Analyzing Vietnam Airlines Organizational Culture

This assignment uses Schein model and Handy model theories to analyze the organizational culture of Vietnam Airlines. The analysis focuses on how managers use their power to operate and control the organization's operations effectively. Additionally, it discusses how Vietnam Airlines improves employee motivation by providing basic needs and ensuring recognition and rewards. The strengths and weaknesses of the policies used to improve employee motivation are also examined.

Organisational behaviour
Student’s name: Bui Tran Thanh Tung
ID: 10180473
Lecturer: Phan Thi Thuc Anh
Tutor: Nguyen Hoang Hieu
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Table of Contents
Introduction:............................................................................3
MAIN BODY................................................................................. 4
I. CULTURE:.............................................................................. 4
1. VIETNAM AIRLINES CULTURE:......................................................4
II. Power and politics:..............................................................7
1. Power and politics in Vietnam airlines:..................................7
III. Motivation......................................................................11
1. Motivation content theory:.................................................11
2. Motivation process theory:.................................................14
IV. Evaluation of motivation practices:..................................15
Conclusion:............................................................................. 17
References:............................................................................18
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Introduction:
Vietnam airlines was established in 1956 and recognized as the national airline of
Vietnam in 1993. Vietnam airlines is the airline with the largest flight network in
Vietnam, stretching from Asia, Europe and Australia, North America with 31
branches and 20 representative offices in different countries. As for the domestic
flight network, the airline has 21 routes in all provinces and cities nationwide. The
company operates in two main areas: passenger air transport and air freight. Vietnam
airlines are known as an airline with high service quality, good customer care policy,
and the airline brings the image and traditional culture of Vietnam. (airlines, 2019).
This assignment is for the purpose of analyzing organizational culture of Vietnam
airlines thanks to the application of organizational culture theories. In addition, the
study explored what the management of Vietnam airlines use their authority and
power tactics to operate their businesses and influence performance of their
employees. Finally, Vietnam airlines have adopted motivational theories to motivate
their employees. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the motivation practices of
Vietnam airlines and the flaws of these theories.
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MAIN BODY
I. CULTURE:
1. VIETNAM AIRLINES CULTURE:
a)Three levels of culture in Vietnam airlines
Apply schein’s model
 Level artifact:
The level of artifact includes what people can see or feel when they entering an
organization, it may include process, structure or physical part, visible part etc.
(Schein, 1977)
The Vietnam airlines brand is associated with the familiar golden lotus symbol, the
flower bearing the distinctive image of Vietnamese culture.
Vietnam airlines have built their image as a modern, professional and high-quality
airline imbued with Vietnamese culture. They create synchronization in product and
service designs (aircraft interior and exterior, uniform, physical space, office design,
etc.) with the famous golden lotus symbol and the main color is blue.
The services of Vietnam airline are highly appreciated in their professional working
style.
With the slogan “be proud-reach further”, Vietnam Airlines is becoming one of the
leading airlinesin Vietnam and is reaching out to the world.
 The national airline brings the image and culture of Vietnam to international
friends. It is easy to see the identity of the business as a high-end airline that
emphasizes traditional values, aims to be luxurious, courteous and thoughtful in
its service.
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 Level values:
This is a level less visible than artifact level. This level provides the basic meaning of
forming the artifact level. These are the values and rules of behavior that represent the
organization (Schein, 1977).
Philosophy
o Safety comes first.
o Customer centricity, Organizational development based on customer trust
o Appreciate the value of the employee. Building a working environment with a
fair remuneration policy, maintaining solidarity and linkages among all
members.
o Always improving, innovating and creating
Goals:
o Becoming the third largest airline in terms of size in Southeast Asia
o Being the top 10 airlines favorite of Asian customers
o Converted to digital airlines
o Continue to improve towards 5-star airline standards
Strategies:
o Developing and opening more domestic and foreign flight networks to serve
customers.
o Invest in improving aircraft maintenance and technology.
o Currently, the trend of Low Cost Carriers (LCC) is developing strongly with
the emergence of low-cost airlines entering the Vietnamese market. Vietnam
airlines have implemented a multi brand strategy with two subsidiaries, Jetstar
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Pacific Airlines and VASCO (Vietnam Air Service Company) to develop LLC
as a tool to compete with low-cost airlines.
This strategy aims to:
- Maintain market share and competitiveness.
-Expand the network of flights and flight hours to meet the needs of customers.
 Basic assumptions:
These are often intangible things that only those active in the business can understand
and implement. The Basic underlying assumptions are difficult to describe, and should
only be understood by those who are familiar with the way the organization works.
These are things that are not covered by the organization's laws, but everyone
implicitly understands and obeys them (Schein, 1977).
According to an interview with Mr.Bui Thanh Son - Head of baggage control
department at Vietnam airlines international airport. Due to the characteristics of the
airline industry, each job requires the participation of many different departments. For
example, when a customer books an airline ticket, the ticket office will take over
information about the passenger and the passenger's baggage. The information about
the baggage is passed to the baggage control team to help them sort; Passenger
information is taken to the boarding passenger guide team. Such jobs require rapid
communication and coordination between departments with different specialized
functions (Son, 2021).
Management level encourages people across departments to build good relationships
for effective coordination. The departments often take turns sending people from their
team to other teams to communicate.
This brings high efficiency at work, and solves risks arising in the working process.
For example, when computer communication systems malfunction, employees can
contact each other by personal phone to temporarily record important information and
send it to other teams, avoiding work status delayed.
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b) Culture type of Vietnam airlines:
Apply Handy’s culture typology (Cacciattolo, 2014):
o Centralization is assessed at a high level, authority is concentrated on the heads
of departments.
o Formalization is assessed at a high level, employees are divided between work
with clear procedures and processesCulture type of Vietnam airlines:
According to the Handy’s model, organizational culture of Vietnam airlines is the role
culture. Due to the specificity of the aviation industry, there are many departments
with different functions. Power reside in the head of each department, they take all
informations. In each department, each person will be responsible for performing a
specific task and role corresponding to his or her expertise.
o Advantages:
-The organisational hierarchy is well defined and well-implemented.
-All employees understand their duties and duties.
-All procedures and procedures are clear.
o disadvantages:
-Employees who are divided according to their expertise may become less adaptable,
unable to assume other roles.
II. Power and politics:
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1. Power and politics in Vietnam airlines:
a) Power base – power tactics:
 Power bases:
Vietnam airlines' managers use position power to divide and assign tasks for their
subordinates to perform. However, their power is limited within the boundary of their
position, they can only assign tasks within the boundary of that job. Position power
allows managers to have some additional powers such as legitimate power, reward
power and some coersive categories of power (John A. Wagner III, 2004).
In fact, depending on the environment and the circumstances, legitimate power often
comes with equity, "since I've done this for us you have to do what I assign to make
up for it." Managers at Vietnam airlines want their followers to believe that they have
done work under the responsibility of a manager to serve the benefit of the whole
team, so they want their employees to seriously perform their tasks that they entrust.
In addition, they use the reward power within their scope to influence people to work
and improve performance. For example, employees who do well on a task will have
the opportunity to be rewarded for their performance. In addition, managers record the
performance of employees to evaluate and promote them to higher positions.
 Power tactics:
There are a number of power tactics that managers at vietnam airlines often apply to
force people to perform their duties:
o Rationality: Make requests with carefully prepared information and facts
along with a clear plan (Fairholm, 2009)
Managers will explain in detail the plan and discuss with staff before implementation.
They make sure everyone understands the importance of a project and the overall
goals of the team.
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They use the work break down structure model, divide the work into small tasks and
assign it to capable individuals.
For example, when there are diplomatic missions from other countries, the teams in
charge of those flights need to meet and plan the specific tasks of each person. Each
person will be assigned a specific task such as making a map of the areas that the
delegation will pass through to erect barriers, pick up visitors, instruct them to move
to private cars, etc.
Advantages:
-Help motivate employees to work because they understand the importance of their
duties.
-All tasks are explained carefully from the beginning to minimize mistakes that can
occur in the working process
o Personal appeals: Use friendship and loyalty to make an impact when making
a request (Fairholm, 2009).
The management level always tries to create a harmonious and solid working
environment among everyone. They encourage everyone to eat lunch together or
organize separate parties for each department.
Advantages:
Good relationships make communication and working together easier.
Disadvantages:
Affinity can lead to tolerance for a colleague's misbehavior
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o Consultation: Encourage everyone to participate in planning, making
decisions processes (Fairholm, 2009).
. Advantages:
Help employees feel respected and give their own opinion
o Exchange: Ask people to do the job and do what they want in return (Fairholm,
2009).
Advantages:
Motivate employees by responding to their wishes before asking them to work
Disadvantages:
Fulfilling a person's wishes may cause them to want more when asked to do the job
the next time they come.
b) Political behaviors:
Politics: trong sách Educational_Administration_Theory_Wayne.pdf
 Coalition building is the process of individuals banding and working together
to achieve common goals ( WAYNE K. HOY; CECIL G. MISKEL, 2008)
In each department, people aim to cohesion at work, this spirit is encouraged by
managers to their employees. Building a good relationship helps information transfer
quickly between people, work more smoothly. When having difficulty at work, both
managers and employees can discuss and seek help.
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 Thanks to the participation and mutual help of everyone, this will help each
individual complete his or her tasks.
 Reciprocity: Do something for the group or for a certain individual that makes
that individual feel obligated to make a request in return ( WAYNE K. HOY;
CECIL G. MISKEL, 2008).
The management of Vietnam airlines aims to ensure fairness at work, not only
between employees but also between management and employees. "If you do it for
me, I will do what you want." For example, when employees complete assigned tasks,
they want feedback about their work, the manager will have the responsibility to give
them feedback and provide them with detailed feedback for improvement. In an
interview with Ms.Giang-an airline reservation agent (Giang, 2021), she said that
management records employees' work history, their monthly KPIs to evaluate rewards
and promotions. They guarantee that if the employee completes the assigned job well,
they will receive a worthy reward.
III. Motivation
1.Motivation content theory:
Herzberg’s Two factor theory (Herzberg, et al., 1993)
 Extrinsic Factors (Hygiene factors):
According to (Herzberg, et al., 1993) ,extrinsic factors do not increase employees's
work motivation, but only minimize and prevent their dissatisfaction from happening
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in the working process. These factors serve to create a work environment that meets
the basic elements for employees to feel comfortable, not causing dissatisfactions.
o Pay:
The salaries of the vietnam airlines employees are different because each department
has its own specialized jobs, so the salary levels will be different. The average salary
an employee receives is 5 million dong, higher than the average labor market wage.
o Company policies:
Employees usually work 5 shifts/week and 8 hours/shift, the day off will change
flexibly, staff in each department can deal with each other to choose the appropriate
day off (Due to the nature of work at the airport, there is always a need for manpower
at all times, so it is impossible to choose a day that all staff members take leave). This
policy gives people more flexibility in their daily work.
Flexible working hours according to flights, there are shifts designed to be more
flexible for employees. For example, they can also choose to work 2 shifts / week but
each shift lasts 24 hours.
For night shift work, staff are allowed to go home at 6:00 am the next morning and
return to work in the afternoon (from 1:00 pm).
There will be 12 to 18 days off per year (according to Vietnamese labor law).
Employees are provided with lunch break and dinner break (for the night shift must
stay in the company), some specific jobs are provided with a surcharge for meals.
o Physical Working conditions:
Employees' working environment is provided with all necessary equipment such as air
conditioning, drinking water, computers (for some departments), fire protection
systems, security cameras, etc.
o Fringe benefits:
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The company will pay the cost of periodical medical examination and treatment once
a year for the employees. In addition, the company will bear a part of the employees'
health insurance premiums, the rest will be deducted from their basic salary.
 Intrinsic factors (Motivator factors):
Intrinsic factors are believed to be the factors that directly affect the employees's
satisfaction and increase employees's motivation. These are considered factors that
contribute to making employees feel meaningful about their work thanks to the
recognition they receive when completing their assigned work, and the rewards they
deserve for their achievements. These factors help develop employee psychology,
giving them a positive impact in the working process.
o Sense of achievements and recognition:
-The company has a monthly bonus policy for hard-working employees, this award is
called the employees of the month. Each department will recommend a person with
excellent performance last month to receive this award, which may include a portion
of cash that is equivalent to half of the employee's monthly salary.
-Calculate salary increases for employees based on their seniority and contribution to
the company.
-On the birthdays of the employees being congratulated and given by everyone in their
department, the company provides additional support for these gifts (this is not in
general regulations, it is like basic assumptions).
- Working process and completed tasks of the staffs will be recorded by their
superiors.
o Growth and promotional opportunities:
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Every employee has a chance to be promoted to higher positions at work or proposed
to change departments they feel they want to try. The evaluation for a certain
employee's promotion decision will be based on their working years, their
performance in the whole process of working at the company.
2.Motivation process theory:
Adam’s equity theory
Adam's equity theory suggests that a person's rewards should be commensurate with
that person's performance and should be fair in giving rewards among everyone.
When an employee perceives his outputs less than inputs, he may lose motivation to
work (Blakely, 2005)
 Distributive justice. The process of distributing rewards and salaries of all
employees is conducted fairly. (for example, employees expect them to be paid
the same salary as colleagues in the same organization) (Blakely, 2005).
Vietnam airlines pay equal basic salary to all employees in the organization, everyone
starts with the same basic salary. Jobs that require higher expertise and difficulty
(pilots, aircraft maintenance technicians) will have a higher base salary than
salespeople or employees in other departments. However, Vietnam airlines still ensure
that the people working in the same department have equal pay
When there are delayed flights, night shift or overtime work, the staff will be paid
extra salary for their overtime hours.
 People get the same starting salary (in the same department and engage in the
similar job) and get paid commensurate with their contribution.
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 Procedural justice: The fairness in the process determine the distribution of
the rewards (Blakely, 2005).
The reward is made based on the employee's records of performance. All their
contributions are guaranteed to be credited by management. Information such as
getting enough KPI (in the jobs they participate in), overtime work, etc will all be
used to evaluate rewards. Each department organizes an award called "employee of
the month" with a prize value equal to half of the employee's salary for that month.
 interactional justice: This refers to the care and respect of superiors (people
with positions and powers) and colleagues for an employee (Blakely, 2005).
Managers at Vietnam airlines respect the decisions and opinions of their employees.
For example, if an employee wants to be transferred to another department, they can
present their aspirations to their superiors, proving their ability to hold that position
through the probationary period (can be from 2 weeks to 1 month). They will then be
considered for transition to the job they want to try.
IV. Evaluation of motivation practices:
 Evaluation of motivation in Vietnam Airlines:
Through two factor theory there are two main factors that affect an employee's
motivation. First of all, to increase the motivation of employees, businesses need to
provide enough basic needs so that they don't feel dissatisfaction. Vietnam airlines
have done well in term of extrinsic factors, their employees are provided with all the
essentials such as good basic salaries, working conditions, working environment, etc.
For intrinsic factors, Vietnam airlines also performed well by always recognizing and
rewarding their employees. However, in addition to reward factors, work challenge is
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one of the important factors to motivate employees, it encourages creativity to achieve
goals. Studies have shown that "satisficing" factors along with interesting work will
boost employee motivation (Thamhain, 1974).
However, often businesses will assume that reward comes with motivation, they focus
on giving rewards to motivate employees. According to Herzberg's theory, Vietnam
airlines tend to focus heavily on recognizing and rewarding employees. These
motivational practices help employees develop their own personal capabilities,
making them actively participate in their work (Mostafa & Esmaeel, 2011). To make the
job more interesting, Vietnam airlines should present more challenges at work, giving
employees more duties. This helps employees develop more of their own skills,
motivates them in the working process (R.Miller, 1996)
Evaluation of Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory:
Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory is used extensively in motivational studies across a
wide range of industries. Motivation and hygiene factors introduced by Herzberg
show similarity to other motivational theories (Borkowski, 2011)
According to (Spector, 1997)Job satisfaction is defined as "the extent to which people
like (satisfaction) or dislike (dissatisfaction) their jobs." The extrinsic factors are
recognized as influencing job satisfaction (Levy, 2003)Extrinsic factors can help
employees achieve job satisfaction if it is met (Yousef, 2000). Herzberg's Two-Factor
Theory shows that it's been less realistic in a few studies of employee motivation
today. Many research results of many different industries suggest that extrinsic factors
affect job satisfaction. Two-Factor Theory should be used to identify dissatisfaction
factors of certain professions.
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Conclusion:
This assignment using Schein model, Handy model theories to analyze organizational
culture of Vietnam Airlines. Managers flexibly use their power to operate and control
the operations of the organization. The power tactics are used reasonably and
effectively to help all employees understand their tasks and actively contribute to the
overall goals of the department as well as the entire enterprise. Vietnam airlines have
performed well in improving their employees’s motivation, providing their employees
with the basic needs to meet their employees’s satisfactions and ensure recognition
and rewards. In addition, this paper also pointed out the strengths and weaknesses of
the policies that Vietnam airlines are applying to improving employee motivation.
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