Archives-June 2023

The post-9/11 travel industry has transformed with partnerships and alliances commonplace between airlinesbecoming the norm and imperative, with economic and other pressures arising from reduced travel, recently further exacerbated by the pandemic. The consequence of these airline unions of economic convenience has warranted the operation staffing with a diverse blend of employees, due to international relocation of employees and demographic shifts in the United States population. The research aim was to peruse the operations environment and explore the management strategies of the resultant diverse workforce and discern the challenges. It is known that organizational performance is contingent upon the deftness of human resources in the optimization of the workforce. The transformational leadership theory was the theoretical foundation and the lens to underpin the exploration of the strategies U.S.-based international airline alliance leaders in ground staff operations use to successfully manage a diverse workforce to ensure organizational sustainability and profitability. A qualitative approach using semistructured interviews included a purposive sample of five airline alliance leaders located in the state of Georgia, who held at least 2 years of successful experience in implementing strategies to manage a diverse workforce. Content and thematic analysis were used to analyze the data, leading to the emergence of the key theme of the importance of strategic human resources management, and leadership in increasing organizational effectiveness. A key imperative is for airline alliance leaders to align diversity, equity, and inclusion policies with corporate human resources strategy. The implication for organizational success is that airline alliance business leaders must deftly manage a diverse and inclusive workforce in a rapidly changing world.