Analysis of Leading and Managing Change: Ryanair's Strategic Approach

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Ryanair's approach to leading and managing change. It explores the application of the white water metaphor, contrasting it with the calm waters approach, and evaluates the airline's responses to both planned and unplanned changes. The report examines the impact of these changes on Ryanair's business strategy, considering external factors such as competition, regulations, and technological advancements. Furthermore, it delves into the implications of these changes on the human resources department, assessing the strategic approaches employed to manage the shift. The report uses Kurt Lewin's three-step model to explain the change process and discusses the importance of organizational development and leadership training in handling unexpected challenges. It also highlights the significance of employee involvement and communication in facilitating successful change management within Ryanair. The analysis covers how Ryanair adapts to various internal and external pressures, including market dynamics and technological advancements, and how the airline uses contingency plans to navigate uncertainties.

LEADING AND
MANAGING CHANGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
1.Extent to which the white water metaphor is apparent in Ryanair Airlines and evaluating
result from planned or unplanned approach to change...............................................................1
2.Evaluating the shift from calm waters to white waters considering business strategy and
external factors impacting on the business of Ryanair................................................................3
3.Major implications of changes has on Human resource department of Ryanair and strategic
approaches to handle shift...........................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9
.......................................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Leading and Change managing is the critical challenging activities and tasks that leaders
and decision makers of an organization faces in making strategies and translating policy
developing decisions into operational systems and procedures for rendering feedback to senior
management executives regarding the impact of change (Archibald and Archibald, 2016). There
are several resources for change management hosted on good practices for leaders and managers
in organization that includes overview of change managing and the necessary skills needed to
lead change effectively. The report on leading and managing change will discuss about the
discrete change episodes that are to be managed timely by contrasting the white water metaphor
that sees the change as continuous and unpredictable. The assessment will investigate the extent
of white water metaphor in Ryanair DAC, which is an Irish low cost airlines founded in 1984
and evaluates its impact on planned or unplanned approach to change in organization. The study
will also elucidate Ryanair's evaluation of shift from calm waters to white waters by considering
the business strategy and external factors impacting on its business activities.
MAIN BODY
1.Extent to which the white water metaphor is apparent in Ryanair Airlines and evaluating result
from planned or unplanned approach to change
Change is an integral part of an organization and major concern of a manager or leader
which is the alteration of an organization's structure, environment, technology used and people
employed. The change handling options in Ryanair fall into three categories; altering structure,
technology and people and both micro and macro environmental factors constrain managers and
leaders to bring need for change. Introduction of new competition, government regulations and
laws, technological advancements, labour market fluctuations and economy are the forces that
need change in Ryanair. These internal and external factors has an impact upon the intrinsic
operations of Ryanair for creating internal forces of change (Braveman, 2016). Two metaphors
are used to clarify the change process in Ryanair; calm waters and white water rapids. The
alternative white water metaphor is the apparent factor in Ryanair's which is seen as a small raft
navigating a raging river with uninterrupted white water rapids thus stating change is a natural
state and change management is a continuous process. White water metaphor takes both
uncertain and dynamic environments into consideration and as managers or leaders of Ryanair
face constant change, bordering shifts on chaos, stability and predictability of calm waters do not
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subsist, disruptions in the status quo are continuous and permanent rather than temporary or
occasional and there is no returning to calm waters. White water metaphor
How does Ryanair implements planned or unplanned changes
Ryanair's most shifts doesn't happen by chance and the effort to assist organizational
meme bes with planned change is called as development of organization. Organizational
development facilitates long term wide changes in Ryanair and its focus is to change the attitudes
and values of organization members to readily adapt and become more effective towards
attaining new directions of the organization (Chen and Wang, 2014). The leaders of Ryanair is
attempting to change the culture of organization as the fundamental development of organization
is relied on participation of employees and workforce. Organizational development of Ryanair
involves any activity of firm that assists in implementing planned change and it relies heavily on
team or group interactions and their cooperation. Ryanair designs and implements survey
feedback efforts to assess employee attitudes regarding perceptions of shifts they are
encountering. As a part of planned change Ryanair's employees are asked to respond to a set of
specific questions regarding their views on organizational aspects as decision-making,
leadership, communication effectiveness and satisfaction with job, colleagues and management.
Information collected by the leaders and managers or decision making agents are used to clarify
the issues and conflicts to implement effective shift management.
Planned changes of Ryanair uses a three step model of Kurt Lewin's theory or approach
to organizational change that consists of elements like Field Theory, Group dynamics and Action
research. According to this model Ryanair adopts a change process by going through a three step
stages; unfreezing, moving and refreezing (Cowne, Frankl and Gerschel, 2015). Unfreezing is
the first step in change process of Ryanair which people within organization are given necessary
preparation to change and is making them aware about importance and effect of change by
depending on the human behaviour based on equilibrium state established by driving and
restraining forces (Managing change, 2012). Moving is the stage where change occurs with
sufficient support and understanding from employees change is implemented smoothly in
Ryanair where new strategic plans, mission, vision and objectives are formed. Refreezing is the
last stage in change process of Ryanair that aims at making change fixed by reinforcing and
maintaining new behaviours and practices enabling effectiveness and eliminate short liveness of
shift and employees turning back to old way of doing things. Unplanned changes in Ryanair
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happens when the pressures for change overwhelms any resistance to shift from employees
where internal unplanned shifts are regarded as change that takes place in organization that are
not in a planned way or is a strategic intervention due to performance gaps and composition of
demographic changes (Day and Leggat, 2015). Change in demographic composition with rising
number of women workforce joining Ryanair airlines as air ho-stress, cabin crews etc., and
diverse employees in organization due to globalization of economies of world compels the firm
to adapt change in its organizational structure. Ryanair's depleting profit margins and low
performance of product lines or market services and sales slowdown compels the firm to change
by acting as an organizational innovation propellers.
Unplanned external changes in Ryanair like global economic uncertainties creates
competitive pressures on the organization and force them to change without plans. For capturing
market share, attain competitive advantage in market and expand customer base with effective
advertising, promotion and communication programmes by staying innovative to position
Ryanair unique. Ryanair need to have some contingency action plans and strategies in place so
that unexpected shifts does not become unplanned change as successful managing of change is
easier with planned changes. To handle the unplanned changes Ryanair the support from
employees are necessary that prepares, plans and acts to make best shifts to facilitate growth and
survival by building support of its workforce. Ryanair renders leadership training to manage
change as great leader guides and prepares employees for obstacles that are uncertain by
developing trust, understanding and respect qualities which renders staff with a cooperative
working as a team to beat the difficult situations (Day and Shannon, 2015). For managing
unexpected changes the employees of Ryanair are been informed with the informations which
will assist in handling changes better and helps employees to trust their superiors and feel
important. Strategies and action plans are built and shared among employees by Ryanair in a
simple manner to help in understanding easily and implementing them in the organization that
may involve sharing new vision, mission, objectives etc. It will act as a guideline for Ryanair's
management to choose skills and expertise needed to fulfil ll goals and aims of organization.
2.Evaluating the shift from calm waters to white waters considering business strategy and
external factors impacting on the business of Ryanair
Calm water rapids is the organizational view of change visualizing as a large ship
crossing calm sea where the captain and crew knows exactly where they are heading as they have
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made trips before. Change comes in form of occasional storm which is a distraction to the
calmness and predictability of the organization and in calm water metaphor changes is seen as
disruption that is irregular in the normal flow of events (Ferguson, Hall and Hopwood, 2015). In
calm water metaphor Ryanair follows the unfreezing of present rules, regulations and culture and
moves into a new state where employees of organization are informed to adapt to change and
then freezing is implemented to make these changes permanent. Calm water metaphor is
explained with the Kurt Lewin's three step model; unfreezing, moving and freezing. The first
change process in Ryanair is the best example of calm water metaphor where; the change is
treated as breaking the organization's equilibrium state, distributing status quo and shifts are
necessaries being established for a new state of equilibrium. This is appropriate to increase the
obsolete calm water metaphor as an explanation to the kind of seas that current managers need to
navigate. The second concept of Lewin was of force field analysis as in change several forces
supports shifts and opposes it and when supporting forces are stronger than opposing factors then
change process starts where the stage unfreezing also begins.
The shift of Ryanair from calm water metaphor to white water rapids with the issue of
delays in traveller or passenger boarding processes that was really hectic and time consuming.
Ryanair introduced the organizational change to improvise the internal factors that with the calm
water metaphor rapids that turned to become short-lived pushing the firm to a white water
metaphor. The internal forces were creating a need for change as Ryanair's internal operations
were lacking change where the management decided to redefine the or modify the strategy by
hosting various changes (Goatly, 2017). Employees of Ryanair were redesigned with their jobs
and tasks, staff who were lacking knowledge and experience in baggage and boarding processes
and documentation were rendered with training and developments to operate new systems and
equipments and to establish innovative interaction practices with customers in their formal work
staff. It was having various demographic compositions that pressurised firm to change its culture
as part of the static organizational culture where new employees from varied nations were not
unified with the organizational culture to make them adapt to Ryanair's organization that led
them to adapt an entire organizational change in the drift to white water metaphor that was a
huge disruption. The calm water metaphor of Ryanair forced them to rework on the
compensation and reward systems to reflect the needs of diverse workforce and market forces
where certain skills were in supply shortage. That turned the employees attitudes by resist to
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organizational change that Ryanair was aiming by increased job dissatisfaction, absenteeism,
resignations and strikes.
Ryanair's business strategy of operational excellence was really affected with the
disruption of white water metaphor and was affected with the external factors causing a greater
impact (Hylton, Guthrie-Dixon and Wilson, 2016). Competition in airlines industry is common
where Ryanair was offering low cost services and rival's introduction of similar packages and
services to people in UK affected the existing business strategy made them to implement a
change to manage the disruption. Various laws and regulations regarding boarding and baggage
policies forced Ryanair to improvise policies and procedures by implementing change in its
baggage rules which was causing delays during the calm water rapids that tended business to
move into the disrupting white water metaphor. The flights and services of Ryanair were delayed
due to people finding space for their luggage in overhead lockers were only priority customers
can continue to bring two free carry on bags and 10 kg wheelie bags (Ryanair changes baggage
rules again in bid to reduce delays, 2018). Technological advancements of the latest century
that renders customer with the easiness of booking tickets and choosing between flights and
other services forced Ryanair to introduce and implement the latest tools and systems with high
tech equipments for baggage checks, boarding processes etc., for providing innovative change to
benefit from the disruption caused. The shift to the latest advancement rendered Ryanair with a
chance of implementing increased online media advertising and promotion that helped in gaining
more customer base and retention of existing clients with a new strategic approach of offering
services. Economic factors of varied exchange rates and UK's decision of leaving European
Union diminished the number of tourists and travellers that mad Ryanair to cut short its
operations and implement a new organizational structure by reducing and eliminating low
performing employees to decrease its staff turnover (Jaworska, 2017).
Ryanair's business strategy is cost focused for addressing the market for travellers
looking for cheap basic services than luxury and does nor compete in all market segments by
being focused. Ryanair for becoming the market leader chooses customer, narrow focusing and
dominates marketplace which are used as a competitive strategy that fits its operational excellent
model of reliability and dependability with lesser cancellations high punctuality and few lost
baggages. The major operations of Ryanair are aimed at higher efficiency with high aircraft
utilization, minimum staffing to reduce employee turnover and increasing use of internet
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technology to keep costs of bookings down. To eliminate the hidden costs Ryanair clearly states
the bargain prices and attacks competition by mentioning it clearly on their internet sales system.
They maximise the opportunities to make revenues with sale of ground transportation, car hires,
hotels and travel insurance and board sales that includes food and beverages and baggage
revenues on extra luggages (Mariani, Longhi and Vitouladiti, 2014). Ryanair's business strategy
after the white water metaphor was to reduce the impact of external factors on its business with a
strategic plan of cost reduction and efficiency to offer a low cost reliable and dependable service
that is high in demand.
3.Major implications of changes has on Human resource department of Ryanair and strategic
approaches to handle shift
The calm water metaphor shift of Ryanair to white water influenced the decision making,
business activities and operations of leading airlines company Ryanair which resulted them in
adopting change that was caused from a great disruption. The human resource department of
Ryanair as a result was evolved to an effective phase by transforming to help business owners of
organization implement changes they need to make for staying ahead. The human resource
department of Ryanair's HR department developed a new organizational strategy for managing
the employees and work in organization to adopt with the shifts caused. The occasional change
made the department to transform its existing policies and regulations by forming new
procedures and obligations to cope with the organizational change it wanted to implement. With
increased involvement between employees and management they took the opportunity to form
connections and relations between the new mission, vision and objectives of Ryanair as a part of
organizational change (Palmer, Dunford and Akin, 2016). To develop and involve the business
objectives of Ryanair the HR department understands the goals and necessary strategic
approaches for determining management of employees in an effective manner promoting these
objectives. The HR department of Ryanair assists organization in implementing the new change
by focusing on the executive functions by participating in administration by performing
responsibilities.
Ryanair's HR department streamlines the entire organization by breaking the mentality of
people and encouraging networking between departments that operates interconnected by using
tools to facilitate collaboration and communication. The pattern of operation was changed to
implement the new change for inspiring Ryanair to encourage shifts by adopting test and learn
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mode to force new patterns of work and meet expectations of workforce. The change caused HR
department and managers of Ryanair with several challenges that includes flexibility in
workplace, international business operation, workforce development, job defining and strategic
decision making. The managers were faced with various outcomes of developing business
partnerships, Improve integration across functional, business and international markets,
developing competent HR professional, evolving and managing change and accomplishing
objectives of business (Renz, 2016).
Several strategic approaches and models were introduced by the HR department of
Ryanair to translate the set of HR processes and practices and has some highlighting values and
supports the organizational changes. The resource based approach is found with the belief that
competitive advantage is obtained from obtaining and developing human resources for enabling
faster learning and applying it more effectively in Ryanair. This approach will address methods
of raising Ryanair's strategic capability by developing managers and employees who thinks and
plans strategically and understands the strategic issues. The plan of action is aligned to the
business strategy of Ryanair and HR must be the integral part of business actions that will
contribute to the planning processes and helps in accomplishing organizational change (Turner,
2014.). It is essential for Ryanair to update its technology with the latest one so that they could
be able to fill up their gaps related to policy and strategy formulation. In way of shifting with
management support it is important that HR is providing transactional processing so that
business is able to offer valuable results in future terms (3 HR Strategies You May Have
Overlooked, 2018). Ryanair should be encouraging its C-level HR support strategy which would
be helpful in offering the business case for certain number of changes. In way of shifting the
support of management in providing expert suggestion in creating strategies and need to move
forward with thinking models clearly and effectively for advantage of company.
CONCLUSION
Managing organizational change is the most essential pre requisite for adapting
competitive challenges and transitioning from the existing state of business to desired future
courses of action and is vital to develop and implement plan of action for adapting shifts
successfully for Ryanair. The report prepared on the case study of organizational change
implementation of Ryanair explained the shift from calm water to white water metaphor that
took place within the organization that considered the business strategy and external factors that
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affects the business of firm. The assessment on leading and managing change elucidated the
major implications for the Human Resources department of Ryanair and advised several HR
management strategic approaches to handle the changes.
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Palmer, I., Dunford, R. and Akin, G., 2016. Managing organizational change. McGraw-Hill
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