HRM in the airline industry: strategies and outcomes

Abstract

Within the HRM literature, health and safety occupies a somewhat rhetorical role. Examines HRM and the management of health and safety in the airline industry. Argues that in response to increasing competitive conditions, airlines have adopted a short‐termist, cost‐rational approach to HRM and health and safety, evidenced by a range of strategies aimed at securing reductions in operating costs and short‐term productivity gains, where profit is prioritised over employee health and safety. Concludes that HRM may have provided a smokescreen for irresponsible health and safety management in the airline industry, while a two‐tier assault on health and safety has taken place.