Foundations of Business Communication: Ryanair Performance Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Ryanair's performance within the framework of business communication. It begins with an introduction to business communication skills and their importance in organizational operations, particularly focusing on how communication impacts decision-making. The report then delves into an evaluation of external factors influencing Ryanair's performance, utilizing SWOT and PESTLE analyses to assess its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and the impact of political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors. Furthermore, it examines Ryanair's competitive position using Porter's Five Forces model, evaluating the airline's market dynamics and competitive advantages. The report also addresses key management issues faced by Ryanair, emphasizing the role of effective communication in resolving conflicts, managing employee relations, and maintaining customer satisfaction. Finally, it includes a reflection on the development of written and verbal business communication skills, drawing on the author's learning experiences and insights. The report concludes by highlighting the importance of continuous improvement in business communication for organizational success.

FOUNDATIONS OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1. EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF EXTERNAL FACTORS ON PERFORMANCE OF
RYANAIR ......................................................................................................................................1
SWOT Analysis of Ryanair....................................................................................................1
PESTLE Analysis of Ryanair.................................................................................................3
Competitive position of Ryanair............................................................................................4
Key management issues faced by Ryanair ............................................................................1
2. REFLECTION.............................................................................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................6
Online...............................................................................................................................................7
6 Tips for Improving Your Business Communication Skills. 2015. [Online]. Available
through: <http://www.broadvision.com/blog/6-tips-for-improving-your-business-
communication-skills/>..........................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Business communication skills define all rules of written and verbal communication
which is necessary to communicate with each other. The business communication skills are
essential for performing business operations. The communication skills in business helps
organisation to fulfil the management related functions.
The report will focus on the analysis of external factors, which affects the operational
activities of business. It will address the impact of communication with stakeholders in decision
making of organisation by demonstrating the example of Ryanair. This organisation provides
cheap airline services and operates mainly at London and Dublin airports.
Ryanair is among one of the most successful airline industries. The report will describe
its strengths, performance and weaknesses. It will describe external factors which influences the
performance of Ryanair. The report will also explain how key skills can be developed. It will
address the management related issues faced by an organisation and role of communication
skills for resolving those issues.
1. EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF EXTERNAL FACTORS ON PERFORMANCE OF
RYANAIR
There are various tools and models available, which can analyse performance of the
organisation along with the factors, which influences both performance and strategies of
Ryanair.
Following models can be used for evaluating the performance of organisation.
SWOT Analysis of Ryanair
This model gives a detailed analysis of opportunities and possible competitive threats for
an organisation. This analysis also helps organisation to identify the strengths and weaknesses
of the business. The effective SWOT analysis will help Ryanair to improve its strategies and
decisions which will guarantee the maximum profits.
 Strengths: The massive success of organisation is the result of following strengthening
features. Low cost airline services are the biggest strength of Ryanair that marks its
presence covering almost entire European market.
 The organisation operates in majority of European market so it has impact on broad
customer base.
 For controlling operational expenses, Ryanair use effective bargaining strategy against
the suppliers of Ryanair.
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 Organisation effectively maintains innovations and flexibility through great managerial
communication and coordination. For achieving goals, an organisation gives priority to
training of employees, stability and innovations in services.
Weaknesses: Despite huge success, Ryanair experiences tough competition from competitors
due to following weaknesses
 Ryanair is extremely focused on maintaining low operational costs and thus organisation
tend to compromise with requirements and feedbacks of customers and brand value
management. Such approaches encourage poor quality of services and unfair practices
in operations.
 Ryanair is not much concerned about maintaining employee relations thus employee
dissatisfaction and conflicts can affect the business.
 Ryanair is involved in expanding its fleet aggressively. It may not bring benefits for
organisation in near future.
Opportunities: Ryanair can address sustainable profits and growth by looking forward to
following opportunities.
 Organisation provides easy interaction platform to its users on its websites so that
customers can easily contact Ryanair. It will allow organisation to build strong
relationships with customers.
 Ryanair is finding innovative options for aircraft, which will not only reduce fuel
consumption but will also provide a better experience to its customers.
 For increasing revenues and customer support, an organisation provides various mobile
applications, which will target and retain customers for long term.
Threats: Ryanair is also vulnerable to various competitive threats such as
 Competitive airlines are also adopting low cost models for attracting customers with
better quality services. It can challenge the existing position of Ryanair.
 Internal conflicts between management and employees can affect employee as well as
customer retention.
 Continued advancement in technologies and deviations in prices of fuels can affect profit
of the organisation.
 Accidents and regular flight cancellations due to weather or technical issues can
decrease the passengers.
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PESTLE Analysis of Ryanair
Another tool which analyse external factors influencing the performance of Ryanair is
PESTLE analysis. This tool analyses various external forces such as political, social, technical,
economical as well as legal and economic factors.
Political: The external factors such as terrorist attacks, geographical boundaries related
conflicts can affect the number of passengers. Ryanair has the least control over these factors.
Different government and taxation polices over different countries can influence the routes and
profits of organisation.
Economical: The funds from the investors, Budget limitations and operational costs definitely
influence the growth of organisation. The availability of other economical means for travelling
can also distract the target audience of Ryanair.
Social: The social disturbance such as wars, strikes and health vulnerabilities can directly alter
the routine activities of organisation. The preferences of customers can deviate on the basis of
response of particular society. This deviation will also affect the activities of Ryanair.
Technical: The technical errors caused due to cyber attacks or networking issues can fail ticket
booking or communication system of the Ryanair. Such failure in communication network can
completely hinder the working of organisation. The technical advancements and failure in air
craft’s can also act as barrier to the services.
Legal: The government policies plays key role in strategy framework of Ryanair. It is essential
for organisation to follow all safety and data protection rights subjected by the government of
UK. Ryanair must ensure that all legal formalities are fulfilled and safety of customers is not
compromised. The government regulations related to fuel emissions or environmental concerns
are also considered during innovations and in existing resources.
Environmental factors: Being in aviation industry, weather issues are the biggest
consideration for providing quality services. The accidents or flight cancellation issues due to
bad weather, storms or fogs can cause dissatisfaction among customers. The regularity in such
incidents will decrease the number of customers and will also cause negative impact on the
brand value of an organisation.
Competitive position of Ryanair
The competitive position for an organisation can be evaluated by various factors such as
its sales records, customer retention, employee satisfaction and retention as well as quality of
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services. It is essential for Ryanair to regularly evaluate its position among competitive airlines.
Such approach will give guidelines to Ryanair about segments, which require improvements.
The competitive position of Ryanair can be analysed by using Porter's five-force model.
Porter five force model of Ryanair
Ryanair is Europe's first and largest low fare Airline Company. Its strategy of providing
low fares and ancillary revenue made it as a successful airline company and also made
Ryanair’s success in the future. It is one of the leading airline companies.
About Porter Five Force Model
This model was given by Michael porter to analyse the five tools for competitive market
and to analyse and reduce competition from the market (Ward, 2016). This five-force model is
mostly used to check competition in the market.
The five forces of Ryanair is as following
Threat to new entry
As Ryanair is the airline which provides low fare services to their customer. It is a strong
airline company and if any new competitor arrives, then they face huge competition in the airline
market and have to invest huge amount on advertisement, promotion, sale promotion to
promote the company and to make sure customers get to know about it.
This is because Ryanair has already invested huge amount on promoting through
website, newspaper, radio and television. By doing this, they have been saving marketing and
distribution cost. Therefore, this company is a competition to every new entry.
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Competitive rivalry
Ryanair has advantage over all its competitor as it provided, non- frill and low fares are
its companies policies. Whereas, other competitor as to face price war as it provides the lowest
of all. The new company Easy jet is one of the competitors, but not really compete with Ryanair.
The aim of competitive rivalry is the threat to its sale decline.
Bargaining power of supplier
For an airline, mainly they bargaining power depend up-to aeroplane and fuel supplier
and the Ryanair has maintained a good relationship to its unique aeroplane supplier, Boeing
and by maintaining good relationship to their supplier it becomes easy for them to contract.
However, other company as to pay high price of aeroplane and fuel supplier by this they fare
price also increases. So, Ryanair also enjoy their low fare power (Hargie, 2016).
Bargaining power of buyers
As Ryanair has its online tricking booking services and provide with the lowest fares for
their customers and customer can compare to sites of other airline industries and can find the
best airline company- which offers best services and choose according to it. This is the main
reason for competitive price at industry level.
Threat to substitute
As Ryanair is one of the fastest airline services but it also has some substitute. There
are many other substitutes, like trains for customers as it is also one of the means to travel but
it is more costly and is more time consuming than airlines. Second example is travel from car
to one place to another and this is more time consuming than Ryanair and also there could to
many problem by travelling through road and the last one could be video conference, this is not
the transportation means of travelling but can be the substitute of Ryanair as it reduces the time
of travel and also, save the money of transportation of an individual (Jordan and Lloyd, 2017).
Key management issues faced by Ryanair
The organisation has to deal with various managerial related conflicts. If management
fails to effectively communicate with employees and passengers then it may lead to severe
conflicts as well as legal troubles for the organisation. For instance if employees are not in
favour of organisational policies then Ryanair must communicate with them to f Before making
decisions. The ignorance to tthese conflicts due to ineffective communication can take the
form of strikes or flight cancellation. Such incidents will also provide benefits to other
competitors of Ryanair.
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Competitors of organisation can also make an attempt to gain benefits from t unsatisfied
employees by convincing the skilled employees to join them instead of Ryanair. Thus, for
resolving such incidents, it is essential for Ryanair to maintain an effective communication
channel between management and employees. It is also mandatory and essential part of
organisational policies to communicate with customers.
Organisation can receive the feedbacks and suggestions of the customers only via
communication. The customers can interact with Ryanair through websites or direct interactions.
Ryanair must ensure that feedbacks are propagated via proper communication channels (6 Tips
for Improving Your Business Communication Skills, 2015). The managerial conflicts between
employees of management regarding superiority can also be major cause for the concern. Such
internal issues adversely affect the performance and decision making of the organisation.
2. REFLECTION
Written skills:
The written business communication skills not only provide customers brief information
about organisation but also make a validated communication path between different layers of
management as well as with customers. An effective written communication includes follow up
sessions for closing the interaction loop.
From the journal, I have learned the guidelines for written communications such as
report formations and letters. For improving written communication skills, I used to write short
sentences and paragraphs, which are clear and concise. In business communication, it is very
necessary that receiver gets clear understanding of the message. From the journal, I have
developed skills to figure out the possible cases in which information can be misunderstood.
This approach helps in delivering business idea in accurate way (Moore and Morton, 2017).
Verbal skills:
Verbal communication is equally important for business. To establish an emotional
connectivity between sender and receiver these skill is essential. Business must involve certain
rules for verbal communication to maintain long-term relationships with stakeholders. From the
Journals I have learned that before expressing thoughts and decision one should always check
the validity of the information to be present. The prior organisation of thoughts before
expressing them verbally will prevent me from involving in conflicts which may arise due to
misleading or misinterpreted thoughts. I have analysed and developed the skills to be confident
about my views when expressing them towards listeners. For gaining m ore attention I can use
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facial expression or variation in tone. (Brink and Costigan, 2015). Monotonic verbal
communication may not be effective enough. I have learned voice inflection skills so that for
emphasizing crucial concepts emotions can be expressed by varying pitch.
Listening skills:
For meeting the expectations and requirements of customers it is essential to develop
the listening skills. I have focused on my listening skills so that in case of conflicts and
discussions I have clear sense of the ideology of the other person. During communication when
listening skills are improved it creates a positive impact on the speaker that their views and
thoughts are valued and they are participating in an effective communication process. For
improving my listening skills I pay my complete attention to the words and body language of the
speaker. Whenever I face difficulty in understanding the thoughts of speaker then to retain focus
I start repeating their words in my mind so that I can easily absorb their thoughts (Brownell,
2015).
Team work skills:
The business cannot survive without excellent team work. The effective communication
skills also build efficient team work skills. When I communicate with individuals with different
ideologies and thought process then it becomes easy to work as a team. The listening skills
have taught me that while working in a team I must keep personal differences aside for
achieving goals. For extracting more efficient results from team work I must interact frequently
with other team members. The journal has described the importance of team work for achieving
the success (Boies, Fiset and Gill, 2015). The team work skill development also require
emotional connectivity between team members. I can develop that via informal communication.
Information gathering and analysis skills:
Business processes cannot achieve goals without analysing problems. For analysing the
business issues I gather information from various sources. It also requires the utilization of my
comparative skills. I must have ability to compare the various aspects of business with my
competitors approach. With the effective communication skills I have developed skills to
recognize the problems and to find its solutions and causes. The information gathering skills will
assist me to make better decisions.
Networking skills:
I have developed the networking skills which is essential for the business. The journal
has explained the importance of networking in building relations in business. The effective
communication is the key to build networks. I have learned that for encouraging more audience
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to connect with business I must address the interests and requirements of customers within the
policy framework of business. For maintaining the effectiveness of communication I must keep
the conversation interesting. Networking may also require some informal communication. For
instance for gaining the attention of investors and customers I can involve in social events or
sponsorship of some cultural events.
Skills for addressing public:
I must have ability to address and influence massive crowd. The communication
experience with team members is different from that of communicating with huge crowd in front.
I have focused to develop the skills of communicating authority as well as with credibility. While
addressing public anxiety is one of the biggest barrier for me but I can develop contingency plan
so that this fear can be resolved. The journals have taught me that if I will involve audience in
my speech communication process will me more productive. It will help in developing comfort
(Theaker, 2017).
The business communication skills are vital for successful business. These communication
skills are useful in every stage of development. The listening skills can be sharpen by being
attentive. I must also consider the fact that during speech I should allow the listeners to express
their views as well. If I will continue to speak giving attention or chance to listeners then they will
get bore and will not stay attentive to the conversation. I must use appropriate tools for
communication. For instance with digital technologies more audience is engaged in social
networking platforms. Thus, communication skills must be suitable and according to these
platforms. For making the communication effective it is essential to follow the latest trends and
technologies in communication tools otherwise irrespective of communication skills results will
not be as productive as desired.
CONCLUSION
From the report, it can be concluded that effective business communication skills are
mandatory and need to be developed. There are various external factors which can influence
the performance of organisation. The report has used various tools and models such as SWOT
analysis, PESTLE analysis and porter's five force model to analyse the different aspects or
organisation. These models give a description of opportunities and strengths or organisation.
For sustaining the growth and development it is also essential for the organisation to
continuously monitor its position among its competitors. The porter's five force model has
analysed this aspect in regards with Ryanair. The report has explained the various key skills
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which are necessary for communication in business. Thus, it can be concluded from the report
that development of business communication skills is required for analysing the various factors
which influence the performance of organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aithal, P.S., Shailashree, V. and Kumar, P.M., 2015. A new ABCD technique to analyze
business models & concepts.
Bedwell, W.L., Fiore, S.M. and Salas, E., 2014. Developing the future workforce: An approach
for integrating interpersonal skills into the MBA classroom. Academy of Management
Learning & Education. 13(2). pp.171-186.
Boies, K., Fiset, J. and Gill, H., 2015. Communication and trust are key: Unlocking the
relationship between leadership and team performance and creativity. The Leadership
Quarterly.26(6). pp.1080-1094.
Brink, K.E. and Costigan, R.D., 2015. Oral communication skills: Are the priorities of the
workplace and AACSB-accredited business programs aligned?. Academy of Management
Learning & Education.14(2). pp.205-221.
Brownell, J., 2015. Listening: Attitudes, Principles, and Skills (Subscription). Routledge.
Cenere, P., Gill, R., and et.al., 2015.Communication Skills for Business Professionals 7.
Cambridge University Press.
Chuchrová, K., Vilamová, Š. and Kozel, R., 2015, October. SWOT analysis as a standardized
application in industrial companies. In Conference Proceedings of the 3rd International
Scientific Conference (p. 775).
Hargie, O., 2016. Skilled interpersonal communication: Research, theory and practice.
Routledge.
Jordan, P. and Lloyd, C., 2017. Staff management in library and information work. Routledge.
Moore, T. and Morton, J., 2017. The myth of job readiness? Written communication,
employability, and the ‘skills gap’in higher education. Studies in Higher Education.42(3).
pp.591-609.
Shabanova, L.B., Ismagilova, G.N., and et.al., 2015. PEST-Analysis and SWOT-Analysis as the
most important tools to strengthen the competitive advantages of commercial
enterprises. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. 6(3). p.705.
Theaker, A., 2017. What is public relations?. In The Public Relations Strategic Toolkit (pp. 17-
27). Routledge.
Ward, J., 2016. Keeping the family business healthy: How to plan for continuing growth,
profitability, and family leadership. Springer.
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Online
6 Tips for Improving Your Business Communication Skills. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.broadvision.com/blog/6-tips-for-improving-your-business-communication-
skills/>.
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