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It Is No Great Leap To Consider Whether Coping With The Demands Of Working ...

It is no great leap to consider whether coping with the demands of working life in this context may be affected by shift patterns. MacDonald et al (2003) suggest that targeted efforts to reduce selected job stressors and to enhance social support may be important steps toward improving the well-being and satisfaction of female flight attendants, for example. Such approaches however must take into account the lessons to be learned from chronbiology (Eriksen and Akerstedt, 2006).

Another thing to take into consideration are fitness standards of airline staff, which are the legal responsibility of the employer (McGregor, 2003). Many airlines already invest considerably in this area, which is a financially sensible approach to assessing much lower levels of future medical and litigious risk (McGregor, 2003). Regular meals are also important (Knauth and Horberger, 2003), which would be a relatively simple adjustment to scheduling and work practices.

Table 4: Steps for Analysing and Solving Aer Arann's Workforce Scheduling and Employee Wellbeing Problem (adapted from Gunes, 1999).
Determine nature and demand of workload.

Determine staff required to carry out the work (for each time period) and the crew components required.

Determine total staff size enough to do the work and determine the optimal number of crews.

Determine personnel availability and skill mix within crews.

Match personnel to crew requirements.

Determine if labour needs and availability mismatches are significant, identify gaps in crews and recruit or redeploy accordingly.
Determine effects of scheduling of breaks and meals on workload management on coverage and staffing requirements.
Investigate alternative models of staffing provision, such as ‘ghost' crews or reserve staff, to allow for coping strategies such as sleep or rest periods.
Initiate proactive Occupational Health programmes which include focusing on social support and all available help.
Investigate time management within teams.

Investigate organisational culture from ground level up and determine the acceptability of interventions such as alternative crew rotations, rostered and individualised nap periods and flexible working patterns for targeted staff.
Develop a work and crew staffing schedule based on these investigations
Develop a workforce and crew scheduling management system.
Initiate internal audit and evaluation as a cyclical process
Engage with local primary healthcare providers for proactive health promotion and disease prevention.
Investigate recruitment practices and evaluate staff retention and attrition.


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