Ryanair Case Study: Organizational Behavior Analysis

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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
RYANAIR

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 2
TASK-1............................................................................................................................................3
A. RYANAIR’S ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND THE NATURE OF POWER AND POLITICAL
BEHAVIOR OF ITS MANAGEMENT..............................................................................................3
B. HOW THE CULTURE YOU IDENTIFIED IN (A) HAS AFFECTED THE FEELINGS AND BEHAVIOUR
OF STAFF AND ULTIMATELY PERFORMANCE OF RYANAIR.........................................................4
TASK -2........................................................................................................................................... 5
A. EVALUATE HOW CONTENT AND PROCESS THEORIES OF MOTIVATION COULD BE USED TO
ENABLE INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM PERFORMANCE AND HELP RYANAIR TO SUCCEED.................5
TASK-3............................................................................................................................................7
A. IDENTIFY AND EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEAMS WHICH OPERATE WITHIN
RYANAIR (I.E. FUNCTIONAL, PROBLEM SOLVING, PROJECT AND VIRTUAL TEAMS) AND WHY
THIS RANGE OF TEAMS IS IMPORTANT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ORGANIZATION...................7
B. USING RELEVANT TEAM THEORY, SUCH AS BELBIN’S TEAM TYPES AND TUCKMAN AND
JENSEN’S GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS, ANALYSE WHAT WOULD MAKE THE TEAMS AT
RYANAIR MORE EFFECTIVE........................................................................................................8
C. EVALUATE HOW THE USE OF PATH-GOAL THEORY COULD IMPROVE TEAM PERFORMANCE
AND PRODUCTIVITY IN RYANAIR............................................................................................... 9
D. IDENTIFY AND EXPLAIN WHAT YOU THINK WILL BE THE MAIN BARRIERS TO
IMPLEMENTING A NEW ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE IN RYANAIR?....................................10
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 12
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
Organization Behavior refers to the study of the cause and effect of individual actions of a
group. It is very important for skill improvement, employee satisfaction, employee motivation
and creation of goodwill. Managers need to understand the organizational behaviour to
improve the workplace environment and consumer satisfaction which helps in increasing
efficiency and effectiveness of the employees. Ryanair started in the year 1984 with only a
single aircraft and daily flights between southeast of Ireland to London Gatwick (CR, 2019). But
it had grown multiple folds after its first IPO and introduction of low-cost airfares. By 2017,
Ryanair had 430 aircraft serving 2000 daily flights with operations in 37 countries and
employing 16,000 employees (RY, 2019). Ryanair became the world's 4th largest Airline
Company by the end of 2017 and had revenue of €7.151 billion in 2018 (TV, 2018). This
assignment will assess the organizational behaviour at Ryanair and will explain various theories
and models based on their application on Ryanair. Robert A Cooke's model, Maslow's need
hierarchy theory, Tuckman and Jensen's model are some of the key models which can be cited
in this assignment. In the end, the assignment will observe various barriers and suggestion to
deal with these barriers which Ryanair might face in the process of restructuring.
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TASK 1
A. RYANAIR’S ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND THE NATURE OF POWER AND
POLITICAL BEHAVIOR OF ITS MANAGEMENT
As per Robert A Cooke, Organization Culture is formed by individual behaviors at a workplace
which ensures their survival, stable future and growth in an organization. There are three types
of cultures proposed by Cooke. First is the constructive culture, which cherishes new ideas,
interaction and liberty of employees. Second is passive culture, here employee’s aim to please
the superiors to ensure their safety and growth. The third is aggressive culture, where
competition between employees’ is neglected mutual cooperation and someone who asks for
help is viewed as weak (MG, 2019).
According to Charles Handy, organizational cultures are of four types; first is termed as Power
culture; where power remains in the hands of few peoples and these people orders the
subordinates to carry out tasks. Second is Task culture; here teams are assigned with a task and
every member of the team contributes equally to complete the task with innovative ideas. The
third type is person culture; where individuals put their needs before the need of the
organization and seldom stay loyal towards the organization. The fourth type is role culture;
here power and responsibilities are delegated to individuals based on their position and
capacity (MG, 2019).
Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary, CTO John Hurley and COO Peter Bellew are some key heads
who enjoy a broad range of power. An organization of Ryanair's size cannot work on power or
person culture. Since its CEO along with others involves in most of the decision making, it can
be concluded that Ryanair has Role culture where power is delegated to the subordinates to
perform a task with responsibility and authority.
Power can be defined as the capacity of influence that an individual has over other people,
decisions, or operations (TS, 2018). As per French and Raven model, there are 5 types of power
and except for coercive power, all the others are evident at Ryanair.
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1. Reward Power: Offering reward to perform a task. Evident from the incentive, chances
of promotion and pay raise available for employees.
2. Legitimate Power: It is authority driven power. It is available to all the superiors over
subordinates.
3. Expert Power: Power of knowledge and experience. It is also evident as a 33-year-old
organization has many experienced employees who guide others.
4. Referent Power: This power is possessed by celebrities and public figure to present
things to the people. Ryanair’s CEO himself is a public figure and inspires all his
employees by surprise visits and other activities. He also promotes Ryanair's brand
before the public by using his reach.
Politics is an art of influencing the activities of the peoples who are not under one's command.
Politics can be very lethal for an organization if it is exercised by people for the exploitation of
others. But at the same time, a manager has to be good at politics so that he can control the
activities of the group to reach the final goal of the organization. Level of politics increases from
bottom to top, everyone in the top management seeks more power and hence sometimes
capable people don’t get the chance because of the influence of others.
B. HOW THE CULTURE YOU IDENTIFIED IN (A) HAS AFFECTED THE FEELINGS
AND BEHAVIOUR OF STAFF AND ULTIMATELY PERFORMANCE OF RYANAIR.
Different cultural types can affect staffs differently. As per Robert A Cooke's model,
Constructive culture helps in motivating employees to perform better along with creating a
friendly atmosphere at work. This ensures effectiveness in the organization. Passive culture
suppresses employees’ growth based on their capabilities and employees and the staff starts
pleasing their superior instead of performing tasks. Aggressive culture gives birth to a highly
competitive environment which ends the spirit to the team in an organization. Here the whole
staff starts working to prove personal excellence instead of working for mutual growth. Ryanair
organization has the role culture proposed by Charles Handy. Ryanair is a mammoth
organization and it is not possible for some people to control the operations on their own. Thus
it has to delegate the power and responsibilities to other employees based on the hierarchical
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chain to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of operations. A level of politics is also evident at
Ryanair. Ryanair was not practising Spain's labour contracts and pilots decided to show the
power by calling a 3-day strike this made Ryanair agree to the terms of pilots. Internal politics
between unions and management played a big role in this case here both the management and
union utilized their power and political influence over the masses to achieve their objectives.
Here Ryanair had to bow down since it had a lot to lose as it would have given another reason
to the reviewers to rate Ryanair as the worst airline.
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TASK 2
A. EVALUATE HOW CONTENT AND PROCESS THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
COULD BE USED TO ENABLE INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM PERFORMANCE AND
HELP RYANAIR TO SUCCEED
Motivation refers to a stimulus which enhances one’s will to achieve a goal or to perform a task.
There are 2 main types of motivational theories, first is content theory; they seek the factors
which motivates an individual. Second is process theory; this type of theory determines the
process which leads to motivation; it involves a set of sequential practices which has to be
followed to motivate an individual.
Application and results of Maslow’s Need Hierarchy theory and Reinforcement theory can be
easily determined at Ryanair.
Source: (MG, 2019)
Maslow needs hierarchy theory to suggest that Ryanair should first fulfill its employees’
psychological need for food, water, clothes etc. to provide basic amenities. To further motivate
its employees it should provide job-security, financial security, health security etc. To further
enhance the motivation of employees it should provide a culture of belongingness and affection
to the employees so that they feel like family at the organization (LESTER, 2013). To further
increase the motivation Ryanair should provide power, status, and attention as well as freedom
etc. to make its employee feel recognized and respected. To further increase the motivation it
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should try to move towards insatiable needs of self-actualization by providing opportunities to
grow and seize opportunities.
Reinforcement theory of motivation works on the effects of the actions performed by the
employees. It has 4 methods of controlling, first is Positive reinforcement; when positive
actions of employees are praised at Ryanair to create repetition of such performance. Second is
Negative performance; here employees at Ryanair can be rewarded by removing the
undesirable consequences for their effort. The third is Punishment; implementing punishments
to discourage undesirable and negative actions by employees of Ryanair. Fourth is Extinction;
here no rewards and recognition are given to undesirable performance and behaviour.
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TASK 3
A. IDENTIFY AND EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEAMS WHICH
OPERATE WITHIN RYANAIR (I.E. FUNCTIONAL, PROBLEM SOLVING, PROJECT
AND VIRTUAL TEAMS) AND WHY THIS RANGE OF TEAMS IS IMPORTANT TO
THE SUCCESS OF THE ORGANIZATION
Teamwork brings different people to contribute something to achieve a task which is often hard
to achieve alone. It provides mutual support to employees and helps in cultivating innovative
ideas and approaches. It brings efficiency in the process and helps in performing the hard task
effectively.
There are 4 major types of teams, first is the project team; this team is composed of members
brought together to fulfill an assignment within a stipulated time with provided resources. Here
members have a different specific task to contribute towards the final goal of the assignment.
Second is the virtual team; here members who stay at physically distant location work together
with the help of a network to perform a task. The third type is the problem-solving team; such
teams are assembled to solve a complex problem which no individual can solve. Fourth is the
functional team; here a group of members perform a function with stated individual duties and
responsibilities (HG, 2018).
All the four types of teams are evident at Ryanair, it has many functional teams which perform
their everyday operation to ensure smooth operation at Ryanair. Functional teams at Ryanair
will include its HR team, Marketing team etc. It also has a problem-solving team which helps in
solving complex operational and technical problems like a team of engineers, air traffic
communicators etc. Ryanair also has many projects of expansion and development in place
which requires project teams like the team which look into the expansion of its fleet with new
aircraft etc. Ryanair operates in multiple countries and it needs virtual teams which ensure
smoothness in operations and avoidance of accidents, thus it needs virtual teams as well.
All this team types are very necessary for the survival and growth of Ryanair. This team ensures
that all of Ryanair’s operations and plans are effectively and efficiently performed. This
increases the overall performance of Ryanair at good levels and decreases the complaints and
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problems of its customers. Customer's satisfaction is among the most important drivers of the
Airline industry and without the teamwork of employees Ryanair cannot ensure customer
satisfaction.
B. USING RELEVANT TEAM THEORY, SUCH AS BELBIN’S TEAM TYPES AND
TUCKMAN AND JENSEN’S GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS, ANALYSE WHAT
WOULD MAKE THE TEAMS AT RYANAIR MORE EFFECTIVE
An effective workplace needs effective teams at play. In today’s dynamic business environment
every organization needs to ensure that it has the right group of people to succeed. Potential of
every member increases when they are with like-minded people and are working together
towards a goal. Teamwork helps in generating new, fresh and innovative ideas among the
individuals (YT, 2015). Combined efforts of a team can lead to the completion of any difficult
task. Teamwork also helps in boosting the problem-solving and decision-making process as
many minds contribute different viewpoints in such processes. It helps in cultivating an
environment of mutual cooperation and togetherness which improves employee's morale and
satisfy their social needs.
Behind both the Belbin’s and Tuckman & Jensen’s model the process of self-evaluation is very
necessary. Belbin’s model can be used for forming a group and Tuckman & Jensen model can be
used to effectively utilize and coordinate that team.
As per Belbin’s model, a team has 9 major roles like:
1. Resource invigilator: One who search ideas for the team.
2. Team worker: One who works on behalf of others for the team's sake.
3. Coordinator: One who align group members’ activities to reach the final objectives of
the group (BB, 2019).
4. Plant: One who is good at problem-solving and brings innovative and unconventional
ideas to the team.
5. Monitor Evaluator: One who pragmatically, wisely and logically choose options available
to the team (BB, 2019).
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6. Specialist: One who has a good level of knowledge about key areas of need.
7. Shaper: One who brings enthusiasm, energy, focus and motivation to the group.
8. Implementer: One who can plan and execute an effective strategy.
9. Completer Finisher: One who can scrutinize the task and give a finishing touch to the
work.
Ryanair should ensure that there are capable people in the team who together can play these
entire roles. A single person can also play multiple roles but all this roles has to be played. After
assembling the team Ryanair can use Tuckman and Jensen’s model to ensure its effectiveness.
This model has 4 phases to make an effective team:
1. Forming: It is more like induction, everyone gets to know each other, atmosphere is
polite and group tasks are not defined.
2. Storming: Members start working together and initially have conflicts and differences
(BONEBRIGHT, 2010).
3. Norming: Members start having mutual cooperation and start appreciating each other's
efforts and team roles (MP, 2012).
4. Performing: Team start to perform well and tasks are delegated to group members.
Though there is one more phase of adjourning where withdrawal from the group is taken care
of after the completion of the task.
For example Ryanair has to start a project at a new location then to ensure the success of the
project a facilitator must be hired. A facilitator will form a team which has people to perform all
of Belbin’s roles, after which he will guide the process of Tuckman and Jensen’s model to create
a high performing team.
C. EVALUATE HOW THE USE OF PATH-GOAL THEORY COULD IMPROVE TEAM
PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCTIVITY IN RYANAIR
The path-goal theory of leadership guides the leaders to specify and adapt a style of leadership
based on the employees and the environment (PG, 2019). There are 4 stated types of
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leadership and since Ryanair is restructuring itself, these styles would guide it towards growth
and compliance.
First is Directive style; Here team leader directs others in the process of completing a task. A
team leader in this style usually states three things. What to do? How to do? When to do? This
style usually helps in achieving standard results (MALIK et al., 2014). The second style is the
achievement; Here leaders set challenging goals for the member to get the best out of them.
This style of leadership improves employees' performance and interest. The third style of
leadership is participative; here employees are highly involved in the process of decision
making and consulted by the leaders before any step. This improves the morale of the
employees and makes them feel important to the organization. The fourth style is supportive
leadership; here behaviour of the leader is directed towards the satisfaction of the employees.
Leaders with this style show concerns about the psychological well- being of the employees. It
creates satisfied and loyal employees for the organization (SMALL and RENTSCH, 2011).
Currently, Ryanair is planning a new group structure and plans to implement the changes in the
next 12 months. This theory will help in the development of Ryanair and its subsidiaries. New
location and new employees demand different styles of leadership and path-goal theory can
help in deciding which type of leadership is best suited for a group.
D. IDENTIFY AND EXPLAIN WHAT YOU THINK WILL BE THE MAIN BARRIERS
TO IMPLEMENTING A NEW ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE IN RYANAIR?
There are primarily six barriers in implementing a new organizational structure at Ryanair. First
is employees’ resistance to change, this behaviour is guided by resistance to change theory
(MS, 2013). Many employees resist change because they were worried about their new roles in
the organization whereas some employees are conservative in their approach and don’t like
innovations. Until a new clearly stated structure fit in place, the chain of command will be
unstable which will create confusions in job roles and responsibility and thus this will be the
second barrier (SB, 2019). The third barrier is also similar to the second one; the delegation of
work becomes difficult due to unclear roles and authority and a new form of leadership. This
barrier can be faced with the help of situational leadership theory which suggests that leaders
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