Japan Airlines: Human Resources Management - Essay Example

A report on Personnel /Human Resources Management (HRM)                                        Introduction                    The most demanding aspect of running an organization is handling the human component of the human component of the organization; in other words, managing employees, their attitudes and customs could improve the organization’s overall performance if it is handled well. This leads to the phenomenon of Personnel/Human Resources Management. This　management practice lays emphasis on the art or science of controlling human activities in an organization with the hope of making them function optimally at the workplace.            While Personnel Management is deemed an older term than Human Resources   Management, experts have been able to explain the major difference between the two terminologies: Personnel management is more concerned with the administrative aspect of an organization; that is, payrolling, complying with employment legal issues and managing employees’ administrative concerns; but, Human Resources Management stretched far than that. It includes taking care of employee’s welfare, psychological motivation, training, legal representation, promotion and even relationship among the employees working together.                 However, history has demonstrated that personnel/Human resources Management arose as a result of the dire need to control the human aspect of a business, which appeared to be the most significant area that could being either success or failure to any organization if it is properly managed or not (Armstrong, 2006).            This report will focus majorly on the tasks of Personnel/Human Resources Managers in an organization. Japan Airlines, JAL is used as an organizational case study for which the activities of its Personnel/Human Resources Managers would be analyzed and dissected. The findings are compared with the common theories about Human Resources Management. The comparisons and contrasts are laid out, and recommendations are given to explain how the Human component of any organization could be successfully managed.                                                      Findings                A large organization like Japan Airlines with a total workforce of over 50,000 employees requires efficient Human resources Management to be able to successfully management its army of employees (JAL, 2009). The following are the activities of Human Resources Managers at JAL: Recruitment/training:  Human Resources Managers at Japan Airlines hire and train the company’s horde of workers. The process of hiring is different from other companies: for example, any candidate that would like to work for JAL must be ready to attend up to three interviews. The essence of this is to hire only the highly qualified professionals.  And the training is done according to the JAL strict regulations. The organization feels that all its employees should be well equipped with every idea about the job they are supposed to do when they are eventually hired.  Employment relationship:  Japan Airlines personnel/Human Resources Managers handle all the relationship that occur at the workplace between the employees and the organization’s management, and also inter-employee relations. JAL HR managers impart into the employees the right mentality towards their assignments at the organization. This involves inculcating in the employee the right organizational culture of discipline, honesty, commitment, engagement and loyalty to the organization. In fact, JAL Human Resources Managers completely influence the organization’s employees psychologically. Remuneration/Rewards/Motivation:  The human Resources Managers at JAL provide the employees with befitting remuneration/rewards that well compensate their efforts at making all operations at the organization successful. Salaries are given according to employee’s level of education and experience. There is no practice of favoritism that places low-ranked employees above their superiors simply because they are related to any of the managers. Employment motivation in JAL is highly developed as workers could receive periodic al bonuses, generous annual leave with pay and expansive medical assistance programmes. Human Resources Management:  It is the duty of JAL HR Managers to identify and develop employees with special skills, talents or abilities. Talent management at Japan Airlines is one of the best in the world: JAL HR managers not only discover these talents, but provide a comfortable working environment to retain them. Talent retention has been the most daunting aspect of Human resources Management; and not all HR Managers or practitioners could successfully keep the bright minds working in their organizations. Welfare/Health Issues: Human Resources Managers at JAL offer comprehensive welfare strategies that would cater for the employees’ problems. Some of these welfare packages include setting up sick funds that employees could get financial assistance from in case they fall ill and unable to foot their medical bills. Free flight, pension scheme, social insurance and the others are some of the benefits of welfare the organization gives to its army of employees. Dispute management/Employment exiting: It is impossible to expect robust relationships at all time in an organization: hence, the need for dispute resolution management. Japan Airlines established an equitable regulations/policies that guide how disputes among employees or between the employees and the management are fairly resolved. There are procedures that Human Resources Managers had laid down which give fair hearings to all complaints, grudges, disagreements and quarrels. A disgruntled employee could voice his concerns through written or verbal channels. These complaints are taken up, digested and properly handled by the managers, who would recommend their right approaches the employee would take to finally settle the quarrels. But in case the situation gets out of hands, that is, the quarrel turns irresolvable, Japan Airlines, through its HR Managers has guidelines that support favorable exiting procedures for the concerned employees.  Public Relation Issue: As JAL expands its partnership with international companies; there is need for PR for some of its employees. It is the responsibility of the Human Resources Managers to handle such Public Relations Issues.  The PR includes exposing the quality, experience, skills and maturity of JAL employees involved in overseas transactions.                                Comparing and contrasting            In the light of the above duties carried out by human resources managers at Japan Airlines, it is proper to assert that it is Human Resources Managers that are at operation, and not Personnel Managers.  According to Armstrong (2006), Human Resources Management involve the following activities listed below: Outsourcing/Recruiting/Training Organizational design, culture and development Work and employment relationships Talent discovery/management/retention Employment termination strategies/ Rewards/remuneration/ Complaints management/resolution and fair practice However, a Personnel Manager’s duties are mainly administrative in nature; like preparation of payrolls, recruitment, making sure that the organization follows the employment laws and agreements with the workers, administrative duties, and so on. It has been argued that an organization may have its Personnel Management outsourced, but it can’t afford to have its Human Resources Management outside the organization if it wants to succeed. This explains why Human Resources Management is recognized as more pro-active and success-oriented than Personnel Management, which is welfare-based. Considering the explanations above, it is interesting to notice that line managers are important for complete implementation of all policies, rules, regulations, new ideas, modern technological views as they are the ones that have physical contacts with the employees all the time. In the case of Japan Airlines, the line managers communicate the organization new and existing policies to the workers, monitoring and gathering feedbacks that would be sent to the Human Resources Department for the further analysis and projections. Line managers are the face of Human Resources managers, and at Japan Airlines, they receive maximum trainings and instructions that prepare them for the tasks in their hands. It is true that if line managers fail, the entire Human Resources Management of that organization has already failed; there would problem of communication and exchange of ideas among all the parties involved in running an organization.                                        History of Personnel/Human Resources Management at Japan Airlines At the beginning of the airline operations, Japan Airlines resolves to employ Japanese traditional management style: this is system whereby the rules and regulations are passed down from the head of the organization down to the last member of the organization. In other words, it means that junior employees could not easily play a significant part in the organization even though they have some nice ideas about management. But as the size of the organization increased, and operations became internationalized, Japan Airlines found it imperative to adopt broad policies that would make its activities to be more effective. Hence, the advent of Personnel/ Human Resources management.         The practices at the organization embrace all known Human Resources processes: And this has contributed to the overall performance of the organization and makes it more competitive with other airline companies in the industry.                                              Notes on employment exiting strategies                  A good organization should have favorable policies that would not undermine the rights of its employees as they prepare to exit from the organization. It has been reported severally that some organizations turn aggressive, even to the extent of bullying when one of their highly trained employees make an attempt to leave the organization with the intention of joining another one. A good organization with good employment exiting policy must embrace all the following modalities: Consultation: it is nice if the organization holds a consultation with the exiting employee to find out why he or she is leaving. In the course of this, it is possible to discover that the highly trained employee may want to leave because of his or her current financial obligations that the salary he currently receives from the organization could not completely cater for. Many talented employees have been retained when the organization discovered that they needed more money, which they consequently provided for them. Smooth transfer of responsibilities: A good organization must put in place smooth transfer of responsibilities in the area of employee’s benefits like health scheme, pension arrangement, social health insurance and other programs the organization has been running for the concerned employee while he/she was working under the organization. Conflict resolution: Most occasions the employees are exiting because there is an irresolvable conflict between the employee and the organization. A good organization must establish fair and equitable procedure of conflict resolution, so that the employee could exit happily without having to drag the organization to the court of law before his benefits and last salary are paid.                             Guidelines for organizations  The following are some of the guidelines a good organization must incorporate to function successfully: (a) Employee’s welfare: There must be clear descriptions of how employees’ welfare would be taken care of. Most organizations hire workers only to use them like animals, but put in place no mechanisms that would guarantee necessary welfare benefits in case the employees have health or any other problems that could make it impossible to work and earn money. This kind of shabby treatment is common in sweatshops where workers are hired mainly to slug at uncomfortable hard jobs, with little or no provisions to take care of them when they fall sick or are injured. (b) A working employment term:  A working employment term will specify the responsibilities of the employer to his/her employee. It would vividly describe the employment terms, working conditions, rewards and remuneration, exiting policy and other employment-related issues. This is in fact a working employment agreement. (c ) Legal responsibility:   A good organization would obey all employment laws and offer enough rights as required by the laws.                                                   REFERENCES 1.      Japan Airlines official website 2.      Armstrong, Michael (2006), A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, London: Kogan Page Publishers.       Read More