Eaton, J. (1996). Globalization and human resource management in the airline industry

139 Pages·2016·3.26 MB·English

by  Jack Eaton

Globalization and Human
Resource Management in
the Airline Industry
Jack Eaton
Avebury Aviation

GlobaliaznaHdtu imoaRnne source
Managemientn hAtei rlIinndeu stry

Globalization and Human
Resource Management in
the Airline Industry
Jack Eaton
Avebury Aviation
Aldershot • Brookfield USA• Hong Kong • Singapore • Sydney
© Jack Eaton 1996
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the
prior permission of the publisher.
Published by
A vebury Aviation
Ashgate Publishing Limited
Gower House
Croft Road
Aldershot
Hants GU113HR
England
Ashgate Publishing Company
Old Post Road
Brookfield
Vermont 05036
USA
British library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Eaton,Jack
Globalization and Human Resource
Management in the Airline
Industry
I.Title
387.70681
ISBN O 29139817 0
library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 95-81143
Typeset in Baskerville by Raven Typesetters, Chester
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Hartnolls Limited, Bodmin, Cornwall
Contents
Preface vn
Part I Airline Organization and External Relations I
1 Relations with Customers 3
2 Relations with the State and Human Resource
Management in Airlines 15
3 Relations Among Investors, Suppliers, the General
Public and Competitors and Human Resource
Management 27
4 Airline Organization and External Relations 34
Part 2 Airline Organization and Internal Relations 41
5 Theory of Airline Organization 43
6 Elements of Airline Organization 53
Part 3 Industrial Relations and Human Resource
Management 65
7 Industrial Relations 67
V
Globalization and Human Resource Management
Part 4 Human Resource Management and other
Management Functions 87
8 Airline Production Management and Human
Resource Management 91
9 Finance and Human Resource Management 97
10 Personnel Management 106
Bibliography 119
Index 126
vi
Preface
This book has its origins in a research project on the effects of
airline deregulation on human resource management of a
nationalized airline - Air France. Work began in 1992 with the
help of a research grant and study leave from the University
of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Interviews were conducted with management staff and
employee representatives of Air France and with an official of
the air transport department of the Ministry of Transport in
January 1992. However, the burgeoning financial deficits of
Air France rendered the research rather sensitive, and little
help or information was provided during the following
months of study leave. Nevertheless, the research was contin­
ued as a result of residence in Paris and the development of
informal contacts.
When the writing was started, the decision was taken to
extend the work into a study of human resource management
throughout the international airline industry. On first submit­
ting articles to the journals about the Air France case, one
response from editors was 'why wasn't there a comparative
study, say, for example, with British Airways?' This, and the
wider availability of information from the press coverage of
the industry and from their researchers, indicated that a
global study was a good idea.
This should not be taken to mean that the book aspires to be
Vll
Globalization and Human Resource Management
comprehensive in its coverage. Rather, the theme is that
globalization has been noted as a feature of recent industrial
and commercial developments and that the airline business
might be expected to be in the forefront - with concomitant
effects on human resource management.
Human resource management has passed into manage­
ment and journalistic parlance, but remains a controversial
phrase. The author's attitude to it is the reason for the arrange­
ment of the book into four parts. Parts 1 and 2 are about the
organization of airlines as businesses. Part 1 indicates that the
primary impetus for human resource management springs
from the perceived need among airline managers for their
businesses to be market-driven, rather than operations-driven.
Part 2 is a more theoretical view of the internal organizational
implications.
Part 3 is just one chapter, but in many ways it is a pivotal
chapter for the book because it is an analysis of the constitu­
tional change in the industrial relations - or rules - governing
the management of employment in the industry.
Paradoxically, although it is associated with market-led
management, human resource management is also extolled as
a strategic, interactive approach. The extent of this integration
with production management, financial management and the
continuing need for a norm-setting function in the manage­
ment of personnel are discussed in Part 4.
Airline managers are even more secretive and defensive
about academic research than those in other industries. The
author is obliged to those few who did provide assistance, but
also to the several employees who, justifiably cautious, gave
information. The text was efficiently typed by Wendy Davies,
secretary supreme, with the help of Jean Matthews.
Dr Jack Eaton,
Aberystwyth, 1995
Vlll