Assignment on Human Resource Management

INTRODUCTION
Human resources are the most significant assets of any business organization in terms of skills and
abilities. They are the individual, personnel or workforce who are responsible for managing the whole
task of an organization successfully. Their task includes selecting, recruiting, vetting, hiring, on boarding,
promoting, paying and administration of whole organization. So, human resource management is the
department of an organization that deals with looking after the proper management and ensuring the
best work practices in place at all times. HRM is also regarded as human capital management
responsible for developing and implementing strategies and policies of the organization. HRM is a
distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage
through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an array of
cultural, structural and personnel techniques (Storey, 1995).

British Airways is a well publicized UK based airline company which carries the most international air
passengers other than other airlines. This company portrait the perfect human resource management
practices with its excellent group of HR leaders. In this assignment, some basic important factors of the
human resource management practices of British Airways will be discussed. Maria Da Cunha is the
Director of people and Legal of the company who practices excellent management style. She encourages
employee engagement in all aspects at workplace to achieve organizational goals and objectives
successfully. The company develops and implements modern HR tools and techniques to gain
competitive advantage and become the no. one employer choice in the industry.

TASK-1 (ONE)

P1: Explain the purpose and functions of HRM, applicable to workforce planning and resourcing an
organization.

A reputed company like British Airways, considers employees as the lifeblood of the organization. All the
employer and employees of the company maintains good democratic policies and employee
engagement. Workforce planning is the process where the business links the workforces with its desired
outcomes. It determines the experience, knowledge and skills requirements and chain up the right
number of people at the right place on the right time.

For effective workforce planning and resourcing, the purpose and functions of HRM are discussing
below:
 The primary purpose of HRM is to identify the vacant positions of the organization and then hire
members of staff. So, planning is the first function of HR department which includes anticipating
vacancies, planning job requirements, job description and determination of the sources of
recruitment.
After establishing objectives and developed plans, organizational structure must be developed
and designed to carry out various operation. This function includes: grouping into personnel
activity, assignment of different functions, delegation of authority and co-ordination of
activities.
Motivating employees is another important function of HRM. The purpose of motivation is to
encourage people to work willingly and effectively to achieve the goals of the organization.
Motivation can be given through career planning, salary administration, ensuring employee
morale, developing cordial relationships and provision of safety and welfare requirements.
To ensure that the right people with the right skills are hired for the right job, proper direction,
controlling and monitoring must be ensured by the employers. These serves as other important
functions and purpose of HRM. This phase is concerned with observation and comparisons of
results with the planned standards and corrections of the deviation may occur.
For developing good competency, training and development is essential functions of HRM.
Employees must be trained to perform their job effectively. Training and development programs
provide useful means which assures that employees are capable of performing efficiently at
their acceptable levels.

So, the purpose of human resource management in British Airways is to plan, develop and administer
policies and programs for the effective use of human resources which is concerned with people at work
and their relationships within the organization.

P2: Explain the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection.

Recruitment and selection process is very crucial for an established business like British Airways.
Recruitment process involves in identifying organizational needs to employ someone up to the point at
where the company collects applications for the vacant positions. Then the selection process involves in
choosing suitable candidates from the applicant pool to fill the post. There are many sources of
recruitment and selection such as internal and external source of recruitment, job analysis, job
description, person specification, competency framework and methods of selection.

Internal Vs External Recruitment: Internal recruitment means the supply of manpower is done
within the organization whereas the external recruitment process involves in hunting the
prospective employees from outside the organization. Both the approaches have some
strengths and weaknesses. They are:
Internal recruitment is faster than external recruitment as external recruitment consists of
many stages like- advertising, collecting applications, screening and short listing them,
 conducting many tests, interview, training etc. whereas internal recruitment doesnt need
anything.
Internal recruitment is much more cost effective than external recruitment as external
recruitment process requires huge amount of investment.
The scope of fresh talent is limited in internal recruitment but the organization has many
choices to look for talented candidates from outside the organization in external
recruitment.
Job Analysis: Job analysis process involves observation, critical incidents, diary, checklist,
interview and questionnaire. These methods also have some advantages and disadvantages.
Observation provides firsthand verified information but it requires skilled unbiased observer and
time consuming process. Through interview qualitative data can be examined but difficult to
combine data from disparate interviews. Diary and checklist is inexpensive but may not include
all important parts of work. In questionnaire data is standardized but responses may be
incomplete.
Job Description and Person Specification: Job description provides concise information about a
particular job. This process attracts qualified candidates but people with disabilities may be
deprived in this process.
Contingency Recruitment: It is an agreement between the recruitment agency and the
employer to fill a specific vacancy and the recruiters get paid if any candidate gets selected in
the company. Although this is very easy and faster process, it also bears risk for the agency
because there is no guarantee of payment if additional competition comes from the job seekers.

P3: Explain the benefits of different HRM practices within an organization for both the employer and
employee.

British Airways is successful in the airline industry because of its excellent HRM practices among all
people of the organization. For improving employee productivity and efficiency, they use a new
employee engagement mobile app My Team which is trailed with 3,000 employees via 250 line
managers. This is very innovative practice to engage all employers and employees in one frame and
ensures employee interactions on the right time. In this organization, the benefits of different HRM
practices for both employer and employee are explaining below:

Performance Management: This is one of the effective HRM practice run by any good
organization like British Airways. They use a mobile app through which the employer can
monitor and direct the performance of his subordinates. Employees can also get the instant
supervision from their employers at the right time.
Training and Development: Humans are the most valuable asset for an organization as they
operate the whole business. So, it is very important to make the employees more skillful and
train them based on their competency level accordingly. Training and development enhances
employee performance and make them more productive.
 Relationship Management: Teamwork and better working environment enables good relation
between employers and employees. The HRM develops a suitable working culture within the
organization which creates cordial relationship among employees. This creates better
understanding between employer and employee and can easily ask for assistance to each other
in case of any problems.
Greater Profitability: When all the employers and employees work in a productive manner, it
would be very easy to gain organizational objectives and competitive advantage. By directing,
controlling and motivating employees, it produces superior performance which increases the
profitability for the business.
Flexible Working Options and Practice: It is one of the major HRM practice for an organization
which promotes flexible working hours and job rotation options for an employee. Employees
and employers can work in a comfortable manner as they can be able to manage their personal
and professional life in a good way. This also enhances employee loyalty and promotes positive
behavior within the organization.

P4: Evaluate the effectiveness of different HRM practices in terms of raising organizational profit and
productivity.

One of the main goals of HRM is to increase organizational profit and productivity by maintaining well
developed HR practices. HRM practices differ according to business type and culture of the organization.
British Airways is well known for its innovative corporate culture and HR practices. However, in terms of
raising organizational profit and productivity the effectiveness of different HRM practices are evaluating
here:

Performance Appraisal: Performance appraisal is a process of evaluating, measuring and

influencing an employees job-related attributes, behaviors and outcomes. The purpose is to
manage the people of the organization and meeting its goals. Through this system the
supervisor can get the opportunity to specify to employee that the company is interested in
their performance and development. This recognition may work as a positive motivational
influence which increases employee productivity and with better outcomes it also raises the
company profitability.
Career Management: Career is a lifelong process of career planning which entails choosing and
setting personal goals and developing strategies to achieve them. A well established company
like BA holds on-site workshops where both the employers and employees learn to take the
charge of their careers, beginning with assessing their interests, abilities and values. The
company also establishes employee career centre and individual learning accounts, give open
business briefings, maintain internal job and talent banks which increase employee morale and
has significant positive impact on their productivity. This leads to greater profitability for the
company in the long run.
 Training and Development: Training helps to develop an employees skill tremendously. A
trained employee has better knowledge about their job role and performs more accurately. It
helps employee to perform his current job effectively and efficiently and make them more
aware about their future responsibilities. Organization is also benefitted by good level of
profitability through superior performance results of its employees.
Recruitment and Termination: When there is a vacancy the organization recruits talented
candidate from outside or internally within the organization. Candidates hired from competitors
business can deliver the valuable information about the competitors and get the competitive
advantages. Internal recruitment works as a motivational factor for employees to perform his
best level and increase his productivity. But by sacking an unproductive employee, the business
can be run in a more profitable manner.
Reward System: This practice is very effective to increase organizational profit and productivity.
Employees get intrinsic or extrinsic rewards for their superior performance. This leads to their
job satisfaction and also increases their productivity. Employees get motivated to work willingly
to meet up the targeted standard. This system helps to sustain in competitive business
environment and gain profit in the long run.

TASK-2 (TWO)

P5: Analyze the importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision-making.

Employees are the main driving force of an organization. Good relationship among employees is very
important to build a suitable working environment. If all employees work together as a team then there
will be better outcomes in the business. Similarly, a decision will be more efficient and accurate if it is
taken collectively by mutual agreement of employees as they share their views, ideas, opinions and
thoughts. Good relation leads to more employee engagement in work. Organization should build an
environment which encourages effective communication among team members and work with each
other. In terms of decision making, there are certain stages which are also influenced by employee
relation in the organization. The steps of HRM decision making are illustrating below:
 The first step of HRM decision making is defining and analyzing the problems. Most decision
starts with some sort of problems. Good relations enable employees to work collectively and
can easily identify the problems.
After identifying the problem, employees need to find out the ways to solve the problem.
Healthy employee relation at workplace extracts best out of an individual. An individual must be
assigned responsibilities according to their interests. Involve the team members so that they can
share their thoughts and views to develop alternative solutions of the problems.
The third step is to evaluate the alternative solutions. If all employees work in a team, there are
new ideas and outcomes to evaluate the problem effectively. There would be a team leader
who would gather all the alternatives and evaluate them along with the democracy of the
employee.
After evaluating the alternative solutions accurately, employees together select th best solution
of the problem. Employee engagement is directly tied to employees sense of value and ability
to give feedback about the best solution.
When the best solution is being identified, the next step is to implement the decision
accordingly. Organizations whose employee strongly believe, firmly belong and creatively
contribute to the improvement efforts have an operational advantage when implementing the
action plan or decision.
The final stage is to follow up whether the decision properly implemented or not. If proper
implementation is not done properly, then the employee should follow up about gathering
more information to execute the evaluated decision or explore additional alternatives. Through
true engagement or effective communication of employees a HRM decision making can be
efficiently done which is beneficial for the organization.

P6: Identify the key elements of employment legislation and the impact it has upon HRM decision-
making.

All business uses some sort of employment laws and legislation. Employment legislation is a broad area
covering labor law and collective bargaining. Basically, it is an area of law that deals with legal rights and
duties of employers and employees. It also governs employer-employee relationship. These laws are
composed of both federal and state laws including many different subjects which serve a common goal
to protect workers right. In BA, the employment standards legislation offers minimum standards where
employers are employers are free to develop policies or practices which also enhance the corporate
culture. The legislation system has significant impact on HRM decision making as it is related to
employee rights and responsibilities. The key elements of employment legislation and law are
identifying below:

Equal Pay Act 1970: This act protects the right to get equal compensation and equal treatment
for both male and female employee in terms of their position and conditions of employment.
 Sex Discrimination Act 1975: In the UK, this act protects the discrimination between men and
women in terms of their gender or marital status. This act also protects the rights in other areas
including training, employment, harassment, education, provisions of goods and services and
other disposal of premises.
Race Relation Act 1976: This act put off discrimination on ground of race which includes color,
nationality, religion, ethnic, employment position, education etc.
Disability Discrimination Act 1995: If any employee has disabilities, s/he should not be
discriminated under this law. Employers should develop reasonable adjustments to help disable
employee.
Employment Relation Act 1999: this act helps employee to develop and maintain cordial
relations between employer and employees.
Work and Families Act 2006: This act helps to protect the rights of employees to take maternity
or paternal leave, adoption leave, flexible working arrangements to care for adults etc.
National Minimum Wage Act 1998: In the UK, all the workers should get minimum wage under
this act. Workers age over 25 should get 7.50 per hour, workers aged 21-25 should get 7.05
per hour, and workers aged 18-20 should get 5.60 per hour.
Data Protection Act 1998: This act helps to data processing on identifying living people and the
legislation of data protection maintaining its privacy.
Employment Tribunals Act 1996: Employment tribunals are the tribunal public bodies in the UK.
Under the act, the tribunal part resolves disputes between employers and employees regarding
unfair dismissals, employment inequities and redundancy payments.

All this acts have very crucial impact on HRM decision making because if the laws and legislations are
maintained strictly, then the employees will be sincere to their work and they can make decisions
efficiently.

P7: Illustrate the application of HRM practices in a work-related context, using specific examples.

For accomplishing organizational goals and objectives, the employers uses different application of HRM
practices. Today British Airways is successful because of its excellent practice of HRM applications in the
organization. Some of the applications of HRM practices in work related context is illustrating hereafter:

Recruitment and Selection: It is the process of sourcing and qualifying candidates for vacant
positions of the company. It is very important to employ the right people at the right position
on right time. The HR team put advertisements on social media and the job seekers send their
CV applications. Then the employers shortlist the qualified applications and call them up for the
interview and other assessments. The applicants have to sit for aptitude tests and after passing
out the other assessment stages, then finally screened candidates are interviewed. Then the
employers recruit the most talented candidate from the applicant pool who is best suited for
the company.
 Reward System: This is one of the effective ways of job satisfaction for an employee. After
evaluating the job performance, the employers provide some benefits or rewards. This reward
system works as a motivation of an employee to work in a productive manner for achieving the
job target and objectives. Employees may get intrinsic or extrinsic rewards such as: wage,
salary, security, treatment, promotion, profit sharing, gain sharing etc. The use of reward
system in two types of job contexts which are popular in the UK are discussing below:
Blue Collar Labor Job: This refers to employees whose jobs are largely involved in
physical labor such as factory or workshop. Some blue collar occupation requires high
skilled personnel and they are formally trained and certified such as plumbers, aircraft
mechanics, cabin crews, electricians and structural workers. These kinds of staffs in
British Airways are benefited with rewards. They get extra working hour payments,
bonuses, increments and other benefits.
White Collar Labor Jobs: This refers to employees whose job involves in mental or
clerical work such as in an office desk job. Their job is knowledge intensive, non-routine
and unstructured. They are highly skilled, educated and trained professionals such as
accountants, bankers, attorneys and big agency professionals. In British Airways, all the
pilots, official managers, architects and engineers are white collar workers. They also
get intrinsic and extrinsic rewards like bonuses, performance achievement rewards,
infringe benefits, profit sharing, increment, promotions etc.

Such HRM practices in organization motivates employee to work in a competitive manner and makes
them more productive. This is also related to greater profitability of the company.

CONCLUSION

British Airways is a highly reputed and competitive company in the aviation industry in the large UK.
Years after years they are operating their company successfully for their competitive HR policies and
practices. The human resource management of the company is very efficient and all the employees and
employers work taking the company to the peak. This assignment report has covered some significant
areas of human resource management which demonstrates the ways to succeed in a business
operation.