Recent Conflict that Occurred between the Tiger Airline and the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority - Case Study Example

Running Header: Ethics and Professional HRM First Names: Student Number: Institution: Course Number: Course Name: Assignment Due Date: Introduction World over for many years the issue of conflicts at workplace has attracted a lot of attention more especially from the researchers who are out to find out what is the major cause of these conflicts. According to Lafer (2005), conflicts are normally a case between the senior management and part or the whole of the employee team. This is because of the diverging expectations between the employer and the employees. In an ideal workplace environment, the strategic management is expected to ensure good balance between the needs of the employees and the business’ objectives and goals (Kochan, 2004). In other words, to avoid some of the common conflicts, no single part need to be exploited on the expense of the other. But as a matter of fact, it’s the employees who in many occasions complained of being handled unfairly and unjustly by the employer. This scenario raises the relevance of ethics at workplace. Work ethics at workplace and especially in managing the human resource are very critical in handling those issues that may lead to conflicts (Huselid and Brian 2001). Many world governments have also enacted different policies that are geared towards ensuring creation of fair workplace by the employers. For instance, the Australian Fair Work Act of 2009 was enacted to assist in address issues addressed by the country’s workplace relation systems. As my objective, this paper seeks to address the recent conflict that occurred between the Tiger Airline and the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). The specific situation which i plan to adress is with regard to the proficiency of the company’s pilots and the fatigue management processes. Tiger Airways To properly understand the nature of the conflict between the parties, it is important to understand that the report by BBC of 4th April 2011 revealed that the Tiger Airways had been grounded on its operations following safety allegations. The airline has its origin in Singapore. The company is the cheapest in the country and therefore its grounding implied that competition in the industry will not be intense in terms of price. The Tiger Airline operates 10 Airbus A320s locally and they make over 60 flights daily facilitating the movement of over 9,000 passengers. The grounding of the company’s travelling services was a result of the complaints that were raised by CASA on the company’s safety management practice. Even though failure to address the issues of employees’ safety would have helped the company save more and have good returns to the investors, it could not last for long. For instance the BBC report went to indicate that immediately after the grounding; the company’s shares’ price went down by 20% while those of the competing companies like Virgin Atlantic and Qantas increased by 10.5 and 6.5% respectively. This clearly demonstrates the long-term challenges employers after failing to address the plights of employees for short-term shareholders’ gains as presented in BBC Report (2011). Ethical and Professional HRM One of the most important aspects of ethical and professional HRM is to promote acceptable behavior at workplace by placing a lot of emphasis on the need to protect employees from any form of mistreatment, harassment, exploitation or bullying by the employer (Antonio, 2003). The proponents of this theory are of the view that those employers or companies that tend to put more focus on long-term issues with regard to stakeholder’s interests stand a better chance of prospering as opposed to those that are only interested in meeting the shareholders’ interests. This could be the case of the Tiger Airline in failing to address the issue of safety at workplace in order to save on the operational costs and consequently benefit the shareholder at the expense of the employee. Ethical and Professional HRM supporters agree that companies under all circumstances need to lend an ear to the employee’s concerns and at the same time try to respond appropriately both to the values and needs of all the company stakeholders (Hoffer-Gittell 2002). In the case of the Tiger Airline, all stakeholders were not treated as equal partners but instead the company sought to concentrate on the shareholders’ issues and thereby failing to work on ways of improving the employees’ proficiency and long working hours. In any case if the company fails to address the employee wellbeing, then collapse of the business is almost certain. This argument is also being supported by even the conservatives who are pro to the business, who say that any business which does not balance the needs of all the stakeholders, will always find it very difficult to sustain the business (Kochan, 2004). They continue to assert that in the free market economy, proper management of staff, supplier and other financial partners are all very critical to the business rather than unethical ways which are unjust and unfair to the workforce. According to Sillanpaa and Jackson (2000), both long-term benefits and proper management of employees overlap at a certain point. In other words, good employee management practices are directly related to long-term maximization of the company profits. Options to conflict resolution Given the case of the of the Tiger Airline Company, as a HRM professional, one is expected to first explore and understand what the conflict is and what might have caused it. The case of the Tiger Airline Company is one of the cases where the employers have failed to balance the interests of all the stakeholders. In this case, the employees are not able to develop their knowledge because of the Human Resource Policy which does not address knowledge development among the employees more especially the captains in order to enhance their proficiency. CASA was especially concerned with the issue of competence of the captains in their work whom they felt were not qualified enough to fly. The other issue that arose about the company concerns about long working hours for the employees. This meant that many of the workers did not have adequate time to relax in readiness for the next duties BBC Report (2011). The issue here is that employees’ fatigue could be very disastrous because the majority may not be able to concentrate. In such a situation the options that are available include: 1. Development of knowledge-based workplace systems Knowledge-based workplace systems are particularly used by different employers in order to create an environment where each and every employee is empowered in terms of technical capabilities irrespective of the position (Antonio, 2003). My role as the HRM professional is to develop a company programme that will allow for employees to go for further training in order to enhance their skills and become more proficient in their work. This is particularly in the area of the captains. This will not only help the employees’ meet their needs in terms of the skills they need to perform their functions effectively but also help in enhancing the internal performance of the business. According to the South Korean President, Kim Dae Jung, with the current state of the global economy, it’s very important for every person to become an intellectual in order to make sure that every mind is able to add value to the society by acquiring appropriate skills (Lafer 2005). In the past three decades, a lot of research has been done in this aspect as part of the effort in trying to establish ways in which front-desk workers can be utilized by making good use of their skills. In the 21st era this depicts what needs to be done to reenergize the available skills. 2. Application of the dual agenda approach Even though the knowledge has been cited as key concern for the HRM professional, it’s likely to the issue of performance at workplace and may not address the specific needs of the employees. The approach needs to be extended so as to continue to address issues related to balance between work life and personal life or family needs. According to Lotte Bailyn and Joyce Fletcher (2003), different companies’ work systems and approaches need to be held responsible with regard to dual agenda. In other words, irrespective of the work systems the company uses, there is need to balance between personal life and work balance. In order to achieve this, there is always need for the HR professionals to make sure that all stakeholders and more especially the employees have been engaged. Related to the case of the Tiger Airline Company, this approach could be used to ensure that all employees are allowed to work for a reasonable amount of time so as to have time to relax before resuming the next duties. The problem with the company as alleged by CASA, is that the staff was overworked without enough time to rest. This was against the Fair Work Act of 2009. For instance, in America there has been a rising demand to ensure balance between work place demands and family needs. According to Deeks (2000), this can only be achieved by enacting work place policies that are family-friendly and that create enough time for the employees to rest. 3. Partnering with employee unions As the HRM professional I am likely to consider involving the employee union in designing some of the policies that affect the employees. However, research from various companies has shown that many of the companies are ant-unions based on the ideologies that unions’ demands’ cannot be sustained. For instance, in the United States many of the HR professionals are said to succeed based on their own strategies irrespective of how the handle the employees and the society. For example, its only 8.5% of the employees in the United States who work in the private sector are members of workers unions (Lafer 2005). This is to imply that a majority of the issues effecting by the employees are decided and determined by the employers without involving them. This approach could be well used in such situations where there are issues affecting the workers collectively. Selected option I do believe that settling on just one option could not be able to provide a lasting solution to the Human Resource Strategy. This is because each and every option is likely to provide a solution to each problem and therefore combining the three options will provide a good hybrid to address human resource issues from different perspectives Sternberg (2000). Ethical and professional behavior among the HR professionals has been very critical in emphasizing employee well-being at workplace. In human resource management, ethics and professionalism behavior has been found to be fit in ensuring well-being and can be said to be one of the best human resource practices that can help the company to be strategically fit. Ethical and professional behavior constitutes a number of ways which can directly be associated with the contemporary human resource management. First and foremost, ethical behavior demands for fairness and justice in all actions at workplace. The objective is to make sure that individual values are given attention. Ethical behaviors also constitute the understanding of issues underlying preoccupation and flexibility at workplace, individual commitment and culture as well as performance as presented by McDonald (2000). Flexibility is about ways in which the human resource management handles employment contracts and commitment to work as well as presenteeism and long working hours. In addition, ethical behavior goes beyond addressing the issues that relate to knowledge and skills to promoting values and attitudes by use of value-based techniques and culture change. Finally, ethical and professional behavior, address on a wider scope on ways in which the employer is using to take care of the employees’ rights to independency, privacy and demand as well dignity and the gap that exist between the company demands and the employee subjectivity (Legge 1998). Conclusion Ethical and Professional HRM has got a major role to play in ensuring good practice at work place. However, based on this study, the work of Human Resource is to align the employees with the company objectives. Which means that more often than not, at workplace what is given more emphasis is the performance of the company. In other words there is balancing between the employee’s and those of the business. This is against, the ethics and HRM profession. This is because it does not regard the rights of the employees. Conflict resolution within an organization can be addressed by focusing on knowledge development systems, application of the dual agenda approach and finally through partnering with the employees to address the employees’ concerns. In general, at workplace, ethics and HR professionalism behavior has been found to be fit in ensuring well-being and can be said to be one of the best human resource practices that can help the company to be strategically fit. References Antonio, A. (2003). Fostering values in Organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 45(1/2), pp. 15-28. Arkin, A. (1996). `Open business is good for business’. People Management, 24(7), pp. 123-145. BBC Report (2011). Tiger Airways in talks with regulators over grounding, Retrieved 9th April 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14009434 Boxall, P. and Purcell, J. (2003). Strategy and Human Resource Management. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Deeks, E. (2000). “Self-service is hard work”. People Management. 26(23), pp. 9-10. Hoffer-Gittell, J. (2002). The Southwest Airlines way. New York: McGraw-Hill. Huselid, M. and Brian B. (2001). The HR scorecard. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Kochan, T. (2004). Restoring trust in the human resource management profession. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 42(2), pp. 130-146. Cambridge, MA: MIT. Lafer, G. (2005). The critical failure of workplace ethics, in Budd, J and Scoville, J (eds), The Ethics of Human Resources and Industrial Relations, Illinois: Labor and Employment Relations Association, pp. 273-297. Legge, K. (1998). ‘Is HRM Ethical? Can HRM Be Ethical?’. In Parker, M. (ed.) Ethics and Organizations. London: Sage, pp. 150–72. McDonald, G. (2000). 'Business Ethics: Practical Proposals for Organisations,’ Journal of Business Ethics, 19(2), 143-159. Sillanpaa, M and Jackson, C (2000). Conducting a Social Audit: Lessons from the Body Shop Experience, in Winstanley, D and Woodall, J (eds) Ethical Issues in Contemporary Human Resource Management, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 227-49 Sternberg, E. (2000). Just Business: Business Ethics in Action, 2nd edition, New York: Oxford University Press. APPENDIX Case: Tiger Airlines Tiger Airways in talks with regulators over grounding Tiger Airways planes have been grounded in Australia by regulators on safety concerns Tiger Airways will hold crisis talks with Australian regulators to try and counter safety claims and resume its domestic operations. The Singapore-based low cost carrier's aircraft were grounded in Australia on Saturday by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) on safety concerns. The disruptions come at the start of peak school holiday season, which means less intense price competition. Shares in Tiger Airways in Singapore plunged almost 20% on Monday. The airline's domestic Australian flights will be grounded until July 9, but its flights to Singapore are not affected. Shares of competitors rose sharply as a result, with Virgin Australia jumping 10.5% and Qantas climbing 6.5%. 'Resume operations' “Start Quote CASA believes permitting the airline to continue to fly poses a serious and imminent risk to air safety” Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) Chief executive Tony Davis has flown to Australia for talks with the CASA. The airline said in a statement to the Singapore Stock Exchange that he had been charged with getting its planes back in the air. Tiger said Mr Davis was going to focus on "assisting Tiger Airways Australia to resume operations as soon as possible." Tiger operates 10 Airbus A320s domestically in Australia. It moves about 9,000 passengers a day on 60 domestic flights. It is the first time in Australia's aviation history that an entire fleet has been grounded. Safety concerns The grounding of the fleet came after the CASA said its concerns about safety had gone unaddressed by Tiger. "CASA believes permitting the airline to continue to fly poses a serious and imminent risk to air safety," the regulator said in a statement. The regulator said it had been closely monitoring the airline and had sent a notice threatening to suspend or cancel its licence over the safety issues. "The suspension of Tiger Airways Australia follows the issue of a show cause notice to the airline in March 2011." That notice included instructions for Tiger to improve the proficiency of its pilots, give them more training and to address issues such as fatigue management. Read More