Unit 14 Working with and leading people Aviation Assignment

Program	Diploma in Business
Unit Number and Title	Unit 14 Working with and leading people Aviation
QFC Level	Level 5

Introduction

Human resource is perhaps the most important resource of an organization in the current business environment. Working with and leading people Aviation Assignment is helpful for the company to make efficient use of other resources and creation of value for the customer. The value creation helps the company to differentiate it’s offering from those of competitors and thus earn profit. The best company in this regards tries its best to select the best human resource which can take the goodwill of the company forward in times to come. Following the process of recruitment it is the task of the leaders to guide the recruited people in the right direction so as to help in achieving the company goals and objectives. The leaders are also required to establish system of ensuring performance monitoring of the employees and motivate or train them at specific times. In the following pages different areas of human resource in an organization is described.

Task 1

1.1 Answer to include: the preparation of job analysis, job description, person specifications 

In an airline the job of a flight attendant is very important one as they are the face of the airline in front of passengers. The passengers select a particular airline based on the service that they receive from the flight attendant.

Job analysis: In case of a commercial airline, it is the flight attendants who are required to take care about the health and safety and comfort of the travelers while they are traveling aboard a particular airline. The job provides the person with a great opportunity to travel and have contact with a variety of people. The flight attendant or a cabin crew is required to have a high degree of responsibility and it is important to point that the job is both emotionally and physically demanding. While dealing with a particular passenger, it is required that the cabin crew should act in a diplomatic manner. As per the job requirements a cabin crew is required to stay close to the airport, maintain a smile on their faces as they travel through different time zones and spend most of time while being on feet. As per the job a cabin crew might be required to work for long durations and work at unsocial hours and even sometimes on public holidays. However, the job on the positive note offers an unparallel opportunity to meet different people and explore leading destinations across the globe. 

Job description: The duty of the cabin crew requires them to greet passengers as they enter the plane and guide them to their respective seats. They are required to give specific attention to certain class of passengers that are elderly or disabled. In addition to these duties it is also required that the cabin crew should serve meals and other refreshments from time to time to the passenger. Not only refreshment and meals but at the same time they are also required to serve the onboard passengers with news papers, magazines and other forms of on board entertainment. They are required to sell duty free goods to the passengers while in flight and provide a written report after journey completion. The cabin crew is also required to check the condition of emergency equipment before the flight takes off and inform the passengers about safety procedures. During emergencies they are required to provide first aids and deal effectively with the situation.

Person Specifications: The person specification that is requisite of a person so as to land him or her job as the cabin crew member varies from one airline to another. However, some of the general person specifications are as follows:

• Requirements of minimum qualification (specific details varies according to airlines)
• Requirements about height and weight that is proportionate to height (specific details varies according to airlines)
• Requirements about minimum and maximum age (specific details varies according to airlines)
• Fluency in English or other language (Other language is preferably the native language of a particular region)
• Some airlines require the applicant to have a minimum arm length
• Should be medically fit and not have any visible piercings or tattoos
• Survival skills including the ability to swim, survive in a jungle etc. (specific details varies according to airlines) (Payne, 2015)

1.2 Assess the impact of legal, regulatory and ethical considerations that are needed to be considered for the recruitment and selection process for the airline

Like in case of every other field, recruitment of a particular person in the position of a cabin crew is guided by certain legal and regulatory requirements.  The impact that different ethical, legal and regulatory considerations has on the process of recruitment and selection is discussed next
The person who is being recruited as a member of the cabin crew is required to pass through a thorough background check. The person to be recruited as a cabin crew is required to pass through these checks and the recruitment is provisional till the background checks of the person extending in some cases up to 10 years yields satisfactory results.

Although there can be great variations in the working hours of a cabin crew and the cabin crew might have to fly at unsocial hours, the maximum number of hours that the cabin crew is required to fly on a day and in a week is limited by agreement with unions (Townley, 2014). 
While recruiting a person in this position the airline is not permitted to discriminate on basis of his race, nationalism, ethnicity or sex.
The interviewer should not ask questions that can hurt the ethnic or religious sensitivity of a person.
In some cases the airlines need to train the cabin crew in special survival skill that might be required in emergency situations.

1.3 What are the selection techniques you would suggest that are best suited to recruit the ideal candidate

As the cabin crews are the face of the airline in front of the passengers, they play a major role in either promotion or degrading the goodwill of the brand in times to come. Thus in this case it is required that the company should design a recruitment procedure that helps in selecting the best talents.  The selection technique in this regards that would help in the selection of ideal candidate is given below.
In order to perform initial screening of the candidates the methods that would be used are CV, application form and references

• Application forms- The candidates applying for the job would be required to fill the application form. Herein several physical details about themselves including their height, weight, a picture, languages known and the relevant educational qualification needs to be described. The candidates are also required to fill in their detailed name, religion, address and fathers name in the application form (Van den Brink, 2010).  Additionally there might be a section in the application form wherein they could upload their CV
• CV- In the CV, the candidates would be required to give details of their educational qualifications along with the percentages earned in different degrees. Any additional extracurricular activities known should also be mentioned. There should be a mention of any previous work experience and any other relevant and important details.
• References- References are required to verify the credentials of the candidate and judge the suitability of the person in the particular position.
• Simulation- An important requirement in the job of a cabin crew is that the person has to face a lot of different and situations while in flight including emergency situations. In order to check the emotional stability of the person and his or her suitability to face such situations, simulation exercise can be conducted.
• Interviews: Interview can be used as the last step in the selection process. It is a very good tool that helps to judge a lot of different aspects about the person simultaneously. Interviews are useful to judge the emotional stability, language proficiency, domain knowledge and communication skills of the person.

1.4 How have you contributed to the selection process to make it more effective?

The selection procedure was designed as a team work or team activity in which different persons came together to design the selection procedure with the ultimate aim of selecting the best candidate/s for the job role. The ultimate aim is to select candidates who can increase the goodwill of the airline in times to come. In this regards it was of utmost necessity that all the members of the selection team would have to perform their own tasks with élan and efficiency while they had good collaboration with other team members. I as the team lead of the selection committee had a major role to play in the selection process. In addition to defining the job of each team member, I had to keep a watch that the collaboration between the members was happening at the right spirit. Along with another two team members who had knowledge about legal and ethical issues I set about to define the person specifications. In addition to that I extended a helping hand to another group who were busy in defining the selection procedure. After designing the person specifications, I had to select the best media in which the advertisement for the post was to be posted. In defining the salary structure of the new incumbent and their position in the organizational hierarchy along with future growth prospects, I had to consult with the finance department.  My work, in addition to the work of others and the mutual collaboration amongst the team members ultimately resulted in the formation of a great selection tool that helped in selecting the right candidate/s.

Task 3

3.1 Assess the benefits of team working in the airline and the team should be the cabin crew consisting of at least six members

A vital skill that is requisite of every cabin crew is his or her ability to work in a team. Team work is required to ensure that the cabin crew works to the best of his ability or skill. Team work by the cabin crew is required in daily situations. However, team work becomes absolutely vital to a cabin crew in times of emergency (Belbin, 2012). It is team work that differentiates between the situation of life and death for the passengers in an emergency situation. In case of daily operations, if there is lack of team work between cabin crew members then it reflects in the quality of service offered by the cabin crew. Even under the situation where the cabin crews are individually professional and extremely efficient, a lack of team work can result in the inevitable and result in death from a great number of passengers. The benefits of team work amongst the members of cabin crew can be accessed through the following issues:

Efficiency: Team work helps to ensure that the work performed by the employees of the organization is executed in a more efficient manner. The individual working alone would not be able to achieve the same level of efficiency as can be achieved through the process of team work. Team work helps in reducing work load and stress of a particular employee as several employees share the task amongst them. 

Helps in relationship building among employees: In most cases it is seen that the team working on a particular assignment in a flight are working for the first time and they might not be working together again. In such a situation it is very important to develop team working between the members as this helps in relationship building process amongst the employees. Team work helps the cabin crew to create a good bond with them which can help them in providing the passenger with the best of service. This also helps the members of the team to work in manner that is effective.

3.2 Demonstrate working in a cabin crew team as a leader and member towards specific goals, dealing with any conflict or difficult situations that you may have faced of recent

Working as the member of a cabin crew in a flight means that there should be effective team work. Team members are required to exhibit proper coordination between them as without effective coordination between the team members the task cannot be completed in coordinated and effective manner.  This would result in duplication of efforts and a service to the passenger that is below par and quality. This would in turn be noticeable easily by the passenger who would readily switch to a different airline. Lack of coordination and team work between the crew members in emergency situations can lead to unimaginable outcomes and also result in life or death situations (Torrente, Salanova, Llorens and Schaufeli, 2012). The importance of team working that is felt by a person working as a member and another as a leader is explained below

The cabin crews are required to provide refreshment and meals to the passengers while they are on board. If suppose it is noted that while serving a certain snacks or beverage a cabin crew runs short then effective coordination can lead to other staff taking immediate notice of the same and providing with a spare so as to satisfy the passenger. However, lack of team work and good understanding among the cabin crew in such a situation would lead to the fact that the other cabin crew would refuse to help and in this situation the first cabin crew might have to fetch the item herself leading to a furious passenger in the process.

Similarly it is also important to have good relationship and coordination between cabin crew members and the pilots. The good relationship can result in the fact that the cabin crew would immediately inform the pilots in case of an emergence and this result in the pilot taking remedial actions to immediate effect.

The team leader is required to support the manager of the team in handling the day to operations of the cabin crew. In this regards the leader is required to monitor the performance of the fellow cabin crew and monitor their performance in an effective manner (Nancarrow, Booth, Ariss, Smith, Enderby, and Roots, 2013). For instance while working as the team lead I had to intervene many times when I noticed that performance of particular member had fallen so as to improve her performance in the most effective way possible.

3.3 As a leader of the cabin crew review the effectiveness your team has achieved in their recent goal of increasing customer satisfaction

The cabin crews are required to provide meal, refreshments, other forms of entertainment etc. so that the passengers are kept satisfied about their flight experience and can be persuaded to choose the same airlines in his future journeys. In order to ensure that the flight attendants were doing a good job in keeping the passengers of the airlines satisfied, I used a 360 degree appraisal for the same. In this process the quality of the services being offered by the crew members would be evaluated using feedback from independent reviewers, colleagues, passengers, manager and the employee herself. In addition to reviewing the performance on a rating scale the reviewer is also required to comment on the performance (Finn, Currie and Martin, 2010). The collective score would be used to judge the performance of the employee and performance above par would be rewarded. While on the other hand employees performing below par would be required to pass through training. The performance of the employee before and after the training would be evaluated to judge the effectiveness of training. In addition the performance over a period would be collated to judge about improvement or degradation in performance over time.

Task 4

4.1 What factors will you need to consider in planning and monitoring and assessment of work performance for the cabin crew

Today’s workforce has become global. In this respect the origination of people is from linguistic, cultural or ethical background that are diverse to speak of least. In line with this variations in the origin of people the learning attitude of the people is found vary a lot. Under these circumstances the factors that need to be noted in considering the planning, monitoring and the assessment of work performance of an employee are presented below:

• Diversity in learning needs: Monitoring, developing and planning of the workforce should be considered after accessing the diversity in learning needs of the people. Rather than being seen as a hindrance, the people of diverse background should be included in the workforce as they come as a powerful human resource which helps the organization to learn and it also provides the opportunity to the organization to cater to customers from different backgrounds (Stahl, Mäkelä, Zander and Maznevski, 2010). In order to cope with the difference in the learning needs of the people a range of different methods needs to be used. The organizational employees and especially needs to have great interpersonal skills and have great respect for persons belonging of different cultures. In order to better cater to the market that is global, it is very important to have people from different cultures in the workforce.   
• Age groups- Another important factor that needs to be considered while monitoring the performance of the employee is the age group to which the employee belongs (BBC, 2006). It is important to consider the fact that the performance of the employees varies with age and thus keeping in mind this fact the job specification and performance appraisal should be designed.

Differences in culture: Amongst the different factors that have an influence on the learning ability of a person one factor is definitely related to the culture of that particular person. People who are form different cultural, ethnic or linguistic backgrounds have differences in ability and process of learning (Brown, Hyatt and Benson, 2010). This is a very important factor that needs to be considered while planning, monitoring and accessing the performance of the employees.

4.2 How can you plan and deliver the assessment to ensure needs of the cabin crew is developed.

The assessment of the employees needs to be designed in a way so that it leads to the development of needs of the cabin crew. If the assessment is poorly designed that it would lead to de-motivation of the employees as the appraisal would not be fair and be a true reflector of performance. Thus the design of the assessment process in order to address the specific needs of the people are described below

• Motivation- It is important to keep the employees motivated in the current job. For this reason the assessment is not merely there to point out areas where the performance of the employee lacks but is actually designed so that the employee can be motivated to perform in a better way. One important criterion in this regards is to ensure that the assessment is a true reflection of the performance of the employee. In order to motivate the employee to a higher level of performance the company can make use of reward and encouragement to perform better. In regards to achieving sales target the common practice is to reward the top performers and reprimand the weak performers. However, this can result in de-motivation and a sense of failure amongst the habitual poor performers. In this regard an alternate approach can be to reward those who have tried the hardest and not only the ones who have registered highest sales.
• Delegation: The people need to be delegated to job roles that suit them best. In this regards, the company should perform an assessment of their job roles and assign them to the right job. If a person is delegated to a responsibility for which he does not have requisite abilities and is not provided with proper training then the person might feel de-motivated and this can also lead to burnout of the employee.
• Communication- It is important to communicate the assessment process to the employee so that there is absolute transparency in the process. The employee should be aware of why a particular person has been rewarded or reprimanded so that they can suitably improve their own performance in time of the next appraisal or assessment.

4.3 What methods can you suggest that the airline should use to evaluate the success of the assessment process

It is important to ensure the success of the assessment process so that it helps in rewarding the right candidate and does not result in unnecessary de-motivation and employee burnout. In order to address these concerns the following methods can be used for judging the success of the assessment process:

• Feedback- The assessment process is designed with an objective to judge the performance of the employee. Thus the most effective way to judge the effectiveness of the assessment process is to ask for the feedback of the employees regarding the assessment process. Feedback from the employees regarding the assessment process thus forms an effective step in judging the effectiveness of the assessment process.
• Appraisal- One of the methods that can be used to evaluate the success of the assessment process is appraisal. Under this process various stakeholders can be asked to appraise the assessment and judge its effectiveness in meeting the objectives it is meant to serve.
• Review by independent auditors- In addition to the use of above steps in judging the effectiveness of assessment process, another process that can be used in this regards is to collect the opinion and review by independent auditors regarding the assessment process. The reviewers are required to judge the effectiveness of assessment process on certain different parameters so as to pass verdicts regarding its effectiveness.

Conclusion

The above pages describe the process of recruitment in cabin crew profile. While selecting the employee for the position, it is important to keep in consideration the legal, statutory or ethical requirements and regulations in this regards.  The different methods of selecting the right candidate for the job are described. The next couple of pages talk about the importance of team work. The next phase focuses on performance review and the factors that should be considered while performing the review.  

References

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Belbin, R.M., 2012. Team roles at work. Routledge.
Brown, M., Hyatt, D. and Benson, J., 2010. Consequences of the performance appraisal experience. Personnel Review, 39(3), pp.375-396.
Finn, R., Currie, G. and Martin, G., 2010. Team work in context: institutional mediation in the public-service professional bureaucracy. Organization Studies, 31(8), pp.1069-1097.
Gatewood, R., Feild, H.S. and Barrick, M., 2015. Human resource selection. Nelson Education.
Nancarrow, S.A., Booth, A., Ariss, S., Smith, T., Enderby, P. and Roots, A., 2013. Ten principles of good interdisciplinary team work. Human resources for Health, 11(1), p.1.
Payne, E., 2015. Jungle survival skills, an arm reach of 84 inches... and a promise to stay single for five years: Strangest requirements for airline cabin crew revealed. [Online]. Available at < http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2931619/Jungle-survival-skills-arm-reach-84-inches-promise-stay-single-five-years-strangest-requirements-airline-cabin-crew-revealed.html > [Accessed 21 October 2016].
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Thurston Jr, P.W. and McNall, L., 2010. Justice perceptions of performance appraisal practices. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 25(3), pp.201-228.