A Critical Evaluation of How HRM Strategies Impact Ryanair Employees

This dissertation critically evaluates the impact of human resource management (HRM) strategies on employees, using Ryanair as a case study. The research begins with an introduction outlining the research aim, objectives, and questions. A comprehensive literature review explores relevant HRM strategies and their effects. The methodology section describes the research methods used, including both quantitative and qualitative approaches, and data collection techniques like surveys. The findings are presented and analyzed, focusing on key themes such as recruitment and selection, training and development, rewards and recognition, and performance assessment. The analysis examines the impacts of these strategies on employee behavior, participation, and satisfaction. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for Ryanair to improve its HRM practices and enhance employee outcomes. The study highlights the importance of HRM in achieving organizational goals and employee well-being.

Dissertation
(A critical evaluation of how human resource management strategies impact on
employees)

ABSTRACT
The main purpose of this report is to explore the current human resource management
strategies adopted in Ryanair and the impacts they have on the employees in the organisation.
This is the main objective and to achieve this, various activities have been followed
systematically and effectively. The first activity is introduction that was take place by developing
research aim and objective. It help researcher in conducting another activity that is literature
review. It is basically a part of secondary information which as gathered from various sources
involving articles, books, Journals and many more. These are useful sources adopted by
researcher for fulfilling investigation gap and achieving aims & objectives. One of the main
activity is research methodology which was done by describing various forms of research
methodologies such as inductive approach, interpretivism, cross-sectional and so on. All the
results were analysed by using frequency distribution analysis which is an analytical tool and
assist researcher in analysing quantitative data in a proper manner. Conclusion as well as
recommendations are the last task which involve data regarding all activities clearly and
properly. Some of the suggestions are also provided which are related with topic. Thus, main
purpose of conducting this research was attained in a timely and successfully manner.

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................2
TITLE: “A critical evaluation of how human resource management strategies impact on
employees”. A Case study of Ryanair, UK.....................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Background of the topic.........................................................................................................4
Background of the company...................................................................................................4
Rationale for the research.......................................................................................................4
Research aim:.........................................................................................................................5
Research objectives:...............................................................................................................5
Research Question:.................................................................................................................5
Type of research methodology used to implement project....................................................5
Literature Review.............................................................................................................................6
Human resource strategies adopted by Ryanair.....................................................................6
Impacts of the human resource strategies used in Ryanair on their staff members...............8
Human resource management approaches in a business setting............................................9
Research Methodology..................................................................................................................10
Results and Findings......................................................................................................................17
Analysis of Results........................................................................................................................28
Theme 1: Human resource strategies adopted by Ryanair...................................................28
Theme 2: Impact of the human resource strategies used in Ryanair on their staff..............29
Theme 3: Human resource management approaches in a business setting..........................29
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................30
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................31
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................33

TITLE: “A critical evaluation of how human resource management strategies
impact on employees”. A Case study of Ryanair, UK
INTRODUCTION
Background of the topic
Human resource are the asset for an organisation that help businesses to attain higher
growth and success at marketplace. It is significant for a company to ensure that its employees
are satisfied at workplace as it directly impact on the execution of activities as well as
performance of an organisation. There are various human resource management strategies
adopted by business entities in order to satisfy employees, improve their productivity level,
motivate them towards work and so on (Anwar and et. al., 2020). Human resource management
strategies is vital as it facilitate higher productivity and profitability to an organisation The main
objective of conducting this investigation is to evaluate how human resource management
strategies impact on the employees. A literature review pertaining to investigation topic will be
conducted. The research methods used along with their justification is explained. In the last,
some of the recommendation is given to company to improve its human resource management
strategies.
Background of the company
For conducting the research, Ryanair is chosen as a base company. It is a low-cost airline
that was established in year 1984 and headquarter in Ireland. The company operates around 400
Boeing and is giving services in more than 225 destinations. In the present time, company is
facing issue associated to its employees and for this the study is conducted in order to evaluate
HR strategies adopted by Ryanair and its impact on staff members.
Rationale for the research
The main purpose of conducting this research is to evaluate how human resource
management strategies impact on the employees working in organisation. In addition to this, the
study is beneficial for researcher in both personal and professional context (Belgrave and Seide,
2019). In relation to professional, it help in gaining insight about HRM strategies used by
companies and how it impact on the overall employees performing at workplace, which will help
researcher where it work. In relation to personal, it assist in improving and learning skills such as

time management, decision-making, data collection, communication and interaction, data
interpretation and many more. This will also assist researcher to conduct research systematically
and effectively and also help to grab opportunities in coming future.
Research aim:
“ To explore the current human resource management strategies adopted in Ryanair and
the impacts they have on the employees in the organisation”.
Research objectives:
 To critically examine the human resource strategies adopted by Ryanair.
 To examine the impacts of the human resource strategies used in Ryanair on their staff.
 To analyse proven human resource management approaches in a business setting.
 To provide recommendations to Ryanair to improve their human resource practices for
positive impacts on their employees.
Research Question:
 What are the human resource strategies adopted by Ryanair?
 What are the impacts of the human resource strategies used in Ryanair on their staff?
 Which human resource management approaches are proven for business setting?
 What recommendations can be made to Ryanair to improve their human resource
practices for positive impacts on their employees?
Type of research methodology used to implement project
Research methods is a process for gathering as well as analysing information associated
with the research. There are mainly two types of research methods that is quantitative and
qualitative method (Haak-Saheem and Festing, 2020). For conducting the present research, both
methods is used by investigator in order to collect both primary and secondary information.
Quantitative method is used for collecting and analysing primary information and for this survey
is adopted. On the other side, Qualitative method is used for collecting secondary information
which is source from various sources that is journals, articles and so on.

Literature Review
It is a significant and important part of a dissertation as it assist researcher in collecting
secondary data in a systematic and proper manner. In addition to this, there are various sources
which will be useful and significant for researcher in collection of secondary data regarding the
evaluation of how human resource management strategies impact on employees. In addition to
this, this part involves viewpoint of authors regarding the research questions (Ellen and et. al.,
2019). The main purpose of this section is to properly identify research gaps within previous
research. Within the present research, the main gap is the impact of human resource strategy on
employees. In previous conducted research, the data were available about the human resource
strategies used by companies in order to manage is employees. In addition to this, the
information available about importance of human resource strategies that assist organisation in
attaining objectives, but is insufficient information about impact of HR strategies on employees.
This is a main gap & to overcome with this gap, investigator will need to follow research
question. All this will support in achievement of research aim as well as objectives and also
fulfilment of missing data gap. The research question of present study will be mentioned below:
Human resource strategies adopted by Ryanair
As per the view point of Geriant Harvey, (2020), It is determine that human resource is
one of the essential part of an organisation which leads to attainment growth as well as success at
marketplace. In addition to this, it is vital for a business entity to make employees motivated and
satisfied at workplace as it directly impact on their performance and efficiency level in a positive
manner. It is analysed that human resource management is an extensive approach to manage the
scenario of employees and environment along with organization culture. It is determined that
there are various human resource strategies used by companies with an objective to give benefit
to its employees and to satisfy as well as manage them in an effective manner. The strategies
used by respective organisation is discuss below:
Recruitment and selection: The company make use of effective recruitment and
selection techniques in order to acquire and hire talent at workplace (Human resource in
Ryanair, 2017). It mainly focuses on the management, recruitment and general direction of the
people who work within an organization. In addition to this, the company emphasis on recruiting
the right person at right place or the person who have the skills, ability and enough knowledge to

to attempt for completion of project. Thus, client is requested to provide us appropriate brief with
specific guidelines so that we can start the work.
Thank-you!!perform activities and deal with situations. This help company to improve its
performance level and gain growth as well.
Training and development: It is undertaken as one of the important HR strategy that
help company to enhance its performance. In context to human resource department of Ryanair,
Ryanair provides effective training and development session to its employees in order to
develop their skills and knowledge level which in turn help in both personal and professional
growth (Hieu and Nwachukwu, 2020). In addition to this, Ryanair focuses that employees are
organizations greatest assets as without them business functions could not be implemented as
well as completed. Moreover, respective organisation help its employees to perform their work,
compensating them for their performance, and resolve their issues rapidly. All this allow Ryanair
to retain as well as engage employees for longer time period.
Rewards and recognition: The company provide rewards to its staff members of their
good performance and follow the policy of input equals to output which directly mean that
organisation provide benefits to its employees equal to their hard work put in achievement of
objectives. The company provide both monetary and non-monetary rewards to its staff members
as it make employees feel value and motivated at workplace. Along with this, Ryanair encourage
its employees by giving them rewards, incentives and appraisal as per their performance as it
motivate them which leads to employee satisfaction and retention (Human reosurce
management, 2020). This also help company to execute activities and provide service to
customers in a proper manner that affect on brand image and performance of organisation in a
positive manner.
Retirement benefits: It is analysed that Ryanair also provide retirement benefits to its
staff members which shows company believe that employees are the asset of their organisation
which make them lead towards growth and success. In addition to this, it develop a positive mind
set of employees due to which they put efforts in attaining organisational goals timely and
effectively.
Performance assessment: The Human resource department of Ryanair conduct
performance analysis of its employees on continuous manner as it assist company to find where

its employees lack so that improvements take place timely and properly. Along with this, it also
allow staff members to enhance both personal and professional growth in an effective manner.
All the above strategies allow Human resource department and higher authorities of
organisation to manage its employees effectively and properly (Wehmeier and Schoeneborn,
2018). In addition to this, it also help company to satisfy, retain and improver performance of
employees which in turn leads to increase in performance and profitability of the company.
Impacts of the human resource strategies used in Ryanair on their staff members
According to Ahmed (2020) human resource strategies adopted by business organisations
influence daily operations of their employees and has an impact on employee behaviour.
Training and development is part of human resource development strategies of business firms.
This strategy aims to develop new skills in employees so that they can expand their role in the
company. Apart from this training and development sessions of the company focus on enhancing
existing skills of employees so that they gain proficient level abilities. This HR strategy has
positive impact on the company as the firm gains effective trained and proficient employees. The
impact of this HR strategy on employees includes increased participation of employees in
various activities as they believe tariffing and development programmes are key to their
professional growth (Chakraborty and Biswas, 2020). Apart from this, training and development
increases employee motivation and encourages them to improve their skills to advance in their
career. Rewarding and appreciating employees which contribute to development of the company
is a successful HR strategy as it increases employee motivation and helps the company retain
talented employees. The main impact of this strategy on the workforce is that it acts as a
motivator to improve their performance. In addition to this, reward strategy connect employees
to the company which plays an important role in retaining talented employees for a longer time
period (Effects of HRM on Workplaces, 2020). Performance management is an HR strategy
which involves collaborating with the workforce to ensure continuous growth in progress of
employees. The impact of this HR strategy on employees is that business organisations is that
they are able top gain feedback from their supervisors about their progress and continuously
make improvement on progress of previous year. In addition to this the process of performance
management includes employees providing feedback to their managers on ways to improve their
performance. This collaborative process effects employee perception positivity and contributes
in establishment of strong consumer relations.

Human resource management approaches in a business setting
As per the view point of Breek, (2019), human resource management is managing people
in the organisation for making them work to contribute in achieving of the goals and objectives.
It is the process of hiring, training, compensating them and make policies and different strategies
to retain them. They make sure that they are providing all the amenities and working
environment to them. The HR managers applies various approaches in which its helps in
maintaining the overall development of the employees such as strategic approach, commodity
approach, system approach and many more. In context to the selected company, strategic
approach helps in focusing on the people management (Jessee, 2019). This approach make sure
to add value to the organisation by stressing on the organisational development and employee
organisational fit. It helps in making connections with the organisation and employees for long
term goal that leads to shaping the businesses settings. Commodity approach used as an
economic plan where people are hires and fired through money. In context to the selected
organisation, the employees are given extra work, long working hours and so on. In this
approach, the employees are taken for granted and they are not treated well in the organisation.
The company make the employees feels that they commodities of them and also terminates using
the strategy of money. The organisation also use money for recruiting the person, hire them and
providing training and development.
According to Wehrmeyer, (2017), there are a lot of approaches used in the field of human
resource management. These approaches are helpful in gaining positive outcomes for betterment
of company. Main approaches are strategic approach, system approach proactive and reactive
approach and more. It is analyzed that each & every approach has its own merits and drawbacks.
So manager need to be careful while selecting a suitable approach for business. Here, strategic
approach is related to preparation of appropriate plans for so that company can attain higher level
of growth. In this, system approach is related to use of different tools which are interrelated with
each other for accomplishing common goals of business. On other side, proactive approach is
related to make the anticipations about future occurrence and prepare strategies accordingly. This
approach is used with an aim to meet with future uncertainties in an efficient manner. In context
of Ryanair, managers evaluate all the necessary approaches effectively (Brewster, 2017). They
adopt strategic approach in which they prepare appropriate plans for getting positive results for
company. In addition, they also adopt proactive approach by making necessary anticipations

about future so that they can meet with future uncertainties in best possible way. Therefore,
human resource approaches are vital for ensuring growth & development of human resources
within organization in an efficient manner.
Research Methodology
Research methodology is a way to properly answer or solve research problem or it is the
procedure of gaining insight about how investigation is done. It is an important aspect for an
investigation that help in gathering data in an effective and proper manner. In order to explain
the research methods used in this investigation, Research onion framework is used as it explain
research methods and also involve different layers that is discuss below:
Research philosophy: It is defined as a way in which information about investigation is
collected, used and analysed as well. Positivism and interpretivism are two researcher
philosophies. In context to positivism philosophy, it believe that reality is stable & is observed as
well as described from an objective viewpoint. On the other hand, interpretivism philosophy I
associated with subjective interpretation & intervention in reality. As per the topic of research,
Positivism philosophy is appropriate and effective as well (Shahreki, 2019). One of the main
reason to use positvism research philosophy is it is depend on subjective approaches, not on
feelings and emotions as well. Along with this, it take less resources and time and also assist in
attainment of positive and valid results. Therefore, it is stated that positivism philosophy is one
of the effective method as it assist in getting more appropriate and accurate decision in real time
condition as well.
Research approach: It is the process that will be following in research with a view to
effectively evaluate data about the topic. In addition to this, research approach are plans as well
as process for research. There are two forms of research approaches that is inductive and
deductive. In relation to deductive approach, it develop a set of hypothesis that required to be
confirmed at the time of research process. On the other side, inductive approach did not involve
development of hypothesis. According to the topic, deductive approach is valuable and effective
as it assist in evaluation of data which is in quantitative form and is also consume less time and
cost as well. Apart from this, another justification to select deductive approach is it mainly based
on fact that there is effective testing of numeric information (Li and Frenkel, 2017). It is analysed
that respective research approach is able to assist in providing better explanation of casual

relationship that is among concepts and variables. Moreover, it also assist in generalising the
finding of investigation in an effective and accurate manner.
Research strategy: It is an important aspect of research methodology as it guide
investigator in planning, monitoring and implementing study in an appropriate manner. In
addition to this, it help researcher to know about how to gather & analyse information. The forms
of research strategies are survey, experiment, action research, case study and so on. For the
present study, survey research strategy is appropriate and useful as it help researcher in
collecting data which in turn help in attaining valid and reliable outcome (Thompson Burdine,
Thorne and Sandhu, 2021). In addition to this, the main reason to select survey as a research
strategy is it help in gathering proper and first hand data from the participants.
Research choice: Another important aspect of research methodology is research choice
that is mainly of two types that is qualitative and quantitative. It is stated that qualitative data is
associated with human behaviour and is provide non-numeric information. On the other side,
quantitative research is associated with facts and gather numerical information. In the present
research, both qualitative and quantitative method is used by investigator in order to gather
information (Armstrong and Taylor, 2020). In relation to quantitative method, it help research to
gather information based on facts and figures and also allow to collect data in less cost and time
as well. In context to qualitative data, it assist investigator to gain in-depth information about
topic which is collected as well as analysed by professionals. This help researcher to draw valid
and reliable conclusion in a timely and effective manner.
Time horizon: It is one of the vital source of researcher as without it, researcher cannot
complete project timely as well as successfully. It is important for investigator to set time of all
the activities associated to research so that it is finished timely without any delay. It is analysed
that there are two time horizon approaches that is cross-sectional and longitudinal. For
conducting the study, cross sectional approach is taken into consideration. It help researcher in
attaining activities properly associated with time frame (Stewart and Brown, 2019). In addition
to this, it also aid in completion of each activity with allocated time and without any issues as
well. Moreover, it also allow researcher to attain objectives and gain positive results as well.
Data collection: One of the important aspect of research that help in conducting research
in an appropriate manner. In addition to this, it is the process to gather primary and secondary
information through reliable and effective sources. It is vital for investigator to collect proper

information in order to gain positive outcomes. There are mainly two methods of data collection
that is primary and secondary. In context to primary method, it consist of data that is collected
for the first time and is original in nature as well. The methods of collecting primary information
is questionnaire, interview, observation, focus group and so on. On the other hand, secondary
data is the data which is collected previously by other research workers. It is collected through
Journals, newspapers and many more (Chowdhury and Raut, 2018). For completing the
investigation, both primary and secondary method is used by researcher. In order to gather
primary information, questionnaire is used by research worker as it assist in getting positive and
reliable outcome in less time period and to fill questionnaire or getting response, 30 respondents
is chosen. Along with this, it make researcher able to gather first-hand data which is effective to
gain accurate, unbiased and reliable information. In context to secondary sources, it assist
researcher in gaining in-depth information on investigation topic from the valid resources.
Sampling: It is defined as a procedure of choosing sample size for conducting the study
from the total population. It is vital for researcher to select appropriate sample size in order to
gather information. There are mainly two types of sampling that is probability sampling and non-
probability sampling method. In context to probability sampling, it consist of random selection
and allow researcher to make strong statistical inferences about the whole group. In context to
non-probability sampling, it includes non-random selection that is based on convenience and
allow investigator to easily collect information. In order to conduct study, probability sampling
method is taken into consideration. One of the main reason of selecting this method is it assist
investigator in selecting large base sample size within less time frame (Lin and Sanders, 2017).
Moreover, 30 employees is chosen as participants for collecting data and to achieve objectives
as well. Along with this, the main reason of selecting staff members as respondents is they have
knowledge regrading policies and ground workings as well.
Research instruments: It is vital part of research methodology that involve different
research instruments such as observation, interview, questionnaire, focus group and so on. It is
stated that all such instruments of research is vital but according to the topic of investigation,
questionnaire is valuable and effective instrument (Berman and et. al., 2019). One of the main
reason of selecting questionnaire as an instrument is it take less time and cost and also help in
collecting numerical information. Moreover, it also help researcher to know the view point of