Human Resource Management in Malaysian Airways System - Course Work

Board of Directors

Managing Director / Managing Director

Department / Department / Department / Department / Department / Department / Department / Department

Employees / Employees

Due to this bureaucratic structure, most of the decisions are made by the leaders of each department who are primarily instructed by the board of directors. This organizational chart is advantageous to the organization in that, senior managers will take decisions in regards to the whole business and not just individual divisions, quick and efficient decisions will be made, and policies will be consistent throughout the firm and would avoid conflicts between the departments. However, since it is a multinational company, senior managements find it difficult to make decisions that adhere to every local location. There is usually insufficient information on the domestic market as well as the local division. This con affects the worker's morale as they feel like they are not part of the firm and that their opinions are not valued. Additionally, it tends to be hard to respond quickly to changes in the market, especially considering the much-needed restructuring of Malaysian Airways System.

Following the appointment of a new manager, MAS has announced initiatives to track and boost the performance of its employees. Diligent execution of efficiency and tighter cost controls have already produced results which have seen the airline emerging more focused. Part of the initiatives being put in place involves strengthening the firms talent pipeline and enhancing skills of its workers. To address skills gaps, the firm added to this process training programs. The trainees will, therefore, be assigned and rotated across the different divisions in Malaysia Airlines to ensure exposure across all functions of the organization and to inspire passion among them.

Over the past decade, the role and structure of HR function in organizations have been debated, and some claim that it has undergone a process of change. According to David Ulrich, a groundbreaking model of human resources service delivery is undergoing transformations to meet the challenges of changing national and international business conditions. Ulrich offers an excellent interpretation of the personnel function, which outlined the significance of HR as a change agent in championing competitiveness among firms in the Unites States. According to the 2006 CIPD report, the structural transformation of HR has been the desire for the function to be a more strategic contributor and to maximize its contribution to business performance. HR has been charged with developing and organizing human capital, and the ways in which workers are recruited drawn up and managed. A majority of firms now have an HR director on the board. However, despite a presence at the top of the table and an express desire to be seen as an equal strategic partner in the business, the still appears to be debate over whether there is a definitive evidence of the impact of HR structures and staffing process.

There are different types of Human Resource delivery systems. These are Traditional approaches of a single team of generalists, specialists and administration, or a corporate strategy team aligned by business units or locations: The three-legged stool model of business partners, shared services, and centers of expertise. A traditional HR model consists of a single team with generalists, administration, and specialists and is common in most companies. In this kind of structure, an integrated HR team looks after line managers and employees at specific points or within specific units of the firm. Depending on the size of the organization, it may involve some specialization. HR workers in this model may look for administrative and clerical staff as opposed to managerial grades. This type of HR is prevalent among small, medium-sized organizations. It is due to constraints in resources. Thus the HR teams have to be versatile and deal with both the strategic and operational work. The three-legged stool model, on the other hand, is regarded as the best practice although research shows there is still debate ongoing about this. The model is based on a mechanism that deals with, Human Resource business partners, HR centers for expertise, and shared HR services. According to CIPD, HR business partnering is the process in which HR professionals work in close collaboration with business leaders and line managers to achieve common organizational objectives. This structure allows HR partners to utilize their unique knowledge and skills to support and drive change in people management practices.

Various factors affect the choice of an organizations structure of Human Resource service delivery. These include the size of the business, the extent of centralization of the firm, the type of work carried out by the company, the kind of people employed, and the role assigned to Human Resource department. Different organizations have different characteristics regarding human resource, and therefore the type of model applied should be suitable enough. These factors can further be classified into Organization level factors which include, size, sector, traditions structure, and culture: HR-Level factors which include, level organizational representation, and size of the HR department: Personal factors which include, power, influence, and experience of the staff.

Excellence in HR service delivery calls for building and maintainin...