Strategic Human Resource Training and Development Practices in Kenya Airways Company Ltd

Abstract

Kenya Airways operating in an airline industry that is very dynamic and volatile and with a strong international presence in Africa, Europe, and Asia and 4200 employees employed as pilots, cabin crew, engineers, accountant, marketers, customer care agents as well as casuals amongst other ranks as at June 2013.The research gives light on the training and development practices at Kenya Airways with the purpose of revealing different folds. The researcher used case study design since the research is an in-depth study of training practices found in only one organization. 9 employees of the airline from different hierarchies and departments were used as respondents from the airline headquarter and training school. Interview guide was developed focusing on some important issues like, importance of training, training and development plan, training need analysis and types and methods of training. The researcher used content analysis to analyze the data because it involves observation and detailed description of objects or things. The findings show that Kenya Airways has a strategic plan which consists of among others a strategic human resource training and development plan. This plan is for a period of 5 years and it is reviewed annually to cater for any unexpected changes in the environment. The study revealed that the strategies Kenya Airways uses to train and develop its employees were successful which included job rotation, communication, coaching, job enrichment and performance management. The study faced limited finance the study could not be carried out on the other branches of Kenya Airways. The study however, minimized this by conducting the interview at the company's headquarter since it is where strategies are made and rolled out to other branches that operate on the same blue print. Kenya Airways should embrace a learning management system to facilitate computerized training in the organization as they have lots of employees in different geographical region and different training to manage as this will enable them take advantage of the potential benefit of E-Learning. Future researchers can work on effectiveness of Training needs Assessment on training, need for post and pre-training test and evaluation of different training methods based on this study.