Organizational Behaviour at Ryanair: A Comprehensive Analysis

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Organizational Behaviour
Ryanair
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Contents
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR..................................................................................................... 3
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................3
IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR AT RYANAIR.................................................3
DETERMINANTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR AT RYANAIR.............................................4
FOUR TYPE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE FOUND IN RYANAIR..............................................5
JOHN FRENCH AND BERTRAM RAVEN’S FIVE TYPES OF POWER................................................7
FUNCTION OF MANAGER AT RYANAIR......................................................................................8
VARIOUS CHALLENGES TO A MANAGER OF RYANAIR................................................................9
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION..................................................................................................... 10
FEATURES OF MOTIVATION.....................................................................................................10
IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION............................................................................................... 10
MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS THEORY.............................................................................10
THEORY X AND THEORY Y........................................................................................................ 12
COMPARING THEORY X AND THEORY Y...................................................................................13
ANALYSIS OF TEAM THEORY....................................................................................................13
PATH-GOAL THEORY................................................................................................................ 15
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 16
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
The advancement in technology and skills has resulted in a shift in organizational
structure and change in the organizational operation process. The advancement in
technology has given the opportunity for a modern workplace. For the success of the
business, the organization must understand the factors that impact the business
outcome. Organization Behaviour is the process of understanding, managing, and
analysis of human behaviour within an individual or in a group of people in an
organization.
The report investigates the organizational culture of Ryanair using various models such
as the organizational culture, power culture, motivational theory and team theory.
Ryanair has a well-known UK based low-cost airline. The company has focused on
achieving organizational behaviour that is suited to the company employees. Due to
strong organizational value, the company has seen growth at a global level. The
company have a high level of employee satisfaction and the company has recently
achieved success in the global aviation market. Michael O'Leary, Chief Executive
Officer of Ryanair, said “Our culture is built around a core set of shared values. Our
commitment to upholding these values, encouraging our colleagues to share their
valuable opinions and ideas and then us acting on what they have said, creates the
foundation for our Best Workplace culture”.
Ryanair has always believed in being ethical in the business sense as well as the social
sense. Ethics begin at the core of the company and work their way out.
Ryanair has achieved great success at the global level. But the management is that the
organizational behaviour at Ryanair is a contributing factor in the success of the
organization. The company is facing some problem such as a frequent strike by the
employees. These factors affect the organization and create hindrance in achieving
organizational goals. The report presents a detailed overview of the Organizational
Behaviour at Ryanair.
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IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR AT RYANAIR
The proper understanding of organizational behaviour is very important for the working
of an organization. It is very important to understand other behaviours in an
organization. The managers of Ryanair should understand the behaviour of employees
toward other employees of the organization. The employers should also access their
behaviour toward their employees. For achieving the organizational goals of Ryanair the
employees have to adapt to the working environment. They must understand the
organization business objective and work to achieve these goals (Lee and Lawrence,
2013). Organizational Behaviour is very important for Ryanair success. Following are
the main importance of Organizational Behaviour at Ryanair;
 Analysis of individual behaviour can be done by Organizational Behaviour
 The interpersonal relationship between employees can be understood
 The OB helps in maintaining the communication between the employees and the
managers
 The managers of Ryanair can encourage and provide motivation to employees
 Any organizational change can be done more effectively and efficiently
 Helps in analysing human behaviour in an organization
 The study of OB can help the Ryanair in achieving the organizational goals
Studying organizational behaviour can help in understanding the employee’s behaviour
and how this can influence the organization in achieving the goals of the organization.
The transformation of the Ryanair culture its impact on the organizations' behaviour is to
a large extent responsible for the company's success globally (Huczynski et al., 2013).
DETERMINANTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR AT RYANAIR
There are many factors that affect organizational behaviour of the organization. These
factors are;
 People
 Organizational Structure
 Technology
 Environment

People
An organization consists of many people. The people working for Ryanair have different
skills, interest, and personality. To maintain a healthy working environment at Ryanair
the organization should treat each employee equally. They should be evaluated based
on their work. The management of Ryanair thinks that the success of Ryanair is in the
hands of people working there. The managers of Ryanair do not practice discrimination
on the basis of colour, race etc (Pettinger, 2013).
Organizational Structure
The organizational structure is the design of the organization. The company's
relationship with employees and how the organization is organized to achieve
organizational goals. The Ryanair has developed an organizational structure such that
the employees can perform their task effectively. There are some challenges which
need to be solved at the organizational level. Earlier there were various challenges to
Ryanair.
Technology
Technology within an organization can also affect the behaviour of the employees.
Ryanair uses effective communication technology within the organization which help in
improving the communication between different members of a team within Ryanair.
Introduction of new and latest software has resulted in improvement of employee’s
productivity (Pettinger, 2013).
Environment
An organization functions within an internal and external environment. The internal
environments are the factor occurring within an organization that affects the
organization decisions making the process and the behaviour of employees. The
external environment consists of various external factors that influence the organization.
Factors such as employees motivation is an example of an internal environment. The
political and economic factor is an example of the external environment. Due to the

change in external factors such as the government policy has affected the working and
profit of Ryanair.
FOUR TYPE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE FOUND IN RYANAIR
According to Handy Model of Organizational Culture, there are four different types of
cultures followed by organizations. According to Handy model, the culture followed at an
organization has to an impact on employee’s behaviour. The study of culture at Ryanair
gives insights into the behaviour of management towards the employees. The airline
has always suffered from issues related to organizational culture.
Power Culture:
In an organization with power culture, the power is concentrated on an individual or a
group of individual. The power holding individual is responsible for taking most of the
decision of the organization. Most of the decisions at Ryanair is taken by the CEO of the
company. Employees are compelled to follow rules and regulation. The power culture is
generally considered as a strong culture (French, 2011). The main strength of power
culture is its decision-making ability. As there is less consultation involved in power
culture decision are taken quickly and in less time. The CEO takes most of the decision
for the organization and the decision must be followed by the employees of Ryanair. At
Ryanair, there is little to no involvement of other employees in the decision-making
process. There is no utilization of skill and expertise of other people. Sometimes a
decision is not accepted by employees but they are forced to accept it (French, 2011).
Role Culture:
In organization following role culture, there is a practice of assigning a specific task to
the employees. The employees can follow the job description document to complete the
task. Ryanair follows role culture where specialists are involved such as sales,
marketing, engineering and legal. The employees are specialist in their field therefore,
they are able to complete their work on time. The specialist at Ryanair helps in
achieving difficult goals. The culture can be applied at small firms as the employees in
small firms generally take multiple responsibilities.

Task Culture:
Organization adopting task culture believes in teamwork. The teams are assigned a
task and the team members work collectively to achieve the task. The project teams at
a Ryanair are an example of task culture. In task culture organization the employees
generally work in teams (Alvesson, 2012). Employees get a chance to make decisions.
The team members are allowed to take their own decisions. The task may be
complicated and involve many members. Involvement of many individuals in decision
making can create conflict among team members.
Person Culture:
In person culture organization the people are the most important asset of the
organization. The company is depended on the skill and expertise of the employees.
Training and development is an integral part of personal culture. Employees get the
chance of upgrading their skills. The person culture firms believe in imparting training to
their employees. The employees get a chance of skill up gradation. They feel motivated
by the fact that they get carrier growth opportunity. For Ryanair, people are the most
valuable asset for the company.The employees need to upgrade their skills and
knowledge continuously. Due to some issues with the budget the employees of Ryanair
do not receive regular training. In past, this has resulted in an employee’s skills
shortage.
JOHN FRENCH AND BERTRAM RAVEN’S FIVE TYPES OF POWER
Legitimate Power:
According to legitimate power, the person holding power has rights to make demand
and the employees have the responsibility to fulfil the demands. The advantage of
legitimate power is that employers can expect the employees to complete the task. The
disadvantage of legitimate power is that employees can feel that they are controlled by
their managers (John et al., 2016). The Ryanair top management team especially the
CEO believes in legitimate power.
Reward Power:

When a person holds the power to reward employees for doing nice work is called
reward power. The employees feel motivated when they receive financial rewards for
their efforts at work. The challenges associated with reward power is that the
employees who do not receive the reward can feel demotivated and may not put extra
efforts in their job. At Ryanair, there is a lack of people holding reward power.
Employees are not provided with incentives for doing nice work. For keeping the
motivation level of the employees Ryanair should focus on increasing the reward power
of the organization.
Expert Power:
A person having expert knowledge and skill can be considered as holding expert power.
A person with expert power can guide team members to achieve goals. The guidance of
expert power can be beneficial in achieving difficult organizational goals. Ryanair faces
challenges associated with expert power. There is less number of people with expert
power. The expert person at Ryanair sometimes tries to control the team members
according to their will.
Referent Power:
The employees possessing great interpersonal skills are referred to as referent power.
These people generally carry a positive attitude. The person can have very good
communication skill which makes it easy to make natural communication with the
employees. Ryanair should focus on developing referent power in its employees. The
person with referent power can help in reducing the communication between team
members.
Coercive Power:
The process of applying force to make employees follow a certain order is called
coercive power. The employee is forced to carry out the job due to fear of losing the job.
The coercive power gives more controls to the managers. Ryanair uses coercive power
to develop discipline. The employees of Ryanair feel demotivated and experience high
stress (Ostroff et al., 2012.).

FUNCTION OF MANAGER AT RYANAIR
There are many roles and responsibility of a manager at Ryanair. The manager is
responsible for managing all the activities which are happening in the firm. The manager
is answerable to the management of the organization(Ostroff et al., 2012). Major
responsibilities of the manager are;
 Planning
Ryanair manager has to do planning for executing any project. The managers
should plan the project schedule and provide a blueprint on how the task is to be
performed.
 Organizing
The Ryanair manager should organize various activities required for the project.
The manager should access that everything is according to the plan.
 Coordination between employees
Communication and coordination between team members are very important.
The manager of Ryanair ensures that the employees coordinate during plan
execution.
 Staffing
Hiring new employees is called staffing. Ryanair manager has the responsibility
of hiring staff.
 Leading a team
An efficient leader can make its team achieve the goals of the organization.
Ryanair manager should lead the team in such a way that it can motivate
employees to achieve the goals.
 Reporting
A manager should report about tasks performed by employees to the
management. All the activities at Ryanair should be reported to the CEO.
 Budgeting
Analysis of budget required for the work carrying out project activities is done by
the Ryanair manager.
 Controlling

Management of employees is referred to as controlling. The Manager has the
responsibility of resolving any conflict issues between employees. Sometimes
Ryanair faces management issues such as strikes. The managers are not able to
control the employees in such a situation.
VARIOUS CHALLENGES TO A MANAGER OF RYANAIR
 Managing Workforce of the organization
There is various type of people in an organization, managing these people is a
very challenging task. Each Ryanair employee has a different expectation from
the organization. Satisfying each employee is not possible so the manager
adopts the best strategy as suited by the employees.
 Improving the Productivity of employees
The Ryanair managers have to make sure that the work is completed on time, to
achieve this they motivate the employees for doing their job efficiently. They also
make sure to provide necessary training to employees. Overall they aim to
achieve maximum productivity for their employees.
 Analyse Staff Shortage
Managers should always know about the skill and ability of their employees. If
there is a requirement of new talent with a different skill set and expertise then
managers have to recruit new employees. Ryanair air always faces issues like
staff shortage. The managers should analyse the shortage of employees.
 Providing Best customer service
A manager is a link between customers and the organization. Managers should
provide the best service to customers. Ryanair has faced many customer related
issues. The management should make sure that the airline provides the best
customer service to the customers.
 Improving ethical behaviour
The manager should motivate employees to follow ethical behaviour. The
managers of Ryanair should make sure that the employees are not involved in
unethical activities as this can cause a huge brand loss for the company.

THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
A motivated worker is supposed to be more productive in the workplace. Motivated
employees are more creative and are generally fell less stress related to work. The
managers should make sure that their employees are motivated during working hours.
The level of employee’s motivation can decide the business outcome of an organization.
There are various motivation theories that can be adopted by the managers of Ryanair
to make their employees feel motivated at the workplace (Petri and Govern, 2012).
FEATURES OF MOTIVATION
Motivation is a psychological feeling. A motivated person can perform their task more
efficiently. Employees should always feel motivated. Motivation consists of three
elements. These elements are;
 Needs – any physiological imbalance can require boosting of employees
motivation.
 Drives – various activities that can make employees feel motivated. Ryan air can
organize camps or events that will give new opportunities to employees.
 Incentives – The employees should be rewarded for their excellent work.
IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION
Employees need to feel motivated because of the following reasons
 Motivated employees are more productive
 Motivated employees are more quality oriented
 Motivated employees coordinate well with other employees
 They employment with the organization is for a longer period.
 Motivated employees are more creative with their work
MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS THEORY
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory explains factors that motivate an individual. There
are physiological factors that drive human behaviour in the workplace. Various physical
and physiological human requirements such as feeling respected at the workplace are
important for an employee. The Ryanair managers should adopt this theory. Employees

should consider these factors. The employees feel motivated when their basic needs
are fulfilled in the workplace. The needs that are lower down in the hierarchy must be
fulfilled first.
Figure 1: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory
Source: Tutorial point, 2018
 Physiological Needs – The needs that are necessary for human survival are
physiological needs. Food, water, clothing, shelter all are physiological needs.
Ryanair should provide various amenities such as clean drinking water, good
working environment.
 Safety Needs – Every Ryanair employee wants to live in a safe and protected
environment. Safety need includes protection from accidents, having health
insurance etc. Ryanair should provide a safe working environment for their
employees.
 Social Needs – The third need is a social need. The social need involves a
sense of belongingness. Ryanair should focus on providing social needs such as