“Up In The Air” – the book
Was it an HR Book Launch or a Book-of –the-film Launch?
It was a “full house” at the launch in Sydney, Australia for a new book, Up in the Air, also published by Cornell University Press. This book is by Greg Bamber, Jody Gittell, Tom Kochan and Andrew von Nordenflytch. Did some of those there assume that this is the book-of-the-new-film, also called Up in the Air?
In the film, George Clooney’s character flies around the USA ruthlessly sacking (dis-engaging) people from their employer. In contrast, the book focuses on advantages for managers in fostering more engagement and partnership between employers and employees, and their unions.
Unlike George Clooney’s character, who sacked large numbers of people, the book shows the merits of long-term commitment between bosses and workers – the opposite of mass sackings. The authors show there are opportunities for airlines and enterprises in other industries to turn their HR strategies into a source of competitive advantage by combining a commitment approach with employees and a partnership approach with unions. This can help to deliver better performance and customer service.
Stars of the book include two of the world’s most successful, but very different, low-cost airlines: Ireland’s Ryanair and the US’s Southwest. The former is tough and adversarial towards its workers, unions and customers. By contrast, the latter has a harmonious informal partnership with its workers and their unions, despite it being based in Texas, and its nice to customers too. It is an inspiration to other airlines and enterprises in other industries.
One person who spoke at the book’s UK Launch suggested that George Clooney might do some “cross promotion” for this book.
For details of Bamber, G.J., Gittell, J.H, Kochan, T.A. & von Nordenflytch, A. (2009), Up in the Air: How Airlines Can Improve Performance by Engaging their Employees, Cornell University Press, please go here.
Footnote: Greg Bamber and I both graduated in 1971 with degrees in Management Sciences from the then University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology. We were the only students that year to win First Class Honours in that subject. Greg – who remains a good friend – went on to become a serious academic while I became a trade union bureaucrat.