Ryanair Case Study: Organizational Behavior Analysis

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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
a
2019

Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................2
Task 1...................................................................................................................................................4
a) Its organisational culture and nature of power and political behaviour of its
management....................................................................................................................................4
b) How the culture have affected the feelings and behaviour of staff and ultimately
performance of Ryanair.................................................................................................................8
Task 2)...............................................................................................................................................10
a) Evaluate how content and process theories of motivation could be used to enable
individual and team performance and help Ryanair to succeed.............................................10
Task 3.................................................................................................................................................15
a) Identify and explain different types of teams which operate within Ryanair and why
this range of teams is important to the success of the organisation......................................15
b) Using relevant team theory, such as Belbin’s team types and Tuckman group
development model, analyse what would make the teams at Ryanair more effective........16
c) Evaluate how the use of the path-goal theory could improve team performance and
productivity in Ryanair..................................................................................................................16
d) Identify and explain what you think will be main barriers to implementing a new
organisational structure in Ryanair?...........................................................................................17
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................19
References........................................................................................................................................20
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Introduction
Organizational Behaviour can be defined as a study of Understanding human
behaviour in context with organizational structure. It acts as a link between human
and organizational behaviour. The study of this helps the organization in framing its
culture, structure etc just to give comfort to their employees in order to obtain the set
goals and organization targets. It plays a vital role in shaping the employees
performance by doing regular analysis on how to improve job performance & job
satisfaction among employees by promoting technological change and using better
leadership style along with environmental up gradation. In this assignment, we have
taken Ryanair airlines for studying Organizational behaviour in various aspects.
Ryanair Airlines founded in the year 1984. In the year 2016 it became the largest
European budget airlines. The company has covered almost all the European
countries and has served 1 million customers till 2017.
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Task 1
Ryanair Airlines is one of the largest European airlines which had brought low-cost
flight culture for the customer, established in the year 1984 by Ryan Family. The first
flight of Ryanair took place in the year 1985. Currently the operating income of the
organization is 1.667Billion Euro (2018) and 13000 Employees base (2018).The
company says that we will be giving “no-fills” services to our customer. They have
also put innovation in safety bags by putting them over the head of the seats.
Organizational Cultureis the combination of values and behaviours which
contributes to the special social as well as psychological environment of the
organization.The Ryanair’s organisation structure and functions affected several
factors which involve especially internal factors like: employee’s health and well-
being their working environment &economic conditions.
The organization was using Autocratic approach of management over their
employees. Early year the total employees strength was 450 and each one was
holding shares in the company. The company made an agreement that they will not
join any labour union but the company management allows pilot union. They also
announce that new employees will not be part of company share holdings. One of
the cabin crew members was also being fired for joining union but he was awarded
financial compensation by an employment tribunal in London after being fired.
They also force their employees to pay euros for their pilot training and also to have
their bank accounts in Gibraltar for receiving their salaries. For this the company was
investigating by French Police. With all this issues the company faces strike by
Danish Unions regarding poor employee’s conditions. At, other places also the pilot
and other staff members did strike due to which 400 flights got cancelled.
Theories of Organizational Culture:
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1. Handy’s Model of organizational Culture: this theory was introduces by
Chares Handy. He categorized the organization into 4 cultures: Power, Role,
Task and Person.
(Source:https://www.tutor2u.net/business/reference/models-of-organisational-
culture-handy)
 Power:this culture is held by few individual in an organization and
influence the whole group. Ryanair Airlines culture get affected by such
act, one of their crew member join union the management fired the
employee but, he got awarded by financial compensation by an
employment tribunal in London.
 Role: this culture is based on delegation of authority and a well define
structure. Ryanair Airlines initially give shares to their 450 employees, but
they refuse to give them further to the new ones. They also promoted pilot
unions but refuse to have crew members union, which bring discomfort
among the members who are equally important in the organization. The
organization becomes autocratic on many aspects of their management
rules and regulations.
 Task: this culture is based on team or group formation within the
organization for solving particular problems like:- employees
dissatisfaction, organization rules, customer dissatisfaction etc). It
emphasizes on matrix organizational structure. Ryanair Airlines
management was keeping everything in their hands they don’t believe in
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open system and does not entertain suggestions from their workers which
further create dissatisfaction among their employees and the customer
services became poor.
 Person: this culture is says that an individual consider himself a unique
and superior person in any organization. In case of Ryanair airlines the
management thinks that they are superior and whatever they say will be
fine.
2. Hofstede’s Culture dimensions theory: this framework depends on cross-
cultural function, and was developed by Geert Hofstede. It describes the
effects of society’s culture on the values of its members and how it will bring
change in the organizational behaviour. In case of Ryanair Airlines the strike
done by Danish Union for Ryanair employees for their poor working
conditions. This strike affect the working of the airlines as in many parts of UK
the Ryanair airlines members did strike. Due to which 450 flights got
cancelled. This decreases the reputation of the airlines and also destroys the
customer faith which they have on the company.
3. Deal and Kennedy’s Cultural Model: this model was introduced by Terrence
Deal and Allan kennedyin 1982. They classify the culture into 4 distinct types.
1. Tough-Guy, Macho: it includes individualists who enjoy risk and believes in
quick feedback on their decisions they make. Michael O’Leary CEO, Ryanair
airlines follows same type of culture for the betterment of their organization
Team work is not highly valued and individualistic attitude is followed by the
organization which leads to high turnover but got difficult for those
subordinates who blossom slowly.
2. Work Hard/Play Hard: this model is purely sales oriented concept. The
employee focuses more on sales and they get their performance feedback
immediately.
3. Bet-Your-Company: the culture involves high risk and the result took years
to come.
4. Process: it is a slow process with low risk involved. In this culture makes
performance measurement difficult for the employees that what they do and
how they do (White, 2017).
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a) How the culture have affected the feelings and behaviour of staff and
ultimately performance of Ryanair.
Organizational Power it the ability to influence individual or team working in an
organization. It is done by controlling the follow of resources in the system by which
the working of subordinates gets affected.
Types of Power: According to French and Raven’s there are 5 powers with
which we can study the Organizational Behaviour in context with Organizational
power.
1. Coercive power: it uses a threat force to gain compliance; which may include
physical, emotional, political, power etc. in Ryanair Airlines the management
uses power to rule their employees.
2. Reward power: it based on giving recognition to the employees in any form
tangible or non-tangible. Like in case of Ryanair the employees get awarded
by financial compensation tribunal in London for taking part in union.
3. Legitimate Power: it comes from the elected, selected or appointed position
in the organization. Like in case of Ryanair when the management was in the
hand of Ryan Family the rule the organization as per their wish but when they
give change to Michael O’Leary he shifted his gaze from ruling to delegation
of authority.
4. Referent Power: it is based on the affiliations we make or we group or
organization we belong to. It is based on the leader and its style of working.
Like in Ryanair Airlines when Michael O’Leary joined his leadership style
influence the employees working at the organization.
5. Expert Power: it is based on the experience, talent and special skill an
individual holds. This can be showed by using reputation, expertise, actionsetc
(Christiansen, 2012).
Organizational Politics: it is a combination of power and authority an individual
uses in the organization.
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M1. Organizational Behaviour comprises of Organizational power, politics and
culture. These factors influence the individual and team performance in various
aspects:
1. Power Influence tactics:how people use their power by affecting individual
or group performance. It includes:
a. Coalition tactics by engaging the help of others and persuade someone to
for doing something.
b. Consultation by taking advice from others in decision making or in
problem solving.
c. Exchange offer to exchange something value to someone for future
cooperation.
d. Integration flattering or praising someone to be in good mood.
e. Legitimate tactics make someone work under rule and regulations.
f. Personal appeals ask someone to do something
g. Pressure using coercion follow-up to gain something.
h. Rational persuasion convincing someone by using rational facts and
figures.
2. Culture Influence: bad culture may affect the working of both group and
individual in the organization.
a. De-motivate the employees
b. Growth of the organization may get affected.
c. Decision making may get rigid.
d. Can also decrease the market value of an organization.
e. Profitability will decrease of both the organisation and of the employees
working into the organization (Spritzer, 2017).
3. Politics Influence:generated through social influence.
a. Increases communication gap between top and lower level management.
b. Employees forget their cores motivate and start focusing on individual
motivates.
c. Reduces overall productivity.
d. Change the attitude of employees.
e. Also increases the stress among the employees or team members.
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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 can be defined as the forces acting within a person whom creates,
directions, and persistence of goal-directed with voluntary efforts. Motivational
Theories it is a process which is used to define how human behaviour is activated.
Content Theories of Motivation this theory explains why human needs changes
with time. This theory includes of David McClelland (Need Theory), Douglas
McGregor (X &Y Theory), Abraham Maslow (Maslow Need hierarchy theory),
Clayton Alderfer (ERG theory) and Herzberg motivation- Hygiene theory.
David McClelland Need Theory he proposed a context to understand the human
needs which holds significance in understanding motivation factors and behaviour of
group or individual in the organization. He divided the need into 3 categories: Need
for achievement, Need for Affiliation, and Need for power.
Need for Achievement: it is notion by which people want to go ahead andbecome
successful. Employees trend to avoid high-risk and low-risk situations and prefer to
receive feedback on their performance on regular basis. This personality type get
motivated by task accomplishment in the workplace and by promotional positions. In
Ryanair airlines the employees were not awarded for any of their work or for any of
the activity they have participated.
Need For affiliation:people in this prefer spending more time creating and
maintaining social relationship. They enjoy being part of group and have a desire to
be loved and accepted. In Ryanair Airlines company management was against the
formation of Crew Unions and also prefer to make their employees work individually.
Need for Power: people enjoy the work and place with high discipline. Employees
enjoys recognition, promotions etc in the organization and work more efficiently for
achieving the organizational goal. In Ryanair airlines employees were not motivated
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they work under stress and pressure, they won’t get recognition or any king of award
or bonus for their performance in the organization (Ryanair, 2019).
Abraham Maslow Need hierarchy theory he divide human need into 5 categories:
1. Physiological needs(food, clothes, & shelter)
2. Safety Needs
3. Social Needs (Love & affection)
4. Esteem needs(to be recognised)
5. Self- actualization Needs (to meet one’s full potential)
In Ryanair Airlines the employees were not motivated, their basis needs were fulfilled
but other was not taking into consideration. Employees over there don’t have job
security and they were not allowed to make any group or unions in the organization.
They don’t get any kind of promotions or recognition which creates high level of
discomfort among the employees and increases staff turnover ratio.
Process Theories of Motivation it is system of ideas which explains change help in
the development of an entity. It is based on dependent and independent variables
which process the theory by telling how and why something happens. Vroom,
Porters & Lawler, Adams and Locke studied motivation from process prospective.
Vroom Process motivation theory it was describe by Victor Vroom in year 1964.
He uses a formula to calculate motivation.
Motivation Force= Expectancy* Instrumentality*Valence
Expectancy: it involves individual expectation from his performance in the
organization. The organization must find out factor which motivates the employees
like training, facilities, late working compensation, support from superior etc. this
increases the productivity of an employee. But in Ryanair airlines the training was
charged, they were forced to have their salary accounts in their own bank.
Instrumentality: this includes the appreciation, rewards, bonus etc which one
receives after achieving some set targets or goals. But in Ryanair employees were
not liable to receive any thing.
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Valence: this includes one’s value. Might be one employee get motivated by
receiving bonus while other get motivated by flex working hours (Northouse, 2013).
Motivational Techniques: these are the methods or tools that can be used by an
organisation for motivating their employees. In context of Ryanair airlines below are
some techniques they might be able to use for motivating their employees.
1. By creating positive work environment: Ryanair Airlines management was
autocratic were the employees feel de-motivated while working as they were not
allowed to take part in the organization decision making. They also not allowed
forming any social formal or informal group in the organization which creates a
rigid work environment in the organization. If the airlines might have given some
comfortable working environment to the employees, the situation of staff
turnover was might not have emerge.
2. Setting reasonable goal: Ryanair Airlines did cost cutting in fares and other
expenses for the customer but make their employees work regressively with
limited resources and make them willing to do such in short span of time. If the
airlines have focused more on complaints and issues raised by employees and
customer, might be they can set reasonable goals.
3. Increases Motivation by providing Incentive: Ryanair airlines initially earn
profit due its low cost fair, but they did not share any bonus or incentives among
their employees which make their employees dissatisfied.
4. Recognize achievements and accomplishments: After achieving every
milestone the company should provide some rewards to their employees. Our if
they did something extraordinary or have taken part in some activity they must
be awarded but in Ryanair one of the employee get fired because he have
taken part in some union campaign.
5. Share profit to improve performance: Earlier the Ryanair airlines have given
shares to all their 450 employees but later they make rule that no new
employees will be liable to buy the shares of the company. If the airlines have
not put this kind of rules might their decision making will be more effective in
case of customer satisfaction.
6. Solicit employees input: regular survey of employee satisfaction. If Ryanair
Airlines have shifted their gaze from market building to employees satisfaction
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and development of their employees might they have face the situation where
their employees did strike due which many flights got cancelled.
7. Provide professional enrichment: Encourage employees for pursuing
education or participate in industry trainings and workshops. Ryanair airlines
force their employees for doing paid training to learn new techniques. This was
could be more effective if the training would have sponsor by company itself.
M2. To run a successful organization the employee of that particular organization
must be motivated and feel valued. One of the most effective ways to achieve this
is employee motivation.
Positive effect of de-motivated employee on the organization:
1. Improved Job performance: a motivated employee always perform his /her
task with full dedication and complete the work on time. This will help in
improvising the working of the organization.
2. Improved Job satisfaction: a motivated employee always loves his work and
utilise all his potential. This satisfaction level can be bought through monetary
and non- monetary incentives like – facilities at office, bonus or incentive etc.
D1. On the basis of above we can conclude that all the factors are interrelated to
each other. Organizational Culture, power and politics leads to generate motivation
among the employees.
Positive impact:
1. Healthy work culture reduces politics and increase power by delegation of
authority among the employees. This make employees feel valued and treat
them as a part of the organization.
2. Strikes and conflicts will not take place in the organisation.
3. Organization productively also increases.
4. Reduction in staff turnover.
Negative impact:
1. Rigid culture may create dissatisfaction among the employees.
2. Politics and ego clashes may take place within the organization.
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