Organisational Behaviour: Ryanair Culture and Power Dynamics

This report provides an in-depth analysis of organizational behaviour, using Ryanair as a case study. It explores the airline's organizational culture, examining Handy's typology and its impact on employee and team performance. The report delves into the dynamics of power within Ryanair, discussing coercive, reward, legitimate, referent, and expert power, as well as the influence of organizational politics. Furthermore, it examines content and process theories of motivation, including the ERG theory, to understand how Ryanair motivates its employees to achieve organizational goals. The report also contrasts effective and ineffective teams and concludes with a discussion of the concepts and philosophies of organizational behaviour.

Organisational
Behaviour

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Analysis of organisation’s culture, politics and power influence on individual and team
behaviour and performance....................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P2 Content and process theories of motivation for the achievement of goals........................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P3 Effective team as opposed to an ineffective team.............................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
P4 Concept and philosophies of an organisational behaviour................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Organisational behaviour is learning of the human behaviour in terms of a company
culture, power and value. This help company to find out communication between employee's
behaviour and its work culture. It is the study of human action which relate with its job role or
responsibility. The major goal of the organisation behaviour is study of human nature which
implement to develop and improve the concept of company culture. It is directly relate with the
behaviour of employee's inside the organisational environment. The aim is to develop and study
of OB in a company is to evolve discipline, value and ethics among all department of the
organisation. In this report the work culture of Ryanair is discussed (Bortolotti, Boscari and
Danese, 2015). Ryanair is an Irish airline which was founded in the year 1984. For this
assignment power and culture that is implement by the management of Ryanair is discussed. As
company develop itself as a low cost airline in the UK with its operation base that is situated in
London. For this report power, culture which is followed by management of Ryanair is
discussed.. Along with different types of power and the theories of motivation is discussed which
help company to develop as budget airline.
TASK 1
P1 Analysis of organisation’s culture, politics and power influence on individual and team
behaviour and performance.
Organisational culture- It is the value and behaviour of the employee's that contribute in
the work of the organisation. The organisation culture include experience, expectation and value

that combine together and express company image to the outside world. In context of Ryanair
culture is described as follow:
Handy's typology- Charles Handy describe culture into four different parts. According to
Handy's typology power, role, task and person impact on the performance of an employee and
team. This four classes of Handy's culture is describe as follow:
 In power culture the decision are supported and executed by the centre management.
Power hold in the hands of few person and this culture influence bureaucracy inside the
organisation. In the case of Ryanair pilot union hold the power which impact on the
culture of organisation. This strike impact on among all employee's as each individual
want to work on its terms and condition. Geppert and Dörrenbächer, 2014).
 Role culture is the second part of the organisation culture. This culture totally work on
the basis of rule. In role culture the authorities are delegated in a way by which
employee's are aware about their role and responsibility. With role culture company
predict out skills of its employees. As it help to develop necessary skills of an individual
by which company attain its goals.
 Ryanair develop task culture in the early stage of its establishment. This culture help the
company to develop and establish themselves as a low cost airline in the airline industry.
As this culture help Ryanair to find out quick solution for specific that are faced by the
company. With task culture team improve its performance by creating a communication
method individual and team members. It help company to achieve its goal and task by
implementing different strategy and divide task to each department to achieve various
goals.
 Person culture- Each employee's predict themselves as a superior for their organisation.
Like in context of Ryanair airline pilot union developed many issue. As according to
them company didn't provide sufficient resources to achieve their task easily. Different
department has its own task and diverse employee's in this case Ryanair follow different
culture. (Tregidga, Kearins and Milne, 2013).
Power culture is implemented in case of Ryanair. For all types of decision power hold in the
hands of centre management which result that employees are demotivated. As it reduce
performance of employees which result create barrier goal of company.

Organisational Power- The word power show the ability of a person that how they
influence others. Power include or process the change of thoughts and feeling of any another
person. In context of Ryanair management is the agent who execute the power while employee's
are targets who receipt this power. For the case of Ryanair the model of John French and
Bertram Raven is executed to control the employee's. Some types of power as per French and
Raven model is refer as follow: Coercive power- The coercive power is based on the concept in which a person is forced
to do a work against its will. In case of Ryanair airline coercive power leave a negative
impact on employee's performance. As they are demotivated to complete their task with
some force or pressure. With implementation of coercive power employees feel
demotivated which increased employ turnover. Organisation has to bear large cost for
providing training to its new employees. Reward power- This type of power is applied from superior and managers on its
subordinates to complete the work. Reward power work as a positive reinforcement in
Ryanair. As it help employee's to get more returns form the company for their work and
performance. Employee's will be more motivated because now they have option to earn
more income. Apart from this team put more efforts to gain rewards this provide benefits
to organisation as it is easy to accomplish company goals. Legitimate power- The power of Legitimate comes with the position of seat. Person who
sit in the top management apply reward or punishment to control its subordinates or
employee's. Example- In the mid of 90th century each individual want to work with
Ryanair because of job roles and position provided by Ryanair are very efficient (Ferris
and et. al., 2013). An individual is motivated with this power while this motivation end
with the loss of seat. In teams legitimate power impact more because each member want
to achieve high position. Referent power- This power come with a person which has a charms-tic personality. This
people work as a role model for other persons. Example- German Pilot union which work
for the Ryanair solved the issue with a agreement with management that relate with issue
of pay and allowances. This agreement is done by Union leader as its charmstic
personality help union member and management to end the dispute between them. Person

develop attractive personality as it help to convince other employee's in a team and
organisation. Expert power- The power of expertise a person came with person when an individual has
depth information about a subject. Like Lawyer, accountant and pilot which are working
for Ryanair are expert in their fields. This power show a specialised work which increase
overall performance in each way such as team, organisation and an individual.
Political behaviour- Organisational politics is the behaviour of an employee which involve to
gain maximum power and authority. An employee creates changes with the support of its social
networking that provide benefit to the organisation or individual within it. Chanlat's influence
political behaviour as a role in which an individual or a group try to influence and escape to get
specifically more benefit for themselves. This impact a negative behaviour because various
rumours spread in organisation which provide wrong information to other employee's. This
create barrier between teams to achieve as they has irrelevant information. The management
which develop by Jean Francois Chanlat show that if Ryanair improve diversity for its business
then productivity of employee's become more effective for them (Ayoko and Boyle, 2012).
Power and politics both are inter-relate with each other. An individual implement political
behaviour in an organisation as they want to achieve more power. It help to take participate for
taking decision that provide benefits to employee’s as well as company also. Like in Ryanair
pilot union approach with legitimate power to make decision in favour for them. As they are
holding powerful seat in company and want to take decision power in hands for achieving more
benefits from company.
Chanlat's characteristic of organisation behaviour
Their are some major characteristic are required in Ryanair that impact on the behaviour
of employees. Some of them are mention as follow:
Power- It is very well known that power exists everywhere so in context of airlines
power is defined the ability of a person by which they influences others to complete their desires
without changing them. Like management of Ryanair influences its employees to achieve their
goals in specified period.
Politics- The word politics refer to the control and distribution of power. Politics help to
influences decision and activities to attain positive outcomes. Within Ryanair pilot union

effectively implement politics like their unity, quick decision making approach etc. in the
organisation that help to make decision in favour of them.
Conflict- It is the dis-agreement and argument that relates in the organisation and impact
on general idea. Within Ryanair there are different conflicts are present in market. In these an
organisation need to motivate their employees and teams. This results that they efforts of all
employees towards organisational goal.
TASK 2
P2 Content and process theories of motivation for the achievement of goals.
Motivation is the process by which a manager increase the productivity of its employee's.
It the way or method by which an employee's will perform more effective and efficient to
achieve their goal. Like manager creates a pleasant internal working environment for the
employee's for the betterment of employee performance.
Content theory of motivation- Content theory include Maslow and McClelleand theory
of motivation. Content theory explain the change of human needs with time. Content theory help
an organisation to develop a framework that help company to deal with various individuals. The
content theories are the later modification of Maslows hierarchy need of theory, ERG theory etc.
Content theory is also a known as a need theory.
Process theory of motivation- Process theory explain the change and development of an
individual. In the process theory an individual is motivated through psychological and
behavioural process. With process theory an individual move towards its need and achieve those
goals which are relate to it. In the process theory the work is develop and sustain with the time.
Degree, continuation of effort etc. are several factors which has a major impact on process theory
of motivation (Gawronski and Creighto, 2013).
Difference between content theory and process theory- In content theory the needs are
generated by the desired behaviour which help organisation to identify the needs of their
employee's. While in process theory goals are more important then behaviour of individuals.
Theory which work on the base of process identify and explore why this behaviour is caused.
Content theory explore the changing needs that have a direct effect on employee performance.
While in process it is necessary to find out that why this change take place in the employee's
behaviour.

ERG as content theory of motivation- The ERG theory is a type of content theory which
show existence, relatedness and growth needs of the employee's. In the year 1969 Alderfer divide
Maslow theory into three categories which is known as ERG theory in present scenario. Some
facts that relate with content theory is as follow:
 In development of ERG theory Ryanair find out that the existence need of its
employee's. It include simple needs of an employee which is food, water and shelter. As
this theory help company to fulfil basic needs of its employee's. If HR team of company
identify employee's needs and company help to fulfil its which automatically motivate an
employee and it is easy to achieve its goals.
 The second is relatedness part of the ERG theory in this case Ryanair try to develop
group for its employee's which feel the social need of its employee's. This relatedness
work as a security of an employee and build good relation with co-workers and family of
the organisation (Kanfer and Chen, 2016). Through relatedness company create goal that
match with employees needs.
 In ERG theory G stand for the growth of the employee's. There are various needs of an
employee which are fulfilled by individuals easily. But the growth need work as a self
satisfaction of an employee. This task include the task that an individual want to achieve
with more creativity and productivity. Like Ryanair employee's feel unique when their
growth need is filled by the management of Ryanair. A motivated employee increase
growth in each task that is to perform and this also increase company performance.
Equity theory as process theory of motivation- The equity theory is based on the idea on
fairness inside the company. In simple terms if an employee found that inequality as compare
with other employee's of the organisation. For the Ryanair employee's equity theory is very
essential because it help the company to manage the employee's that belong to different
background. As a diverse culture each employee's belong to a different background and company
has to create a balance between all employee's performance. So it help Ryanair to match their
employee's efforts towards the company goals (Mangi, Kanasro and Burdi, 2015). As the low
turnover in a company help employee's to work for a longer time period. In this case Ryanair
maintain some policy and performance appraisal for each employee. So there is a transparency

between each and every individual compensation, income and each task that performed by
individuals.
Impact of content and process theory on team and individual performance- Content
theory help an individual or group to find out that which need is achieved by an individual as
compare to performance. In the content theory a team or an individual explore the difference
between need and want of an employee. With execution of content theory in organisation an
individual or employees are motivated and it bring more efficiency in their work. As with this
team performance is also increased because employ are the members of team that automatically
increase their performance.
Process theory help the teams or individual to create the way by which employee's
achieve its goals with a simple technique. Like the expectation of the Ryanair employee is
different from the company. If the expectation of Ryanair employee's is fulfilled then
automatically they are motivated and help company to accomplish the organisational targets.
With process theory management help individuals to find way or method by which they achieve
their goal. In context of team performance process theory work to accomplish their task which
result to that actual performance of company match with expected performance of an
organisation.
TASK 3
P3 Effective team as opposed to an ineffective team.
Team is defined as the group of the people which work for a similar organisation. Each
employ has a different skill which are required. As this skills help employee's to complete their
task and activity. The team members of a company help organisation to complete its project in a
effective manner (Fransen, Weinberger and Kirschner, 2013). There are two types of team first is
effective team and other is ineffective team. Effective team help the organisation to achieve its
goals and task in a easy manner. Effective team support a company and become a major reason
for the success of an organisation. The top management of Ryanair focus more on developing
effective team because it help them to achieve their goal easily. Some feature of effective team
are discussed below. Establish of the goal- Team which work with more efficiency and effectiveness help
Ryanair to find out more goals for the organisation. It is because good team members of

the company help management to accomplish company goals with more efficiency.
Achievement of this goal with high efficiency motivate other employee's also to
complete their task with in a minimum time.
 Clear purpose- Effective team members or team has clear purpose to complete their task
with high motivation. Management of Ryanair share its vision and mission with a
definite purpose that help teams to perform its job with a effective purpose.
A team is said to be ineffective if there are more complex process to perform a job. The lack of
communication, poor focus and misguidance are some factors which create a dis-balanced and
ineffective team (Meslec, and Curşeu, 2015). In the early years of 20th century Ryanair
management loose the control on its employee's which lead to develop an ineffective team for
the organisation. Some points which show the loop holes of an ineffective team are as follow: Error and irrelevant information – The result that are generated with an ineffective team
members are always contain error and produce confusion in the development of the
organisation. The management of Ryanair focus on development of this team with more
efficiency so the minimization of error will came at the time of result. In company the
HR department work a problem solving with this different issue are solved by this team
members. Job distribution- The work divided in the ineffective is not properly manage and divided
that create a dis-balance in work process. Ineffective team is not able manage the
operating activities which create confusion in delegating work responsibilities. In the case
of Ryanair the work load is not equally divided. This result that some employee’s are
overburden with work responsibility (Ruch and et. al., 2018). Top management of
company divide the project into small goals as help to divide task equally between all
departments.
Types of team
Problem solving team- The problem solving are usually temporary that work with a
motive to solve a particular issue in the company. Like in the case of Ryanair company has to
deal with the employee's problem so they hire expert which deal with individuals and team in a
direct or indirect way.

Virtual team- Teams that connect to other person through the platform of digital way
rather than to connect personally. It is a easy way to communication as it help Ryanair to interact
with those employee's that are working in other countries.
Functional team- In most of business house a company focus to connect with
employee's. So they retain in company for a longer period as it help a employee to connect with
other functional department. Like in Ryanair employee has to deal with passenger and
management to perform the task.
Self managed team- This types of team help has authority to make a decision. In this
case a company provide responsibility and authority to team members to accomplish task with
efficiency and effectiveness. It leave a positive impact on Ryanair as team members feel
motivated and they power to make solve problem quickly.
Belbin model of team- To understand the effectiveness of team Belbin model is mention which
contribute a way and tendency to develop a model that help in team building. Ryanair can
implement in the organisation as this help to get strength of their team. Some different role of
this model are mention below: People oriented- This role support the team to combine the idea and human resources
together. With the Belbin model people inter-link their ideas with each other. For the case
of Ryanair manangement include different team members for the team. Like co-ordinator,
leader and resources allocator to complete the work. As it help company to achieve their
goals with more efficiency and effectiveness. Action oriented roles- The action oriented activities help an organisation to improve the
performance of a team. Like the team which work for the Ryanair develop action role to
increase the productivity of their team. Action oriented team help the manager of Ryanair
to accomplish its goals with more productivity.
 Cerebral roles- This is the intellectual and alternative that are present in environment.
After analysis of various roles and option for the problem. Ryanair develop expertise
option to match with organisational goal. It include various option in which best
alternative is chose by the management. This role include responsibilities of team leader
plant co-ordinator and supervisor to complete and match with goal. As the best decision
help Ryanair to make an effective decision for the company (Podsakoff, MacKenzie and
Podsakoff, 2016).

For an effective team, Belbin’s team model is more effective as it help employ to achieve
high result this result that with use of minimum resources company develop more number
of goods and services to achieve more than one goal. In this process start to work from
employee’s or people and further to take action. Along with this last is to explore various
alternative which increase performance of employees and teams.
Tuckman model of team- For a new team it is difficult that they perform well for an
organisation. As they are newly formed together to complete project. There are five
stages that are found in Tuckman model which are as follow:
Forming- Forming is the initial stage of Tuck man model of team. In this the employees
or team members are positive and polite. While some are confused to understand process
off team and others are excited to work with new team members and for new project.
Storming- In this stage most of teams face difficulty because they try to reach beyond its
boundaries. It result that between different team members conflict raise to start which
reduce performance of team and individuals.
Norming- In this stage normally team resolve their issue and appreciate strength of each
other. While in big companies like Ryanair it is duty of leader to solve issue between
employees and bring more productive in their work.
Performing- With in this case an employ work better to increase their performance. A
team will reach at this stage after implementing high result in company. For Ryanair it is
useful because it focus for the development of an individual.
Adjourning- Teams are developed or made for complete specific project of company. So
there are small or less firms which reach at this stage because to expand their
organisation they has to complete several project.
Example by which there is difference between this team models.
In Ryanair there are large number of employees work together on global level. So to manage
them company implement Belbin’s model like to delegate their task as per skills and capabilities.
While in case of Tuckman model role and responsibility is decided as per company project and
team members.

TASK 4
P4 Concept and philosophies of an organisational behaviour
Path goal theory of leadership- Path goal theory is based on the behaviour and
leadership style of the employee which is suitable for the organisation. Main motive of the
implementing the path goal theory is that it help Ryanair to increase the level of employee’s
motivation and satisfaction. Path goal theory help comapny to bring out maximum productivity
from their employee’s.
This theory help Ryanair to know the characteristic of their employees. With Path goal
theory of leadership organisational can analysis the capabilities and strength of its employee’s. It
help the management and employee’s to deal with different in a effective manner. This theory
help Ryanair to guide with several problems and making a best decision for the human work
forces of the organisation. It also help company to develop an adequate work culture in the
organisation. Path goal leadership also promote the motivation inside the employees. Along with
this theory management will able to know the view and feedback of their employee and solve
issue which is a barrier in the organisation (Vondracek, Ford and Porfeli, 2014).
Classification of path goal theory to improve the performance and productivity
Path goal theory help an organisation to improve the performance of the organisation by
improving the skill of company employees. There are many issue which create a barrier in the
communication between department and its employee’s. In this case the leader of Ryanair
employee union go with the technique of path goal theory. The Path goals theory of leadership
work mutually between organisation and employees. With this theory employee achieve
maximum level of satisfaction and organisation its goals. Some opinions which show the
relevance of path goal theory with the organisation are mention below:
Employees characteristic- It help employees to develop specific skill with the help of
training method. This skill help the employee’s of Ryanair to accomplish their goal. As well as it
also help organisation to fulfil the need and requirement of employees that match with company
goals. The manager of Ryanair airline must motivate its employees. The motivation method help
management to bring out more productivity in the performance of their employees (Suciu,
Mortan and LAZĂR, 2013) . To motivate an employee an organisation must know about the
needs and demand of an employee. As with fulfilment of this employee need automatically an
employee is motivated to complete its target.

Task and environment- The environment and task focus on the identifying the problems
that are generated in the working environment of the company. The task are the responsibilities
that an employee has to fill for the completion of a project. In this case of Ryanair the leader and
manager both are trying to find best solution for the company that help employee to achieve its
goal. As the problems will left an negative impact on the employees of the organisation. This
result that Ryanair is not able to accomplish their goals.
Barriers to implement new structure in new Ryanair
Communication- Ryanair is operating their business in airlines. So it is essential for
them to make effective communication channel in their management system. The main purpose
of strong communication is to ensure the smooth interaction between the department of the
organisation.
Hierarchy- It is essential for organisation to implement effective hierachy in the
organisation. Like the top to bottom approach in which CEO are in top position further the other
organisation employees relates are delegated lower position in the department. In context of
Ryanair it is difficult for them to maintain proper hierarchy in organisation because there are
large number of employees are working in organisation.
Cost- Investment is the major factor that impact on organisation to implement new
structure. Within Ryanair it is difficult for them to change all places and productivity that affect
on different platforms of the organisation.
Therefore it is difficult for the organisation to modify or develop new structure to
accomplish their activities as for minor changes Ryanair need to bear cost. It results that it
decreases the profits for the organisation. While due to operating their business in global market
it is complex for maintain hierarchy because due to it create inflexibility in their structure.
Leadership style- It is the way of leader and manager that how they guide employees to
match its goal and monitor the performance of employees. Two types of leadership style are
mention below: Participative style- This style provide the guide lines to the employees of Ryanair and
also motivate them to put extra effort for the completion of task. It result that the effort

which are put by employees will result to make an effective decision. The participative
leadership style is considered as a positive impact for the Ryanair because its employee’s
are more confident about their performance (Vance, Siponen and Pahnila, 2012). Directive style- The directive style of leadership is a autocratic style in this leader will
make a decision without the interference of its employees. It is considered as a negative
style of leadership because if the manager of Ryanair acquired this style to make a
decision. The employees will di-motivated toward their work. This also result that
sometime decision are executed properly because of no interference of employees. It
result in the increase of employee turnover in the organisation.
Problems that create a barrier to change the structure of Ryanair- With study of this report
there are various problem is predicted like due to low fair charge company is not able make high
profits. Employee's that work in company are not properly trained to achieve its goals. Along
with this major reason which create barrier to change structure of Ryanair is the pilot union that
want to hold more power to control the airline sector.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that the behaviour of an employee inside the
organisation is very essential. As it help the organisation to expand and develop in international
market. If the organisation behaviour is not present in a company it result that their employees
are demotivated. The required skill are also not present in the employee performance which
result that employee effort will not put in a proper manner. For motivating and encouraging the
employees content theory is the work as a backbone to improve the performance of its
employees. While process theory help to guide and lead the employees of a company.

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