The question that needs to be adhered to is whether the recommendations provided is beneficial for the organization or not. It also plans to analyze if the implementation plan can be taken to put the actions as recommended with the purpose of attaining the goals of the organization. The other thing that should also be kept in mind when evaluating the major decision is the parameters. This can be judged by taking into consideration what the organization has or does in place in order to address the goals set. The third key decision criteria have been the principles. Here, the need for change is recognized with the aim that the under-achieved objectives can be successful. Another key decision criterion to be judged for the major decision is the priorities. This tries to explain if the recommendation or the decision taken will make any significant differences. It is evident that the decisions are taken when the problem arises or any kind of plans are made by the companies. Therefore, in this case study the major decision has to be taken considering the recruitment and selection of the employees in the organization. Decision will be taken to identify the difficulties that the company may face in the near future in its recruitment and the selection process. The study will also try to provide certain recommendations to solve such kind of future problems. The study will take certain decisions in view of the leadership problems pertaining in the organization. Data Analysis The case study is all about the Jet Blue Airways which was founded by David Neeleman in the year 2000. The company has been trying to provide superior service to its staffs and has been constantly struggling for finding the right candidate who could blend with the culture of the organization. Rigorous training was provided to the staffs depending upon the duties and responsibilities. Moreover, the employees or the crew members went out of their way by helping the passengers; and the pilots used to interact with the customers and also engage themselves in activities such as cleaning up the plane for the next flight. The airport manager was found issuing the boarding passes. While recruiting the candidate, the company looked for people who had a positive attitude as the candidate was often asked to do certain things that were not a part of the job description. The airlines basically looked for the five values in the people they hired and these traits were given the first preferences. The company’s recruitment and selection process have been quite complex. The selection process of the Jet Blue Airways has been focused on the ability of the applicant to handle the situation on several hypothetical situations. Even during the selection process the company tried its best to find the candidates’ abilities to imbibe the values of the Jet Blue. It was also found that despite having revolved around the values of the organization, the employees reported that they were unhappy with the leaders. From the above paragraph, it is evident that the company had a very complex recruitment and selection process. Moreover, it has been focusing more on the values during the selection and the recruitment process. Although, the culture of the organization has helped the company to perform well in the near past, however, it is not always possible for a candidate to have all the five values that the companies look for while recruiting and selecting the candidate. The company may face several problems if they have such tight recruitment and selection process. The company also faced problems of leadership and teamwork despite the leaders getting the best training. The company always realized the need to focus on the training of the leaders as they would guide their followers to adhere with the culture of the organization. After the companies faced the problem of leaders, it tried to develop the leadership program with a view to improve the performance of the leaders and with a mindset to help the leaders become servant leaders. The Principle of Leadership program was developed by the Jet Blue with an aim to improve and expand the leadership in the company. Service leadership model was followed by the companies where the employees served the customers first. Therefore, from this perspective it can be said that the leadership program of the Jet Blue has been quite effective. It was able to narrow the leadership gap through such kind of programs. It can be said that Jet Blue has been quite concerned about the employees who work for them and struggles to mould the people within the culture of the organization. Such kind of instant measures may help any organization to build a team that work for the achievement of the objectives of the organization. The model that the company applied in response to the situation has been significant. It is through rigorous training that the leaders learn to lead the group and enhance his skills. Although the training is a misnomer when it comes to leadership, the leaders don’t need training, they need certain development programs. In case of Jet Blue the leaders were provided training as they were directly promoted or hired to supervisory levels. Hence, it was necessary to change them. The leadership of the company ensures that employees commit to the philosophy along with the values of the organization. The rating of the employees is done in terms of how well the employees of the organization look after the safety and also on their caring attitude, integrity, fun in the workplace and passion. Though the key success of the company is in leveraging the human resource and to improve the operational strategies, however it is evident from the case study that Jet Blue is still a small company in comparison to other airline companies and it has not developed the formal HR practices that is normally found in the bigger organization. It has been found that the company checks the five values in the candidate while recruiting the employees. Thus, it can be said that the company may face certain problems in finding the appropriate candidate for the organization. Little problem may occur in matching the right candidate to the vacant position as the management defines its culture while recruiting and selecting the candidates. With the pace of time the business tends to differ, thus the recruitment policy of the organization also needs to be changed. Moreover, it has been evident from the case study that the employee needs to perform certain task apart from the task mentioned in the job description. To revolve around such a culture might not be acceptable for the new candidates. As it has been cited that the organization lacks fully developed HR practices, therefore if the HR policies are not properly checked then there may be issues that will make it difficult for the company to achieve its goals successfully. It is very well known about the role played by the human resources in the organization. If the organization is not able to get the proper candidate whose skills matches with the requirement of the organization, then it will be difficult for the company to run its business. The duty of the HR manager of the Jet Blue would be to bring certain changes in the recruitment and selection process of the company. A proper HR strategy would be developed and HR systems have to be employed with the aim that the complexity in the hiring practices becomes simpler. It will also help the companies to deal with the complex situations that arise every day in the organization. Such kind of enforcement of the company’s rules and regulation will help the companies to achieve the objectives and will lead to punitive actions for the ones who violate the rules of the organization. Being the HR, the leaders will be provided with proper learning and development sessions to enhance the skills. Moreover, the candidate will not be immediately promoted or hired to the leader’s post. A thorough evaluation of the skills of the candidate to match the position of the leader will be done to avoid any kind of issues or problems in the near future. Alternative Analysis The problem of leadership was a serious issue as identified in the above section. However, the reasons for the employees’ discontentment with the leaders in the organization were not recognized. Here the case can be analyzed from two perspectives, one from the side of the employee who was dissatisfied and other from the side of the leader who wasn’t efficient enough to supervise the staffs. The employees must have been dissatisfied because of the communication gap between the leader and the follower, whereas the leader might have certain grievances towards the organization related to the perks and benefits that are being provided or the leader may have found it difficult to cope up with the new changes brought in his designation. Therefore, in this regard it can be suggested that the leader have to be aware of his job description and the followers must provide time to the leaders in order to understand a particular situation. An organization has to be such that each of the employees is his own leader. This will help to identify the employee’s roles and responsibilities and will encourage an environment where each one learns from the experience gained each day. Recommendations It can be recommended that the company should add a proper recruitment and the selection system to its Human Resource Policy. It must also have proper remuneration standard and proper HR systems. In order to overcome its problem, it is very important for the company to have a well developed formal HR system. The company needs to pay due attention towards the development of the leaders in the organization. The recruitment and the selection process should not be solely based upon the value and the culture of the organization. To check the effectiveness of the leaders after receiving training it is important for the company to conduct 360 degree performance appraisal method. Through 360 degree appraisal the individuals can determine their own development needs. There are various factors that influence the efforts of the recruitment such as organizational reputation, cost of recruiting, recruiting philosophy, recruiting goals and the attractiveness of the job. Therefore, it can be recommended that Jet Blue investigates these factors as the company bestows much value to its employees. In order to overcome the problems of recruitment and selection in the near future it can be recommended that the company brings about certain changes in the recruitment and selection process in the near future and provides more emphasis on retaining the present staffs in the organization (Ubhaath, 2010). More attention should be paid at the internal communication between the subordinates and the superiors in order to avoid any kind of personal problems. There must be proper connection between the employees and the employers with the intention that the conflicts don’t arise. If this can be properly applied in the organization then the companies can reduce its problems to half (AwpagesSociety, 2007). Action and Implementation Plan It is very important to communicate about any kind of changes to the people who are associated with the organization. Therefore, before implementing any kind of policies or certain plans, it will be beneficial for the organization to communicate the changes to the employees. Their views must be always welcomed in the organization while making certain changes as they are experienced in the related field. After communicating the employees about the changes that is to be brought, a proper model depicting the appropriate structures, objectives, control, incentives and the integration mechanism need to be developed for implementing the strategy. The HR policies should be integrated with the strategy implementation needs. It has to be understood how the strategy will affect the structure and how the structure choice will affect the efficiency of the organization. At the end certain customs need to be made in order to motivate and control the performance of the employees (Wharton University of Pennsylvania, 2010). References Awpagessociety, (2010). Jet Blue Airways: Regaining Altitude after the Valentines Day Massacre of 2007. Teaching Note. Retrieved Online on December 09, 2010 from http://www.awpagesociety.com/images/uploads/08JetBlue_Note.pdf Ubhaath, (2010). Identify 3 National Equal Employment Opportunity Laws That Impact Jetblue`s Hiring Practices. Resources. Retrieved Online on December 09, 2010 from http://www.ubhaath.net/resources/case_study.pdf Wharton University of Pennsylvania, (2010). Implementing Strategy: Leading Effective Execution. Strategy Management. Retrieved Online on December 09, 2010 from http://executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu/open-enrollment/strategy-management-programs/Implementing-Strategy.cfm Bibliography Gender & Diversity, (2006). The Role of HR. Inclusive Workplace. Retrieved Online on December 09, 2010 from http://www.genderdiversity.cgiar.org/inclusiveworkplace/opportunity/recruitment/rolehr.htm Lewis, P. S. & Et. Al., (2006). Management: Challenges for Tomorrow's Leaders. Cengage Learning. Psychometrics, (No Date). JetBlue Bridges Leadership Gap with Comprehensive Development Program for Crewleaders. Case Study. Retrieved Online on December 09, 2010 from http://www.psychometrics.com/docs/jetblue.pdf Read More