QUESTION

• Andika01Question 1:

“Based on your research and your studies of organisations, critically evaluate whether continuous learning at the workplace is more or less important for some organisations than others.”

• Question 2:

“Critically analyse the HR strategy at Zip Air? Evaluate how the HR strategy supports the business plan. Do you think Zip Air will be able to mobilise its employee’s competencies and commitment to achieve a competitive advantage?”

SOLUTION

This essay focuses the concepts of continuous learning at workplace (Yeo, 2007). It gives various importances of continuous learning and how this culture can be implemented at workplace. The importance of it is further shown through examples of organizations which through continuous improvement and learning has led to development of its employees (Hameed, 2011) and in turn increased their presence in the market and gained market share. Also, the second part of this analysis examines industries where continuous improvement and learning is not required and how still those organizations were able to manage their competitive advantage and still growing in the market.

In the second part of essay, Zip Air case is discussed. In that, various HR Strategies of Zip Air is discussed and how Zip Air aligned these HR strategies to their organization plan. Also, it is revealed how effective communication would help them to achieve their strategies and plans. Further, the importance of continuous improvement is being looked from point of view of Zip Air and how change can be brought about using this.

CONTINUOUS LEARNING – AN OVERVIEW

The concept about learning took a significant shape in 1980s to survive in turbulent environment and highly competitive industries. Learning in the context of organization is related to changing perceptions (vision and strategies) and transfer of knowledge from one generation of employees to other (London, March 2007).

According to Peter Senge (Morales, 2011) an organization that encourages the culture of learning among its employees also enhances the transmission and reception of knowledge which in turn leads to more knowledgeable organization. Such organizations focus on development of workforce competencies and empowerment of leadership (Sulaiman, 2011). These are the organizations having large pool of talent in reserve which helps management in effective succession planning and also due to knowledgeable workforce who continuously enhances their skills such organizations can innovate quickly and can easily gain competitive advantage. The intellectual capital (Aleknavičiūte, 2011) is a dynamic component that may continuously be modelled with respect to its quantity, quality, value, usefulness or intensity of use and this is exactly what the statute of the learning organization implies: a continuous adaptation, continuous learning, continuous exploitation of resources and opportunities (Issa, August 2010).

In one of the research article by Erwin Danneels, he stated that two types of continuous learning are present in organization. First aims at improving the existing products and services the organization is offering and second aims at learning so as to develop knowledge in order to create new products and services to cater to customers.

The only way change i.e. continuous improvement and learning can be managed is by creating the environment of change and continuous learning. So, to catch up to change and stay in the competition organizations need to change and improve according to demand.

The continuous improvement (CI) as a theory of learning (Atkins, 2011) has been beneficial for many manufacturing organizations. It has helped these organizations to adapt to new practices of production and also improve on the existing methods. Also, concepts such as TQM (Total Quality management), has enabled them to adapt to the dynamic environment and work in direction of customer satisfaction which in turn led to the increase of market share for them. Various methodologies have been adapted by the organizations like Toyota to imbibe such culture within their organization. In the article, I would be focussing on organizations such as Toyota, Apple computers Inc. and Nokia; how continuous improvement has led to increase in their profitability and helped them to increase their market share to compete in the world of globalization.

INDUSTRY EXAMPLES

One of the biggest examples of continuous learning in organization is Apple Computer Inc (Cusumano, September 2008). Started in a garage by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak the company got into the business of primitive PC. Due to learning bent of mind and innovation the organization was able to develop products such as Macintosh, iPods and iPhone. The strategy of the organization has been to continuously innovate and improve so as to bring about new technological products in the market. The biggest question here is that how Apple is able to manage such a consistency. The answer to this is that leaders were able to create a culture of learning in the organization where employees were motivated to learn and to innovate to produce new products and improve further on the existing products. Also, this was one of the reasons for the diversification the apple has bought in its organization; PC makers to mackintosh, development of operating systems and software to production of iPad and iPhone. This all was a result of policies that were adopted at Apple which inculcated continuous improvement among individuals and groups within the organization. From the Apple Inc, it can be seen that how continues improvement and learning helped it to become what it is today.

At Nokia the scenario was same (Masalin, March 2003). Nokia in its early years was majorly in Rubber business. The journey from Rubber business to manufacturing of Mobile handsets was possible to due innovation and also largely due to adaption according to the changing scenario. This adaption to changing scenario was possible because of the culture of continuous improvement. During 1990s Nokia because of the policy of continuous improvement led to development of mobile handsets which made it the leader in market. Research and Development helped Nokia to develop at such a scale which led to customer satisfaction and also employees were provided enough autonomy to develop and help R&D team to help Nokia improve its existing products. But, today Nokia is losing its market share because it was not able to bring new products which can give competition to its rivals like Motorola, Apple in the market. This is because of lack of learning and innovation. So, from the story of Nokia it can be seen that how continuous improvement helped organization to first change its business from Rubber to mobile handsets and then allowed it to become market leader and also how lack of learning led to its downfall and fall in market share.

Toyota was the first organization to bring the concept of JIT (Just in time). This concept made Toyota manage its inventories and also helped it to reduce its costs. The culture of innovation was imbibed in the organization and is known to be present in the “DNA of the company.” Various researchers have researched on the assembly and production line of research to see how they are able to manage their operation. It has been found that they have predefined policies and procedures to do each and every task. But biggest argument which came from this was that it led to mechanical work. But this was not the case. Along with policies employees were provided enough freedom to continuously improve their procedures. They were given realistic and tough targets to manage. One such example was to improve lag time 5 minutes which was initially 15 minutes. So, this helped people to think and improve their present practices which made their operations more effective and resulted in the manufacture of world class cars. Their cars today are also known for their class and world class mechanics. So, it is also evident from this case that how continues improvement helps in bringing new practices at workplace and also helps in the improvement of existing procedures and policies (Cusumano M. A., Jan 2011).

In the above stories it is seen that continuous improvement led to development of the organizations but this may not be same for every organization. Some organization which are mainly in the field of manufacture of Power, Oil and Gas etc (Dhiman, 2010), do not need continuous improvement.  These are the sectors which follow their prescribed methods to work. In power sector there is not enough freedom for employees to innovate and continuous improve as such areas are too risky and one wrong step can lead to major losses. Also, monopolies like Oil and Gas do not require continuous improvement. They can survive on their old methods as they don’t have stiff competition from other players because of absence of such organizations. They can also make market move according to them and also dictate them the terms according to them without innovating.

So, from the above discussions it can be seen continuous learning at the workplace is more important for organisations which are in the field which mainly caters in technological driven goods and also where the competition is very stiff and is less important for organization which are into risky businesses such as power and also in monopolistic businesses like oil and gas.

CASE ANALYSIS

Zip Air is the subsidiary of Air Canada which was launched to cater to lower segment of airlines business i.e. the whole aim of the organization was to reduce costs of operation rather than reducing total fare so as to increase its profit margins.

To successfully achieve such a strategy HR adapted various program and strategies which was aligned to the overall strategy of the organization. This alignment helped organization in achieving is plans and also due to such practices they would be able to achieve their target of reducing the overall costs (Christiansen, 2008).

HR Strategies

1. 1.     Firstly, there was extraction of labour for this division from Air Canada only. This type of strategy helped organization to attract talent for new entity which was more aligned to overall organization and knew about its cultures, values and ethics. As, these people were from the already trained people in this domain so they didn’t require training on the time of joining Zip Air. This would help reduce costs as they would be able to save a large amount of money which would have been required if people would have been taken from outside.

1. 2.     Secondly, compensation packages of the people were also made in such a way that it did not become a burden and human capital do not become very high costs for the organization. Therefore, Zip employees were given lower wages than its parent company’s employees but the compensation they were getting was in line and competitive to their counterparts in the same segment i.e. those competitors who were also targeting at low end and cheaper air flights. This helped Zip Air to easily attract talent even from outside as companies in this domain was also paying similar to what Zip airline is trying to pay. Also, such a strategy would help the organization in reducing their overall costs.

1. 3.     Thirdly, the organization adopted a policy of no frills service i.e. the facilities which they would be providing would not be equivalent to what Air Canada is providing. Infect, they got rid of facilities such as offering meals and instead started serving meals on payment. Entertainment facilities within the flights were removed. Also, space between seats was reduced. This led to reduction in their costs they incurred because of their operation.

So, the HR Strategy in a nutshell can be viewed as

Organization Plan

Zip Air came into existence with a view to cater to low segment group of Airlines. To this they employed various HR and non HR strategies which helped them to move towards their vision and also helped them in reducing their costs.

Zip Air followed cost leadership strategy (Amit, May 86). A cost leadership strategy is the one in which organization focus on reducing their costs so that they can provide services and products to their customers at a relatively cheaper rate then the organizations following differentiation strategy. In cost leadership strategy, main focus is on reducing costs rather that providing high quality and customized products. The products and services provided are usually standardized which helps the organizations in further reduction in their costs through mass production. In case of Zip Air, the company reduced their costs through HR strategies that were discussed above and various other strategies like increasing seats in their aircrafts, getting rid of the business class. Also, various other luxurious facilities have been removed. They also tried to reduce their costs by buying maintenance services from their parent company Air Canada. This helped them in savings cost of establishment of new maintenance service for its own operation.

So, from the above discussion on cost leadership strategy (Schiff, 2009)and various strategies and plan adopted by Zip Air it can be concluded that Zip Air strictly followed a cost leadership strategy.

Support of HR Strategy

It is evident from the figure above that the HR strategy of the organization is to reduce costs and also others strategies were aligned in that direction. HR became one of the key elements in implementation of this strategy as they helped organization achieve it plans by adopting policies of paying less, training reduced and utilizing the resources available to its parent company. Therefore, it can be said that HR strategy supported the business plan of Zip Air.

Looking strategy of Zip Air from the point of view of continuous learning it is evident from the figure above that Zip Air promoted it. Moreover, Air Canada promoted this method of growth as because of such policy of continuous learning in the organization they were able to identify gaps in their business plans and processes and were able to bring about changes in the organization. Also, after Zip Air was formed, communication of policies adopted by the new organization became very important. So, it can be said that continuous learning on whole and various other interventions helped organization to follow the strategy to increase their market share in the segment in which they were previously not present.

According to me, if Zip Air establishes a communication system (Kupritz, Jan 2011)through which there is proper coordination and collaboration among the management and the employees than they would be able to achieve what they desired to attain much easily rather than if grapevine culture is promoted in the organization. As such presently the employees would be in very turbulent stage and would be resistive to such a change as this change is bringing about reduction in their compensation package. But if organization can communicate properly to its employees what they desire to achieve in future and how employees would be benefitted from such a policy would help they remove this resistance of the employees and in turn employees would also be willing to work in support of the strategies adopted by the organization.

Also, in such situation autonomy should be enhanced among individuals so that they can make quick decisions which would help organization in better management. This internal change can be brought about only if freedom to innovate is there and also if continuous learning culture is enhanced in the organization. This continuous learning culture will make people learn new ways of doing their job and hence can lead to reduction in costs which is the motive of the organization. Also, this will enable people see organization as their own and will create sense of belongingness, loyalty and trust among the employees.

One major example which can be seen in this context is that of Southwest airlines (Jackson, 2009). It is very prominent in its strategy is how they communicated people about the policies and strategies they adopted and also how continuous learning helped them to survive in the era in which large number of other flight carriers were experiencing losses for continuously several quarters. Their strategy towards people and employees helped them achieve the growth even after 09/11 attack when many flight carries were incurring losses.

Therefore, from the above discussion it can be seen that if such practices are adopted than Zip Air will be able to mobilise its employee’s competencies and commitment to achieve a competitive advantage (Venkatesan, 2011).

CONCLUSION

Organization in this dynamic industry has to focus on HR strategies so that they can achieve their business plans successfully. It is because of HR strategies and HR involvement organization can keep its employees motivated and attracted towards new improvements and learnings organization is willing to adapt to. Also, employees are motivated enough if they are involved in such processes and further enhance the intellectual capital of the organization. Therefore, continuous improvement becomes an essential part of organizational development in future.

REFERENCES

Aleknavičiūte, G. (2011). THE EVALUATION OF INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL INFLUENCE ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP. Economics & Management , 558-566.

Amit, R. (May 86). Cost Leadership Strategy and Experience Curves. Strategic Management Journal , 281-292.

Atkins, R. (2011). Repentance and Continuous Improvement: Ethical Implications for the Modern Leader. Journal of Business Ethics , 473-487.

Christiansen, L. C. (2008). How the alignment of business strategy and HR strategy can impact performance: A practical insight for managers. Journal of General Management , 13-33.

Cusumano, M. A. (Jan 2011). Technology Strategy and Management Reflections on the Toyota Debacle. Communications of the ACM , 33-35.

Cusumano, M. (September 2008). Technology Strategy and Management: The Puzzle of Apple. Communications of the ACM , 22-24.

Dhiman, G. R. (2010). HRM Practices, Attitudinal Outcomes and Turnover Intent: An Empirical Study in Indian Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Sector. South Asian Journal of Management , 74-104.

Hameed, A. (2011). Employee Development and Its Affect on Employee Performance A Conceptual Framework. International Journal of Business & Social Science , 224-229.

Issa, F. H. (August 2010). Implementing Change by Continuous Learning. International Journal of Public Administration , 474-486.

Jackson, M. J. (2009). SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: THE NEXT FIGHT BEGINS. Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies , 65-81.

Kupritz, V. W. (Jan 2011). Productive Management Communication. Journal of Business Communication , 54-82.

London, M. &. (March 2007). How groups learn, continuously. Human Resource Management , 651-669.

Masalin, L. (March 2003). Nokia Leads Change Through Continuous Learning. Academy of Management Learning & Education , 68-72.

Morales, V. J. (2011). Knowledge Creation, Organizational Learning and Their Effects on Organizational Performance. Engineering Economics , 309-318.

Schiff, J. B. (2009). Cost Leadership for the Current Challenge. Strategic Finance , 35-41.

Sulaiman, A. Z. (2011). An Empirical Study of the Relationship between Transformational Leadership, Empowerment and Organizational Commitment. Business & Economics Research Journal , 89-106.

Venkatesan, R. (2011). Is Market Orientation a Source of Sustainable Competitive Advantage or Simply the Cost of Competing? Journal of Marketing , 16-30.

Yeo, R. K. (2007). (Re) viewing problem-based learning: An exploratory study on the perceptions of its applicability to the workplace. Journal of Managerial Psychology , 369-391.

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