In common with many industries where workforce and customer safety is paramount, the way in which companies within the aerospace sector manage their personnel is of vital importance. In addition to tackling problems such as boredom and job satisfaction in the workplace, managers must deal with a unionised workforce that has the potential to disrupt the customer experience.

This HR Management Briefing from the Emerald Aerospace Collection gives useful insights into how many of these problems can be overcome. Real-life experiences are described in a way that allows the methodologies to be replicated in any company environment.

Contents:

Employees come first at high-flying Southwest Airlines: Model contrasts with the Ryanair approach to low-cost aviation

This article contrasts the approaches to human-resource management taken by two low-cost airlines – Ryanair in Europe and Southwest in the USA. Similarities between the two airlines are considered before showing how Southwest puts much more emphasis on the importance of treating its employees well. The case is made for putting employees first, on the basis that you treat your employees the way you want them to treat your customers.

Originally published in Human Resource Management International Digest Volume 15 Number 4, 2007

Menzies distribution takes the first steps to becoming a “future proof” organization: Vital roles of individual coaching and 360-degree feedback

John Menzies is one of Scotland’s largest companies, with a turnover of £1.45 billion. The company has two operating divisions, Menzies Distribution and Menzies Aviation. This article describes individual coaching and a program of 360-degree feedback used with Menzies Distribution's senior-management team, including the managing director and full executive board.

Originally published in Human Resource Management International Digest Volume 15 Number 6, 2007

British Airways: the case for a human makeover: New approach would leave the airline less prone to disruptions and PR blunders

British Airways could be less prone to disruptions and public-relations blunders if it adopted the human-asset approach. The human-asset approach has been successful at Toyota and Jet Blue, and it is shown how it could help British Airways to rediscover the success it enjoyed in the aftermath of privatization.

Originally published in Human Resource Management International Digest Volume 15 Number 5, 2007

Workplace boredom coping: health, safety, and HR implications

Boredom at work, particularly in safety-critical industries such as aviation, is an important yet neglected area of human resource management research. The present study is the first to examine the construct of “boredom coping” at work and to demonstrate a potential link between differences in boredom coping tendency and employee health and safety outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how people cope with boredom at work, and whether differences in “boredom coping” effectiveness are associated with differences in employee well-being, and safety behaviour.

Originally published in Personnel Review Volume 36 Number 5, 2007

Forecasting future competency requirements: a three phase methodology

The purpose of this paper is to introduce an integrated three-phase methodology for forecasting future competency requirements more effectively than existing methods. Placing particular emphasis on the aerospace sector, the paper seeks to improve upon existing methods for forecasting future competency requirements. By addressing the limitations of existing methods, and also by merging previously independent approaches, it provides an innovative integrated methodology of significant value.

Originally published in Personnel Review Volume 36 Number 1, 2007