Organizational Behaviour in Ryanair: A Comprehensive Analysis

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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR IN RAYNAIR
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR IN RAYNAIR
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
LO1: Analyse the influence of culture, politics and power on the behaviour of others in an
organisational context......................................................................................................................3
Organisational culture..................................................................................................................3
Organisational culture within Ryanair.........................................................................................4
Organisational power...................................................................................................................6
Organisational power within Ryanair..........................................................................................6
Organisational political behaviour affecting Ryanair..................................................................8
Organisational culture of Ryanair affecting the feelings and behaviour of staffs.......................9
Organisational culture of Ryanair affecting performance...........................................................9
LO2: Evaluate how to motivate individuals and teams to achieve a goal (P2, M2)........................9
Motivation in organisation...........................................................................................................9
Content and process theories of motivation.................................................................................9
Applying motivation theories to Ryanair..................................................................................10
Motivation affecting individual and team performance and helping Ryanair to succeed.........11
LO3: Co-operating with others effectively (M3, P3)....................................................................12
LO4: Organizational behaviour and implementing proper theories and principles (M4, P4).......15
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................18
References......................................................................................................................................19
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR IN RAYNAIR
Introduction
In the modern competitive business environment, understanding organisational behaviour has
become extremely important for the organisational managers for ensuring business success.
Organisational behaviour can be defined as the behavioural study of employees and teams of
employees in an organisational context, as well as the behaviour of the organisation itself.
Naturally, learning about it allows managers to better handle their subordinates while ensuring
maximum work efficiency for their organisation. Ryanair is an Ireland-based airlines company,
headquartered at Dublin. It is specifically known for cheaper air tickets, and it has grown from a
small local airline to the largest airlines company in Europe in 2016. This study will evaluate
various aspects or organisational culture, politics, motivation and team performance in Ryanair.
LO1: Analyse the influence of culture, politics and power on the behaviour of others in an
organisational context
Organisational culture
In this modern era, many organisations are gradually becoming globalised, which is naturally
expanding their organisational structure and scope of business. This is making even more
important for them to maintain a steady and optimal culture within their organisation. Elsmore
(2017) opined that organisational culture is generally expressed as the set of values and beliefs
that creates the psychological and social environment of that organisation. According to Schein
(2010), organisational culture is segmented within three levels such as the artifacts, which are the
tangible elements; the espoused values are the public statements regarding the values of the
company, and the basic underlying assumptions, which are unspoken rules that employees
follow. However, Hofstede (2011) has argued that the organisational culture can be explained
using multiple cultural dimensions, which are:
 Power distance: This dimension indicates the degree of tolerance the employees show to
the organisational power hierarchy.
 Individualism vs collectivism: This dimension measures the tendency of the employees
to form groups or achieve personal success.
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR IN RAYNAIR
 Masculinity or femininity: Crane (2017) opined that this dimension indicates the
tendency of employees to adopt strict paternalistic culture or feminine open-minded
culture.
 Uncertainty avoidance: This dimension gives an indication regarding the tendency of
the employees to avoid uncertain factors in their professional life.
 Long-term vs short-term orientation: This dimension is an indication regarding the
tendencies of prioritising long-term or short-term goals of the employees.
 Indulgence vs restraints: This dimension is all about the order of preferences of the
employees regarding the individual desires or social orders.
Organisational culture within Ryanair
The organisational culture within Ryanair can be identified and evaluated using Handy's
organisational culture model, which dictates that the organisational culture has four types, such
as:
 Power culture: In this culture type, the authority and decision-making power is only
given to a few people at the top of organisational hierarchy, who commands over the
other employees (Laforet, 2016). In Ryanair, the final executive power is vested in their
CEO Michael O'Leary and COO Peter Bellow, which indicates the presence of power
culture in Ryanair.
 Role culture: In this culture, the role and duties of every employee is determined, and
they perform their specific duties. Since Ryanair is an airlines company, all of their
pilots, control cabin crews, airhostesses and security staffs have their designated duties,
indicating the presence of role culture in Ryanair.
 Task culture: According to (Anitha, 2016), this culture shows the formation of teams to
handle organisational tasks. In each flight of Ryanair, their pilots, airhostesses and crews
form a team to conduct the flight efficiently.
 Person culture: This culture gives total freedom to the employees in choosing their work
strategy. This culture is almost nonexistent in Ryanair, except in the middle of a flight,
when pilots are allowed to improvise the flying style of the Ryanair airbus.
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR IN RAYNAIR
Figure 1: Handy's Typology of Culture
(Source: Al Saifi, 2015)
Thus, it can be realised that the organisational culture of Ryanair is mainly role and task culture
with a moderate presence of power culture. Person culture is nonexistent.
On the other hand, the analysis of organisational culture of Ryanair using Deal and Kennedy's
cultural framework is:
 History: Maintaining and regularly checking the organisational history allows the
organisation to learn from past mistakes (Al Saifi, 2015). Ryanair maintains all of their
flight records and history, improving their service by learning from them.
 Values and beliefs: All employees of Ryanair aim for the common organisational goal of
Ryanair, which creates a common cultural identity among them.
 Rituals and Ceremonies: Ryanair regularly holds celebrations and get-togethers after
project completions, which brings their employees closer.
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR IN RAYNAIR
 Stories: In Ryanair, their story of becoming the largest carrier in Europe inspires their
employees to give their best in work.
 Heroic figures: The executive level managers, such as their CEO Michael O'Leary and
COO Peter Bellow, are role models for their employees, inspiring them to aim higher in
professional life.
 Cultural network: Ryanair has many informal communication channels, such as
storytellers, gossipers, whisperers, spies and priests, who enhance the efficiency of
informal information flow within the organisational structure of Ryanair.
Organisational power
The power in an organisation is usually explained as the influence that an employee exerts on
other employees or the organisational strategies and operations. According to Corfield and Paton
(2016), it can stem from various sources such as the high position of that employee in the
organisational hierarchy, or it can also come from the knowledge and technical expertise of that
employee regarding the business operations of that organisation.
Organisational power within Ryanair
The organisational power within Ryanair can be analysed using French and Raven's model of
power types, which states that all forms of organisational power can be categorised within six
types as follows:
 Legitimate power: According to Zhu (2015), this type of power arises from high
positions in the organisational hierarchy, which automatically gives power band authority
to the holders of those positions to influence subordinates. In Ryanair, their CEO Michael
O'Leary and COO Peter Bellow possess legitimate power, which allows them to
influence the decision-making process of Ryanair.
 Reward power: This power is practically the capacity of an organisational member to
hand out rewards to subordinate employees in order to pursue them to follow his or her
order (Wressell, Rasmussen and Driscoll, 2018). In Ryanair, their divisional general
managers possess authority over their subordinates' promotion and salary increment, and
they utilise it to motivate them.
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR IN RAYNAIR
 Coercive power: This power is the capacity of an employee to deal punishment to the
subordinates, and using this to threat or force them to do as per his or her wish. In
Ryanair, this power was allegedly exerted by their higher management, forcing their
newly hired pilots to pay approximately 10,000 Euro for necessary trainings, and forcing
to work for Ryanair through an agency in Ireland.
 Informational power: Arifin (2015) argued that this power comes from the control over
the information that other employees seek. In Ryanair, their departmental managers in
their headquarters often have information regarding their business strategies, and hence
exert informational power over their subordinates.
 Expert power: This power comes from the technical expertise that an employee has,
which allows him or her to make other employees listen to, or follow him or her. In
Ryanair, their control room engineers and their pilots have this type of power, and are
able to use it to influence their colleagues.
 Referent power: This power stems from the personal connections of an employee, which
allows them to exert their influence to others through those connections (Rahimi, 2017).
As in case with any other large organisation, Ryanair also have several influential
managers who use their referent power to exert their influence over others.
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR IN RAYNAIR
Figure 2: Organisational Power
(Source: Cacciattolo, 2015)
Organisational political behaviour affecting Ryanair
The political behaviour in Ryanair can be explained with Chanlat's theory of political behaviours,
according to which, the political behaviours seen in an organisation can be categorised in three
types, which are:
 Personal characteristics: Cacciattolo (2015) opined that the personal characteristics of
an employee in an organisation often shape his or her political behaviour in an
organisation. For instance, in Ryanair, some of their managers have manipulative
personalities, and they often use their authority to manipulate or coerce their subordinate
employees to follow their orders.
 Decisional characteristics: The decision-making process and authority of an
organisation also affects the political behaviour of the employees (Lampaki and
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR IN RAYNAIR
Papadakis, 2018). In Ryanair, their decision-making system is structured and systematic,
which helps to maintain political stability within the organisation.
 Structural characteristics: The organisational structure, the designations of the various
departments and the authorities granted at the different levels of organisational hierarchy
affects the internal political behaviour of the organisation. In Ryanair, their various
employees have different level of authority, leading to the rise of political struggles
within the organisation.
Organisational culture of Ryanair affecting the feelings and behaviour of staffs
The organisational culture of Ryanair is a blend of the role and task culture, while power culture
is present only at the top management. Thus, it makes their staffs very much aware of their
designated duties and form teams to perform jobs (Mohelska and Sokolova, 2015). This also
increases the level of employee satisfaction in Ryanair.
Organisational culture of Ryanair affecting performance
The absence of person culture allows Ryanair to systematically conduct their business
operations, which greatly enhances their business efficiency. Moreover, Terzioglu, Temel and
Sahan (2016) opined that the presence of role and task culture ensures that efficient teams are
formed to handle their business operations, which enhances their business performance.
LO2: Evaluate how to motivate individuals and teams to achieve a goal
Motivation in organisation
In an organisation, the motivation of their employees can be expressed as a group of forces
which makes the employees display certain behaviours chosen from many other alternatives that
are available to them (Herzberg, 2017). For instance, the willingness of the employees in Ryanair
to work hard is resulted from their motivation of performing their best for Ryanair.
Content and process theories of motivation
The content and process theories are two different categories of motivational theories. The
content theories aims to explain motivation by evaluating its source or cause, and the process
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR IN RAYNAIR
theories aim to explain motivation by its process of development. While content theories
primarily give importance to the internal or external factors of an organisation that enhances the
motivation of their employees to work harder, the process theories aim to identify the factors that
can be strengthen in order to enhance their motivational level.
Applying motivation theories to Ryanair
One of the famous content theories, McClelland's need theory can be used to explain employee
motivation in Ryanair. According to this theory, the need to make achievements drives the
motivation of an employee (Peters, 2015). In Ryanair, a pilot can display his or her excellent
flight skills to make achievements, thus making it a motivational factor for him or her. The need
for affiliation is also prevalent in Ryanair, since an efficient employee is usually well like by
everyone. Moreover, the need for power is the most vital in a large business organisation like
Ryanair, since the desire to climb higher in the organisational hierarchy drives the motivation of
most of the employees in Ryanair.
On the contrary, a process theory, such as the Reinforcement theory can be used to explain the
process of development of motivation in Ryanair. For instance, Miner (2015) argued that
providing positive reinforcements such as raising payroll or giving promotion allows Ryanair to
motivate their employees to increasingly deliver their best performances. On the contrary,
improper behaviour for their employees is met with avoidance or punishments such as demotion,
suspension or warnings, which motivates the employees not to do those anymore. However, the
extinction technique is only used in minor situations in Ryanair, such as in case an employee
unwillingly makes a minor mistake, which provides the employees some room for freedom.
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Figure 3: Motivational Theories
(Sources: Lăzăroiu, 2015)
Motivation affecting individual and team performance and helping Ryanair to succeed
The motivational factor affects individual and team performance alike (Lăzăroiu, 2015). For
instance, when Ryanair properly motivates their pilots, they perfectly conduct their flights with
punctuality, enhancing the customer reputation. On the other hand, the performances of the
teams formed by the pilots, control cabin crews and airhostesses also display maximum
efficiency when they are properly motivated due to satisfying payroll, efficient work
environment and other factors. Therefore, Kanfer and Chen (2016) argued that enhancing the
employee motivation would allow Ryanair to perform their business operations in an efficient
and effective way, enhancing their business success.
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LO3: Co-operating with others effectively
An effective team should be developed in the organization with the motive to enhance the
performance of employees. At the same time, an effective team can also help the organization to
achieve its goals and objectives. For an effective and efficient team, all the members should have
the same enthusiasm and participate in the team works equally. By analyzing the situation
developed in the mentioned organization, Ryanair, a number of teams can be identified. Among
them, the project team, problem-solving team, and the functional team.
The project team: An outsourced team that can be tied to the organization with the contract can
be defined as the project team. All the connection between the consumers and the team can be
cut down after the project ends. Moreover, the role of the project leader is significant here. They
are responsible for developing continuous communication among the team members and the
consumers as well (Sguera et al. 2017). It can also be stated that the project leader is also
responsible for the success and the failure of the project.
Problem-solving team: In the mentioned organization, Ryanair, the problem-solving teams has
been appointed temporarily in order to solve some particular temporary issues. As for example, it
can be stated that the problem-solving team has helped the organization regarding the staffing
crisis that they faced in 2017. The task force and committees have been developed by the team in
order to solve this particular problem, and they have been successful in it.
Functional team: For managing the different responsibilities of the organization, the functional
team has been responsible. Rather, the leader is responsible for managing the different
responsibilities in the different departments. Apart from that, all the employees are required to
report to the leader and they should understand that the orders of the leaders are the last word for
them. In fact, they may have to take responsibilities of the other departments as well (Holmes
and Stubbe, 2015).
Virtual team: The virtual team is the team that works for the company from the different
geographic location and the communication technology such as video call, phones and voice
conferencing, email and other processes can be used for the communication. In Ryanair, the
virtual team has been used in order to solve the problems of the customers.
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