Developing a talent-risk management framework for selected aviation enterprises

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge influence on the aviation industry. Traffic restrictions, lockdown measures and decreased passenger demand have all contributed to a significant drop in air traffic. Airlines have encountered financial difficulties, with several suffering huge losses and others going bankrupt. Flight frequencies, route cancellations and grounded aircraft have all increased in the industry. Talent risk management in the aviation industry was severely impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. A literature review highlighted that there was no formal talent risk management framework in place for the aviation industry. As a result, aviation managers lack the skills and specialist expertise required to manage talent during the pandemic. Employees may seek work elsewhere as a result, resulting in a talent drain in the industry. The goal of this research is to develop a talent-risk management framework for the selected aviation enterprises that will better enable aviation managers to deal with crisis while managing crucial resources and human capital. This study was conducted with participants from two airlines; namely, South African Airways in South Africa and a middle eastern airline, Qatar Airways. While Qatar Airways continued to fly throughout the pandemic, South African Airways was already identified to undergo business rescue and organisational restructuring prior to the pandemic. So, the emergence of the pandemic only added to the difficulties that this airline was already facing. A total of 12 (six from each airline) human resource managers voluntarily participated in the study. The study adopted a qualitative research approach, using semi-structured interviews conducted via Microsoft Teams. This method sought a more subjective review of the experience from the participants. Data were analysed manually using a wall of code and code matrices to show frequency of code words. The themes were generated from the code words. The themes were aligned with the four objectives of this study, which are; to determine the critical factors involved in the development of a talent-risk management framework for the aviation industry; to determine what talent-risk management processes are in place and where the gaps exist in the aviation industry; to explore the perceived competencies managers need in the aviation industry (skill sets, bias) to deal with talent-risk management and to explore the talent risk management challenges experienced by managers in the aviation industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of this study revealed that there is no formal talent-risk management framework for the selected aviation enterprises. The findings from the data collected were used in combination with the literature and the theoretical foundations that underpin this study to develop a talent-risk management framework for the selected aviation enterprises as the main contribution to the body of knowledge. Multiple managerial recommendations were posed to ensure the management of the talent-risk factors that frame the outcome of the study.