The Emirates Airlines Public Relations - Case Study Example

Emirates Airlines al Affiliation) Outline of the organization The Emirates Airlines Organization set up in 1985 by the Dubai Government has become one of the leading airlines in the world. It is an important property of the state. It is the state’s main career investment. Terminal Three in the Dubai Airport is the core hub for this airline from 2008. Before moving to occupy its own terminal in 2008, the airline shared terminals one and two in the airport with other airlines. The airline is globally recognized and rewarded as one of the very best. The airline has received more than five hundred awards throughout the few years. It won The Airline of the Year award in 2011. The airline is mainly under the management of the government. However, this is indirectly. The government commissioned the Emirates Group to oversee the day-to-day running of the airline. The Emirates group has two main interests. The Emirates airlines and dnata. Dnata provides services in cargo handling, travel, information technology systems and in-flight catering services, which was established in 1959 (Jones, 2010). Organization Chart and Structure The Emirates Airlines uses a centralized organization structure. The top management group has majority power in the decision making process. The organization has several departments. There are further subdivisions in these departments. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the chairperson are the highest ranks in this organization, held by the same person. The CEO and Chairman of the Emirates Group and Airline is His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum. The President of the Emirates Airline is Tim Clark. The Executive Vice president follows suit. This is Ali Mubarak Al Soori. The President of dnata and Group Services is Gary Chapman and the dnata vice president is Ismali Ali Albanna. The Services Department vice president is Nigel Hopkins. The Human Resources Vice President is Abdulaziz Al Ali. The Chief Operations Officer (COO) is Adel Ahmad Al Redha. The chief commercial officer is Thierry Antinori (OConnell, 2008). The airline has three departments. These are operations and engineering, cargo and facilities logistics and purchase and sales. With the aim of specialization, the departments have subdivisions within them. Mission, Vision and the Latest Strategic Plan The airline uses the slogan ‘Hello Tomorrow’. This signifies its dedication towards looking for innovative solutions for tomorrow. The Emirates airlines mission is to work towards maintaining a steady growth rate of about twenty percent in the coming years. The airline wishes to achieve this despite the pressures that plague airlines. These include an increase in the domestic market competitors, such as Etihad airline and the development of budget airlines. The company wishes to maintain its reputation as the best youngest operating fleet. The vision is to build strong market leadership that makes calculated and innovative decisions. The company strives and takes pride in fulfilling its obligations to its employees, stakeholders, the environment and society. The company has a vision to help the disadvantaged children in the world using its fleet to deliver humanitarian aid to the areas suffering tragedies like natural disaster and war. The principal goal of the Emirates airlines is to offer and maintain quality services (Theaker, 2008). Human Resources Plan The human resources department in the Emirates Group supports the vision to create innovative market leadership. This is through flexible human resource strategies and solutions. The solutions shall increase the growth of the business and the target market for the commercial airlines. This is with the consideration of the company goals and interests. The human resources management team seeks to ensure effective employee relations using policies and regulations that maintain professional conduct and compliance. The company’s human resources department has Remunerations and planning team uses strategies to attract and maintain a skilled, highly capable workforce in all the locations and departments (Namaki, 2008). Relationship between the strategic plan, HR plan and organizational structure The company’s Strategic plan, human resource plan and the organizational structure are all connected. In order for the organization to be successful, these three elements are crucial. The development of the business strategic plan takes this into account as well as the company vision, mission and goals. Human resources planning involve the long-term strategic plan in a business. This goes beyond the current needs of the business. The elements necessary for a good human resource plan include the creation of an organizational structure. The employees in an organization have skills, knowledge and abilities that the company utilizes for the creation and delivery of quality service. Human resources is seen as any company’s greatest resource and it should be included in the strategic plan. Developing the human resource strategic plan is to outline the most effective way to utilize the company workforce. The emirate airlines human resources plan identifies ways to attract and retain highly capable employees, develop their skills and knowledge through learning and development courses and programs and reward their employees to boost morale and maintain loyalty. The right management team developed by the human resources department plan will ensure the development of a successful strategic plan. They link between finance, employees, technology, and developing a plan on how best to utilize these resources by a skilled management team to ensure the success of the organization. Human resources planning activities are a core function of strategic planning (Namaki, 2008). Human Resources Challenges The primary human resources challenge facing the company is the recruitment and retention of high quality personnel. The company requires its employee to live and work mainly in Dubai. This poses a great problem, as many talented individuals wishing to work for the airline do not live in Dubai. Retaining existing employee is much easier than hiring new employees, this bring in the challenge of ensuring employee fit. This may be done through the selection of employees on the basis of their ability to do the job they are applying for, hiring the employees who understand and value team work, employees who understand the vision and mission of the organization and employees who have similar personal values to the organization’s culture. Another challenge is the integration of the company’s strategic goals and functional activities. This includes quality control, financial planning and discrepancies between the employee’s vision and the vision of the organization. Another challenge is the management of change. Changing business atmosphere includes the possibility of mergers, acquisitions, outsourcing, promotions, demotions, telecommuting opportunities and right sizing. Another challenge is the management of diversity among employees due to the growing global and international market of the company (OConnell, 2013). Workforce profile The two internal factors that influence the workforce and future employee requirements are the reorganization of the business and the creation of a new business line. This will lead to different company workforce requirements and redistribution of the existing workforce. The external factors influencing the workforce include the external environment, economic requirements and technological advancements. The adoption of technology to carry out certain tasks will eliminate various jobs previously carried out by human labor. Revenue falls, budget cuts will influence the salaries earned, and the anticipated retirement benefits which impacts negatively on the workforce. Labour supply shortages, legislation and changes in the workforce demographics are the external factors that lead to issues in the workforce. Human Resources Trends A very notable human resources trend is the growth of the mobile workforce. Increased use and availability of wireless technology allows the employee to work from home therefore increasing productivity and reducing operational costs. This may enhance the need for information technology inbound flights. Continued production of learning and development programs has led to the adoption of this strategy in the Emirate airlines human resource plan in order to attract, recruit and retain employees. Employees are beginning to demand health care benefits and risk or injury compensation as incentives to work for airlines. The increasing trend to outsource the human resources functions in a company. The management understands the importance of using experts to manage this very important process. The implementation of technology to manage activities in human resources is another growing trend. These activities are payroll, online recruiting and applications, administration of benefits and online courses for learning and development (OConnell, 2013). Long-term issue in the strategic human resource plan A potential long-term issue arises in the major loophole left in the Emirates strategic human resource plan. This is the issue of diversity. With the increase in globalization, many members of the company’s workforce originate from various parts of the world. This is a very important and highly underestimated aspect of human resources management. It’s incorporation into the strategic plan is crucial (OConnell, 2006). The diversity in the workplace will include age, sex, ethnicity, race, physical ability, religion, sexual orientation, parental status, income, educational background, marital status and geographical location. The company must plan how to retain and manage the diversity in the workforce. This includes the adoption of the corporate and company culture and being responsive and respectful of the culture in the local region of the host country. Keeping the employees feeling safe and respected ensures retention (Theaker, 2008). References Jones, S. (2010). Leading Airlines. Washington: The Washington Post. Namaki, M. (2008). Stratergy and Enterprenurship in Arab countries. New York: Palgrave Macmillian Publishers. OConnell, J. (2013). Air Transport in the 21st Century. Ashgate Press. OConnell, J. (2008). Emirates Airlines. World Review of Intermodal Transportation , 24-65. OConnell, J. (2006). The Changing Dynamics of the arab Gulf Based Airlines. An Investigation into the startegies that make the Emirates into a Global Challenge , 62-73. Theaker, A. (2008). The Emirates Airlines Public Relations Handbook. Chicago: Routledge Press. Read More