Human Resource Management at Emirates Airlines - Case Study Example

Human Resource Management at Emirates Airlines Name Institutions Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Human resource issues faced by the company 3 HR problems 3 Possible solutions to the problem areas 6 Personal recommendations 7 References 8 Human resource issues faced by the company The Human Resource Department of the Emirates airline is headed by a senior president of the Human Resource and Business Development Section. The company has over fifty thousand employees in general. Thousands work directly in the Human resource department within the various divisions. Most of the employees are highly qualified in their respective fields. According to Chan (2003), the company has several divisions within the human resource department. This enables it to fully accomplish its core functions of developing the company. Each business unit has a human resource manager who coordinates the functions of the department and offer technical support to managers. The Human resource department is one of the largest in the UAE because of a large client base and high number of employees in the entire region. HR problems Due to the large workforce the company has, the employees are from a diverse group. One of the major human resource problems is negativity. Some employees have very negative attitudes towards their immediate supervisors, workmates and even customers. This is due to the treatment they receive and some are not satisfied with their careers. Although some of the reasons are legitimate. Negativity affects the general performance of the employees leaving some duties unattended. Sometimes the clients do not get satisfied with the services they are offered. It portrays a negative image of the company to the customers. This is therefore a very big problem that requires special HR attention (International Air Transport Association, 2006). Hiring of qualified and suitable employees is also a problem at the company. The company is highly recognized for its efficiency. It also employs thousands of people from around the world. However finding the right candidates for particular jobs may sometimes proves to be difficult. Thousands of qualified candidates do apply for vacant positions and the process of scrutinizing their documents take long. This affects tasks that were to be done immediately. During the interviews after short listing the most qualified candidates there is another problem. Some candidates perform exceptionally well during the interviews but fall short of expectations after they are employed. This presents a challenge on whether to employ other candidates or retain the new employee (Al Abed & Hellyer, 2001). Training is one other issue affecting the HR department. With the current rate of technological advancement, the employees require more training occasionally. This is important in enabling them acquire skills on how to use modern equipment and technology. This process requires a lot of financial resources since the company has to pay for the entire training. Some of the training exercises also require long duration of time. This forces the company to employ additional part time workers to handle some duties. This increases the cost of operation to higher levels and thus affects the profit margin. Although this process is quite expensive, it is inevitable. Some of the training requires employees to go to other countries annually or sometimes monthly. At times the employees are affected by this since they do not get adequate time to bond with other new employees (Chan, 2003). How and when to implement strategic policies is yet another problem for the Emirates airline company. Some of the policies may be new and there is no guarantee on whether they will work. This presents a challenge on when to implement them or the best approach to use to ensure efficiency. These policies are usually brought about by changes in the market and the general economy. A good example is whether to retrench workers or not during the low demand period. Such polices often leads to disagreements and confusion. Some policies may also be positive but the employees take long to adopt them or some may even oppose the policies. However, most of these strategies and policies are good for the company and the employees in general (Strayer, 2005). Retention of employees is also a major problem. The Emirates Airline is known globally for providing the best airline services. This is partly attributed to the highly qualified and experienced staff. However due to the number of emerging airlines, competition is stiff. Most companies recruit personnel from Emirates airline to head their operations since they are highly qualified. Such companies offer very good and competitive packages that the employees find difficult to resist and thus migrate from Emirates Airline. This is a major problem to the company since it loses very experienced staff and it is sometimes difficult to replace them. This trend has been on the rise currently and it is very costly to the company. However urgent interventions are being sought to counter the negative impacts (Budhwar & Mellahi, 2008). Currently the problem being addressed is the working relationship of the diverse teams working together. Due to some government policies, employment of people from different nationalities is allowed. Some of these people are from different cultural and generational groups. This brings about differences between the members of some business teams. This is because people from diverse groups usually have different views or ways of analyzing situations. Sometimes it used to bring about conflicts among team members since some felt like their ideas were not taken seriously. This also lead to some projects facing the risk of collapsing since each team member had a different view of how the project should be implemented. The HR department had to step in to offer solutions to this problem. Several workshops are usually organized weekly for the teams. This is to promote close relationships among members of the teams and also to encourage bonding This is already showing positive results (Al Abed, Hellyer, & Vine, 2004). Possible solutions to the problem areas Regarding the problem of negativity, the HR department is considering some methods of dealing with the problem. One of the solutions is to listen to everyone’s concerns without biasness. Negativity arises when workers needs are ignored. If their reasons are genuine improvements will be made in areas causing the problems. However if the reasons are baseless then the concerned employees should be summoned and face a displinary committee. Plunkett (2007) notes that on issues pertaining to hiring of employees, strict policies need to be developed to lock out any incompetent candidate. The company should also consider the services of recruitment agencies that are well known for their efficiency. This will also save a lot of time and the company will get the right people to perform the various tasks (Al Abed & Hellyer, 2001). Implementation of policies and strategies will also require extensive consultations among the employees. Senior managers should be consulted and informed adequately the reasons for implementing the strategies. They in turn should explain to their juniors the reasons for the changes being done. They must ensure they have gained the confidence of all employees in order to avoid negativity. This can arise if some employees do not agree with the new policies. Retention of workers on the other hand is very important. Adequate measures should be put in place to ensure that employees do not migrate. One of the methods should include reviewing the payment packages and the working conditions. The duration of contracts should be reviewed and the term of breaching the contract should be addressed. This will reduce the chances of migration and encourage retention (International Air Transport Association, 2006). The HR chose to address the issue of diverse work force because some important projects were almost collapsing. This could have spelled a disaster to the entire company. Massive losses would have been reported and the results cold lead to loosing customers. Retrenchment could have been an option and also wage cuts. After considering all these options, the HR decided to act immediately in order to avert the crisis. With the implementation of the solutions presented, the problem is diminishing day by day. It is believed that by the end of one month the members of the diverse teams will be working together to achieve a common goal and the problem will have been solved completely. This will not only benefit the company but also the individuals since there will be a healthy working relationship (International Monetary Fund, 2005). Personal recommendations Personally I would recommend that the following measures be adopted by the company to address the HR problems. The company should come up with business driven motives so as to make decisions that will be easily understood and accepted. The Human resource manager should establish counseling and mentoring department to deal with negativity and diversity. The Human resource manager should develop means of motivating the employees for instance a pay rise or promotions and better packages to encourage retention of employees. The Human resources manager should develop a mechanism of adapting to the changes in the economy and diversity in the workforce. References International Air Transport Association. (2006). World air transport statistics, Issue 50, Volume 1. International Air Transport Association. Chan, A. (2003). The challenges of human resource management. NY: Laudon K and Laudan J. Plunkett, J. W. (2007). Plunkett's Transportation, Supply Chain and Logistics Industry Almanac 2007. Houston: Plunkett Research, Ltd., Budhwar P. S., & Mellahi K. (2008). Managing Human Resources in the Middle East. London: Routledge Al Abed, I. & Hellyer, P. (2001). United Arab Emirates: a new perspective. London: Trident Press Ltd. International Monetary Fund. (2005). United Arab Emirates: Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix, Issues 5-268. NY: International Monetary Fund. Al Abed, I. Hellyer, P. & Vine P. (2004). United Arab Emirates yearbook. London: Trident Press Ltd, Strayer, S. (2005). Vault guide to human resources careers. Burlington: Vault Inc. Read More