HR Challenges in the Airline Industry
The airline industry is perhaps one of the most volatile industries in the world. It is an industry whose way of doing business is constantly changing due largely in part to outside forces. Not only are they subject to regular bankruptcies, mergers and acquisitions, they are subject to such uncontrollable factors as the political and economic situation of society and its customer base. Thus, the human resources manager in an airline industry has the challenge of staffing for this ever-changing need. Because the airline's needs are in a constant state of flux, the first step the human resources manager must take is to establish a system that allows for a regular evaluation of the need and then recruit based on the evaluated need. Within the industry there are numerous different levels of positions, from executives to pilots, from stewardesses to maintenance personnel. The human resources manager will only be able to successfully recruit and thus staff each of these diverse needs if they create a line of communications with each department in order to access their specific needs and then base the recruiting plan on this gathered information. (Wensveen, 2003).The airline human resources manager's job is complicated by the
Second, the airline human resources manager must also have a strategic plan for reacting to an actual work stoppage, whether it occur because of an employee strike or due to a drastic event such as a crash or terrorist attack. Although the implementation of this human resources technology may result in a cutback in some human resources positions, it is demonstrative of the current trend to standardize many human resources functions in order to better serve the company's employees, improve job satisfaction and thus reduce turnover and the resulting need for constant recruitment and training, activities that are expensive. Because the industry is rapidly changing, job security is a regular question of an employee at any level. As the human resources manager in this volatile industry, it is imperative that one prepare for the worse. The software will now provide automated and standardized training, recruitment and staffing, along with technology and call-center support. For example, new technology is even effecting the role of the human resources manager in that many human resource function can now be, in a sense, outsourced to a technological program. The biggest and most damaging human relations issue that a human relations manager will face is the threat or, in a worse case scenario, the actual carrying through of an employee strike at any level of the airline's multi-faceted set-up. First, actual airline employees may become dissatisfied with both the terms of their current employment and the future implications of their position. " (Red Orbit, 2007)This idea of outsourcing is not unique to the airline industry and often times does not necessarily mean outsourcing to a computer program. The human resources manager must have a plan in place to handle this worst-case-scenario that will allow for a quick resolution of the issues with minimal harm to the company's operations. challenge of the ever-changing need of the airline industry. This trend clearly effects the airline human resources manager's role in that instead of working to recruit, train and supervise multiple departments internally, they now have the role of receiving bids from private independent contractors, working with the legal team to develop a contractual agreement, and then ensuring that the private contracted company is meeting the general need of the airline by working closely with the private service provider's human resources manager.
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