Role of Performance Management in Emirates Airlines
Dsicuss about the Comparative International Human Resource Management.
Emirates Airlines was found in 1985, with two wet-leased aircrafts by Pakistan International Airlines. From the beginning of limited resources till today Emirates owns a fleet of over 250 Airbus and Boeing aircrafts, as well as the Emirates Group[1] has more than 103,000 of employee worldwide, over 200 nationalities (EK annual report p.84) The airlines is well known of the largest operator of the advanced A380 aircrafts, meanwhile it also becomes one of the biggest employers in the region.
Delivering safe and efficient and high-quality customers services across the network is Emirates’ consistent objectives and highly focused over 33 years. Moreover, highest standards are always the emirates core business purpose: “We will consistently develop our business nationally and internationally at all times providing, cost-effectively, the highest standards of quality and service in everything we do.” (emirates group world)
In 2016, Emirates won Skytrax World’s Best Airline, as well as Best Airline in the Middle East and World’s Best Inflight Entertainment. Apart from safety and services, the company has also invested on technology and innovative infrastructures in order to maintain its competitiveness and enhance customer experience. Emirates has achieved high reputation world-wide through the years and its sustainable business has brought people to work together.
Today Emirates has 62,356 employees in total, with more than 160 nationalities. It is not just a service provider, but also assisting employee to develop. In 2016-2017 Emirates Annual report, Emirates Airline and Group Chairman and Chief Executive, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum stated “we continue to ready ourselves for the future, and build up our business resilience, by investing in our people, new technologies and infrastructure, and cultivating a culture of continuous learning and innovation.” Emirates focuses on people, the company provides training for employee to ensure employee are knowledgeable and confident to perform the requirement of their role. As a multi-national airlines organization, with more than 70,000 of employee, it is necessary to maintain employee’s performance up to the standard. Other than continuous training for staff, performance management can give positive impact to the organization’s business, as developing employees and enhancing their productivities. The ultimate goal of the performance management is to maximize organizational effectiveness within the current and changing context. (Rees, G. & French, R. 2010: 245)
Role of performance management in Emirates – The performance management based activities of Emirates Airlines affects the flying staff. The company has recently seen some developments in the areas based on the management of human resources. The theories of employee development have emerged due to the expansion of business operations in the emerging economies. The theories that are proposed by various psychologists like, McGregor, Maslow and Vroom are based on the ways by which the motivation levels of employees can be improved. The productivity of the employees can thereby be increased with the help of different approaches which are, satisfaction of the different levels of individual needs, the better levels of communication with employees and greater involvement of the employees so that they are able to participate in the organizational processes (Bratton and Gold 2017). The performance management based measured that are undertaken by the organization are related to the ways by which the productivity of the employees can be enhanced. The HR practices and tools that are used in the modern organizations are based on recruitment, selection, orientation and training. The assessment of the performance of employees is also based on the development of individual and organizational knowledge. The performance assessment system is based on the ways by which the company can aim to motivate the employees to increase their productivity which in turn increases the revenues of the company. The business organizations are readily accepting the processes based on management of performance. Emirates has also implemented these strategies as the efficiency of the organization depends on the motivation levels of the employees (Brewster 2017: pp 24). The airlines sector has witnessed the entry of many new companies which has put immense pressure on Emirates to increase the performance levels of the employees so that the efficiency of the organization can be increased. The performance appraisal system of the company has been designed by Emirates to evaluate their levels of performance. The members of the flying staff of the company are the most important part of entire operations. The successful operations of the various processes depend on the ways by which the flying members perform. The attitudes and the capabilities of the flying staff are vital for increasing the revenues of the company and its profitability in the industry (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow 2016). Optimisation of the performance of employees is important for the airlines organizations. The performance management programs in Emirates thereby helps in the promotion and the increase of remuneration of the employees. The increased competition in the environment has led to the increased importance of the performance management based systems.
Relationship of Performance Management with Business Strategy
Relationship of performance management with business strategy – The effective management of performance is based on the goals and the objectives that are set by the management of an organization. This process further helps the managers to monitor the effectiveness of employees who are an important part of the organizational processes. The annual appraisals of employees are an important part of the entire performance management based process. The individuals or the employees are assessed and managed with an aim to enhance their performance levels and productivity. The most appropriate way for performance management is based on the ways by which the employees are able to manage their own goals (Albrecht et al. 2015: pp. 20). The strategic goals of the company can be achieved if the performance management systems are aligned with the business strategies. Emirates uses five major ways for aligning the performance management systems with the business strategy,
- Setting the business targets – The most important step that is taken by Emirates is based on the setting of the goals for the company. This is a part of the overall strategy that has been formed by Emirates. The departmental heads are responsible for the alignment of goals with the overall business plan (Purce 2014: pp 67).
- Cascading the goals – The departmental heads are thereby provided with the responsibility to cascade the goals down to the managers and the employees. The flying staff need to follow a different set of goals as compared to the ground staff of the company. The tasks that are provided to the employees belonging to different departments need to be performed according to the objectives that are set by them. The realistic targets are set by the company so that the employees are able to achieve the goals. The goals and objectives are made clear to the employees and their performance is managed accordingly (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang 2014: pp 50). The agreed goals are thereby easily aligned with the performance that is showed by the employees.
- The performance of flying staff and the ground staff is managed in an effective manner and the feedback is used for the purpose of reviewing the efforts that are provided by them to achieve the goals. The feedback based process in the organization takes place quite frequently which helps Emirates to enhance the performance of employees. The performance review of the company is effective for helping the employees to achieve their goals (Stone et al. 2015 pp 220).
Features of performance management – The performance management system in Emirates Airlines is based on the effective management of the diverse group of employees. The leadership and management of the company is important for the purpose of managing the employees of Emirates. The success of Emirates is based on the leadership of the company and the management. The performance of employees is thereby managed in an effective manner with the help different types of processes and concepts. The goals of the company are the most important part of the performance management system. The corporate objectives and goals are thereby set by Emirates Airlines which is communicated to the employees (Conway et al. 2016: pp 910). The goals that are set by the company are thereby based on the performance that is depicted by the employees. The motivation and coaching is an important feature of the performance management based system of the company. The rewards that are provided to the employees are able to motivate them so that they are able to achieve the goals and the objectives. The rewards and incentives are thereby used for the purpose of motivating the employees and enhance their performance as well. The leaders also play an important role in the management of the performance of employees who are a part of the organizational processes (Rees and Smith 2017). The performance management thereby plays an important role in making the business operations profitable and effective in nature. The managers or the leaders of Emirates Airlines manage the performance of employees so that the profitability can increase. The rewards and incentives that are provided to the flying staff and the ground staff are also decided by the managers. Emirates has formed the corporate loyalty program which helps in providing more value to the customers. The top employees are recognised by the company and they are awarded by the management (De Lange et al. 2015: pp 60). The Emirates Group has thereby recognised 12 employees in the year 2017 for their outstanding performance. These employees had gone beyond the call of their duty for providing the best services to the customers. The winners are thereby motivated to provide better performance in the organizational processes. The award that is provided to these employees is called the Najm Chairman’s Award. The award is provided to the employees for saving lives and providing them with first aid when it is required (Al Ariss and Sidani 2016).
Features of Performance Management
Relationship of performance management with HRM practices – Performance management is a method by which the managers and the employees of the company are able to work together so that they are able to achieve the organizational goals. The continuous process of reviewing the performance and improvement of employees is an important part of the performance management process. The annual review of performance is not enough for the efficient performance of an organization. The monitoring of performance is therefore quite important which can help the company to enhance the productivity of the employees. The main goal of performance management is thereby to improve the effectiveness of the employees. The establishment of the proper performance management system thereby requires right of resources and time (Shields et al. 2015). The management needs to form a committee for the purpose of creating an effective performance management system. The support that is provided by the company for the management of performance is also important for improving the inadequate performance of employees. The introduction of a new system of performance management or the modification of the existing system is important for enhancing the performance of the employees. The cycle of performance management is formed in the modern organizations which consists of three parts like, planning, monitoring and reviewing and evaluating. The coaching that is provided to employees is also a part of the performance management system. The direction, support and guidance that is provided to the employees can be termed as coaching (Al Ariss and Sidani 2016). The managers thereby need to recognise the strengths and the weaknesses of the employees so that they are able to get the performance. The coach thereby needs to play an important role in the improvement of employee performance and the profitability and revenues of the company as a whole. The feedback that is provided by the managers helps the employees to excel in their fields. This is an important part of entire process that is conducted by the modern organizations. The HRM practices of the company are important for the proper performance management process (Shields et al. 2015). The employees are the major human resources of the organization and the practices that are developed for managing human resources thereby plays an important role in the performance management based aspects. The leaders and managers are most important in this case as they are able to provide proper guidance to the employees regarding the ways by which they can achieve the goals. The performance of employees is also analysed by the leaders in an effective manner. Emirates Airlines has an effective leadership team which acts as the most important part of entire organizational processes. The competitiveness of the employees is increased with the help of the motivation that is provided by the managers (Rees and Smith 2017).
Challenges of performance management – The performance management system in Emirates Airlines has faced some major challenges that are related to the successful operations of the company and productivity of the employees. The process of combating the inconsistent levels of engagement of different managers is a challenge that is faced by Emirates in its operations. The lack of training that is provided to the managers is also an issue that is faced in the performance management based activities. The metrics that are established by the management of Emirates is not always appropriate to measure the success of performance management system (Purce 2014 pp 67). The rewards that are provided by the company to the employees with respect to the types of jobs that are performed by them is a major challenge. The staff of the company do not feel the rewards to be justified according to the performance levels that has been shown by them. The system that helps the company to distinguish between the average and high performers is not effective enough for Emirates Airlines. The company thereby needs to overcome these challenges so that the performance management system helps in enhancing the productivity of the employees and the revenues of the company (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow 2016).
Performance management is assisting the staff in an organization to understand their role and responsibilities, as well as developing their skills and knowledge, in order to achieve the company planned business objectives and high levels of organizational performance. According to Armstrong and Baron, “It is now commonly agreed that performance management as a natural process of management contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams to achieve high levels of organizational performance. As such, it establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved and an approach to leading and developing people which will ensure that it is achieved.” (Armstrong & Baron 2005: 2) In other words, performance management is also beneficial for enhancing both employee individual level and organizational level.
In Emirates Group, “Performance Matters!” (PM!) is a strategic performance management process which assists managers to review, document and manage the employees’ performance in order to achieve high level of business performance. The process enables employee to understand their expectation, as well as to develop their skills and abilities to perform their expectations according their role. More importantly, employees are given feedback on their annual performance to improve and enhance their abilities to meet the company business purpose and value.
In Emirates Group, there are 30 main departments and more than 70,000 employees. It is necessary to establish a corporate purpose and value of emirates business; therefore, employee can consistently perform their job role in accordance with the business focuses, even they come from different departments.
Emirates emphasizes on services all employees are expected to be cost effectively provides the highest standards quality of service. Meanwhile the company provides career promotional prospects. “To support the Emirates Group purpose our employees are expected to be united in our quest for superior performance and service. In return the Group recognizes the positive contribution of individuals and business units and will endeavor to provide challenging and rewarding development opportunities.” (emirate group world)
Besides, individual performance should be corresponding with the department objectives. Thus, corporate values for all employees are the most essential part of the Performance Matters!. They are the guidelines which agreed by senior management team for employee to follow and in response to their daily work, as well as supporting the Emirates Group business purpose.
Service Excellence, Innovation, People, Financial Strength, Safety are the corporate fundamental values of Emirates groups, they are expected to be translated into practice, as well as in the performance management process.
Existing employees such as airport services agents who are on the front-line operation are required to attend trainings regularly, as well as cabin crew apart from annual recurrent training for safety and emergency, they are required to attend services refresher training. Through the training, employees are upskilled and more motivated, which resulted in better customer services and improve the productivity which is the goal of “service excellence”
According to Armstrong’s definition, performance management is a nature process of management. It does not require which is a cycle of model that consists of several related activities and processes. Armstrong’s Plan-Act-Monitor-Review
SMART objectives can be used as a guide for the purpose of creating effective objectives which are meant for the improvement of the employees. The specific part of SMART objectives is used to define the target clearly to the employees. The measurable part of SMART objectives is used to the define the target with the help of a number. The appropriate part of the SMART objectives is used to take the necessary steps that can help in the achievement of objectives. The realistic part of the SMART framework is used for the purpose of deciding the chances that are available to achieve the desired results. The time-bound part of the SMART objectives is used for defining the time that is taken for the achievement of goals that are set by the company. The performance management system thereby helps in the achievement of the goals or SMART objectives that are set by the company for the employees (Konrad, Yang and Maurer 2016 pp 90).
Performance appraisal is a common performance review scheme in an organization, it is often described as “dreaded annual performance review” by employees, as many managers concentrate on negative performances rather than taking it as opportunity for employee future development.
Conclusion
The essay can be concluded by stating that the management of performance of the employees is an important part of the organizational processes. The performance management process of the modern organizations is the most important process which helps in managing the employees or the human resources. The analysis of Emirates Airlines has depicted that the company has to manage the employees in such a manner which can increase the profitability and to enhance the performance as well.
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