Ryanair Case Study: Motivational Theories and Team Dynamics

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments. This report analyzes Ryanair's organizational behavior.

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
TASK 1......................................................................................................................................1
P1 Critically analysing how Ryanair culture, politics and power influence performance and
behaviour of individuals and team.........................................................................................1
M1 critically analysing how the culture, politics and power of an organisation can
influence individual and team behaviour and performance...................................................4
TASK 2......................................................................................................................................5
P2 Critically evaluating how content and process theory of motivation and motivational
techniques enable Ryanair to achieve its goals......................................................................5
M2 Critically evaluate how to influence the behaviour of others through the effective
application of behavioural motivational theories, concepts and models................................7
D1 Critically evaluate the relationship between culture, politics, power and motivation that
enables teams and organisations to succeed providing justified recommendations..............7
TASK 3......................................................................................................................................1
P3 Explaining what makes an effective team as opposed to an ineffective team within
organisation............................................................................................................................1
M3 Analyze relevant team and group development theories to support the development of
dynamic cooperation..............................................................................................................2
TASK 4......................................................................................................................................4
P4 Applying concepts and philosophies of organisational behaviour...................................4
M4 Explore and evaluate how concepts and philosophies of OB inform and influence
behaviour in both a positive and negative way......................................................................6
D2 Critically analyse and evaluate the relevance of team development theories in context
of organisational behaviour concepts and philosophies that influence behaviour in the work
place.......................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................8

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Tuckman's Team and group development model.......................................................2

INTRODUCTION
Organisational behaviour is a study of what an individual think, does and feels in and around
an organisation both in group and individual (Varshney, 2018). It helps to investigate the
emotions, behaviour and performance of team and an individual in a system and structure of
organisation effectively. In this context the report will cover how Ryanair culture, politics
and power influence performance and behaviour of individuals and team including how
content and process theory of motivation and motivational techniques enable Ryanair to
achieve its goals. The report will also demonstrate what makes an effective team as opposed
to an ineffective team within organisation. Finally the report will cover application of
concepts and philosophies of organisational behaviour.

TASK 1
P1 Critically analysing how Ryanair culture, politics and power influence performance and
behaviour of individuals and team
Organisational culture: Organisational culture can be described as the values, philosophies,
expectations, norms, assumptions, ideologies, beliefs and attitudes that knit an organisation
together and are shared by its workers (Oeij and Vaas, 2016). In simple words, organisational
culture is the set of norms, values, beliefs and assumptions that are shared by organisation
employees.
It is an idea in the field of organisational management and studies which describes the
experiences, values, attitudes and psychology of an organisation. It is important that the
culture of organisation decides how the employees interact at workplace. The culture also
helps to represent predefined policies which guide employees and provide a sense of
direction. It also brings employees on a common platform to promote a healthy relationship
between them.
Handy’s model of organisational culture: Charles handy defined four types of
organisational culture such as Power, Role, Person and Task.
Power culture: In organisations with power culture, power is held by few individuals who
are responsible for influencing others work throughout the business. In a power culture rules
and regulations decides what happens. In this, employees are judged by their achievement
rather than how they act and do things. Power culture is a strong culture and able to turn
toxic.
Role culture: Organisation with role culture is based on rules. Everyone in the organisation
is highly controlled and knows their roles and responsibilities. A person’s position decides
the power in role culture within organisational structure. In this decision-making is slow and
not able to take risks. People have their delegated authorities and power derives from the
position of a person within organisation.
Task culture: It can be said that the task culture is suitable for those organisations in which
teams are formed to address project issues and specific problems (Slack, Corlett and Morris,
2015). Power is shifted in the task culture depending on the team members and status of the
project. Task culture is effective when the team dynamic is determined with the right mix of

leadership, skills, creativity and personalities. Power derives here from experts as long as the
team needs the expertise.
Person culture: In organisation with person culture, individuals see themselves as superior
and unique to the firm. It is a collection of individuals within organisation who works for the
same business. The person culture common in organisations of professionals and power lies
on individuals and groups.
Ryanair culture: Ryanair since its establishment maintained a power culture. In early days,
the organisation ran by Tony Ryan. In this regards, the central power role was shifted to
O’Leary who is the new CEO of business. The flat management structure was managed in
order to enhance rapid growth of the organisation. In this case, only number of pilots,
aircrafts and engineers were enhanced in order to avoid bureaucracy. The organisation has
ability to respond to their competitive threats which is important for them to remain
competitive in the market.
The effectiveness of Ryanair culture can be discussed from two perspectives such as its
impact on organisation and stakeholders. Due to the concept of following power culture and
budget airlines, the organisation became the norm across Europe. The low-cost fares helped
to develop a new short break phenomenon. In this way, Ryanair became the most profitable
organisation in Europe’s low-cost airlines. The strategy of cutting the cost impacted
employees and consumers (Samantara and Sharma, 2016). It is effective for providing low
cost services but they were not able to provide anything extra which decreases the level of
customer satisfaction. The issue arises in terms of embarrassment in their staff which caused
high employee turnover in consumer related services and positions. The advantage of this
culture is observed through its growth and promotional opportunities higher than any other
airlines.
Ryanair is the worst airline organisation because of its relationship with organised customers
and employees which is making it the most controversial airline within the industry. It is
creating a lot of rigours media criticism and attention. In this regards, they can improve their
operations and satisfaction in employees to be more effective in the market.

INFLUENCE OF POWER
Power can be described as a major authority given by Ryanair to its responsible management
including managers and leaders to manage performance, operations and behaviour of
employees. In this regards, management must make effective use of power in order to
enhance overall performance of organisation the negative or misuse of power can lead to
decrease in productivity, customer and employee satisfaction and profitability. There are
three sources of power such as personal, position and empowerment power.
French and Raven’s power
French and Raven’s power includes five different basis of power such as Coercive,
Connection, Reward and Legitimate power. Social influence can be defined as the change
in the attitude, belief and behavior of a person which cause of action of another person and
hence this social power is the potential for that influence.
French and Raven’s power types
• Coercive power: It involves punishment or threats to influence compliance.
• Connection power: It is based on the relationship of user with influential people.
• Reward power: It is based on the ability of a user to influence others by
providing values.
• Legitimate power: This power is based on the position power of user within
organisation.
• Referent power: This power is based on the personal power relation of user with
others.
• Information power: It is based on user’s or other’s needs for information.
• Expert power: It is based on knowledge and skills of user.
The power culture only has a single source of power which is based on hierarchical
structure of organisation. In this regards, expert power is used within organisation in which
knowledge and skills of experts helps to control the operations. There are both positive and
negative impacts of power on employees and organisation such as it is highly depended on
personal communication, trust and telepathy (Moshoeu and Geldenhuys, 2015). Workers are
judged by their achievements and suffer from high turnover and low morale. The positive
impact is that they are able to deliver low cost services in the industry.

INFLUENCE OF POLITICS
Politics is a process of increasing and using power to influence others. It can easily affect the
organisation internal environment such as employees, staff, management, profits and
productivity. The work culture of Ryanair is associated with politics that it has defused power
based on expertise and located in interstices. The company was established for providing
value for money. In this regards, management controls the working culture within
organisation.
M1 critically analysing how the culture, politics and power of an organisation can influence
individual and team behaviour and performance
Different types of organizational culture such as power, person, role and task culture have
discussed that positively or negatively influence the employee behaviors and performance.
Appropriate and positive work culture in the Ryanair will enable employees to put their full
efforts and time to enhance and improve customer service. If the management as well as
employees in the Ryanair is involved in the dirty politics then it may negatively influence the
performance of employees as well as the organization. If the power and authority among
employees are clearly defined then it will enable them perform their assigned work within
certain limit efficiently and effectively to achieve goal of the organization.

TASK 2
P2 Critically evaluating how content and process theory of motivation and motivational
techniques enable Ryanair to achieve its goals
Motivation: Motivation can be described as internal and external factors that stimulate desire
and energy in people to become committed and interested to a role, job or subject in order to
make efforts to achieve the goals and objectives effectively.
It is very important for the organisation to motivate their employees at workplace in order to
increase the level of their performance, skills, knowledge, satisfaction and commitment
towards job (Sharma and Rani, 2017). This helps them to achieve desired goals and
objectives which lead towards organisation productivity and profitability.
Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation
In extrinsic motivation, employees are motivated by organisation in order to earn rewards by
engaging in behaviour to get something return from work. On the other hand in intrinsic
motivation, employees engage in behaviour to reward themselves.
Content theory: The theory describes why an individual needs changes with time. The
content theory of motivation includes work of Abraham Maslow, David McClelland and
other psychologists. They explained why individual or human needs changes with time but
not how they changes. Some specific factors are explained by them which help to motivate
the behaviour effectively.
Process theory: It can be described as a system of ideas which helps to explain that how an
entity change and develop. The theory often contrasts with variance theory which explains
the variance in dependent variables based on one or more independent variables effectively
(Azeez and Genty, 2018). The theories examine how an individual needs affect his or her
behaviour to accomplish goals.
Comparing content and process theory of motivation
The major differences between process and content theories is that the process theory focuses
on behaviour and content theory focuses on an individual needs. These two theories deliver
insight into what factors motivates individuals in order to act in a certain way in an
organisational management.

Maslow’s Hierarchy theory: The theory is developed by Abraham Maslow which breaks
down human motivation into different categories of personal requirements. In this regards,
people are motivated by deep psychological desire for love, safety, achievement and esteem.
For example, most people require an effective and safe working place and environment in
order to perform better and feel appreciated.
Herzberg’s two factor theory: The theory was developed by Frederick Herzberg who split
motivation into two behavioural categories. People are motivated in order to react in both
negative and positive ways which depends on their particular environment (Moshoeu and
Geldenhuys, 2015). For example, a co-worker’s poor hygiene motivates others to stay away
from him. In addition, the amount of pay can also motivate people to become lazy or work
hard effectively.
MASLOW- HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
Physiological needs: Individuals workings with Ryanair have some basic needs such as food,
shelter, sleep and water to survive in this world. The management must ensure that these
needs are completed to achieve their motivation.
Safety and security: Safety and security needs are also essential for employees working with
Ryanair that organisation management is responsible for providing source of income, safety
from machineries and other equipment. In addition, personal and financial security and safety
from other issues must be ensured to increase their living standard.
Self-actualization: Self-actualisation is a desire of an individual to work with his or her
potentiality (Lozano, Ceulemans and Seatter, 2015). The Ryanair management must ensure
that employees have rights to choose their own work according to their skills and knowledge
to be satisfied at each and every level of succession effectively.
Locke’s goal setting theory: The theory describes that management of Ryanair must provide
challenging work to their employees to increase their commitment towards job. Goals defined
by organisation describe the future and able to drive the behaviour. Achievement of these
goals also helps employees to feel motivated.

It can be said that the employees of Ryanair are motivated by management but still there are
some issues affecting the business such as poor customer rates and embarrassment of
employees including high turnover. Nearly 100 pilots voted to strike because of disputes in
annual leave arrangements, seniority, and transfer of flights crew between North African and
European bases. They were contracted through personal service organisations. Nearly 4000
customers were affected by this and provided low customer rating towards organisation
(Balmer and Burghausen, 2015). The union suggested bringing an arbitrator. The union have
a list of 34 demands which must be acquired by Ryanair according to them.
M2 Critically evaluate how to influence the behaviour of others through the effective
application of behavioural motivational theories, concepts and models.
There are some motivational techniques which must be considered by management in order
to motivate their employees such as providing challenging work to them, regular supportive
feedbacks and rewards and incentives for the best performances. In addition, soft skills which
can be acquired through positive attitude, behaviour, good habits and personality traits will
help employees to perform better in tasks. Different theories and concepts of motivation such
as Maslow needs theory, Herzberg’s two factor theory, etc can be applied and used by the
management in the Ryanair airline to influence, motivate and enable employees to perform
well and enhance the customer service. These theories and concepts of motivation will
enable management in the Ryanair airline to meet basic needs and also to provide positive as
well negative motivations to enable employees to perform with full dedication and potential
to enhance and improve customer service.
D1 Critically evaluate the relationship between culture, politics, power and motivation that
enables teams and organisations to succeed providing justified recommendations.
There is a close relationship between organisation power, politics and culture which has a
major impact on its employees and team behaviour and performance. Culture, power, politics
and motivation existing in the Ryanair plays very crucial roles in enabling employees to
provide best customer service and hence ensure the success and growth of the airline
industry. Healthy work culture in the organization will enable employees to perform their
assigned work with full dedication and potential that leads to maximum contribution in the
improving customer service. Existing of positive politics at the workplace in the organization
will enable employees to use their power to perform their roles and responsibilities within
their limitations.

Also, if the Ryanair airline is providing monetary as well as non-monetary motivation to
employees on the basis of their performance then it will enhance their work efficiency and
performance hence improve the customer service. Therefore, effective collaboration and
combination of positive culture, power, politics and motivation will enable employees to
perform well and hence ensure the success and growth of the organization.
In this regards, performance and behaviour of team and individuals working with Ryanair can
be enhanced through effective application of motivational theories and techniques. The
management must review the performance of their employees in a regular interval so that the
concepts will help them to provide effective and quality services to customers in the market.
In addition, this will also help to increase knowledge, skills, abilities and capabilities of a
worker to achieve satisfaction towards job so that consumer loyalty can be achieved by
delivering quality services.