Business Hr
Strategic Human Resource Management
Individual assignment. 1. Using appropriate literature and models underpinning SHRM, critically evaluate how management could reduce strikes and improve service levels with reference to an airline carrier of your choice.
Due to the recent publicity of strike action and lack of good employee relations i have chosen British Airways as my airline carrier. When evaluating the current situation it is often important to assess the history of the company, this can help understand whether there has been previous employee grievances is this a company with continuous change in culture and management styles or is this a company that has had the same ethos for hundreds of years and has no updated vision for employees leaving a lack of applicability in the modern environment.
History of British Airways
In the early 1970s British Airways (BA) was formed as a result of a merger of BOAC and BEA. The culture was described as militaristic and bureaucratic. Many of its senior pilots had been socialised in the armed forces, and the driving ethos of the public company was to shift passengers from A to B under the logic of transport, rather than see passengers as customers wanting a quality service. BA began to lack competitiveness with other nation carriers and new entrants. They began to be known as Bloody Awful. In an attempt to restore profitability BA underwent a massive cost cutting drive and throughout the 1980s 22,000 jobs were lost. 14000 of these were in 1981 alone. There was a change of culture that was now fear drive, there was little trust between managers and employees and motivation was at rock bottom. Although there was some improvement this was limitied and studies indicate that this may have been more as a result of a decline in the value of Sterling.
From the mid-1980s on, BA management appeared to be willing to adopt a longer term vision based on staff development and the enhancement of customer quality.
Individual assignment. 1. Using appropriate literature and models underpinning SHRM, critically evaluate how management could reduce strikes and improve service levels with reference to an airline carrier of your choice.
Due to the recent publicity of strike action and lack of good employee relations i have chosen British Airways as my airline carrier. When evaluating the current situation it is often important to assess the history of the company, this can help understand whether there has been previous employee grievances is this a company with continuous change in culture and management styles or is this a company that has had the same ethos for hundreds of years and has no updated vision for employees leaving a lack of applicability in the modern environment.
History of British Airways
In the early 1970s British Airways (BA) was formed as a result of a merger of BOAC and BEA. The culture was described as militaristic and bureaucratic. Many of its senior pilots had been socialised in the armed forces, and the driving ethos of the public company was to shift passengers from A to B under the logic of transport, rather than see passengers as customers wanting a quality service. BA began to lack competitiveness with other nation carriers and new entrants. They began to be known as Bloody Awful. In an attempt to restore profitability BA underwent a massive cost cutting drive and throughout the 1980s 22,000 jobs were lost. 14000 of these were in 1981 alone. There was a change of culture that was now fear drive, there was little trust between managers and employees and motivation was at rock bottom. Although there was some improvement this was limitied and studies indicate that this may have been more as a result of a decline in the value of Sterling.
From the mid-1980s on, BA management appeared to be willing to adopt a longer term vision based on staff development and the enhancement of customer quality.