CIPD Level 5

Posted: January 5th, 2023

CIPD Level 5

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CIPD Level 5

The Qatari aviation industry has experience exponential growth with Qatar Airways and its Hamad International Airport base, championing this evolution. Qatar Airway sis one of the three largest airlines in the Persian Gulf region, the others being emirates Airlines and Etihad Airlines from the United Arab Emirates (Qatar Airways, n.d.). It is a state-owned firm and is under immense pressure to remedy its reputation regarding discrimination about women and navigate the strong headwinds confronting the industry, such as thinning margins, increased competition, and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The following repost discusses the state of the Qatari aviation industry in light of strategic planning principles. Concepts such as organizational structure, organizational strategy, organizational culture and their influence on human capital and human resource practices are discussed.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Types of Organizational Structures

Although several organizational structures exist, the most prominent are divisional, flat, functional and matrix. Table 1 presents the defining characteristics of these organizational structure, and their advantages and disadvantages

Table 1.

Organizational structure	Characteristics	Advantage	Disadvantage
Divisional	Division into department based on product/service or geography	Operational flexibility for companies with a wide product/service portfolio and operates across several regionsInsulation of one division from the others in case of failureEconomics of scale in marketing due to share branding	Operational inefficiencies due to replication across different divisions and lack of inter-divisional communication (silo effect)Increased accounting and taxation costs
Flat	Have few or no managers	Few managerial layers, improving communicationEmployees are more autonomous, responsible and motivated, improving production Versatile	Few career growth progression due to lack of managerial positionsWork overload leading to burnoutProne to loss of managerial controlProne to power struggle conflicts
Functional	Division to groups based on functional areas	Efficient use of human resource through knowledge and skill sharingIndependence between groups, increasing specialization	Inhibited flexibility and innovativenessProne to tunnel vision
Matrix	Multi-criteria divisions based on operational perspectives	Efficient for large multinationals with a huge product, service portfolioVersatile and responsive to firm’s organizational needsImproved teamwork, dismantling silos	Complex to set upConflicting chain of command due to employees reporting to different managers, simultaneously

Sources: San Cristóbal, Fernández, and Diaz (2018)

Although these are the basic organsational structure types, they have been modified to address the contemporary organizational atmosphere and conditions. For instance, the increased need to collaborate between firms, technological advancements, and increased labor mobility have seen the development of the network and team-based structures (Efremov & Vladimirova, 2018). These structures focus more on people rather than tasks and thus resemble a hybrid between the flat and matrix organizational structures. In this regard, the airline industry in Qatar is predominantly structured functionally and is heavily hierarchical. For instance, the CEO heads Qatar Airways is the main decision maker, often assisted by departmental heads, such as the head of finance, human resources, operations, and others, and the employees have minimal input.

External Factors and Trends Impacting Organizations

Organizations are influenced by political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors. These factors are often beyond the organizations control and as such, organizations can usually just respond to them prudently, to prevent low productivity and poor performance (Suau-Sanchez, Voltes-Dorta, & Cugueró-Escofet, 2020). These factors are often analyzed using the PESTLE analysis tool. For instance, the airline industry is sensitive to all these factors, which in turn, influence the business models and operational strategies used. Specifically, airlines avoid destinations in politically unstable and war-torn countries to avoid losing planes and passengers in attacks. Similarly, airlines employ the hub-and-spoke or the point-to-point business models or improve their operational efficiencies. For Qatar Airlines, the hub-and-spoke model appears to work best for in strategy focusing on long-haul travels and leveraging the country’s central location between the east and west. Similarly, airlines are striving to acquire the latest aircraft models that fly by wire, economical in fuel, low noise, and have large passenger and cargo capacity to reduce operational costs and reap more from the thin margins in the industry. Qatar Airways has one of the youngest aircraft fleets in the global industry, averaging 5 years (Qatar Airways, n.d.).

Organizational Priorities and the Associated Issues and Causes

Organizations in the contemporary business environment prioritize operational efficiency due to fierce competition among rivals. Firms prioritize achieving the highest return on their investments by seeking ways to improve the outcomes from the resources injected into business (Weeks, 2020). For instance, the global aviation instructor has staff employee downsizing to rationalize its workforce and restructuring pay structures to remove huge executive bonuses and perks. This has helped airlines avoid hiking air tickets and loosing passengers. Similarly, airlines have prioritized networking and collaborating to improve their geographical reach in the global market. Therefore, they are joining alliances, such as OneWorld and Sky Team to extend their destination reach. For instance, Qatar Airways is a OneWorld member, and its CEO is the current OneWorld chair (Arabian Business, 2021).    

How People Practices Impact on Organizational Systems and Structures

People are dynamic and ever-changing in their labor and workplace behaviors, habits and preferences. People practices that were once the norm in workplaces have been transformed radically, presenting new workplace demands and adjustments. For instance, increase clamor to employee autonomy and engagement, alongside increased knowledge and expertise, have led many firms to adopt the network and team organizational structures. Similarly, the demand for a work-life balance and adherence to Covid-19 public health protocols have resulted in the mass adoption of virtual and remote working and flexible working hours (Kaushik & Guleria, 2020; Weeks, 2020). The airline industry, Including Qatar Airways, has embraced remote working in the customer care and ticketing process to combat covid-19 and adhere to workers’ calls for health protection.   

Scale of Technology within Organizations and How It Impacts Work

Internet and digital technologies have permeated organizations and caused radical changes in the manner of working. Similarly, unprecedented events, such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has forced organizations to roll out sparsely used technologies organization-wide impacting radically and irreversibly the norms of work. The airline industry has digitized its routine operations, such as airline scheduling, booking and ticketing, parcel tracking, checking in, and rewards and customer satisfaction rating, among many others. For instance, Qatar Airways has a website and a mobile application from where these digital services can be accessed by clients (Qatar Airways, 2021). These innovations have obliterated travel agents, allowing airlines to deal directly with passengers rather than through an intermediary. In the same vein, Covid-19 has caused airlines to consider seriously and implement remote working and virtual offices to reduce face-to-face interactions, office crowding, and the need to travel to different offices across the world. In turn, working from home and flexible working schedules are increasingly becoming normal working behavior, reducing the need for physical offices for customer related and technology-compatible services (Kaushik & Guleria, 2020). The massive data collected from the digital operations helps implement and improve people practices at the workplace, such as team working, coaching and mentoring, consulting, facilitation and stakeholder management, following its in-depth analysis.

Key Themes That Currently Shape the Work of an Area of People Practice and How These Impact on the Provision of People Solutions

The key themes influencing people practice at work include law and regulations, diversity and inclusion, employer brand, and performance management (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), 2021). For instance, laws and regulations within and across different countries influence the interoperability of labor within and across national borders. Higher demands for high safety standards at the workplace and increased vetting of foreign workers increase the utilization of local employees rather than expatriates, which in turn, demands increased professional development activities to upskill knowledge and skills to international standards. Similarly, multicultural, multiethnic, and multinational workforces, alongside the clamor by women and people with disabilities, have raised demand for their equitable absorption in industry and firms. International airlines, like Qatar Airlines, have revised their recruitment policies to include more Qataris alongside expatriates in management positions, while professional development levels are focusing on multilingual skilling of customer-facing employees. In the same vein, efforts to promote employer brands are increasingly incorporating social media presence, with companies opening Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram pages to connect with and keep their customers engaged. For instance, Qatar Airwaysuses these five social networking sites to promote its brand worldwide, quickly, cost-effectively, and efficiently.  

Conclusion

Rapid changes in the airline industry have increased the urgency for reviewing people practices at the workplace. Intensive industry rivalry and the Covid-19 pandemic have raised the bar of technology application in the aviation industry. In turn, airlines are embracing digital technologies to enhance operational efficiencies, promote virtual work environments, and enhance work-life balance at the workplace. Websites, mobile applications, and social media platforms are some of the technologies influencing people practices in contemporary workplaces.

References

Arabian Business (2021). Qatar Airways boss named new chairman of Oneworld airline alliance. Retrieved from https://www.arabianbusiness.com/transport/463624-qatar-airways-boss-named-chairman-of-oneworld-airline-alliance.

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) (2021). People practice. Retrieved from https://peopleprofession.cipd.org/profession-map/core-knowledge/people-practice#gref.

Efremov, V., & Vladimirova, I. (2018, August). Main Directions of Modification of Companies and Their Management Structures. In The 5th International Conference on Training, Education and Management (ICMIBI-TEM 2018).

Kaushik, M., & Guleria, N. (2020). The impact of pandemic COVID-19 in workplace. European Journal of Business and Management, 12(15), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.7176/ejbm/12-15-02.

Qatar Airways (2021). Qatar Airways targets becoming the first airline in the Middle East to trial the IATA Travel Pass COVID-19 ‘Digital Passport’ mobileapp. Retrieved from https://www.aviationpros.com/airlines/press-release/21208018/qatar-airways-qatar-airways-targets-becoming-the-first-airline-in-the-middle-east-to-trial-the-iata-travel-pass-covid19-digital-passport-mobile-app.

Qatar Airways (n.d.). The Qatar Airways story. Retrieved from https://www.qatarairways.com/iwov-resources/temp-docs/press-kit/The%20Story%20of%20Qatar%20Airways%20-%20English.pdf.

San Cristóbal, J. R., Fernández, V., & Diaz, E. (2018). An analysis of the main project organizational structures: Advantages, disadvantages, and factors affecting their selection. Procedia Computer Science, 138, 791-798. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2018.10.103.

Suau-Sanchez, P., Voltes-Dorta, A., & Cugueró-Escofet, N. (2020). An early assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on air transport: Just another crisis or the end of aviation as we know it? Journal of Transport Geography, 86, 102749. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2020.102749.

Weeks, A. (2020). Workforce planning. CIPD. Retrieved from https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/organisational-development/workforce-planning-factsheet.