Human Resource Package: Flight Attendant

Human Resource Package: Flight Attendant

According to every organization, there is variety in size, aims, functions, complexity, construction, the physical nature of their product, and appeal as employers, so do the contributions of human resource management. But, in most the ultimate aim of the function is, to ensure that at all times the business is correctly staffed by the right number of people with the skills relevant to the business needs. The penalties for not being correctly staffed are costly. That is why we need to study and learn more about how to do the effective human resource management function, which is an essential task.

Moreover I would like to analyze one specific job, in order to get a clearer viewpoint and understand better for all these specific theories of human resource management tasks. It is Flight Attendant or Cabin Crew in an Airline Industry. There are many interesting components for this industry, to see the whole picture of the organization. And I would make you see some specific tasks and activities, which will be different from other industries.

Therefore, I would like to emphasize the theory of human resource planning, and follow by other human resource matter such as Job Analysis, which will determine job description and job specification, recruitment process, internal and external sources and method used, selection process, selection method, election criteria for this specific position, interview, and also a sample of interview questions. Performance management includes performance appraisal, method to appraise for this position to staff, and data collection. Last discussion will be compensation and benefit package, meaning and system, salary structure, and benefits.

"Human resource management is referring to the policies, practices, and systems that influence employee's behavior, attitudes, and performance" (De Ceiri, Kramar, Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, Wright, 2003, p.4). The primary concern is the formal relationship between Employer and Employee. The management of people is about the supervisory role and the relationship between supervisor and subordinate. The purpose of human resource management is to contribute to organizational effectiveness and efficiency. And another purpose of human resource management is to help an organization to meet strategic goals by attracting, maintaining, and retaining employees and also to manage them effectively. In order to do an effective strategy for Airline industry, they need to do planning, as a basis as well.

To be successful, an organization needs employee. Therefore, human resource management needs to do planning, to meet the requirement of future staffs (Stone, 1991). It is a fundamental management activity for every organization or industry. It is the information decision making process designed to ensure that the appropriate skill of staff is available for the organization's need when required. Human resource planning relates to the efficient and effectiveness of the organization. It consists of forecasting human resource needs for the organization and planning the necessary steps to meet those needs, known as human resource forecasting. It is a strategy to match future employee's skill with organization's activity. Human resource Managers need to focus and forecast both demand and supply, to operate all function in the organization, as well as in the Airlines industry.

The place of the job within the organization

Airlines vary from other businesses in airline industry with a single airplane carrying mail or cargo, through full-service international airlines operating many hundreds of airplanes. Airline services can be categorized as being intercontinental, intra-continental, regional or domestic and may be operated as scheduled services or charters. The term of organization itself, would be implied structure. Work is divided into tasks and jobs. Jobs must be coordinated. Organization structure is the relatively stable and formal network of vertical and horizontal interconnections among jobs that constitute the organization.

"Long viewed as a glamorous lifestyle and a great way to see the world". It is not surprising that working as cabin crew constantly makes the top 10 jobs that people aspire to (Travel Weekly 2006). We might say that Flight Attendant is a dream job for most girls in many countries. But it is hard to get this job. There are many requirements and processes which are so different from other jobs. There seems to be a high competition anyway.

Flight attendants or Cabin Crew is one essential staff of air crews in each airline. This position is an existing job for every airline. In general, everyone always consider they are only being a helping hand or waitress on the plane. And the true meaning of, Flight attendants or Cabin Crew, also known as sky girls, air hostesses, stewardesses, are members of a flight crew employed by airlines to ensure the safety and comfort of the passengers aboard commercial flights (Emirates Airline 2007). There is much more to it than simply directing passengers to their seats, serving foods and drinks, and demonstrating safety procedure. This position in each airline will be slightly different in the organizational chart level, depending on company structure. But mostly will be under Flight Operation Department (Appendix 1)

As mentioned earlier, human resource manager also needs to do forecasting for both demand and supply of each specific position. Normally, this position will be opened for public in each country where the airline is based. And in each round, there will be a huge number of applicants who would like to attend for interview session. But not everyone will get this job, only qualified applicants (which will explain about qualification for this position later). There are some airlines would like to recruit flight attendants from other countries as well. For example, Emirates Airline, the recruitment team will conduct the "Open Days" (Appendix 2) which is an interview session in other countries (Emirates Airline 2007). This could be one way to get more candidates for this specific position.

And since, they openly recruit people to be flight attendants; it is not easy for airline to get suitable and completely perfect applicants for each round. There are some schools offering training for this particular position, and to be an automatic supplier for an airline to get a number of candidates. "Flight attendant school may be of great help landing you a cabin crew job" (Bestaviation 2007). There are many flight attendant schools around the world. That kind of school will be used to fill the gap of this position vacancy. The airlines have strict limitations on number of applicants. This means,