The Extended Role of Project Management Office in the Multi-Project Environment
June 1, 2022
The Role of Local Capacity Development in Mitigating the Challenges Faced In Offshore Drilling
June 1, 2022
Download PDF FileWorking Title
Interventions of stress management in the Qatar aviation industry: Examining Stress, Burnout Causes, and HRM Role
Introduction
Santos and Melicio (2019) state that workplace stress can occur at any time, in any organization, with any individual. In the present world, workplace stress has become increasingly common because of the organizations trying to ensure that majority of the work is carried out by a limited number of employees. Santos and Melicio (2019) further cite that many times, organizations do not realize that their approach of making an employee work more than his capability can cause further damage to the organization itself. The individual would not be able to work to his full potential because he would start losing confidence, become irritable, and even withdrawn as well (Tomic and Liu, 2017). However, Hajiyousefi, Asadi, and Jafari (2017) are of the view that it is the ability of the individual that must come into play to ensure that he can manage the work accordingly. Hajiyousefi, Asadi, and Jafari (2017) further reveal that there is no concept of workplace stress and it is just a phrase that has been coined by individuals who run away from work. Individuals must have a clear idea of managing the work as this would help them in becoming an asset to the organization (Tripathi, Joshi, and Sharma, 2020).
In Qatar, the aviation industry has been facing numerous cases of stress and burnout causes among the aviation staff. Cachia and Whitfield (2018) and Stokes and Kite (2017) are of the view that the aviation industry of the country has been hit owing to the current economic situation. It has led the management of numerous airlines to cut down on their staff. The existing staff that is in place are facing the issue of burnout and stress because they have to not only cover up their work but as well as of other employees who have been terminated. Carrillo et al. (2018) and Smith, Dyal, and DeJoy (2019) cite that the current economic situation has also had an impact on the cabin crew as they have been informed that they should be prepared for redundancies as the industry is starting to decrease its costs somehow.
Summary of Literature Review
The Qatar aviation industry has been going through a downfall phase owing to the current pandemic that is faced by the entire world. Ghauri, Grønhaug, and Strange (2020) assert that the Qatar aviation industry has been severely hit, as there have been no incoming or outgoing flights, which has caused the airlines in the industry to take measures to save their business from going redundant. Supporting the notion, Hajiyousefi, Asadi, and Jafari (2017) and Rook, Hellwig, Florent-Treacy, and Kets de Vries (2018) cite that this has led numerous airlines to cut down their staff members and inform the existing staff members to take up on additional responsibilities. The taking up of additional responsibilities has caused severe cases of burnout and stress causes among the aviation staff. A combination of both factors tends to make the employees working in the aviation industry lose focus of their goals and also prevents them from working to their full potential. According to Carrillo et al. (2018), the aviation industry comprises different employees who are working in different sectors. All these employees tend to face different causes of stress and burnout issues. The airline pilots would face a different form of stress and burnout which would be linked to their job demands and resources, along with ensuring that they can achieve the outcomes of job crafting, and happiness and be part of training performance as well (Cachia and Whitfield, 2018). For the cabin crew workers, the long working hours and not having adequate rest would lead to stress and burnout issues. For the air traffic services workers, continuous mental work can lead to stress and burnout issues. Apart from the usual burnout and stress causes, the staff of the aviation industry will also have to deal with the stress of taking up additional responsibilities. In such cases, the role of the human resources department in different airlines organization of the Qatar aviation industry becomes significant (Lockwood, Henderson, and Stansfeld, 2017). They must make certain that they are providing appropriate counseling, apart from creating strategies and techniques that would help the employees in the Qatar aviation industry to work efficiently and with ease of mind (Rodriguez-Paras, Khanade, and Sasangohar, 2018).
Key Research Question
The aim of the study will focus on the causes of stress and burnout in the Qatar aviation industry and the role of HRM in dealing with it. The research questions are:
What are the causes of workplace stress?
What are the key factors that result in workplace stress and burnout in the Qatar aviation industry?
What role does the HRM play in mitigating workplace stress and reducing burnout in the Qatar aviation industry?
What are the relevant recommendations to mitigate workplace stress, and reduce burnout in the Qatar aviation industry to enhance productivity?
Methodology
Bernard (2017) asserts that there are three forms of research approach, which are deductive, inductive, and abductive. The deductive research approach focuses on creating a hypothesis for the dissertation, which needs to be confirmed or rejected during the research process. The inductive research approach is based on the research questions and aims and objectives that are part of the research approach. The abductive research approach focuses on the explanation of incomplete observations, which are stated at the beginning of the study. This study will be using the inductive research approach. The research philosophy that will be used in the study is interpretivism. Ghauri, Grønhaug, and Strange (2020) cite that interpretivism comprises analysts that emphasize
interpreting the elements of the study. The purpose of using the interpretivism philosophy is that the study focuses on the role of stress and burnout in the Qatar aviation industry and the role of HRM in it. The research approach chosen for the study is qualitative.
The research strategy that will be used in the study is grounded theory. The purpose of using this theory would allow the researcher to use a theory for the data which would be taken from the participants. Walliman (2017) and Litosseliti (2018) cite that ground theory mainly helps in discovering the problems in the research field, and focuses on highlighting the strategies which help in tackling the problems. The researcher will also make use of a critical analysis tool to critically analyze the existing literature.
In this study, the type of investigation that will be carried out is through qualitative interviews. The idea behind conducting interviews is that it would provide the researcher with face-to-face interaction with the people who would provide verified information. Permission from the participants will be taken to record the interviews for analysis. The interviews will be carried out with cabin crew people of Qatar Airways in a confidential place. A total of 10 cabin crew employees would be chosen for study, from Qatar Airways. The purpose behind chosen cabin crew from this particular airline is these individuals come from different cultures and nationalities, so they would be able to provide better insight into the causes of stress and burnout issues. There would also be the inclusion of the HR manager of the organization, who will be interviewed to attain better insights related to the practices that he has implemented to deal with the stress and burnout causes that the cabin crew people are facing (Bryman, 2016). The data analysis will be carried out through the use of thematic analysis. The researcher will focus on analyzing the patterns and key themes that are related to the topic and analyze them accordingly to answer the research aim and objectives of the study.
Expected Outcomes
The expected outcome of the study is to pave the way for other researchers to carry out future research regarding the interventions of stress management in the aviation industry and the role of HRM in it. As the researcher has chosen to interview the cabin crew, this would allow the future analysts to assess the issues of stress and burnout from other employees’ perspectives that are part of the aviation industry. Moreover, the use of theoretical and empirical data would allow the collection of information to be assessed in a better way.
Get 3+ Free Dissertation Topics within 24 hours?
