Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/276151
[ 9 ] MARCH 2014 | www.hrotoday.com fleet sizes and types, and the usual multitude of disparate business IT systems and networks. Added to these integration challenges are the great number of worldwide destinations, the many employees at these various locations, and their different types, from senior executives and pilots, to baggage handlers and reservation clerks, among others. Since seniority often plays a role in how people are paid and rise up the ladder, this is yet another problem to address. "Few industries are as difficult to merge seamlessly as the airline industry," says Scott Snell, professor of business administration at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business. "If any one of these integration risk factors goes wrong, the merger can look like yesterday's bad idea." On the bright side, he notes, the airline industry has been consolidating for some time, giving it valuable experience that other businesses may lack. "Many airlines, including American and US Airways, have some experience in previous mergers and acquisitions," Snell explains. "It wasn't long ago when America West acquired US Airways and kept the latter's name. American, meanwhile, has acquired several carriers over the years, including TWA, Reno, AirCal and Jet America, among others." The People Factor HR plays a vital role handling many daunting post-merger tasks. At American Airlines, this job for the most part belongs to Fiedelman. She joined the company scant days after the deal was announced on February 14, 2013. Yes, that's right: Valentine's Day, a good day—one hopes—for an engagement. She is in charge of "everything except compensation and benefits," Fiedelman says, putting her in the catbird seat on perhaps the most difficult part of the two companies' combination—culture. Legacy American Airlines, the much larger of the two companies insofar as employees, aircraft and revenue, was more of a buttoned-up, formal, and hierarchical enterprise, not surprising given its long history. Legacy US Airways, on the other hand, half American's size, enjoyed a leanness and nimbleness that helped it be the more profitable of the two airlines (American Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2011). Consequently, it is predominantly US Airways' leadership that will guide the post-merger company. Fiedelman's background prepares her well for the integration. Prior to joining American, she served as vice president of HR at Avaya, Inc., where she played a key leadership role in Avaya's acquisition and integration of the Nortel Enterprise business. Previously, she was the director of global talent acquisition at Sun Microsystems, leading the staffing, integration, and senior executive assimilation teams as part of Sun Microsystems' $4.1B acquisition of StorageTek. Cover Story