Table of Contents Question 1:.......................................................... 3 A.1.1. Introduction:................................................. 3 A.1.2. Human Resource Management Competencies:.......................3 Business Knowledge..................................................3 Knowledge of best practices.........................................4 Change management skills............................................4 Credibility.........................................................4 A.1.3. HR Competency Model:.......................................... 4 Strategic Contribution..............................................5 HR technology.......................................................5 A.1.4. Issues and trends in the organization’s internal and external labor market :....................................................... 6 Question 2:.......................................................... 8 A.1.1. Human Resource Management:....................................8 A.1.2.HRM Practices:................................................. 9 Recruitment and Selection...........................................9 Training and development:..........................................11 Life support skills and first aid...................................13 Load control........................................................ 13 Ramp handling dangerous goods.......................................13 Cargo management courses............................................ 13 International certificate in purchasing and supply..................13 Training facilities................................................. 13 Benefits and Compensations:........................................13 Benefits:..........................................................13
Transcript
Table of ContentsQuestion 1:.....................................................................................................................................................3
Recruitment and Selection......................................................................................................................9
Training and development:....................................................................................................................11
Life support skills and first aid....................................................................................................................13
International certificate in purchasing and supply.......................................................................................13
Training facilities.........................................................................................................................................13
Benefits and Compensations:................................................................................................................13
Summarize the key competences that your organization needs. Identify the main issues and trends in the organization’s internal and external labor markets and explain how they are affecting the organization.
A.1.1. Introduction:Oman Air is the national carrier of the sultanate of Oman which provides air transport and cargo
services along with other related aviation services. It has various domestic and international
destination points for both businesses and the leisure travelers. The airline has recognition for
its professional attitude, hospitality, safety and quality services (Oman Air,2013).
Like many other organizations the Oman air line has certain competencies which give them
advantage over other airlines. Many Researchers from the past highlight the fact that core
competencies are comprised of skills, knowledge and abilities of a person that contributes to the
overall success of an organization and ultimately provides competitive advantage to the
organization. For this purpose the relevancy between competencies and overall organizational
objectives and strategies are deemed as significant. (Joan.k and Beth.M, 1999).
A.1.2. Human Resource Management Competencies:Dave Ulrich (1997) in his book titled ‘Human Resource Champions’ suggested following key
Human Resource Management competencies.
Business KnowledgeIn Oman air HR professional must have clear understanding about the operations of the
business. This includes having thorough understanding about organizational strategy, the
financial position, innovation , technological and other organizational capabilities. The
know how about each departments in Oman Air including (Marketing, Operations,
Finance, Customer services and general management) enables HR expert to build linkage
among these and with the organization strategies to create and and further maximize the
value.
Knowledge of best practicesThe Oman air professionals must have knowledge about best trends and practices in
recruitment, career development, reward management, performance management and
other related HR activities.
Change management skillsThe external environment is evolving and the new practices and interventions are keep
coming with time to time. The Oman air needs to be flexible enough to transform
themselves internally to meet these challenges. People usually resist change so the HR
professional must possess the competencies to help line managers to accept and embrace
the Change. It requires skills like problem solving, effective communication, good
leadership, innovation and process improvement.
CredibilityIn order to earn trust the HR professionals in Oman air must require to exhibit behavior
that shows their credibility and accountability. Beside these the previous quality and
performance records also helps to establish credibility
A.1.4. Issues and trends in the organization’s internal and external labor market :
In order to formulate HRM strategies one must be equiped with the knowledge of Labour market
trends in that country . Any organization cannot formulate compensation , reward and any other HR
strategies with out having knowlede of issues in Labor market.
The labor market is a place for exchanging labor services , the buyers and sellers of human labor
negotiates and decides the job placements, wages and other condition necessary for employment.
Labor market is a mean through which labor demand can be matched by supply of labor. (mass,
2013).
According to Lazeara and Oyer (2003) internal labor market refers to supply of labor to fill job at any
level usually comes from within the organization. The organization itself supplies the human stock.
Wages of employees are usually determined internally without any pressure from external market.
Internal labor market plays an important role in forming HR strategies like what trainings should be
given, how to develop human resource and how to retain them while external labor market of any
organization shows how much external supply of human resource exist. The worker can move
between firms and there is a certain process of determining wages in which organization discretion is
low. Transformation of Oman air into national carrier poses so many challenges .A big
transformation makes internal labor of Oman air to resist. They need to accept new work structure,
new policies, new salary rates, technological interventions and different trainings requirement on
various skill set to accept and positively react with the change.
The employee turnover was also the concern because Oman air line went through abrupt
transformation chances were that people would leave. The job roles and job description changed
which posed as a difficulty for internal labor to cope and perform the task. The Omanization policy in
Oman airline bring changes in internal and external labor market. According to Richard (1999)
Omanization is the policy and the program endorsed by the government of Oman to replace
expatriate with the local people who are skilled and trained into different position across different
sectors.
According to al lamki (2005) the successful examples of Omanization is found in the Oman airline
and in banking sector where locals irrespective of gender and age were given the chance of
employment.In Oman people show preference towards public sector rather private which can seen in
Oman national population census data , and due to nationalization of Oman more people from private
sector rushed towards Oman airline. Moreover Before the Omanization Oman air line has been
employing expatriates who were more skilled and cheaper than the locals. After becoming national
carrier Oman airline played an important in absorbing many Omanis
Public Sector Private Sector
Nationality Persons Employed Percent Distribution Persons Employed Percent Distribution
Total 23,045 100.0 482,632 100.0
National 99,076 80.5 74,816 15.5
Non national 23,969 19.5 407,816 84.5
Table 1: Source: Oman Ministry of National Economy, 2005d; and authors’ calculations
Oman Air has been pursuing Omanization plan as a part of the organizational strategy. It has
65% Omanization ratio. According to media release on directions of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos
the Oman air continues to make investment in human capital by arranging various training
programs to make them capable and to increase the proportion in the country. (Oman Air, 2013)
That is the reason external labor forces are given trainings to level up their skills so they can get
accommodated at different levels in Oman airline.
Question 2:
Critically evaluate your organization’s HRM practices with particular reference to the management of high potential and high performing people. (You may choose to focus on one particular HR practice here, but you must justify your choice)
A.1.1. Human Resource Management:The human resource management practices deal with how people are utilized, managed and
employed in an organization in order to accomplish the organizational objective. The spectrum
cover activities ranging from strategic HRM to resourcing, career development, performance
management, employee relations and other activities related to human resources.
According to Armstrong (2006),
HRM is an approach which is integrated, strategic and consistent in nature and directed at
betterment and development of the people who are working there.
The business world is evolving due to competition and technology advancements, due to the this
deregulation and globalization a concern regarding the need to engage in strategic planning
arises which actually follows a process in which organization align its various components
according to anticipated changes in environment to achieve organizational effectiveness in order
to excel the organization the need of having potential and skilled resources increases so the HRM
plays an active role in effective management of organization. The growth and success of
organization depends on its high performing human capital. The organizational performance is
dependent on employees performance so there is a need to integrate the HRM with the strategic
needs of organization.
Oman Air , provides quality services to their customers due to the trained work force .It
advocates strategic approach when it comes to managing human capital. By bringing alignment
between hr practices and the organizational strategy Oman air is stepping towards success.
A.1.2.HRM Practices:
These are some HRM practices followed in Oman airline.
Recruitment and Selection Oman air has to recruit pilot crew and the front line /backstage employees and it is known as
organization which has best recruiting methods .Oman air has been successful in attracting most
talented work force. Both internal and externals recruitment technique are being practiced. It
values team effort along with individual struggle so the prospective candidate must have
competency to work in team.
Though there are many sources of recruitment but Oman air focused more on traditional modes.
They need to emphasize more on new techniques like open house etc.
The recruitment and selection process
In Oman Air the first step in recruitment is the development of job description which contains
personal specifications ,job requirements and other required set of competencies for any said
job. After the approval of Job description from concerned department or head that positions are
usually advertised through newspaper. Beside this the Oman Air has also tab of career page on
their website to attract the applicant pool. The vacancies are usually notified through their own
portal .Interested individuals can directly email the resume to Oman air against any vacancy.
(omanair,2013) Oman air, HR has inaugurated another service which is the SMS service. Oman
air is the first company which launched an SMS service to facilitate the process of recruitment
and to assist the candidates applies for the job with the necessary details.
Following are the benefits of the SMS service at Oman air:
The company has a record of who is receiving the results of the interview and who is not
The company can engage in one to one communication with the candidates and maintains
the data base of the candidates for the future purpose also.
Also it helps the candidates apply for the position to get their queries solved (Oman air
press release, 2006)
Selection:
The HR team will review the resume and assess the job- person match and respond to candidate
only if they have any intention of assessing them in future .The shortlisted candidates are
required to go through different assessment test and interviews and after that company will give
feedback to them. Referee details will be taken from candidates for further verification.
Though it has different test like psychological testing and mental simulations for assessing
candidates but there is a room for improvement. More test can be employed which can check on
particular skill set of candidate.
In Context of high performing workers:
In order to get effectiveness at organizational level it is necessary that right people with right
skill set and personality should be selected for the right job in Oman air. In order to get the job fit
organization should keep following things in mind.
1- The organization must be capable of attracting relevant and large pool of applicant so that
they would get the best out of them.
2- Organization must know what skills they are looking for in the applicant so they could
come up with the tests and interviews according to crosscheck if person has that skill set
or not.
3- Organization should seek the skill set that are difficult to copy or difficult to change even
if they are given trainings.
Training and development:The model of the training process in Oman air is illustrated below
The performance appraisal aims at discussing the progress of the employee towards achievement
of any task or responsibilities. The appraisal is usually based on reviewing and assessing on how
effectively any job is completed .It is not based on employees personality traits. It measures the
skills and competencies of an individual which provides a mean to identify loopholes that can be
covered in future or it also helps in identification of areas where individual can do more better
and excel. The whole appraisal process should be based on two way communication. The
employee should be receptive to the positive suggestion or criticisms in order to mutually
achieve the goals. According to Analoui (2007) only personal behavior never demonstrate the
individual performance but the performance outcome is also dependent on the overall outcome
achieved by respective department. The intrinsic and extrinsic motivation inherited by the
employees tells the effectiveness level and through the desired behavior achieved through
training. In high performing work system employees show more willingness to perform better.
Communication and sharing of required information:One of the important HR practices are sharing of information between different employees and
among different departments. Any organization can function as one unit if it’s all departments
are well coordinated and can easily exchange information with each other. The high performing
works system demands well coordination and communication even top or middle management
can track progress and direct orders easily if there are no communication gaps.
In this regard Vishwak solution offered their services to develop a collaboration portal for Oman
air by using Microsoft share power point server. The Oman airline has its headquarters in more
than 20 countries so for this purpose the portal act as a bridge or collective platform apart from
that different activities like flight operations, operation control and navigation all can be facilitate
through this portal. It also facilitate to work together in a more efficient way to maintain tasks, to
keep records and publish reports, communicate relevant information via blogging and other sort
of discussions and work related updates.( Vishak, 2010)
Power distance reduction:In presence of low power distance, the relationship between managers and subordinates would
reduce which means they have equal authority. When importance is positioned on social status of
employees than the power distance in organization becomes high.
Oman air always favors low distance power, they promote healthy and friendly working culture
because
When there is a low power distance
The people at high level treat their subordinates with respect and do not show superiority
Important assignments can be delegate to subordinates if the level of trust is high
If by chance they meet failure the blame is not only on subordinate in fact they both
shared their part in failure
Good socialization can be seen between managers and subordinates
Sense of equality will flourish in society
Reducing power distance in Oman air is considered as a important practice when it comes to
high performing work system. People can learn from each other. They acknowledge the
recognition if they are provided equality, sense of intrinsic motivation also rises when they feel
valued. Therefore there is a need to reduce power distance which can be done in many ways like
Physical setting or arrangement in organization through language or dressing. The separate
parking slot for top management should be avoided if someone is in favor of equality.
Self managed teams:High performance work system demands people who work as a team to bring organization
effectiveness. These teams are deemed as a critical success factor to organization. It is also said
that if people are given autonomy they will feel more responsible, they enjoy doing it in a more
effective manners. It also proved as a source of satisfaction and motivation for employees.
In Oman air employees usually work in form of teams and they are having much more control
over their work.
The advantages of self managed teams in Oman air are as follow
They have control on what they do. They are not under the authority of people
from other management levels which develop sense of responsibility in them.
They can control each other behaviors and sense of mutual goals and mutual
accomplishment is always there.
It decentralizes the management of organization and allow teams to work freely
and it breaks the status difference.
Self managed teams are source of intrinsic motivation for employees they are
more satisfied when they work in form of groups rather than works as an
individual.
Question 3:
Critically evaluate your organization’s approach to strategic HRM. How strategic is it?
1.1 Strategic Human Resource Management:It focuses on issue of linking human resource of the organization with the overall strategy of the
business. Designing the performance system in away to add value through the people working in
the organization in order to achieve the competitive edge (Delery and Doty, 1996)
The conceptual basis of strategic human resource is analyzing where the business is going and
develop and manage activates in order to maintain the strategic thrust of the organization
(Boxall, 1996)
1.2. The Resource based view of Oman Air Company:
The crucks of the SHRM is to have the heterogeneous resource as compared to the organization;
these resources must be unique and are not easily imitated by other companies. The employees
are the key assets of the company because they give the company competitive advantage with
their performance and helps organization to achieve its strategic goal (Barney 1991, 1995)
Oman air is investing in their human resource because they think that it can lead them to
success. They are providing with time to time trainings, have set standard rules and
procedures in order to increase the Omanization within the company which is the overall
objective of the company.
Oman Air Company has specialized programs for their employees which equip them to
handle the latest technology, on the other side the up gradation of the high tech
techniques and equipment is part of the processes at this company. The company recruits
the best people time to time and the existing employees who are highly skilled are
promoted to the top positions in order to boost their morale and also to increase the
productivity.
The company has a vision of boosting the national economy that’s why company has
retained the best employees, gives them time to time trainings that will have a positive
impact on the economy (Oman air press release, 2006)
1.3. The Contingency perspective:The contingency perspective states that the HR practices of the organization must be aligned
with the internal and external aspects means the company policies must compliment the internal
and external context. The concept of fit comes here- basically there are two types of fit.
1. Vertical fit
2. Horizontal fit (typepad, 2010)
1.3.1. Vertical fit:It’s the alignment of business operations with the overall strategy of the firm. The fit requires the
following things:
The company must have the knowledge of business strategy
The knowledge and skills must be in accordance with the business strategy.
Knowledge of the human resource perspective and how to adapt with the changing
environment.
The Oman air company is doing a great effort to achieve the alignment of HR practices with the
overall business. Oman Air has a HR strategy in which they aims to provide the learning culture
to improve the overall productivity with the help of training and through other special programs
for employees. This strategy helps the company to achieve its objectives.
The Oman air is also providing trainings on various courses including:
Airport services
Security measures
Cargo
Contingency planning
Customer services
Bookings and payments
The company is providing the trainings to over 2500 employees and due to their trainings the
result is the employees have been placed at managerial levels in the company
1.3.2. Horizontal fit:It refers to the alignment of the among the various human resource components like recruitment
and selection of employees, various time to time trainings, compensation and appraising.
The horizontal fit is basically the alignment of various strategies among themselves refers to the
concept of bundling. Bundling means the bundling of the strategies that compliments each other.
The best approach is to implementing SHRM in all practices which help to become Oman air
line more like a learning culture and motivates human capital to work more efficiently.
They should employ strategic approach in
Attracting talented applicant pool
Appraising methods of performance which assess the team performance and plan rewards
accordingly
Development of Learning culture that favors accountability and equality
Involving employees in decision making to create harmony between their value and
organizational values.
Question 4:
From the above analyses, give conclusions and recommendations to
improve performance in your workplace
A.1.1 Conclusion: One cannot deny the strategic importance of human resource management in any organization.
A fit is required between business and human Resource strategy. Effective management and
utilization of human resource is key to success. The Human Resource Management policies are
usually designed to enhance the work quality, to improve the organizational integration and to
level up the commitment of an employee.
The Oman air has implementing Human Resource Management practices in their organization
and human capital are utilized in an effective manner to achieve the organanizational goals. The
human resource strategies are aligned with the organizational strategy .The airline has good
resourcing practices, good benefits, extensive training programs, culture of team work but still in
order to strengthen the high performing work system the loopholes in human resource practices
should be resolved.
A.1.2 Recommendations:
In past Oman airline faced criticisms from employees on their wage rates. Protest was
held by employees from different departments in favor of increasing their pay rates.
Employees cannot perform well if they do not have good pay scale and increments in
spite of showing good financial results by company. Therefore Oman airline should
increase their pay as equitable to workers in other airlines. It is unfair if people in same
with same position in other organization get more salary package than Oman employees.
It creates dissatisfaction and may increase turnover rate (shabainay,2011).
Good work condition plays an important role in overall organizational and employee
performance. Safe and good work environment should be provided to employees that
make them comfortable and easy to do work. Otherwise employees will prefer
organization which gives same salary package but more favorable work condition.
Though Oman airline are providing extensive training to their workers and general public
but the number should be increased. Apart from that the training facility is located near
airport though it is convenient but it is more like having IN HOUSE training. Employees
should be given chances to go out of city and country so they can learn something
different from routine trainings.
The highly trained trainers from different countries should be invited to the training place
who can train people in bit different method.
Incentives or rewards should be given to employees who show high commitment to the
organization. Though Oman air has been arranging ceremonies to acknowledge them and
it proved as a source of intrinsic motivation but in order to increase the retentively and to
decrease turnover incentives should be given to high achievers.
Technology should be upgraded with time to time in order to increase the performance of
an organization.
Though omanization is good for national economy but Oman air has many destination
points and it has many headquarter and offices in several countries so training on cultural
diversity should also be included in the module.
Good and fair performance management techniques should be maintained in the
organization.
References:
Al Lamki, S. (2005), The Role of the Private Sector in Omanization: The Case of the Banking Industry in the Sultanate of Oman, International Journal of Management, 22(2), P.176-198.
Analoui, F. (2007), Strategic Human Resource Management, Thomson Learning, London.
Armstrong, M. (2006), human resource management practice (10th edition), London, Kogan page
Barney, J.B (1991) firm Resources and sustained competitive advantage, Journal of Management Studies, 17(1), p. 99-120
Barney, J.B (1995) Looking inside for competitive advantage. Academy of Management Executive, 9(4), p. 49-61
Boxall, p.F |(1996) The strategic HRM debate and the resource based view of the firm, Human Resource management Journal, 6(3), p. 59-75
Delery, J.E and Doty, H.D 91996) Modes of theorizing in strategic human resource management: tests of universality, contingency and configurational performance predictions, Academy of management Journal, 39(4), pp 802-35
Dave, U (1997), human resource Champions :the next agenda for adding value and delivering results, boston: Harvard business school.
Economy watch(2010),economic statistics[online] Availabale at http://www.economywatch.com/economic-statistics/country/Oman/ [Accessed at 1 March 2013]
Joan.k and Beth.M (1999), Core Competencies and the Learning Organization,13(3), p.158-166
Lazear, E. and Oyer,p. (20030), Internal and external labor markets: A personnel economics approach, NBER working paper series, Cambridge, National Bureau Of Economic Research.
Mass gov (2013), LAabor market information, [online] Available from, http://www.mass.gov/lwd/economic-data/eolwd-data-and-stats/lmi/other/labor-market-terms-and-definitions.html [Accessed 1st March 2013]
Omanair (2012), About us, [online] Available from http://www.omanair.com/about-us/corporate-information, [Accessed 27th Februrary 2013]
Oman Air (2012), About us, [online] Available from, http://careers.omanair.com/about-us/careers/application-guide [Accessed 1st March 2013]
Oman Air (2012), About us, [online] Available from, http://www.omanair.com/about-us/training/courses [Accessed 1st March 2013]
Omanair (2012), About us [online] Available from http://www.omanair.com/about-us/corporate-information, [Accessed 27th February 2013]
Omanair (2013), Press Release 2006 [online] Available at Omanairhttp://www.omanair.com/aboutus/media/press-releases/oman-air-continues-omanization-plan-part-its-primary-strategy [Accessed at 28 February 2013]
Richard, H. C (1999), Integrating Women Part and Parcel of “Omanization” Of Nation’s Work Force, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
Sultanate of Oman (1991), The Fourth Five Year Development Plan (1991-1995), Development Council, General Secretariat, Oman.
Shaibany, S. (2011), ‘Oman Air employees strike for higher wages’, THE NATIONAL, 7 March
Typepad (2013). Strategic Human Resource Perspective [online] Available at http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2010/05/strategic-human-resource-management-.html [accessed at 28 Februray 2013]
Vishwak (2010), Newsroom,[online] Available from, http://blogs.vishwak.com/newsroom/2010/07/23/collaboration-portal-for-oman-air/ [Accessed 1st March 2013]
![PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT OMAN (PDO) [Elmech] Development Oman - PDO [Elmec… · Petroleum Development Oman L.L.C. ... Postal Address : P.O.BOX 505- PC 114- SULTANATE OF OMAN Is registered](https://static.documents.pub/doc/80x56/5ac633c57f8b9a5c558dcb76/petroleum-development-oman-pdo-elmech-development-oman-pdo-elmecpetroleum.jpg)