Global Human Resource Management in the Aviation Industry - Example

Running Head: Global Human Resource Management in the Aviation Industry. Department The global civil aviation sector is one with extremely high competition; it is also extremely sensitive to safety & environmental issues and is technology intensive. Services offered, products safety considerations greatly impact competition in the industry. However, focus the focus of competence in the increasingly turning people i.e. human capital and the customers served. This increasing focus on people in the airlines industry comes with strong and tremendous implications that not only affect the organisational structures but also strategic goals, organisational culture as well as every other aspect airline operations. In this paper, I will be looking at the issues affecting human resources management in the aviation industry globally. Human resources management (HRM), the management of human capital from the organisation’s internal environment encompasses those activities; policy issues as well as practices necessary in helping organisations achieve their objectives by maintaining a strong work force. These activities include planning aspects, recruitment practices, development, evaluation and retention of just the appropriate numbers and relevant skills that help the organisation in achieving its strategy goals. A lot of literature on HRM issues in the global aviation industry reveals that aviation psychology and human capital factors are among the most influential aspects of human resources management in the industry today. Other factors of strategic importance in the airiness industry today include environmental issues, the ever growing expectations of consumers, safety issues and technological advancements and not as a result of purely mechanical and technology factors. A lot of strategic decisions in the aviation industry today are anchored on two factors of fundamental importance and which have continued to evolve consistently for the over the past few decades. Firstly, there is an increasingly growing concern about safety in the industry the world over and this is driving competition strategy as every airline strives to address the issues of safety. On the other hand customer expectations in terms of service quality, variety of choice and product propositions are continuously increasing. There is a lot of documented literature that points to the fact that most aviation accidents and incidences of low quality of service are majorly as a result of factors that are socio-technical and human in nature. Under-optimization, poor management practices, ineffective decision making and team work issues are cited as being responsible for the accidents and all there are HRM factors. This underscores the importance of strategic human resources management in the airlines industry. The aviation industry has consistently and rapidly experienced changes and these changes require that professionals in HRM are ready and flexible enough to quickly adapt to the changing circumstances. Some of the issues that are tremendously affecting the way business is done in the airlines industry include changing trends such as mergers, acquisitions, issues related to the environment and safety of customers as well as increasing international engagements and regulations. These changes come with the new and unique challenges to the HRM function, training programs and their influence on retention of employees in the aviation industry. Human resources departments in major airlines are therefore faced with one critical challenge. That of ensuring adaptability among employees, managing in the diverse international global environment while at the same time creating strongly motivated workforces and ensuring retention of desirable talents, competencies and skills. HR professionals in the airlines sector must therefore be very strategic in their practices so as to ensure their organisations are competitive and up to trend. One area of success for HRM in the industry has to do with the hiring of managers. It is a very costly endeavour for many airlines to recruit, hire and train managers. So as to overcome this challenge, implementation of HR policies that target to grow managers from the existing pool of employees. This will not only reduce the costs associated with hiring processes but will also help maintain the organisations’ cultural integrities. The training for current managers will no doubt present them with another task of identifying talent replacements within their teams to prepare and take up their positions as they move upwards. Such policies actually define trend in the entire airlines industry training aimed at improving succession and planning by sourcing & growing talents from within instead of relying on the costly outside recruiting practices. Preparedness is a very important HRM function for organisations in the airlines industry considering its sensitivity to issues such as safety and environment. Pilots for instance as well as flight attendants, ground crew and air traffic controllers may not be trained for all possible scenarios. Rather than emphasising on the training just for known scenarios of airline emergency, HRM training practice in the industry involves training workers across function so as to ensure optimisation of the available human capital. Sound skills of critical thinking have been identified as being the best defence mechanism against what is not yet known. Whereas people in the industry are supposed to learn and master task specific skills so as to be successful & effective in fulfilling their individual organisational obligations, the concept of cross-training permits employees to be effective and quick in responding to unforeseen changes and unique situational challenges (Wilcox, 2007). The core function of any human resources department is to ensure organisations recruit, motivate and retain appropriate numbers of the best talent to meet their business objectives in the long term. It is therefore a call on HRM professionals in the airlines industry to ensure their companies have employees aligned to the business objectives which basically revolve around giving quality service to their customers. HRM training programs in the aviation therefore go an extra mile to cultivate a culture among current staff whereby they learn best practices which help them offer international standard travel services and ensure the customers’ experience is a positive one. As regulators move to relook those laws that have always made hindered corporation in the industry, trainings in the aviation sector must respond by including more substance the best ways of moving passengers through creation of alliances and formation of symbiotic travel partnerships. There is therefore a need for training employees to see beyond organisational boarders especially when it comes to culture and customer service practices. HRM functions in the civil aviation industry as a role of ensuring this is happening. A very important and sensitive issued not only to the aviation industry but the entire business arena globally is that of environmental protection. The entire industry has implemented various initiatives aimed at encouraging both technical and mechanical innovations on this end and have indeed made impressive strides in the direction of environmental protection. Continued training on these lines must continuously be developed as the industry consistently strives to incorporate operational improvements geared at protecting the environment. These may include more training on the usage of alternative fuels as well as promotion of sustainability practices within and without the industry’s expertise so as to increase environmental awareness. By having practices in place aimed at ensuring environmental awareness and sustainability, will save airline companies the stress of legal suits & fines for non-compliance and therefore reflect positively on public image. This may be a tall order for airline industry but the human resources function in industry player must see to it that they are complying with international threshold standards on protecting our environment (Ivancevich & Konopaske, 2013). One primary challenge that HRM practitioners in the airlines industry have to overcome is having the right individuals in the right positions at the right time and at the right place. Labor is present in excess of the available vacancies but difference making talents are extremely scarce. HRM is perceived and actually plays a very important role of creating competitive advantage for organisations. Today it is common knowledge that a highly skilled human capital with uniquely special competencies can only be obtained through implementation of highly developed employee practices that permit organisations compete based market trends, quality services & product, brand differentiation and consistent technological innovations. HRM in the airlines industry increasingly seeks to occupy the strategic role of assisting companies create value and attain competitiveness in the ever increasingly competitive marketplace. Having effective human resources practices that are not easily reproduced or duplicated by competitors will therefore deliver the much needed competitive in the airlines industry. Three important factors have been identified as being important in the achievement of competitive advantage. These are innovation, delivering quality and leadership in cost management. All these factors are crucial but cannot deliver the much needed competitive advantage in a vacuum; there must a quality human capital to drive these factors; it must all start with human resources. There are four important conditions that must be satisfied by human resources in order to attain a competitive advantage that is sustainable. Firstly human resource is valuable, extremely rare and not perfectly imitable. Human resource also does not have substitutes. It is easily possible for competitors to reproduce competitive edge attained through good technologies, products and services but it is particularly difficult to imitate the kind of competitive advantage attained through effective management and maintenance of a strong workforce. Creating core competencies that support business in the airlines industry can be through provision of effective human resources management services. Effective engagement with existing macro factors that include corporate culture, management and development of to talents will also help organisations in the aviation industry achieve sustainable competitive advantage. According to (Gitell et al, 2009) labor relations (LR) and human resources management (HRM) are two important elements of employment relationships that reflect on the ways business relate with their human capital. Employment relationships are particularly crucial in the aviations industry considering its extremely sensitive nature, the high ratios of labor costs to labor costs and a high rate of unionisation present in the entire industry. Workers are able to significantly influence the performance of airlines in both positive and negative ways. Through their collective bargaining agreements workers could attain attractive wage rates and security of their employment but at the same time place organisations in situations where costs of operations as so high to deprive them of operational flexibility. Employees could further place excess costs on airline companies by setting wage standards and working conditions through strikes and other forms of service disruption. However, human capital could create significant value, with a cost reduction potential through their commitment, effort and coordination as well as innovative ideas that enhance productivity. Employees also greatly influence delivery of quality services by being customer friendly, interactive and responsive to customer demands (Lowry, 2006). A lot of literature suggests that employees on the front line particularly play a very critical role in the attainment of high quality and performance outcomes in the entire airlines industry. As therefore, airlines the world over have continuously considered the management of their human capital for potential advantage areas with the intention of either achieving reduced unit costs, super customer service standards or sometimes both. Individual airlines deploy specific strategies to harness the advantages and some strategies are found to be more effective as compared to others. Other than individual airline strategies, also industry level practices and structures and processes shaping employment relationships play a significant role. This is to say that airlines are just but part of global air transit system that comprises of competitors, strategic partners, airline employee unions and government regulatory bodies e.g. the National Mediation Board (NMB) in America. NMB is responsible for the overall overseeing of workplace relations in the civil aviation industry and participatory proactively in resolutions associated with collective bargaining agreements. Having effective structures and execution of industry-level elements of labor relations including and not limited to regulatory frameworks, could result into outcomes that yield mutual benefits for both the aviation firms, workers and the general flying public. Employ relations encompass a wide range of manners through which firms relate with their employees and set the terms & conditions of working, communicate and coordinate how work is done. Employee relations comprise of the workplace, CBAs and strategic decisions. Relations in the workplace include the manner in which employees relate and interact with managers on a daily basis and this actually forms the primary area jurisdiction for HRM practices, policy decisions and programs. Within the human resources function, there are two broad alternative models of approach to the exercising of control i.e. control or commitment. In the control approach, the employee-manager interactions occur in a hierarchical fashion with managers acting unilaterally. Employees on their part are to comply with orders as issued by management but not to go past certain boarders when exercising their duties in the name of the company. In the model of commitment, managers proactively consult with other employees on decision issues and permit them to exercise more discretion while discharging their duties. In response employees on their part demonstrate higher commitment to the organisation and customers and devote a lot of energy go service (Gitell, 2009). Collective bargaining involves structures and frameworks on how airlines and employee unions should negotiate with one another and implement work contracts setting many basic terms of employment like wage levels, hours of work, conditions of work and procedures on matters of discipline. The relationship between firms and unions falls in three broad categories of avoidance, accommodation and partnership. Whereas choice on how to go about when approaching the relationship in part is dependent on the unions, there is no doubt management has historically had the most influence in shaping overall conditions in a employment relationships. A firm using the avoidance structure will typically prevent formation of unions, bypass or remove already existent ones. A firm going for the accommodation strategy on the other hand accepts, appreciates and permits the existence of unions but then resorts to an adversarial position hence keeping the interaction constantly within the process of bargaining. Strategic decision making on its part refers to the level of participation by employees or their representatives in the overall governance and ultimately management of the organisation. As much as collective bargaining shapes interactions in the workplace, the very nature of workplace interactions can on the other hand influences tone and nature of the entire collective bargaining. The US airline industry for instance is one of the most unionised having over 70% of employees in at least a union. It follows therefore that collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) play a pivotal role in the determination and employment relations for major US airlines. Unlike many other industries, airline employees typically use multiple unions that represent workers from different occupations to bargain and set wage rates. Even in situations where a single umbrella union represent a certain workgroup across a number of airlines, collective bargaining an negotiations for working conditions take place at the level of individual firms and not across the industry. This kind of disintegrated structure for collective bargaining has its pros and cons but somehow ultimately defines the nature of processes in the entire collective bargaining. Another factor shaping collective bargaining and ultimately human resources management in the civil aviation industry is the regulatory framework i.e. laws that govern the interactions between unions and airlines. In conclusion therefore the global civil aviation industry is a highly sensitive one. Environmental issues, safety considerations, technological changes, innovation and the international nature of the entire airlines industry make it an extremely unique one. Quality of services and products form a very important issue in the airlines industry considering the level of competition the industry witnesses today. Recruitment, development and retention of certain competencies and skills is therefore a very essential in the management of airlines today. The role of ensuring airlines compete favourably in the industry through the development of highly productive workforces is squarely in the realm of human resources management. There is no doubt that competitiveness; quality and quality of human capital are driving strategy in today global airline industry. Even with the innovations and technological advancements seen in the industry, there must be a competent team of human capital to make the difference. It is a challenge to the human resources management function to implement best practices in the identification, nurturing and retention of top talents. This is where human resources management sets in to deliver a competitive edge to organisations in the airlines industry. References. 1. Ivancevich, J. M., & Konopaske, R. (2013). Human Resources Management (12th ed). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. 2. Linda Ray. (2015). Human Resource Trends in the Aviation Training. Chron. Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/human-resource-trends-aviation-training-81148.html 3. Lowry, D. (2006). HR managers as ethical decision-makers: Mapping the terrain. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 44:171-183. 4. Jody Hoffer Gittell et al. (2009). Lobor Rlations and Human Resources Management in the Airline Industry. In: The Global Airline Industry by Peter Belobaba, Amedeo Odoni and Cynthia Barnhart. John Willey and Sons. 5. Tracy Wilcox. (2007). Something in the Air: HRM Legitimation Strategies in Global Airline. Sydney: University of New South Wales. Read More