FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Business Administration

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES OF

VIETNAM AIRLINES

SUBJECT: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGMENT

(GROUP 2)

Lecturer : MBA. Hoang Anh Duy

Students : Name ID
§ Nguyen Vy Anh 1515150012

§ Do Phuong Chi 1613340021

§ Nguyen Thi Ngan Ha 1613340031

§ Nguyen Duc Huy 1517340036

§ Pham Ha Thuy Linh 1613340054

§ Pham Khanh Ly 1511150087

§ Chu Thi Kim Nhung 1517150100

§ Trinh Thuy Trang 1513340071

§ Dam Quang Trung 1511150135

Hanoi, March 20th, 2018

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 4
1.1. Brief history of Vietnam Airlines.................................................................. 4
1.2. Human resources department's goals and objectives ................................. 4
1.3. Reasons why we choose Vietnam Airlines ................................................... 6

LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................... 6

2.1. Recruiting and Selecting ................................................................................ 7
2.1.1. Recruiting ................................................................................................................... 7
2.1.2. Selecting ...................................................................................................................... 8
2.2. Training and Development ............................................................................ 9
2.2.1. Definition .................................................................................................................... 9
2.2.2. Process ......................................................................................................................... 9
2.2.3. Methods ....................................................................................................................... 9
2.2.4. Purpose of Training and Development ............................................................... 9
2.3. Performance Management .......................................................................... 10
2.3.1. Definition .................................................................................................................. 10
2.3.2. Process ....................................................................................................................... 10
2.3.3. Methods and personal mistakes .......................................................................... 11
2.3.4. Purpose of Performance management .............................................................. 11

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ON HRM ACTIVITIES OF

VIETNAM AIRLINES ............................................................................................... 11
3.1. Recruiting and Selecting .............................................................................. 11
3.1.1. Human resource planning and implementation .............................................. 11
3.1.2. Recruitment and placement work ...................................................................... 12
3.1.3. Recruitment results ................................................................................................ 18
3.1.4. Evaluation ................................................................................................................. 19
3.2. Training and Development .......................................................................... 20
3.2.1. The importance of T&D activities ..................................................................... 20
3.2.2. Major training and development activities ...................................................... 20
3.2.3. Training and Development programs ............................................................... 21

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 3.2.4. Evaluation ................................................................................................................. 23
3.3. Performance Management .......................................................................... 24
3.3.1. An overview of central region office of Vietnam Airlines ......................... 24
3.3.2. The reality of performance appraisals of the staffs at the middle region
branch of Vietnam Airlines ................................................................................................... 25
3.3.3. Evaluation ................................................................................................................. 27

RECOMMENDATION ........................................................................ 28
4.1. Recruiting and Selecting .............................................................................. 28
4.2. Training and Development .......................................................................... 29
4.3. Performance Management .......................................................................... 31
4.3.1. Choosing evaluation method ............................................................................... 31
4.3.2. Proposed process of evaluating employees ..................................................... 32

CONCLUSION ..................................................................................... 35

REFERENCES ..................................................................................... 36

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 TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Feedback process of Vietnam Airlines ......................................................27

Figure 2. Proposed process of evaluating employees ...............................................33

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Human resource structure of the office.......................................................24

Table 2. Performance Management Methods ...........................................................32

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 INTRODUCTION

1.1. Brief history of Vietnam Airlines

Vietnam Airlines Corporation was established under Decision No. 328 / TTG on
May 27, 1995 of the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Vietnam
Airlines is a state-owned enterprise operating in the field of air transport and related
services to ensure the safe and efficient exploitation and transportation of passengers
and cargo (petrol and oil trading and processing, meals on the plane, drinking water,
tools for passengers ...). At the same time, Vietnam Airlines also joint venture with other
airlines in the region and in the world to transport passengers and goods.

Positioning itself as a young, modern carrier whose brand is characterized by

Vietnamese traditional culture and internationally recognized, Vietnam Airlines is
purchasing world’s most modern, environment-friendly aircraft, such as Boeing 787 and
Airbus A350-900 and making constant efforts to improve its service quality. The airline
is striving to become one of the most favorable carriers in the Asia-Pacific region.

The total number of employees of Vietnam Airlines is over 16,000 with many
PhDs, masters, thousands of bachelors, technicians and pilots, flight attendants... Among
them, there are more than 400 labors of various nationalities in the world, including
more than 200 foreign pilots and flight attendants, and the rest mainly working at
Vietnam Airlines' overseas representative offices.

The organizational structure of Vietnam Airlines Corporation consists of

specialized committees (Auditing Committee, Strategy and Investment Committee and
HR & Compensation Committee) and member units such as Department of Organization
& HR, Department of Finance, Training Department, Delegates, Regional Offices,
Branch Offices ...

1.2. Human resources department's goals and objectives

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 The primary goals of HR department of Vietnam Airlines include job analysis and
staffing (recruitment), organization and utilization of workforce, measurement and
appraisal of workforce performance, implementation of reward systems for employees,
professional development of workers and maintenance of workforce.
• Job analysis and recruitment: The HR Department in Vietnam Airlines has the
responsibility of recruiting people for various employment positions in the
company. They determine the skills, and experience necessary to adequately
perform in a position, identification of job and industry trends and anticipation
of future employments. They provide valid information about jobs that is used to
hire and promote people, determine wages, determine training needs, and manage
the flow of personnel into and out of Vietnam.
• Organization, maintenance and utilization: The HR department of Vietnam
Airlines maintains the workforce of the company. The duty here involves
designing an organizational framework that makes maximum use of an
enterprises human resources and establishing systems of communication that
helps the organization to operate in a unified manner. Other responsibilities in
this area include health and safety and worker management relations.
Maintenance task related to worker-management relations primarily entails:
working with labor union; handling grievances related to misconduct, such as
theft or harassment; and devising communication systems to foster cooperation
and shared sense of mission among the employees.
• Performance appraisal: The HR Department of Vietnam Airlines assesses
employees’ job performance and provides feedbacks to the employees on both
their positive and negative performance. The performance appraisal is important
because it is used to determine the salary increase and promotions and in the case
of a negative performance, dismissal might follow.
• Reward systems: This aspect of management is important because it provides the
mechanism by which company provide their worker with a reward for past
achievements and incentives for high performance in the future. The Vietnam
Airlines’ HR Department also uses this system to address a problem within the
work force through institution of disciplinary measures.

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 • Employee development and training: The HR is responsible for identifying the
training needs of Vietnam Airlines’ employee and initiates and evaluates
developments programs designed to address those needs. These training
programs ranges from orientation programs, which are designed to acclimate new
hire of the company, to ambitious education programs indented to familiarize
workers with a new software system.

The HR Department is playing an increasingly important role in the operation of

Vietnam Airlines. With the goal towards 2020, Vietnam Airlines becomes the airline of
the top group in Southeast Asia with the quality of international standard services of 4
stars, Vietnam Airlines’ HR Department has been constantly improving the quality
workforce through the standardization of occupational, construction and team
occupations, training courses, employee training programs to increases the quality of
services delivered and increase growth and profit that benefits the whole organization.
Having the organization’s mission in mind at all time not only leads to the achievements
of HR goals and objectives of Vietnam Airlines but also helps Vietnam Airlines to
succeed in today’s tough business climate.

1.3. Reasons why we choose Vietnam Airlines

Currently, Vietnam Airlines is capturing nearly 50% of the domestic airlines
market (CAPA, 2017). Therefore, the structure of HR Department in Vietnam Airlines
is such a precious source to do research on. Researching about Vietnam Airlines will
help us deeply understand the Human Resources Management in the Airlines industry
and thus suggested some directions in our future career. In this report, we only focus on
three following activities of HRM: Recruitment and Selection, Training and
Development, Performance management.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Human Resources Management is a process including all these activities:
• Human Resources planning
• Job Analysis
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 • Recruitment and Selection
• Training and Development
• Performance management
• Compensation
• Dealing with policies, systems, practices and labor dispute
• Influence the relationship between organization and employees.

This project will focus on three following activities of HRM: Recruitment and Selection,
Training and Development, Performance management.

2.1. Recruiting and Selecting

Firstly, it is utmost for every organization to have suitable work force, employ right
people for right position at right time. And Recruiting & Selecting play an important
role in completing this goal. Human resource recruitment and selecting is the process of
seeking, attracting and selecting human resources to meet the demand for using and
adding the labor force needed in order to achieve the objectives of the enterprise.

2.1.1. Recruiting
Definition:
Recruitment is a process of seeking and attracting suitable candidate for position
of organization. The purpose of the recruitment process is to find the widest pool of
applicants to provide the greatest opportunity to select the best people for the required
roles in an organization.

Types of recruitment sources:

There are two types of recruitment sources: internal and external. The company
can decide to choose which source flexibly in different situations. The internal source is
required when it comes to urgent cases. This will be more saving for companies as it
takes shorter time for training people who already have inside knowledge about the
operation. It will save the company’s time and budget, however, since its core is hiring
an employee who is currently working for the company itself, it will transfer a person
from a position to another, hence create a new missing position.
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 On the other hand, companies need external sources when current labor doesn’t fit
anymore, they need huge demand in people or they need new ideas to change
organization’s style. For this source, the company is able to both generate intellectual
creativity and to hire new employees who are good at new fields which the whole
organization has not achieved before. Unlike the former cost-friendly internal source,
the external source needs considerable financial and time budget in order to find
excellent candidate.

So how the companies can access these sources? There are a variety of recruitment
approaches, both internal and external. The best way for internal approaches is to
combine job referral, nomination and choosing based on performances. And the best
external tool is job advertisement which helps to advertise the companies as well.

2.1.2. Selecting
Definition
Selection is a process of evaluating and deciding suitable candidates for the
position. The purpose of the selection process is to ensure that the best person or people
are appointed to the role or roles using effective, fair and equitable assessment activities.
Suitable candidates mean that they can fit into the job requirement and the organization.

Process
Selection methods include 5 crucial steps:
• Screening through application profiles and CVs
• Testing and reviewing by work samples
• Gathering information and Interviewing candidates
• Checking candidates’ references and background
• Making final decisions

Among all above steps, interview is considered one of the most effective way.
There are 2 types of interviews: Structured and Unstructured. Structured interview will
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prepare a list of questions and apply it for everyone. Unstructured is about improvision
and no preparation. Nowadays, the most common type is semi-structured which is the
combination. This allows interviewers to have preparation and freedom to discover more
about the candidates at the same time.

2.2. Training and Development

2.2.1. Definition
Training is an organization’s planned efforts to help employees acquire job-related
knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors, with the goal of applying these on the job.
While development is the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and behaviors that improve
an employee’s ability to meet changes in job requirements and in customer demands.

2.2.2. Process
There are 8 stages in Training and Development process:
1. Identify the needs of Training and Development
2. Set up the objectives of Training and Development
3. Identify the trainees
4. Estimate the budget for Training and Development
5. Choose the Training and Development methods
6. Choose the trainers
7. Implement the Training and Development program
8. Evaluate the Training and Development process

2.2.3. Methods
There are 2 methods of training. The first one is OTJ - on the job training, training
happens when employees are working so they can learn at the same time. The other is
Off TJ - off the job training. In order to evaluate a Training & Development program,
companies should base on following factors: performance improvement, return on
investment, trainee satisfaction, transfer of training, new skills and knowledge.

2.2.4. Purpose of Training and Development

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 When the organization invests in improving the knowledge and skills of its
employees, the investment is returned in the form of more productive and effective
employees. In nutshell Training is crucial for organizational development and its success
which is indeed fruitful to both employers and employees of an organization. Here are
some important benefits of training and development.
• Increased productivity: Training and development directly improves efficiency
and productivity of employees. Employees remain up to date with new
technology and thus use existing ones in a better way. Well trained employees
show both quantity and quality performance. There is less wastage of time,
money and resources when employees are properly trained.
• Less supervision: Training improves necessary skill sets in employees and
empowers them to address tasks independently. In other words, a well-trained
employee will be well acquainted with the job and hence they need less of
supervision.
• Reduction of errors & accidents: Most of the errors occur because of many
employees lack the desired knowledge and precise skills required for doing a
particular job. Continuous Training and development ensures that employees get
the right skills at right time. The more trained an employee is, the less are the
chances of committing errors in job.

2.3. Performance Management

2.3.1. Definition
Performance Management is the process of ensuring that employees’ activities and
outputs match the organization’s goals.

2.3.2. Process
There are 3 stages in performance management process:
• Stage 1: Specify relevant aspect of performance
• Stage 2: Appraise performance
• Stage 3: Provide performance feedback

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The human resource department may be responsible for developing or obtaining
questionnaires and other devices for measuring performance.

2.3.3. Methods and personal mistakes

There are a wide range of evaluation method: ranking, essay, critical incident,
attribution, behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS), Behavioral Observation Scale
(BOS), Management by objectives (MBO), KPI. The common personal mistakes in
evaluating performance are: halo effect, horn effect, similar-to-me, contrast, leniency,
harshness, primacy, recency and central tendency. If the managers make these mistakes,
it can lead to failure in performance evaluation and cause dissatisfaction among
employees. Therefore, in order to avoid these mistakes, the companies should train the
raters carefully, have more than one rater and establish a punishment policy.

2.3.4. Purpose of Performance management

• Strategic Purpose means effective performance management helps the
organization achieve its business objectives.
• Administrative Purpose refers to the ways in which organizations use the system
to provide information for day-to-day decisions about salary, benefits and
recognition programs.
• Developmental Purpose means that it serves as a basis for developing employees’
knowledge and skills

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ON HRM ACTIVITIES OF

VIETNAM AIRLINES
3.1. Recruiting and Selecting
3.1.1. Human resource planning and implementation
Over the past years, due to many objective and subjective factors, the business
situation of Vietnam Airlines has always fluctuated, which affected the plan of human
resources management. Until now, no long-term, medium-term development of human
resources management has been officially approved but only annually is approved.

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 Although the annual plan is developed according to the actual requirements of
production and business (annual production targets of Vietnam Airlines, the
organizational model, functions and tasks of job) but construction and approval is slow
(normally this plan was delivered in the first quarter). Annual plans are always subject
to changes that have been reduced or not practical to meet the requirements of
production and business. Normally, after the plan is approved, the agencies plan and
carry out recruitment and training, which will be completed by the end of the second
quarter, even until the end of the third quarter or the end of the plan year, so the recruited
resources will only be used for the next year.

3.1.2. Recruitment and placement work

The success of any business, large or small, depends largely on the capacity and
performance of the employees. Especially, since air transportation is a modern
technology so it requires very high demands on human resources as a specific labor
force. Therefore, recruiting is very well-received by Vietnam Airlines.

To meet the general development requirements of Vietnam Airlines, when there

are new aircraft need to have personnel to put into operation immediately. Therefore,
the flight attendants crew need to coordinate with specialized departments in Vietnam
Airlines to develop a long-term human resource development strategy. On the basis of
that to develop recruitment and training plans to meet the demand of Vietnam Airlines.

Since 2008, the General Director of Vietnam Airlines has promulgated the
Regulation on recruitment, employment and management of laborers applicable to all
laborers (both Vietnamese and foreigners working for Vietnam Airlines). This provision
has provided the framework for general standards of training level, language skills, age,
history ... apply to job titles in recruitment together with the procedures and contents of
the training. In reality, Vietnam Airlines strictly follow this regulation when recruiting.
So, basically, the quality of labor in Vietnam Airlines in the period 2010-2014 is quite
good, ensuring good performance. However, due to some very high requirements on

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appearance, ability to understand, behave, language skill so the number of newcomers
newly recruited is not high enough to meet the demand.

Regarding recruitment methods: Currently, Vietnam Airlines is organizing

scattered recruitment through the boards of the agencies and units so the recruitment
takes place at different times and the recruitment period is usually extended. This leads
to waste of time and cost. In addition, the lack of professional recruiting staff and the
use of professional staff or use of council to recruit so only stop at the level of
professional assessment but has not deepened the assessment, looking for other soft
skills of the candidates. This is also the reason why candidates do not really meet
expectations.

According to the Regulation on the Management of Laborers of Vietnam Airlines,

the recruited labor force shall have to sign probation contracts, labor contracts and enjoy
the prescribed regimes according to law provisions, depending on each type of work,
selection criteria for which Vietnam Airlines applies different recruitment procedures:

• For flight attendants:

Being a flight attendant requires a combination of factors such as health,
intelligence, agility and grace.

Basing on the approved annual labor plan, the crew work out the recruitment plan
and set up the job-force recruitment council and submit it to the general director for
approval. The recruitment council is responsible for promulgating regulations on
recruitment, determining the number of recruited laborers, funding, time and
announcing them on the means of communication as prescribed by law and Vietnam
Airlines.

There are 4 round to test the qualities required to be a flight attendant

o Round 1: Catwalk - Appearance - Reflex

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In this round, the judges will select a group of 8 by the number of registered and
simultaneously catwalk to the judge's table. Catwalk should be soft, confident with
beautiful smile. And then you will be judge by appearance like face, skin, and check
whether the hand have scars, tattoos or not.

This section, mainly the judges wanted to test your ability to reflect. All of you
will be asked the same question and have to "win each other" answer.
Ø What do you like about your smile?
Ø What is the model of a flight attendant?
Ø In high school subjects, what is your favorite subject?
Ø According to you how simple?
Ø Read two verses of Xuan Dieu about eyes?
Ø Do you think the friend next to you can become a flight attentdant? - Why?
Ø Choose 5 words to describe you next - Why choose that 5 words?
Ø Is flight attentdant a difficult or easy profession?
Ø Why is appearance important to flight attendants?

o Round 2: Interview in English

You will have to interview by English in pairs. There are many different questions,
but mostly ask you to talk about yourself as well, and sometimes you have to dialogue
with your partner.
Ø Introduce yourself?
Ø Why do you like to be a flight attendant?
Ø Why did you decide to quit your current job?
Ø What are the characteristics of a flight attendant?
Ø Why choose Vietnam Airlines?
After this round, candidates will be classified into 3 levels:
Ø Pass without having to learn more about English.
Ø Pass but need to improve your English.
Ø Do not pass because you are too weak on English.

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Through this round, you will be measured height, weight and mostly you will be 1-2 cm
short of normal which make many and not enough height as prescribed.

o Round 3: Teamwork.
The groups were given A0 paper and painted to express the dream of a group. Then
each group will give a presentation on the picture. This is a round of personal ideas that
contribute to teamwork.

When presenting, there is a lucky group to be presented in Vietnamese, but there

are groups required to present English. No one will be eliminated in this round, but what
you do will affect the final result in the Council

o Round 4: Interview with the Council

There are 5 judges in the council. You can be asked in English in this round. You
are also mostly asked about yourself as in English interview. However, they are going
to check appearance again such as acne, irregular teeth, too thin, ect. You will have
bonus point if you have the talent of singing and dancing and have won awards, the
judges will agree to let you perform.

In terms of professional recruitment, this format is not too difficult because there
is no role playing games like the roleplay of Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways have
been designed to eliminate candidates with no quick reflect. Also, there is no personality
classification using specialized software such as Emirates Airline, so questions are
sentimental jugded by the interviewer.

There is a criteria for Vietnam Airlines flight attendants:

o For new applicants:
Ø Female between 20 and 26 years old; Height from 158 cm to 175 cm;
Ø Men between the ages of 20 and 28; Height from 165 to 182 cm,
Ø Weight is suitable for height

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 Ø Graduated from high school or higher; priority to graduated from college,
university
Ø Health: Flight attendant health requirements;
Ø Clear profile;
Ø Balanced appearance; good communication skills, confident, suitable for
the service profession;
Ø English: TOEIC 550 or TOEFL (500), TOEFL ibt (61), TOEFL cbt (173),
IELTS (5.0).
Ø Priority to applicants with 2 foreign languages (French, German, Russian,
Japanese, Korean, Chinese).
o For candidates who were flight attendants of Vietnam Airlines:
Ø Not over 35 years old;
Ø Other standards apply as new candidate criteria;
Ø Leave for personal reasons.
o For flight attendants of other airlines:
Ø Having 03 years of experience or more;
Ø Not over 30 years old
Ø Other standards apply as new candidate criteria.

Post-graduates who have passed the examinations must pass the theoretical
training on knowledge of aviation industry, professional knowledge of flight attendants
and practice on flight according to training regulations of The flight attendants and
Vietnam Airlines.

After finishing the practical flight time, if the flight attendants meet the set
requirements, the result shall be reported to competent authorities for issuance of
mobilization decisions and dispatch of flight attendants to perform their duties on flights
of Vietnam Airlines and signing the labor contract with steward. If the flight attendants
fail to achieve theoretical or practical results, they shall be retrained or extended with
practice periods in accordance with the training contracts.

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 • For engineers, technicians:
There are now two ways to hire technical workers. First, recruit high school
graduates and then 18 months training in Aviation school on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia road,
about maintenance of aircraft. However, the training here is heavy in theory, there are
not enough training facilities for practical training. Secondly, recruit people who have
graduated from secondary vocational schools and then train 6 months on aircraft
engineering, the specific recruitment process is as follows:
o Preliminary selection: checking the validity of the resume and appearance of the
candidates according to regulations on recruitment and use of Vietnam Airlines;
check logical thinking, professional skills needed for the job.
o General interview: professional qualification examination; level of
understanding of social issues; detect, evaluate the skills and experience needed
for the job
o The health check for applicants for recognition of admission is based on the
certification by the medical establishment designated by the Ministry of Health.
o Background verification: Screening, checking the employee's personal
identifications, remove people have the potential to threaten security and aviation
safety

When they are admitted to work, they may directly engage in technical work on
aircraft or aircraft equipment in the specialized field (Mechanics specializing in aircraft
hulls, aircraft wings, motives...; Subject specialized related to systems such as
electricity, watches, radio...) however they could not been working independently but
have to do under supervision of others.

Technicians need to be trained and pass the exams to obtain certification in

different degrees. After school, they are assigned to department such as Quality
Assurance, Engineering. In those department, the employee must take the initiative to
board the aircraft in order to have enough experience to serve for the inspection and
technical assistance. After a certain period of time, technicians are entitled to take the
Civil Aviation Authority Certificate of Occupancy (Civil Aviation Administration).

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Only when have certificate, technicians are allowed to work independently, on the
aircraft or aircraft equipment (working outside or in the field or in the workshops). Labor
in the technical sector requires proper training with professional qualifications in
accordance with the standard of work. Most of the technical staff in Vietnam Airlines is
used properly.

• For Pilots:
Based on the approved annual labor plan, the flight 919 shall build the recruitment
plan and establish the recruitment council to submit to the general director for approval.
The recruitment council is responsible for promulgating regulations on recruitment,
determining the number of recruited laborers, funding, time and announcing them on
the means of communication as prescribed by law and Vietnam Airlines (the same with
the flight attendants).

After receiving the registration of basic pilot training, the recruitment council shall
select students to register for basic pilot training, then submit them to general director.
After being approved by the competent authorities, Vietnam Airlines will sign a contract
of recruiting after training with selected trainees, followed by basic pilot training. After
the graduates, Vietnam Airlines will recruit employees after training basic pilot through
the examination. Based on the approval of the competent authority, Vietnam Airlines
will sign the contract with the successful candidates.

3.1.3. Recruitment results

Vietnam Airlines has just recruited the number of laborers available on the market.
With those who have competition in the market, Vietnam Airlines is always recruiting
not enough quantity and number of employees are recruited with poor quality.

In addition to the number of new recruits every year, the number of attendants to
leave is also increasing, so the actual increase a year also has not met the demand for
general growth. The cause may be many, but the following reasons are most likely to
affect is the current income not as attractive as before; have to work far away, the impact
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on health is high due to the impact of noise... and the tightening of regulations that lead
many layoffs to be fired. In order to solve the problem of quantity, attention should be
paid to increasing the income, encouraging morale and raising the awareness of the
workers.

After a series of technical staff working at VAECO took leave to move to work for
another airline, VAECO has introduced measures that require employees to sign a labor
contract, including obligations such as employees after training must work at the
company 10 to 20 years. Those who are off work will have to compensate the company
for training (from 700 to 1.3 billion).

3.1.4. Evaluation

• Advantages:
The public recruitment on the mass media has been announced (new points
compared to the previous period) that may attract many experts from different sources.
Also, the recruitment committee has been set up and publicity organized. The
recruitment process is determined by human resource development plan on the basis of
the professional qualifications, health and other abilities such as language level and
computer skill.

• Limitations:
There are no medium and long-term recruitment plans, but is based on labor
demand arise, so the recruitment and deployment of human resources training has not
been effective. Planning and recruiting staff are not scientific, not based on long-term
forecasts that are close to reality, making long-term business plans for Vietnam Airlines
more difficult to achieve. Because of its long-term recruitment plan, Vietnam Airlines
can actively allocate and arrange resources and at the same time develop training plans
that are appropriate to the level of the employees as well as meet the goals, requirements
and results need to be achieved.

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 Recruitment at some units takes place at an inappropriate time and there is no
policy to create recruitment sources from universities, especially specific job titles
requiring expertise, high proficiency in the field of aviation so not attract more qualified
candidates and the ability to participate in recruitment.

Due to the lack of specific job title standards in the system, recruitment only
applies to general or specific occupational status standards (pilots, aircraft technicians)
leading to applicants are not suitable for the specific job requirements and in some job
positions that are used in contrast to the professionally trained occupations that also
cause waste of resources and inadequate in management.

3.2. Training and Development

3.2.1. The importance of T&D activities
Recently, Vietnam Airlines has been in the process of mastering transport
technology with new generations of aircrafts, which leads to this company’s continual
process of purchasing state-of-the-art aircrafts. This means Vietnam Airlines needs
highly qualified employees to keep up with speedy technology growth. Therefore,
human resources are regarded as one of the company’s core values and a fundamental
foundation. Moreover, since Vietnam Airlines is constantly influenced by changes in
technology, besides recruitment, training and development programs for pilots, cabin
attendant and aircraft technicians are of paramount importance to development demands
of Vietnam Airlines.

3.2.2. Major training and development activities

According to the official website of Flight Training Center (FTC) of Vietnam
Airlines, there are 6 major training programs, namely:
• Pilots training
• Flight attendants training
• Dispatchers training
• Soft skills training
• English training
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 • Airlines orientation
During the past few years, training and development plans are affected by objective
and subjective factors. Up to now, only annual human resources development plans are
officially approved rather than long-term or medium-term ones. Although annual plans
are designed according to practical requirements of the business, the process of
implementing and approving the plans always takes a lot of time. Annual plans always
have adjustments, therefore negatively affecting the business operation.

3.2.3. Training and Development programs

For different positions, Vietnam Airlines has applied separate methods of training
and development. Specifically, this company has focused more on off-the-job training
and development for pilots while for cabin attendants and technicians, on-the-job
training and development has been primarily implemented.
• For pilots:
In Vietnam Airlines, training new pilots requires 2 stages: basic pilot training stage
and transition training stage. Firstly, selected candidates for pilot positions will take
foundation courses to obtain the piloting knowledge and skills to get Private Pilot
License (PPL), Commercial Pilot License (CPL), Instrument Rating (IR), Airline
Transport Pilot License (ATPL)- theory, Multi Crew Coordination (MCC) certificates,
completing basic pilot training courses. Secondly, they have to take Cross Crew
Qualification (CCQ) training from Vietnam Airlines’ instructors.

Before 2017, pilot candidates in Vietnam Airlines took the first aforementioned
training stage in some famous international flight academies in Australia, New Zealand
to meet the global piloting standards since in Vietnam, there were not enough qualified
trainers and updated facilities required in training courses.

In the middle of 2017, Vietnam Airlines announced that they had cooperated with
Canadian Aviation Electronics (CAE) in installing 3 new simulators (SIM): one SIM
Airbus A320, one SIM Airbus A350 and one SIM Boeing 787 and training pilots,
attendants and engineers. Vietnam Airlines also stated that they would start to have

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pilots trained completely in Vietnam, instead of foreign countries through Viet Flight
Training Company- a member of Vietnam Airlines. For mid-deployment pilots, they
have to take retraining courses abroad every 6 months at some reputable flight centers
in Australia, Singapore...

• For cabin attendants:

For cabin-attendant positions, applicants who are recruited into the host crew must
go through a training session with the basic theories (about 05 months) and practical
flights (the minimum of 16 flights) at Vietnam Airlines’ Flight Training Center (FTC).
During the training, the attendants will be provided with knowledge about aviation,
company regulations, flight safety requirements, information about the type of aircraft,
how to handle the emergency. If successful, applicants will be awarded a certificate and
sign labor contracts to become official cabin attendants of Vietnam Airlines.

After being recruited and getting basic training, cabin attendants will become
ordinary flight attendants. After a period of time accumulating enough experience on
flight hours and suitability, they will be considered to be selected, trained for higher
positions. If selected flight attendants meet all the standards, they will get into another
selection. Any flight attendant selected will learn at FTC and get first-hand experience
on flights of Vietnam Airlines. Candidates who get the required scores will be appointed
to new positions.

• For aircraft engineers and technicians:

For aircraft technicians, after being recruited, engineers and technicians are trained
about the types of aircraft on the spot from 3 to 6 months, then they are put to work in
Vietnam Airlines Engineering Company Limited (VAECO)- a member of Vietnam
Airlines.

Vietnam Airlines, VAECO and University of Science & Technology in Hanoi co-
operated with each other to develop The Bachelor Program in Airline Technology &
Master Program in Managing Transportation of International Airlines. The Bachelor

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Program in Airline Technology aims to train airplane maintenance engineers at Bachelor
level, in which learners will receive a degree in B1/B2 airplane maintenance from Civil
Aviation Administration of Vietnam. Master Program in Managing Transportation of
International Airlines sets the target of training, developing high-level employees, who
have insight into management, expertise, proficiency in airlines. These programs have
started accepting learners since January, 2018.

3.2.4. Evaluation
• Strengths:
New employees’ integration into working environment has been emphasized in
Vietnam Airlines. It has carried out Cross Crew Qualification (CCQ) training for a large
amount of pilots instead of training completely new pilots whenever there are new
models of aircrafts.

Vietnam Airlines focuses on domestic training and on-the-job training for cabin
attendants and technicians to save costs. They have held effective vocational training
courses for cabin attendants and aircraft technicians at Vietnam Airlines Engineering
Company Limited (VAECO) and Flight Training Center (FTC) with the teaching of
skilled instructors and engineers. Vietnam Airlines has had training schools and research
and develop academy as the base to develop science and technology training.

• Weaknesses:
Vietnam Airlines have still lacked budgets to have pilots and engineers trained in
some developing countries. Also, it still does not have enough skilled trainers and
updated facilities to train new pilots. Therefore, this company has their new pilots
trained abroad, which seems to be extremely costly.

Vietnam Airlines has implemented pre-deployment and mid-deployment training,

but hasn’t used much post-deployment training for job rotation or task transformation.
Vietnam Airlines has applied distributed training method for pre-deployment pilots
where half of the training courses take place in foreign countries and half is in Vietnam.

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This has resulted in training programs and length of time being not synchronized, the
quality of training being less effective.

3.3. Performance Management

Performance Management is one of the most useful ways to maintain and improve
the work efficiency or enrich the organizational culture of the company. Vietnam
Airlines (VNA), the largest market shares in airlines business of Vietnam, also have a
very strong business culture, which results from the strong internal human resource. To
hold the good employees, VNA not only have to create good company culture but they
also have to evaluate the employees’ performance and compensate for their contribution
to the company. Therefore, high quality employees will be motivated to stay and
continue to work. However, the performance management in branches of VNA now is
not executed seriously, too formal and not based on scientific basis. Therefore, we would
want to choose the central region branch of Vietnam Airlines to analyze its performance
management with an aim to understand its impact on the operating system of Vietnam
Airlines.

3.3.1. An overview of central region office of Vietnam Airlines

The office was founded under the decision No. 524/HKVN on 8th September, 1993
by the General Director of Vietnam Airlines, with initial capital of VND 2 billion. The
structure of the branch includes: Department of Organization and Planning, Department
of Financing and Accounting, Da Nang Operational control center, Department of
Communist party and youth union, Department of Commerce and other local branches.

Table 1. Human resource structure of the office

Division Total Number Number Number Number
number of of of of
women Masters Bachelors Associate
Degree
1 Board of 2 0 1 1 0
Director
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 2 Department of 8 5 2 14 2
Organization
3 Department of 15 10 3 9 3
Financing and
Accounting
4 Department of 68 40 6 57 5
Commerce
5 Department of 3 0 0 3 0
Communist
party and youth
union
6 Operational 40 10 5 35 0
Control Center
7 Branches 109 40 2 87 20
Total 255 105 19 206 30
Percentages 41.18% 7.45% 80.78% 11.76%
Source: Vietnam Airlines

3.3.2. The reality of performance appraisals of the staffs at the middle region
branch of Vietnam Airlines
The performance appraisals are analyzed with an aim to enable the seniors to assess
and come to the right verdict about the performance of the staffs.

Setting up the standard of ratings:

The office sets up the standards on the basis of the job description of each position
as follow:
• Mission completion, the offered work load
• Participation in the competitive emulation movement
• Assurance of workdays completing
• Seriously obeying the company’s regulation

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The office divides the interval for rating into 4 levels:
• Level 1: Below 50 points, no compensation
• Level 2: From 50 to under 70, VND 500,000 compensation
• Level 3: From 70 to under 80, VND 1,000,000 compensation
• Level 4: 80 and over, VND 1,500.000 compensation

Formation of evaluation
The Department of Planning and Organization built the regulations under the basis
of individual feelings with no scientific formation of evaluation.
• Method of performance appraisals:
In evaluating the performance of the employees, the office is now applying the
Graphic Rating Scale method. To be more specific, at the beginning week of each
quarter, every employee at the office will have to fill in the Monthly performance review
table with the points that they think they deserve and hand in the direct supervisor. After
the receipt of the reviews, the assessor – the direct manager – will remark the employees.
The marks are based mainly on the appraisals of manager throughout the employee’s
period of work and on the evaluation of their colleagues, which enables the managers to
give their staffs a thorough observation of their contribution to work. When the remarks
process finishes, the manager and employees will meet each other and unify the result
of the reports in order that the superior manager can find it easier to make decisions.
Moreover, the results of performance appraisals will have be approved by the superior
managers before being public.

• The subject of evaluation:

All of the employee of the entire office like departments, rooms and centers who
execute the self-evaluating and help managers assess.

• Time and efficiency of appraisal:

To evaluate detailed and exactly, the appraisal will be performed once at the
beginning of every quarter. At that time, each employee will have to determined
themselves their work of the previous quarter. The results of the evaluation will be the

26

best basis for the manager to find out the outstanding employees who deserve good and
reasonable levels of compensation and salary, and in the future, it may help manager
consider a promotion chance for the best performance.

• The process of feedback after the evaluation:

Figure 1. Feedback process of Vietnam Airlines

Board of Director

Disagree
Vice President
Agree
Manager

Employees

Disagree

Agree Data Saving

Source: Vietnam Airlines

At the end of the process, the department of Planning and Organization will have
files to store the performance review in order that the division of labor and wage can be
examined.

3.3.3. Evaluation
• Achievement
The Middle Viet Nam office of VNA has built a detailed job description and
evaluation form for every quarter. Based on the result of evaluation of the month and
quarter, policy for appraisal, rewards and compensation are implemented.

• Limitation

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 The evaluation result is formalism and personal biased as it is affected by
personal errors, evaluating method and time. Performance management in the office is
incoherent. Since the Department of Planning and Organization built the regulations
under the basis of individual feelings with no scientific formation of evaluation, personal
mistakes remain a problem. ‘Feelings’ is an uncertain scale and incomprehensive
between evaluators. This leads to the fact that two employees perform similarly, but are
ranked in great difference. The results affecting by other factors than work productivity
related, such as personal favors, do not accurately reflect employees’ ability, therefor,
are useless to the organization.

Furthermore, evaluating time is also a limitation. Employees receive the Monthly

performance review table at the beginning week of each quarter to fill in their self-
assessment. However, the interval between their behavior and their assessment is too
long; they may no longer recall the actions or assess them precisely.

Equally important, is the method used. Only one method (Graphic Rating Scale
method) and level, is applied with all Vietnam Airlines Departments and positions. This
means that an accountant is judged the same way as a cargo employee, though their jobs
and required skills are fundamentally different. As the result, evaluating process does
not work out effectively.

Besides, evaluators are lack of skill, mainly are not trained. Hence, they are unable
to oversee employees’ work progress and give a complete view of them.

RECOMMENDATION
4.1. Recruiting and Selecting
Recruitment policy must be constructed in the following order of preference: pilot
- flight attendant – technician. Also, the company should develop long-term and
medium-term human resource development for each department (Trade, Service,
Exploitation, Technical, and Consultant) and do not just use the annual plan as it is

28

because the annual plan is always subject to the change which lead to reduce or not
practical requirements for production and business of Vietnam Airlines.

Moreover, the standardized system of titles should be considered and the company
should develop a detailed job description for each job title and job title standards for
recruitment. External human resource development policies should be developed,
through collaboration with universities and vocational training centers (Foreign Trade
University, National Economics University, Hanoi University of Science and
Technology...) to select candidates for each professional title and send them to training
institutions with specialized aviation specialty (Boeing, Airbus, ...). It is required to
select the right people, the right professional, the candidates must have deep professional
skills in the field of aviation, qualified and able to participate in recruitment. Develop
training plan for candidates who have passed, mainly self-training. It is necessary to
have a survey and evaluate the results of implementation to make timely adjustments.

Last but not least, Vietnam Airlines should establish a labor selection council in
each department (Office, Service, Exploitation, Technical) by a Deputy General
Director in charge of the department as chairman of the Board. Council members must
be experts in the field of recruitment, rather than scattered recruitment through the
boards of existing units, which would lead to waste of time and money because
recruitment takes place at different times and the recruitment period is long.

4.2. Training and Development

In order to have sustainable development, human resources development need to
focus on training and developing high-level employees such as: pilots, flight attendants,
technicians needs to stick to business strategy of Vietnam Airlines. Specifically, we
would suggest some solutions to the training and development activities for pilots,
attendants and technicians

• For pilots:

29

 Firstly, Vietnam Airlines needs to develop infrastructure for training and
developing human resources consistently, professionally. They should upgrade Viet
Flight Training Company to improve the quality of training and developing by installing
the latest SIMs and utilizing them to their full capacity and implementing some effective
teaching methods like inviting skilled trainers and instructors, applying e- learning
methods to reduce training and developing costs and time,…

Secondly, Vietnam Airlines should actively carry out more Cross Crew
Qualification (CCQ) training and developing plans. Targeting Vietnamese pilots
accounting for 70-75% of the number of deployment pilots, this airway brand needs to
recruit at least 60 pilots to ensure that by 2020, there will be 1005 pilots. The rate of
Vietnamese pilots depends on not only fresh training but also CCQ training. Therefore,
Vietnam Airlines should actively carry out more CCQ training and developing plans for
pilots to avoid the situation of pilot surplus in this fleet but shortage in higher crews and
continued hiring of foreign pilots in a large proportion.

Thirdly, it is better for Vietnam Airlines to hold post-deployment training. In case

one pilot does not meet the piloting requirements any more, Vietnam Airlines should
open some post-deployment programs so that that pilot can continue to work in other
positions. This method may save budgets for recruiting and selecting process and build
up employees’ commitments.

• For aircraft technicians:

First, Vietnam Airlines might try to increase the training effectiveness of Vietnam
Airlines Engineering Company Limited (VAECO) also by installing state-of-the-art
teaching facilities and develop teaching methods through e-learning.

Second, Vietnam Airlines should work on partnership with local universities that
has basic technical training, especially in aeronautical engineering for intensive trainings
and associate with colleges and vocational training center to train technicians.

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 Third, Vietnam Airlines may make annual training and development plans for each
technicians, ensuring that 100% of technical staff will be trained and retrained to meet
the growth of Vietnam Airlines and concentrate on building and developing teams of
skilled maintenance employees for new generations of aircrafts like B787 or A350.

• For cabin attendants:

Firstly, Vietnam Airlines needs to coordinate with Flight Training Center (FTC)
to develop medium and long term plans based on annual Human Resources needs. They
should also hold training and developing courses in months with low flight schedules.

Secondly, Vietnam Airlines ought to standardize document systems, outlines,

training materials and post them on the internal web so that attendants can refer
anywhere and anytime.

Thirdly, Vietnam Airlines should have plans to encourage attendants to self-study

theoretical subjects and complete course examination via the Internet for rehabilitation
training and service periodic training. Moreover, this company needs to draw up other
training and developing courses such as communication skill course, presentation skill
lessons... to equip attendants with more confidence and interest in their jobs.

Fourthly, this company could support employees in getting retrained in order to

have another job if they have not reached their retirement age but their health,
appearances are no longer suitable for the position of flight attendants.

4.3. Performance Management

4.3.1. Choosing evaluation method
Among many evaluation methods available, each method needs to match with the
job’s purposes identified in job analysis. Therefore, besides the method that VNA had
implemented, other methods can be used within different departments, based on their
distinctive features and targets.

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 Table 2. Performance Management Methods
Trait method Behaviourally Management By
anchored rating Objectives (MBO)
scales (BARS)
Method Suitable for quality Suitable for Suitable for
characteristics evaluating, such as evaluating evaluating revenues
honesty, unity, performance of results.
creativity, etc. frontier
employees.
Department - Financial and - Sales team - Commercial
Accounting - Cargo Department
Department team. - Related
offices.

Besides the advantages, each method has its limitation that may arise in certain
circumstances. Therefore, combinations of methods need to take place to bring the best
possible result.

For example, MBO, BOS and 360-degree feedback can be mixed. MBO method
should be the first one to be used because evaluating employees’ abilities to complete
their assigned jobs is the most essential. MBO is then followed by BOS and 360-degree
feedback, which allows leaders to identify workers with higher efficiency.

4.3.2. Proposed process of evaluating employees

After choosing an appropriate method, evaluating process should be conducted in
a clear plan. This helps to maximize the information that the evaluators can collect, both
from work records and people’s observation. In the long run, adopting a fixed and
transparent evaluating process also promotes employees’ morale and striving spirit.

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 Figure 2. Proposed process of evaluating employees

• Prepare every document, record about tasks, achievements, events, reports, etc.
Prepare

• Announce the time and place of performance evaluation

Announc
e

• Set up is to create a friendly, sharing environment

• Ideal prosition is sitting perpemdicularly with the employees, avoid sitting
Set up face-to-face, which may arise confronting atmosphere

• Beginning with a positive saying and a smile. First impression is very

Beginnin important.
g

• Give a complete evalutation of employee, base on the criteria.

Evaluatin
g

• Dertermining on action plan, Specific goals and Supporing resources

• Summarize plan of action
Determin • Qualification on specify the targets: SMARTER guideline should be
-ing considered in every assignment or approved goals to simplify record process.

• Ending with a positve attutde by showing appreciation for employees'

attributes and commiment to support them in the future.
Ending

• Confirm the upcoming targets and tasks between managers and employees to
establish new assessing guildlines.
Establish

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4.2.4. Heighten the effectiveness of performance assessment
Since the the effectiveness of performance assessment does not depend fully on
the evaluating process, these are two proposals that evaluators can take to accurately
judge their employees.
• Building a better POV in evaluating employees
• Improve evaluators’ skill

The company should use the performance assessment document periodically, at

least quarterly, throughout the year to assess employee progress. The performance
assessment document is a useful discussion starter as it consolidates employee
performance information in one spot. Also, it provides a running record of employee
performance discussions all year and offers a picture of the employee's accomplishments
and progress throughout the year.

Moreover, Vietnam Airlines needs to engage the employees in a two-way

discussion whenever their performance is the topic. They can improve performance
assessment by involving the employee in the discussion all year long. Then, the official
performance assessment day is just an extension of the normal performance.

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 CONCLUSION
At present, the State has implemented the policy of international integration of air
transport liberation with other countries, attracting policies, calling for airlines to open
new routes and this has contributed to develop a competitive environment for the
domestic aviation market. This means Vietnam Airlines is facing increasing competition
from other domestic airlines. Human Resources Management is one of the key factor of
Vietnam Airlines to maintain high-quality services and thus retain customers.

This report presents systematically the basic issues of human resource

management in Vietnam Airlines, an analysis of the strengths and shortcomings of
human resources development of Vietnam Airlines, we propose some solutions to
improve the human resources to meet the new requirements of Vietnam Airlines in the
coming years.

However, the report cannot avoid the shortcomings and limitations in the research
process. We, Group 2 sincerely thanks and would like to receive the comments of
teachers, classmates and all those who are interested in this topic to complete the topic
further.

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Chí Minh.
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Chương trình đào tạo nội bộ cho cán bộ - nhân viên, Vietnam Airlines.
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