MBA Module: Managing Human Capital and Leadership - Ryanair Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Ryanair's Human Resource Management (HRM) practices. It begins by examining Ryanair's overall approach to managing its human resources, drawing on relevant models to assess its strengths and weaknesses. The report then delves into the recruitment and selection processes, critically discussing their alignment with strategic HRM initiatives and offering specific recommendations for improvement, such as utilizing social media for recruitment and implementing online testing. Furthermore, the report explores Ryanair's approach to Human Resource Development (HRD), evaluating current practices and suggesting enhancements, including the implementation of strategic and integrative HRD approaches. The report then evaluates classical theories of motivation, including Maslow's and Herzberg's theories, and proposes a hybrid theory that combines the most beneficial elements from a range of motivational models. Finally, the report examines various leadership models and provides recommendations for leadership characteristics beneficial to Ryanair. The report aims to provide a detailed assessment of Ryanair's HRM and offer actionable recommendations for improved performance and employee satisfaction.

MANAGING HUMAN
CAPITAL AND
LEADERSHIP

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Suggestions..................................................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
Improvements..............................................................................................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
Maslow's theory of motivation....................................................................................................8
Herzberg's Theory........................................................................................................................9
TASK 5..........................................................................................................................................11
Leadership models.....................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management plays an important role in every organization as it helps in
selection and recruitment process, providing them training and appraising the performance of
employees by giving them rewards (Johar, Hassan, and Musa, 2019). It also helps in managing
conflicts arise among employees. Human Resource Management helps in selecting right people
for the right job and motivate employees to achieve their target.
Ryanair is an airline company which was established on 28 November 1984. It's
headquarters are in Dublin airport and Ireland (History of Ryanair, 2021). Important people of
Ryanair are David Bonderman, Michael O' Leary, Edward Wilson and Peter Bellew. In the
present report, company's approach to the management of its human resources has been
analysed. A discussion on recruitment and selection process has been provided along with
suggestions to improve. Further, approach to HRD has been analysed and improvements have
been proposed. Lastly, evaluation of motivation theories has been done and characteristics of
good leader have been advised to Ryanair.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
In every company Human Resource Management is necessary as it helps in proper
management of company. Human resource management focuses on how to improve individual
performance and it is applied at all levels of company i.e., top-level, middle level and lower
level. In Ryanair employees are having good relationship with each other and having cooperative
nature. Company also fulfils their self-esteem needs by giving them rewards, whether in
monetary or non monetary form when employees achieve their target or goal (Pearson, Butler
and Murray,2018). Ryanair provides opportunity of learning languages to employees and also
ask them if they have a creative idea that can be beneficial for the company. Ryanair's Human
resource management give their best so that employees can get good working conditions and
some powers to take decisions.
Ryanair's managers motivate their staff to work hard and perform good so that they can
get success in form of promotion and for everyone reward is important. Staff of the company
support the culture of the company, and they follow rules and regulations of the company with
proper regard, employees did not try to break rules and regulations and did not do any fraudulent.
They also assist employees performance and keep instructing them how to improve their

performance (Campion, 2018). Human resource management maintains all the records and
according to that they activity. In the company employees enjoy doing work as they get lot of
opportunities to learn languages, going to different places and meeting different persons and
most important the environment of Ryanair is very good and all employees work as a team and
help each other.
In Ryanair management approach is used as company manages its employees properly. In
the company at every level managers are responsible for the proper management of staff. Human
resource management of the company also take care of staff that people are treating everyone
with respect, whether any employee is not receiving respect from anyone. Company motivate
their employees and tell them how to manage time and money and also tell them about vision
and mission of the company.
Strategic approach plays an important role in every company as it focuses on long term
development of staff and management of people LHughes, and Byrd, 2017Khan,2017). Its
objective is that employee should give benefit to the company. Almost all the staff of Ryanair is
youth so the culture of the company is youthful and everyone like that. As the culture is youthful
so people enjoy working in the company, and they give their best to achieve company's goal.
Company is providing training to the staff and leaders also appraise the performance of the
employees who perform well. Leadership is essential for every company and Ryanair uses this
leadership approach to influence members to achieve the company's goals or objectives.
Company can also use proactive approach, in this approach company can save time and cost
which will be beneficial in future. Ryanair can use all these approaches to manage the staff and
manage working environment of the company. Company is having policies and procedures
which everyone has to follow and this is taken care by Human resource managers to ensure that
the employees are not violating rules.
In Ryanair approaches of management are applied properly and it works according to
that and it helps the company to maintain proper record of the employees. Ryanair uses Maslow
theory for motivating employees and fulfilling their needs so that they can complete their task
with full efficiency and also uses vroom theory and herzberg theory. Leadership should be apply
so that employees can work effectively, and they have competition with each other(Pandey,
Schulz, and Camp, 2018). Every leader should keep in mind that they have to give reward on the
basis of performance of individual person and also give punishment to employees who are not

working properly. Special training should be given to employees whose performance is not good
and try to improve the performance(Koednok, and Sungsanit,2018).
Ryanair tries its best so that employee get satisfy with job. If leader is good and keep giving
instructions to the employees then employees will automatically work hard and achieve the
target. The main objective of the leader is to motivate its employees and help them in achieving
organizational goals and target of the company and give them reward.
TASK 2
Recruitment and selection is an essential part of Human resource management which
helps the company in selecting right people for the right job. In recruitment and selection process
candidates apply for the vacant position and then candidates are shortlisted and at last right
person is selected for the vacant position. Recruitment and selection process in Ryanair is done
to search for new people who can work hard and bring some innovative or creative ideas and
help company in achieving the goals (Raja Sreedharan, and et.al., 2020). Company's like Ryanair
pay more attention to recruitment process because if wrong person is selected then company will
fail to achieve its goals and objectives. Strategic human resource is a long term process and its
objective is to achieve long term goals of the company. Ryanair is recruiting its candidates
through online process. In this candidates interested in the job apply online on the given site,
after that screening is done by third person from the company, they select few candidates for the
vacant position and forward it to HR department of the company. HR department then go
through those selected candidates and invite them for the interview.
Ryanair is having different type of interview as it is divided into various parts like: first
one is technical in which the company checks the preparation level of the candidate, check CRM
skills, how candidate work in a team if he/she has to work in a team ,how candidate handle
issues, how he/ she manage threats or how to solve disputes if any arise between team members
etc (Nieves, and Quintana, 2018). Next part is of personal attribute, in this recruitment and
selection team check confidence level of the candidate, how mature he/she is to take necessary
decisions when he/ she is leader of the team, communication skills are also being checked and
intelligence is also tested and learning power of the candidate like how much time is taken by
candidate o learn new things. After this next part is simulator assessment in which introduction
and about profile of the candidate is discussed and ask questions related to pilot design etc. Then
they ask about simulator profile in which normal handling and related to take off are being asked

by team of Human Resource of Ryanair(Baltaci, and Balcı,2017). Candidates should know about
Ryanair because it is importantIf candidates having poor communication skills, or they are poor
at handling then they are rejected. Ryanair selects the best candidate for their company and
provide proper training to the staff. The candidate who is applying for the vacant position should
have required qualification and skills. After the interview process is done they offer job to the
candidate. Selection process is described as selecting correct candidates with the required skills
and should be capable to get that job.
Suggestions
Ryanair's recruitment and selection process is good, but they can make some
improvements in recruitment and selection process like company can give advertisements on
social media or LinkedIn for getting the best candidate for their company. With online
advertisements company can use offline mode for recruitment process. Ryanair initially going
screening and then selected candidates are forwarded to HR department, instead of this they can
select few candidates and then screening of candidates can be done (CompWord, and Sowa,
2017). Ryanair can take written test which will be online and this test is for the candidates who
apply for the vacant position and some criteria should be fixed that this is minimum number to
clear the test and candidates who clear that test will be eligible for next step of selection process.
Ryanair can use reference program in which candidate can provide reference of any
relative who is working with the company at present who has worked with company in last few
years. This reference system helps company in getting some knowledge about the candidate like
his behaviour, sincerity towards work etc. Ryanair should mention that vacant position is for
male or female so that candidates should apply according to that. Company can use software
which will help in recruitment process and provide shortlisted candidates to the company and
then HR department can select from that selected candidates, this will save time of the company
and company will get the best candidate for the company. This software will reduce paper work
and hence efficiency will increase.
TASK 3
Human resource development provides training to the employees who are new, and they
learn new things. Ryanair needs human resource development as it helps in moving with rapid
changes in the environment. Human resource development helps in promoting teamwork among
the staff. Human resource development is a kind of investment which is done by the company on

the employees, and they will get benefit from this investment in the future. There are many
benefits of human resource development for Ryanair as it helps in increasing trust among
employees, learn new things and skills and bring innovative ideas, employees like to work in a
team or group and participate more(McClean, and Collins, 2019). Development of employees is
required as there are many new changes in the environment which can affect the company. If
company provide training to the employees then they will know how to face the problems and
can find solution.
There are many approaches to human resource development like strategic framework
approach, integrative framework, integrated approach etc. Ryanair applies integrated approach to
human resource development. Integrated approach is used in the company those who are
identifying need of training from appraisal of performance. In Ryanair after analysing
performance of individual person the leader decides to which person training should be given or
development is required as his performance is not good, and he is not successful in achieving the
goal of the company (Chelladurai, and Kerwin, 2018). This integrated approach helps the
company to focus on all the areas in achieving company's goals and also help in satisfying need
of employee.
Improvements
There are other approaches to human resource management which Ryanair can use, first
is strategic approach : This approach is used for deciding long term objectives of the company
and sometimes help in taking short term decisions. With the help of this approach company can
make plans regarding what goals they want to achieve. Strategic approach gives direction for
future that in future where Ryanair sees itself and what company wants to achieve. Next
approach is integrative approach, in this the focus on satisfying employee and building customer
relations. This approach focuses on development of human resource(Shava, 201Watson, and
et.al., 2018). Next approach is human capital, with the help of this approach indirect cost can be
estimated. With the help of individual's earning Ryanair can estimate human capital and it will be
helpful.
There are five stages in human capital and five areas of human capital. Five areas of
human capital are retention, career development, rewards, recruitment and performance
management. Ryanair can also apply people capability maturity model, the focus of this model is
on improving or develop software organizations and also on development of human resource.

This model will help Ryanair in improving or developing knowledge management and
development of the company. There are various maturity levels having several areas that help in
identifying work practices. This people capability maturity model help Ryanair in staffing,
providing training and development, performance management and development of
organizational culture and working environment. Other approach which Ryanair can apply is
human resource development score card approach, this approach provide connection between
operations of human resource and target of the company. Score card approach helps human
resource department in measuring the performance of the employees and this will help in
performance appraisal and help in promotion of the employees.
Ryanair can apply this score card approach in measuring the efficiency of the employees
and can easily identify which person require training and in which field. Score card describes
process of four steps in which first step is to identify deliverables, identify customers, define
activity perform by human resource and last is analyses of cost- benefit. Score card approach
helps Ryanair in measuring loyalty of the employees and satisfaction of employee(Carr, and
et.al. 2018). Human resource development is important for Ryanair as it is for the benefit of the
company if the company provide training to its employees and providing training to employees is
like investing in assets that will give benefit in the future. Ryanair can give training to employees
on how to use resources efficiently and try to waste minimum resources. It also helps in
enhancing productivity and gives more opportunities to develop career and helps in fast growth
of the company and employees improve their ability of doing work.
TASK 4
There are mainly 3 classical theories :
 Maslow's need hierarchy theory
 Herzberg's theory
 Theory X and theory Y
Maslow's theory of motivation
In Maslow’s theory of motivation there are five basic needs that employees are having and they
want that these needs should be fulfilled. These needs are :
 Physiological needs- In this need basic needs of an employee are mentioned like food,
shelter, cloth etc. These are basic needs of every person which sometimes work as

motivation for employees. Ryanair also uses fulfils the basic needs of employees so that
they can work efficiently and get motivated if their basic needs are fulfilled.
 Safety needs- This need includes safety and security of employees and also job security.
This need also plays an important role as if a person knows that his/ her job is secured
and he is getting good working environment then they will perform good and complete
their task on time. Employees want a proper working environment and also they want
that their colleagues are also good. Ryanair take care of this need of employees as safety
and security is the priority of employees and they feel safe.
 Social needs- This need includes need related to friendship and affection. Employees
want they make new friends and the environment of the company is of friendly nature
and people help their colleagues. In Ryanair working environment is good and all the
employees are helping each other when required(Siriyanun, Mukem, and Jermsittiparsert,
2019). In Ryanair most of the employees are of young generation and they follow rules
and regulations and the environment is good and employees like working in the Ryanair.
This need have negative impact as id their will be more friendly envirinment, then
employees will not focus on work. This will be not good for the organization.
 Esteem needs- This is one of the need which is important for every employee because it
affects employees. Esteem needs are divided in two parts: internal and external needs.
Internal needs includes achievement of the employee and confidence. External needs
includes status of an employee in the company. Ryanair keep in mind this need and give
work according to that. The organization treats all the employees equally so employees
feel that they are being treated fairly.
 Self- actualisation need- This need includes achieving fast growth in the company and
get promotions in short period of time. All the needs should not be followed as if one
need is fulfiled then their will be another need.
Herzberg's Theory
This theory of Herzberg includes satisfaction of employees and dissatisfaction of employees.
There are two factors :
 Hygiene factor- These factors are important as they help in motivating employees in the
company. They are not helpful for long term satisfaction. These factors can be used for
short term satisfaction of employees (Beckmann, 2017). Hygiene factors describes salary

structure and it should be equal for everyone, there should not be any discrimination. It
also includes companies rules and regulations and in working hours should be flexible
and proper dress code etc. Hygiene factors also includes benefits that are given to
employees like medical or health insurance, provide safe and healthy working
environment to the employees so that they feel good and job security should also be
provided to employees. These factors are not so important but their absence will affect
the members.
 Motivational factor- These factors help in motivating employees for better performance
and achieve their target. These factor lead to positive satisfaction. Motivational factor
involves appraising the performance of employees by giving them rewards and giving
them promotion or provide them growth opportunities which will motivate them to give
their best (Boies, and Fiset, 2018).Motivational factors are present within the
organization.
Theory X and Theory Y
Theory X describes about what are the rewards and penalties of the company and also
include supervision. In this theory X managers think that their employees are not active and they
know less things. In this members dislike their work. Members are not ready to take
responsibility.
In Theory Y employees know their work and responsibility and they work according to
that, they do not wait for someone who will instruct them about what work they have to do.
Members enjoy their work(Boyd, and et.al. 2017). They are taking responsibility. All the
employees are self- motivated and take decisions on their own.
From the above theories of motivation, Ryanair should adopt Maslow's theory and
Herzberg's theory. Maslow's theory cover all the basic needs that are essential. Herzberg,s theory
describes about hygiene factors and motivational factors. Hygiene factors are not important but
their absence will affect the organization.

TASK 5
Leadership models
There are many leadership models which can be used for justifying the characteristics of good
leaders as advised to Ryanair. They are discussed as follows: Autocratic model: In this model leader gives instructions and team members have to
follow those instructions. Members are not allowed give suggestions to the leader. They
have to follow only the instructions and work according to that. In autocratic model all
the decisions are taken by the leader. The members are not allowed to take any decision
without asking the leader. . Democratic model: In this model leaders ask their group members to give suggestions if
they have any better idea, employees are having right to give their views and solutions to
the problem (Gruzina, Mel'nichuk and Belogash, 2019). Leaders give powers to its
members to share their views, members are free to take decisions. Leaders do not bound
employees by giving them instructions. It helps in satisfying employees as they are
involved in decision making process. Laissez- Faire model: In this model, leaders provide all the essential resources to
employees and then give all the responsibilities to employees, they are free to take
decisions and find the solution for the problem without any involvement of leader. The
employees have to achieve the goal.
 Charismatic model: In this model leaders motivate their followers to improve their way
of working and focus on achieving the goals or standards that are set by the leader.
Drawing on the above mentioned models, following should be the characteristics of effective
leaders at Ryanair:
 Good communication skills- In Ryanair leaders are advised to have good
communication skills. They should motivate their employees and other team members so
that they follow the instructions given by the leader. This is justified because, as per the
laissez fair style of leadership, an effective leader should have good communication
skills. It is only then that he will able to influence and motivate the team members.
 Trust- Ryanair employees have trust on their leader and leader also trust its team
members. A good leader should gain trust of his team members and team members

should also trust their leader that whatever their leader is saying is correct and their
leader will never misguide them (Bhattacharyya, and Jha, 2018). This is justified, as per
the democratic style of leadership, an effcetive leader should have trust.
 Positive attitude- At Ryanair, leaders should have positive attitude in all the situations.
This is justified as they should have energy and passion and teach its employees how to
handle situations in positive manner.
 Good and independent thinker- Leaders at Ryanair are advised to have the quality of
taking their own decisions and to be good thinkers. This is justified because leaders do
not have to depend on anyone from team members to suggest any idea.
 Conflict resolution- At Ryanair, leader should know how to resolve conflicts if arise
between team members. Sometimes positive outcome comes from conflicts. A good
leader should explain its employees not to fight with each other for small issues
(Armstrong. and Taylor,2020). They should try to understand each other and work as a
team.
 Confidence: All the leaders of Ryanair, must have self- confidence because they have to
influence others. This is justified as, if a leader has confidence, then he will be able to
lead others.
 Encourage creativity and innovation: Leaders of Ryanair, should motivate their
employees to bring creative ideas and achieve their goal.
CONCLUSION
From the report, it can be concluded that Ryanair need to do some changes in its human
resources practices. Ryanair adopts Management approach for the of human resources as it helps
maintaining proper environment of the company. Ryanair is recruiting and selecting people by
online process. It can give advertisements on social media so that more and more people can
participate and company can also get better applicants for the vacant positions. Ryanair uses
integrated approach to human resource development. Company can adopt strategic as well as
integrative approach to its human resource development. There are three main theories of
motivation. Ryanair should adopt Maslow's theory and Herzberg's theory of motivation. These
theory will help the company to motivate its employees for achieving goal of the company.
There are many leadership models which will help Ryanair. From the leadership models

company should learn the key characteristics of an effective leader. It includes good
communication skills, trust, positive attitude etc.

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