Executive summary

The HRM issue I choose to write about is job analysis and design and the
organisation reflected in this paper is Qantas engineering (QE) which
resides under the Qantas Airways Ltd Group.
Qantas has recently undergone a huge transformation with the reduction
of 5000 jobs. Competition paves the way to downsizing and reorganisation
changesi which meant that QE was going to reduce its workforce from 500
to 180 engineers. The main cause for this reduction in engineering was
benchmarking the QE organisation with engineering organisations of other
major competitor airlines such as Emirates airlines, Singapore airlines and
British airways, retirement of ageing aircraft, reliability and on-wing
performance of newer engines / airframes due to improvement in
materials and computers/ programs that simplified administrative tasks.
The most significant reason was that Qantas was losing its domestic
market share to Virgin Australia and this meant that Qantas had to lower
its cost base in order to compete.
This reduction in workforce meant that existing engineers had to be
flexible & adaptable to learn and pickup engineering functions that
redundant staff had been doing all these years. There was clearly a failure
to analyse jobs before the transformation and redesign work in line with
the new company strategic plan.

Table of contents

Introduction.....................................................................................................................
Background.....................................................................................................................
External factors...............................................................................................................
Transformation................................................................................................................
Recommendations...........................................................................................................
1.

Organisational management and planning...............................................................

2.

Communication.......................................................................................................

3.

Technology..............................................................................................................

Conclusion.....................................................................................................................
Reference list................................................................................................................

Introduction
This report focuses on the recent business transformation of Qantas
Engineering in which executive managements decision to cost cut has led
to wide scale redundancies and consolidation of Qantas engineering
departments. The transformation has been brought on by competition and
the need for greater efficiency and cost cutting. This has enabled a flatter
hierarchy within the organisation and Qantas engineering department.
Although efforts are currently underway the scope of the transformation
has resulted in an existing need to improve job analysis and more
specifically job design. As outlined in hoe et al (2015) job analysis is the
building block of everything human resource managers do. A job analysis
and work redesign is required as a measure to retain staff, make sure key
competitive strengths can be achieved and maintained, reduce frustration
and set clear direction and guidelines to ensure greater productivity and
accuracy and finally to realign Qantas Engineering with the organisations
strategic goals.

Background
The purpose of the QE organisation is to ensure the continued
airworthiness of Qantas aircraft by providing technical support to the Line
Maintenance Organisation (LMO), supporting relevant workshops
(Maintenance Repair Organizations/MROs) both in Australia and overseas,
performing maintenance program management and assisting in
operational troubleshooting. QE performs a key role in ensuring smooth
operation and on-time performance of international and domestic flight
services provided by Qantas Airways. Being a premium airline, Qantas
competitive advantage relies on on-time performance, premium in-flight
services, premium quality aircraft hardware optimizing customer
experience (e.g. seating, cabin interiors, reliable engines, etc.) and an
overall disruption-free experience by customers. In this way, Qantas acts
as a traditional organisation by relying on its superior products & services.

The major restructure of Qantas Engineering has resulted in reduction of

its workforce from 500 to 180 engineers. Qantas ceased all interstate
engineering departments and moved all engineering services and
functions to one centrally located department in Mascot Sydney. Although
the workforce had been cut, the work load has remained at the same
volume. This forced existing engineers to pick up engineering &
administrative functions that the redundant staff had previously been
doing.

External factors
Qantas provides customers with international and domestic flight services
and operates in a highly competitive market. Foreign investment in the
competitor airline Virgin Australia threatened the position that Qantas has
had in the domestic market share for all these years. This saw the rise in
capacity and lowering of ticket prices for almost a year where both
companies were bleeding funds in order to make a stand and to keep a
firm hold on their domestic market share.
Because of this difficult competitive environment, firms are increasingly
under pressure to find new ways to improve productivity, and have
responded by reorganizing work processes. In addition, new competitors
have increased the premium placed upon quality, service, and innovation
and this too leads to restructuring of work. Competitive environments
require firms to find new ways to improve productivity and many have
responded by reorganizing work processes. E.g. American icon Kodak
whose landscape was turned upside down by digital photography, reduced
employment from 145 000 in 1988 to 20 000 in 2009.ii
In order to make proactive human resource decisions, a company needs
an effective HR information system (HRIS). A well-designed HRIS must
provide current and accurate data on both the external challenges facing
the organization and the internal organizational resources and needsiii.

Transformation
As a result of the transformation, Qantas has been able to maintain its
market share, improve customer satisfaction and cut costs as there were a
lot of functions that were made redundant by the introduction of new
computer programs to reduce administrative tasks, without jeopardising
safety and regulatory needs of CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority).
Introduction of reliable aircraft and engines that didnt require as much
focus and attention on maintenance activities and retirement of older
ageing aircraft such as the older Boeing 747-400s and 737-400 series
contributed to this change.
Significant changes need to be made internally within the Qantas
Engineering organization, involving several compulsory redundancies,
various role amalgamations. Although staff numbers are being reduced,
roles arent being restructured, Qantas Management intend on
minimizing the effect on the end customer/stakeholder (people
travelling on Qantas flights). This means that Qantas will need to
maintain on time performance standards and minimize service
disruptions, whilst continuing to work within the required safety
standards
Frame work. Carrying out daily business activities (to achieve the
above) at reduced
staff capacity, will put a strain on the internal stakeholders i.e. LMO
and MROs,
potentially resulting in longer hours and as a worst case, delay to
aircraft departures.
Job analysis and design go hand in hand with any business transformation.
If not carried out effectively employees within affected departments will
have to pick up functions that were not previously part of their job
description. Periods of significant change such as this, often make staff
more emotionally vulnerable and employees may become more
susceptible to feeling exploited or discriminated against. Staff requires
being motivated and having the lines of communication open between the

managers and themselves. This empowers the employees to be in control

of their future to make the correct decisions and in this way the optimal
outcome will result for both the employee and the organization as a
whole.
This transformation had failed to identify the importance of job analysisiv
which is defined as a process used to identify the important tasks of a job
and the essential competencies an individual should possess to
satisfactorily perform the job and work redesignv which is analysing a job
that does not yet exist.
As a result of the external pressures mentioned above and the constant
bleeding of funds in order to maintain the 65 % of domestic share and
remain competitive, the remaining employees were left to work out what
needed to be done in their respective departments to complete basic
duties. The failure to analyse jobs before the transformation and redesign
work in line with the new company strategic plan had caused a lot of
frustration amongst the employees as there was no defined structure to
the activities that needed to be carried out in the various departments.
Failure to redesign work and invest in training and development cause
huge backlogs which add extra pressure on individual who are already
working to capacity and can lessen staff morale.
As an example, When Melbourne engineering ceased operation one of the
jobs in Sydney included a function of planning engine arisings, organising
engine movements, receipting & compliance and task writing. This role
was expected to be done by one person in Sydney as opposed to 5 people
when Melbourne engineering was operational. The job was not analysed
and redesigned by HR. It was expected that the person who took the role
in Sydney would be able to carry out these tasks.
Changes in the aviation industry require implementation of new
behaviours, technology advancements which change the way jobs tasks

are done. So while all these changes take place the employee is burdened
with more work with very little compensation to help the company align
its strategic goals to compete.
Efforts to improve job design and work planning can be integral to
operational improvements and cost-reduction effortsvi. Instead of being
inundated and burdened by no-value added functions, work redesign can
help identify multiply sources of inefficiency and increase productive work
time.

Recommendations
The recommendations are best described the three parts below:

1. Organisational management and planning

Human resources for the various departments should identify issues and
reviewed all jobs to align with the new strategic goals set out by the
company during the transformation. Once identified all jobs / work should
be redesigned based on skill and competency to ensure that all important
functions were being carried out efficiently and with total accuracy.
To fix this problem the first steps is to begin with job analysis. During
transformation, HR departments are often inundated with other important
activities around the business. In this case an external firm should be
hired to analyse all departments suffering as a result of staff loss due to
the transformation, flatter hierarches, amalgamation of positions and
compensation structures.
This process will eventually identify where additional resources would be
required and what additional training and development will be necessary.
What is important is that a resource gap analysis should be initiated after
the initial job analysis would be completed. This would give the executives
and the managers an outlook of the business where changes can be
made.

Communication is key to analysing job analysis in the department. The

manager responsible should make a list of necessary tasks required for
the area to decide the manpower required to complete the necessary
tasks based on skill and competency. A matrix should be created to align
these tasks with an employee, review and communicate this in a job
description to ensure that the employee is not overburdened
unnecessarily.

2. Communication
Knoll workplace researchvii state that there are five must include
communication elements can contribute to the success of your
transforming workplace:

A proactive approach to communication

Honest tone in messaging
Consistent language and terms
Message content that connects the dots for employees
Ongoing communication

In these times of significant change to establish power as a manager,

staffs needs to be motivated and communication is key to achieving
changes in the workplace. Feedback seeking behaviour is viewed as a
valuable behaviour for individual job performance and organisational
effectivenessviii
Effective communication is required in order to raise awareness about the
strategic future of the company and to provide staff with clarity of their
future.
To do this the following would be required

Clearly establish the intention of the communication

Message clarity
Check to ensure the message has been received and understood by

regular surveys and feedback sessions.

Establishing power

3. Technology
Over the decades it has become evident that one of the most important
ways to facilitate effective organisation redesign through process
engineering in organisations is through the use of information technology
as an enabler of changeix.
Technological changes within Qantas engineering often means that an
employees job or part of their job can be made redundant by automating
processes using macros data analysis software programs. Success on the
job should be about being able to broaden individual abilities and thus
greater use of technology will enable higher productivity with fewer errors.
Furthermore technological advancements can help managers gain a better
understanding of people that make up the organisation and hence in this
way power once again shifts towards the manager. An example of this is
the DiSCx tool which is used to address any mismatch between current
expertise and growth potential for the region. This tool is a personnel
assessment tool that helps leaders to increase knowledge of the
individuals who make up the teams and hence manage teams more
effectively by understanding the priorities of the department. This also
leads to picking the right person for the right job with the correct skills
and competencies.
The outputs from this tool will score the individual on their dominance /
forcefulness, sociability/ influence, steadiness and conscientiousness.
These results will help to determine which part of the business the
individual would be more suited to. Likewise this behaviour tool can be
used to raise awareness of their own qualities and subsequently
understanding where change is required.

Conclusion
From the discussions above we can positively state that job analysis and
work design is important in a restructuring any organisation that
undergoes transformation.

Job analysis provides information to organizations which helps

them determine which employees are best fit for specific jobs.

It underpins most of the HRM processes job design, job

evaluation, human resource planning, recruitment and selection,
training and development, compensation and pay, performance
management and career planning.xi

Over the past years, the concept of job analysis has been changing
dramatically. Increased competitiveness has led to reduction in
management with flatter organisations. This in turn has led for a demand
in employee flexibility. This can be achieved by hiring an external firm for
a period of time to enable key employees from being inundated with
backlogs and help them add value to the business. New technology should
be embraced by management in order to provide job efficiency and
effectiveness. Communication is key to achieving a positive outcome for
the recommendations above.

Reference list
1. 711SHRM Strategic Human Resource Management, AIB Topic 2:
Learning material.
2. Osterman, P 2010, 'Job design in the context of the job market',
Journal Of Organizational Behavior, 31, 2/3, pp. 401-411, Business
Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 July 2015.
3. Siddique, C 2004, 'Job analysis: a strategic human resource
management practice', International Journal Of Human Resource
Management, 15, 1, pp. 219-244, Business Source Complete,
EBSCOhost, viewed 14 July 2015.
4. Harvard Business Review, January 2007 Kotter.
5. State

of

Colorado,

(http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/dhr/select/docs/jobanal.pdf).
6. Noe et al. 2015 Chapter 4.

2002,

7. Juliano, JJ 2007, 'Work Design Can Decrease Costs, Help with

Upcoming Skills Shortage', Natural

Gas & Electricity, vol. 24, no. 4,

pp. 28-31.
8. http://www.knoll.com/media/480/221/wp_CommunicatingWorkplace
Change.pdf.
9. The role of Technology as an enabler in job redesign, David.M.Savino
10.

Ashford

&Cummings,

1983;Chen,Lam,

&

Zhong,2007;Ilgen,Fisher, & Taylor,1979

11.

AIB MBA STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Sample

Exam Questions with Answer Guidelines pg. 3.

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