Quantas And Human Resource Management

Over the past few decades there has been an increased amount of emphasis on the practice of human resource management in the workplace due to the growing trend that human capital is the most important asset an organisation can acquire and retain. This area of management applies to each facet of a firm, with one of the major components of the economy which seems to have a heavy reliance on this discipline evidently being the airline industry. One of the major corporations within this trade is Quantas, an Australian owned brand which seems to be facing difficulties as of late due to the global downturn on businesses. It appears that although they are operating at a loss they still value their employees as their main resource of capital, which is shown through their website’s careers statement of “our people are the most important part of our business. Find out more about careers at Quantas, one of Australia’s most popular companies to work for”(Quantas Careers, 2014). However upon further inspection of not only Quantas, also the airline industry as a whole it appears that the desire to work within this trade is decreasing due to increased workloads and health and safety. Another factor which is causing this effect is the HR strategy of downsizing, which can have a detrimental outcome for employee’s morale. Although this may be altered through differing forms of strategic human resource management it still has a major effect on their human capital. Whilst all appears to be doom and gloom for the industry there remains a certain aspect which still attracts a labour force and this is evidently Quantas’s approach to diversity, which promotes a multicultural workforce. Whilst further investigation is required, one must begin to ponder w...

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...nding of strategic human resource management and the importance it can have within a workplace we had to first conduct extensive research on an iconic brand that utilises such practices. This brand was evidently Quantas and it allowed us an insight into the airline industries strategies, along with its own. Initially upon inspection of their careers website they outlined that their human assets were the heart of their corporation. However as the study progressed it became clear that through downsizing, incorrect strategies and being a reactive brand, that Quantas did not in fact hold high regard for their workers like they had previously stated, and were only seen to be holding this mission statement true through their diversity programs. A true reflection of how an iconic brand can effectively begin a downward spiral due to poor strategic human resource management.