One of the emerging and successful industries in this modern business world is the airline industry. The competition is increasing in this sector day by day and highly related with the high level of technology. However, this industry also performs a significant role in the development of the economic conditions of the country. The airline industries ensure the savings of time of the people which actually helps in the development of the organization and the economy. With the development of airline industry different other sectors and activities have been expanded. Tourism industry has developed along with the development of the airline industry and on the other hand, the activities of the business organization have also been expanded due to the ease of journey from one place to another. Human are the core resources of this industry. With the development of the HR, the airline industries can ensure better performances to its ultimate customers (Armstrong, M, 2006). British airline is one of the largest airline industries in the world. For the betterment of this industry, the organization tries to improve the present conditions of the employees. To adopt with the latest technologies, the organization tries to provide proper training and development which ultimately helps this organization in developing leaders from among the employees of the organization (Bach, S, 2005).

In this competitive business world, to compete in the market, the organization needs to concentrate on the development of the HR besides the products and machines. Understanding the human psychology helps the organization in providing better customize services to its customers which is very important for the betterment of the organization. However, based on this, the structure, strategy, and even the machineries or products have also changes. These changes definitely ensure the success of the organization in an international marketplace. This report basically tries to covers the HRM practices in the airline industries (Brewster, C, 2008).

Research Aim & Objectives

This research study aims to analyse,

Existing human resource management practices in British Airways in general as well as to assess how HR functions are conducted and handled in a multinational airline such as British Airways.

Literature Review

Airline Industry

In this modern business world, competition is increasing day by day and to support the organization in this competitive business world the airline industry performs its activities effectively and efficiently. There is no doubt that service is the fundamental product of this industry. Besides services, the organization also need to confirm the safety of the people and products and provides the extreme support to other organizations in the competition. There are three main characteristics of this industry which mostly affects the HRM practices in the organization (Cho, S, Wood, 2006). These three characteristics have been covered in the below.

Firstly, the competition in the market mostly influenced by the performances of the airline industries. Most of the organizations in this world are now depends on the airline industries for the transportation of the products, people, and posts. Previously, the organization mainly focuses on the products and services but with the changing concept, the airline industries are now concentrating on the development of the people within the organization (Duarte, G, 2001).

On the other hand, for the expansion of the business, the organization tries to satisfy the customers. The improved behaviour of the employees and quality services ensure the satisfaction of the customers. In this process, customers also perform the role of the sales personnel by motivating other people in order to take the services of the specific airline industry (Gratton, L, 2003).

Secondly, ensuring the safety of the customers, products, and parcels is the most important part of activities of the airline industry. The airline industry is required to focus on the security system which is very important for the safety of the customers as well as the products. This truly ensures the performances of this industry. The managers of airline industry need to be trained in order to provide better services to the customers. In the airline industry, the people of different cultures, languages and countries travel from one place to another (Holbeche, L, 2009). Thus to support those customers, the employees of the organization needs to be capable of communicating with those customers otherwise, it will be difficult for the organization to provide their best services to the customers. The values, and ethics of the customers are also varies from each other. Some comments may hurt the others whereas other may take it as a joke. Thus it is essential to have a clear understanding of the values and ethics of the people from different countries for the betterment of the organization (Harrison, R, 2002).

Finally, for the betterment of the organization, the airline industry mostly focuses on providing quality and quick services to the customers. Based on the services, customers get motivated towards the organization and also try to influence others to take the services of this organization which ultimately ensure the growth of the organization. This actually helps in avoiding high marketing costs of the organization (Hom, P, 2001).

British Airways

British Airways is one of the largest airline industries in the world. From the beginning, this airline mostly focuses on the transferring of products and parcels rather than transporting people from one place to another. British airways was established in 1974 and in 1987 it moved towards the private sector. The current conditions of this airline industry are the merger of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and the British European Airways Corporation (BEAC), (British Airways, 2014).

In the marketplace, there are over 40 competitors with which the organization currently competes. But besides the all of the difficulties the organization tries to maintain its leadership position in the market not only in the UK market but also in some European market. Virgin Atlantic is the main competitors of British Airways which was established in 1984. However, the organization also tries to improve its market share even in the financial turmoil of the country (British Airways, 2014).

British airways has experienced a lot of downfalls and threats over the past few decades. After the 1990’s, when British Airways assumed that any strategy like 'cost control' or ‘operational efficiency' were started to replicate by means of latest information technology, the company looked upon a new competitive strategy 'customer service through resource planning' which was aligned to the company's corporate objectives.

Two training programs were designed to train staff and managers where the first training program 'Putting People First' helped the staff to understand how the image of helpfulness satisfy the customers and the second training program 'Managing People First' evoked the managers to breakdown the strict approach and strict behavioural boundaries. Due to the successful implementation of these training programs a significant cultural change was observed. (British Airways Plc. 2010)

The company had also undergone typical development program such as 'individual learning', 'individual employee development' by which it achieved a pool of competence. The company's HR department had emerged on its performance development for instance, 'appraisal scheme', 'improved reward system' that finally directed to the company's business performance. (British Airways Plc. 2010)

Human Resource Management

For the betterment of the organization, the British Airways tries to focus on the satisfaction of the shareholders values and to satisfy the customer’s requirements. From the financial perspective the organization tries to focus on the shareholder value whereas the employees of the organization are responsible for the satisfaction of the customers. The overall business operations actually developed in such a situation which tries to ensure the satisfaction of the customer’s requirement and to provide quality services to the customers (Khilji, S, 2006).

The British Airways is the service oriented organizations which mostly depends on the performances of the employees of the organization. The employees are the core resources of this organization. On the other hand, the British Airways also tries to concentrates on the development of the employees of the organization. To carry out the strategic decisions of the organization, the employees play the most important role. The HRM department of this organization mostly deals with the employees of the organization rather than the machines or technologies of the organization. In this modern business world, the human resources of the organization actually ensure the growth of the organization in the market. As the British Airways is the service based organization, the employees of the organization tries to provide the quality services to the customers in order to improve the image of this organization in the mind of the customers (Khatri, N., 2005).

This modern business world tries to improve the conditions of the business organization with the development of the employees. All over the world, the airline industry follow the standard procedures in recruiting and selecting new employees. With the passage of time, the organization has able to develop diverse workforces which actually covers all the areas of the airline industry. This diverse workforce ensures the implementation of the winning and developing strategies of the organization (Kaplan, R,S, 2008).

The organization also tries to motivate the employees to enhance the thrust for learning something which will be beneficial for the personal and for the professional life. The development of the employees itself also ensure the development of the organization. To provide better services to the customers, the British Airways also ensure separate customer services department which will be responsible for providing all the information related with their services and there is no doubt that the organization goes for choosing the best person for this service (Khilji, S., & Wang, X. 2007).

The HRM department of British Airways also focuses on the improvement of interrelationships among the employees of the organization. The supporting mentality among the employees helps them in providing best services to the customers. However, the organization also tries to treat its all of the employees fairly and equally. Besides this, the organization offers different other benefits to the employees which also attracts them to stay with the organization and to provide their best services to the customers which will be better for the organization. This process helps the British Airways in ensuring the growth of the organization in the international competitive market (Lawler, E. 2005).

Research Methodology

One of the most important parts of the research paper is the research methodology. The research methodology mainly covers the research approach, philosophy and strategies which are mostly requires for the proper completion of the research. Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill (2007) has developed a research model for the proper understanding of the research activities which is named as the “Research Onion Model”. All the components of the research onion model have been covered and critically elaborated in the following.

Figure-1: Research Onion Model

Source: (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2007)

Research Philosophy

There are different philosophies available in a research. In this research philosophy, the study will cover both the positivist, and interpretive philosophies. In the positivist philosophy, the study will cover the quantitative methods along with some statistical discussion in order to improve the present conditions of the organization whereas the interpretive philosophy will evaluate the diverse workforce groups by providing a better explanation of the quantitative findings (Saunders, M, 2009).

Research Approach

Another important part of the research onion model is the research approach. Basically there are two types of research approaches available- Inductive and Deductive. In-order to complete this study, both the approaches will be covered. In the deductive approach, the research activities try to complete by considering the hypothesis developed by the researcher based on the research (Saunders, M, 2009). In this case, different types of proved data and theory have been covered for the proper development of the hypothesis. The deductive approach mostly developed based on different types of data collection process along with the settlement of hypothesis, development of theories and effective observation process. The positivism philosophy is the appropriately aligned with this approach (Yin, R.K, 2003).

On the other side of this study, the inductive approach is easy for the researcher to perform. This theory is not developed on the basis of some predetermined theories to conduct the research activities. However, observation process is the best process and practise for this approach. Based on observation, the researcher will try to identify the problems in order to achieve the overall objectives of this research (Veal, A.J, 2006).

Both the deductive and inductive approach will be covered in this study. On the other hand, to support the philosophy of this study. (Collis and Hussey, 2009).

Following hypothesis will helps the researcher in developing proper findings in order to achieve the research aim and objectives.

Research Methods

To complete the research activities effectively both the quantitative and qualitative methods will be used. The success of this study will be ensure by the proper cooperation of the research approach, philosophy, methods and strategies (Saunders, M, 2009). Moreover, the statistical information for the study completion purpose the observation of the employees and customers will also be required. And the proper combination of these two methods is called mixed method. This study will cover the mixed method for the successful completion of the study the (Veal, A.J, 2006).

Research Strategies

In order to perform the research activities, it is essential to ensure the strategies of the study. The research strategy actually will help the research in collecting the required information through a systematic process or channel. In this study, the experimental strategy will help the researcher in gathering the information. However, the interview, survey and case study process will also contribute a lot in this case (Saunders, M, 2009). In this study, the HRM practices in the airline industry have been covered basically from the British Airways perspective. Thus to gather related information, the survey, interview or the experiment of the organization will helps the researcher in getting required information. In this study, the deductive approach will help the researcher in gathering the information from the secondary sources whereas the inductive approach will cover the primary information (Yin, R.K, 2003).

Time Frame

As the study covers both the inductive and deductive approach the time frame for the completion of this study will also varies. The deductive approach mostly covers the secondary information which is readily available whereas the inductive approach will cover the primary sources. Gathering of the information from the primary sources will require some time. Different types of interview, survey and observation process will covered in this approach which are time consuming but the secondary sources are not time consuming. The secondary sources will ensure the gathering of the information within the shortest possible time (Saunders, M, 2009).

Research Nature

There are three different nature of the research is available like exploratory, explanatory, and descriptive. The current study will fall in the explanatory nature. Because it elaborates the effect of performance management practices on human resource managed performance.

Research Techniques

The data collection tools and techniques will be quite different in this study. As the researcher will use the mixed methods for the collection of data, the data analysis process will also be different or mixed in this study. The quantitative analysis of the information or data will ensure the presentation of the data along with some statistical tools (Veal, A.J, 2006). On the other hand, the qualitative information will help the research in developing some explanation of the quantitative data. However, overall findings of the study will be presented through tables and graphs for the better understanding of this study.

Sampling

The information will be collected from a sample of 100 people which will cover both the employees and the customers. Both the parties are important for this study in order to effectively complete the study(Saunders, M, 2009).

Ethical and Access Issues

In a nutshell, research ethics covers the conduct and behaviour of the researcher while conducting a research activity. As the information will be gathered from both secondary and primary sources proper validation of the gathered information will be done by the researcher(Saunders, M, 2009). All the updated information will be used in this study for having a clear picture of the present conditions of HRM practices in British Airways. However, all the information regarding the information providers will keep secret and the information will be used for the research purpose only (Collis and Hussey, 2009).

Conclusion

For the development of the British Airways, the employees of the organization are working hardly. The quality services of the employees helps in achieving the trust of the customers and gaining the satisfaction. Customers are the all in all in this sector as the organization is a service based organization. However, the growth of this organization mostly depends on the improvement of its employees who actually deliver quality services. This study helps the researcher in identifying the HRM practices in the British Airways which may presents the whole picture of the airline industry (Armstrong, M, 2006).

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN AN AIRLINE INDUSTRY: THE BRITISH AIRWAYS GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Introduction