Agility In HR Impacts Qantas Operations. (70 Characters)

Analyse the ways by which the implementation of an external environmental factor is able to affect the operations of a company.

Discussion based on the implementation of environmental factor on Qantas Airlines

Qantas Airlines is considered to be the flag bearing airlines organization of Australia. The company has been become the largest with respect to the fleet size, international destinations and international flights. The organization was established in the year 1920. The airlines began its international operations in the year 1935. The base of Qantas Airlines is mainly located in Sydney. The organization was able to gain 65% of the total shares of domestic market of Australia. Many subsidiary organizations operate under Qantas Airlines which have their flights in many different regions of the country (Qantas.com., 2018).

The different airlines organizations which are owned by Qantas Airlines include, Jetconnect which mainly provides services between New Zealand and Australia and Jetstar Airways which operates in the domestic as well as the international flights. Qantas Airways has merged its operations with many other organizations all over the world during the course of its operations. The organization had merged with Australian Airlines in the year 1992. The major competitor of the company in airlines industry is Ansett Australia (Qantas.com., 2018).

The report will be grounded on the study of the ways by which the implementation of an environmental factor is able to affect the operations of Qantas Airlines. The effect of this environmental factor on the human resource based operations of Qantas Airlines will be analysed in the report in detail. The external environmental factor which has been chosen in the analysis is agility of human resource operations (Albrecht et al., 2015).  

Agility in the human resources based functions of a company plays a important role in the proper operations of the modern companies. The implementation of new technologies in different organizations have played a major part of the agility of human resources. The different areas which have been affected by the agility of HR functions mainly include, continuous learning, collaboration and responsiveness. The agile processes are thereby able to integrate human resource based functions in different parts and operations of the companies. The services which are provided by agile human resources functions are same as those which were previously provided by human resource organizations (Ananthram, 2016).

However, the most significant part of the agile human resource department is based on the ways by which the department is able to respond to the ongoing changes that can take place in the external environment. The agile operations are thereby mainly based on the ways by which performance of employees is evaluated within the organization for each and every employee. The major features that are an important part of the agile operations of modern organizations mainly include, team-based culture, customer centricity, continuous improvement. The major requirement which is related to agile HR includes, placement of the right people at right places in an effective manner (Bamber, Bartram & Stanton, 2017).

Description of the environmental factor

The HR team mainly plays an significant role in the ways by which the mind set of people can be understood. The teams which are employed at different areas of work need to be supervised in an effective way by the HR so that agility can be implemented in all organizational processes. The HR thereby conducts regular meetings with the employees in order to understand the needs of employees and thereby provide them with new ideas as well (Bhatta & Thite, 2018).

The modern organizations need to develop a culture which is able to support the relationship that has been developed between the employees and the employers. The role that is played by human resources in the organization is also affected by this major factor. The employees of the organizations always expect a say in the ways by which they work on a regular basis. The HR departments thereby need to pay attention to the feedback that is provided by the employees which can help them to understand their needs in an effective manner. HR agility can be an important method which can help the organizations to understand the needs of employees (Brewster, Chung & Sparrow, 2016).

 Agility thereby holds two different meanings in terms of the operations of different organizations which include, the ability to be graceful and quick and secondly the process of project management in an agile manner. The human resource department of a company needs to implement two different types of agility in order to operate in a profitable manner (Brewster et al., 2016). The three ways by which human resource departments in organizations are able to implement agility in different HR based functions are as follows,

• Reducing and removing the levels of bureaucracy – The development of huge number of policies is an important factor that characterizes the human resource departments of modern organizations. In order to become agile in nature the HR thereby needs to implement the role that can be played as an educator. The agile organizations however do not necessarily have few number of policies. The major characteristic of these organizations is the smart operations (Brewster, Mayrhofer & Morley, 2016). The ability that the organizations have to communicate and share information with others is an important factor of the agile organizations. The smarter policies are thereby related to the tools and training that are provided to the managers so that the employees are able to demonstrate the values that have been developed by the organization (Buller & McEvoy, 2016).
• Management of change – The changes that take place in the external business environment are able to affect the policies that have been formulated within an organization. Elimination of the old procedures and policies are also not important for the proper implementation of new policies in the organization. On the other hand, the agile HR department thereby needs to align the new strategies with those which are already exist (Carnero and Weishaupt, 2016). The needs of the current workforce also need to be analysed with the help of HR department in an effective manner.
• The companies need to use the agile HR department in order to manage different projects in an effective manner. The employees need to be provided with appropriate feedback so that they are able to achieve the organizational objectives in an efficient manner. The response that is provided to the employees can help them to improve their work process. The changes in modern organizations can be implemented in an effective manner with the help of agile HR department (Jackson, Schuler & Jiang, 2014).

The agile HR departments are thereby able to implement different changes in the organizations with the help of proper workforce and agile functions as well. The ways by which Qantas Airlines can thereby implement agility in its different HR functions will be analysed in the report (Kramar, 2014).

Qantas Airlines has been able to acquire the position of the largest airlines organization in Australia. The human resource management based functions of Qantas Airlines are based on four major functions which include, corporate, business segments, development and learning, shared services. The HRM functions of the company play an important role in the ways by which perfect operations can be ensured for Qantas Airlines. The organization has also gone through major change management based activities in the course of its operations. The major changes that have taken place in the organization include, ensuring higher rates of productivity and the process of modernisation of the wages in an effective manner (McIver et al., 2018).

Critical review of agility of HR Department

The HRM department of the organization has been able to collaborate with the other business segments so that successful delivery of the strategies can be ensured. The human resource management has some major responsibilities in the organization which can thereby be fulfilled with the proper implementation of agility in various processes. The levels of agility in human resource department can further help in the fast implementation of different changes which play a major role in the development of a company. The human resource managers are mainly responsible to manage the records of employees, managing the recruitment based processes and supporting remuneration as well (Newell & Scarbrough, 2017).

The development and learning based activities in Qantas Airways are also based on the agile process of human resource management. The human resource management department of the company has many responsibilities based on the managing the different parts and operations of Qantas Airways. Therefore, agility will prove to be an important part of the successful operations of the HR department of the company (Purce, 2014).

Job design and analysis also plays a significant role in the proper operations of Qantas Airlines in the competitive industry. The HRM department of the company is thereby responsible for the process of planning, recruitment and further placement of employees in the different job roles in a successful manner. The various other procedures within the organization that can thereby support the job analysis and design include, selection of the personnel and proper evaluation of performance as well (Ranjan, 2017).

The strategy that has been developed by the organization is also supported in an effective manner by job design and analysis. The strategic HRM based functions are thereby able to focus on the goals that have been effectively set by the company. Different needs and demands of the workers are thereby determined with the help of the process of job analysis and design. The job design that has been created in Qantas Airlines thereby plays an important role in the ways by which effective feedback can be collected by the company. The training based activities play a major role in the ways by which job designs have been created in Qantas Airways. Training based processes in Qantas have been able to encompass the leadership and training that is bases on proper employee orientation (Saha, Gregar & Sáha, 2017).

Qantas Airlines has always been quite famous in the industry for spending huge amounts in the training based activities. The company has been able to competitive in the local as well as global market with the help of proper human resource based functions. The workers in the organization thereby require maximum levels of support from the human resource based functions that have been developed within the organization. The training that is provided to the staff of Qantas Airlines is thereby based on the ways by which the company is able to create a competitive advantage in the industry (Shields et al., 2015).

Impact of agility on HR planning in Qantas Airlines

The organizational agility is able to impact the quality of work based practices that have been developed in an organization. The management of a dynamic and changing environment is possible with the help of agility. The quality of various work practices in Qantas Airlines is affected by the human resource management department of the company. The human resource managers are responsible for proper recruitment in different departments and the quality of work that is depicted by the employees is also affected by the department (WAHEED et al., 2017).

The company has thereby faced some major challenges in the process of managing the quality of work. The change management based activities of the company have been under huge pressure after implementation of change management based activities in different processes. The protests that have been made by pilots based on these issues are also a major part of the lack of proper management of the quality of work based practices. The levels of agility of the company in management of the quality of work practices were quite low which had further led to immense levels of loss for the company (Werner, 2014).

In the year 2009, the pilots of Qantas Airways did not acknowledge and had overshot their different destinations by more than 150 miles. The captains who had been appointed by the company were not well trained and competent to face different challenges that are were posed towards them in the market. The company had been able to gain huge success in its ventures. However, some severe mistakes which were made by the human resource department had been able to cause huge failure for the company. The various stakeholders of Qantas Airlines were also affected in a negative manner due to the issues that were being faced by the management of the company (Qantas.com., 2018).

The major recommendations that can be provided to Qantas Airlines in order to solve the different human resource management based issues that were being faced by the company include,

• Implementation of agility in the human resource department in order to develop a productive work environment for the employees.
• The organization had faced some major salary based issues which can thereby be solved with the help of proper implementation of agility so that the human resource managers have proper information based on the ways by which employees need to be compensated.
• The operations based issues of the company can be solved if the human resource department is well informed about the different changes that are constantly taking place in the external environment.
• Qantas Airlines has faced issues related to the appointment of employees who are not competent enough in their jobs. This problem of the company can be mitigated with the help of proper information that can be gained by the human resource managers about different requirements of the company.

Conclusion

The report can be concluded by stating that Qantas Airlines has been facing some major issues in its operating processes. The company can however solve this issue with the help of proper implementation of different policies in order to succeed in the market. The agility based factor will play an important role in the ways by which the organization can solve its different human resource management based issues in the market. The company will thereby be able to function in a profitable manner in the industry with the help of agile human resource managers who have the proper information based on their operations. The agility based factor holds huge amounts of importance in the industry with the help of which the business is able to operate in a profitable and updated manner as well. The human resource managers in this case are highly informed in nature and can implement changes in different organizational processes as when it is required. Qantas Airlines thereby needs to become more agile in its operations in order to operate in the industry in a profitable way. The company will also be able to create its own profitable position in the market with the help of proper levels of agility. The implementation of agile human resources thereby holds huge importance in the different organizational processes and operations.

Impact of agility on job design in Qantas Airlines

References 

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