Organizational Behavior at Ryanair: Power, Politics, and Culture

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ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
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Table of contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
Task 1 Organisational culture, power and politics..............................................................4
a) The organisational culture, management's political behaviour, and power's nature. . .4
b) Impact of the culture on the behaviour, feelings of staff and performance of the
airline (P1, M1, D1).....................................................................................................................5
Task 2 Motivating individuals and teams............................................................................7
a) Analysing how the process theories and content theories can contribute to the
success of team performance, individual performance and success of Ryanair (P2, M2)..........7
Task 3 Proper collaboration among the concepts, theories, and concepts of organisational
behaviour.......................................................................................................................................10
a) Identifying and explaining various kinds of teams operating in Ryanair and their
importance (P3).........................................................................................................................10
b) Using theories to make the teams of Ryanair more effective (M3, D2)...................11
c) Evaluating the usage of path-goal theory for improving the airline's productivity and
performance (P4, M4)................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................13
Reference list.....................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
Organisational behavior is known as a study of human behavior in the workplace. It
refers to both the individual and group activities in organisations. Organisational behaviour has
been considered as an important aspect of organisations and the business leaders need to pay
attention to it. In this study, organisation behavior of a well-known airline, Ryanair has been
discussed. The assignment is divided into three different tasks and these tasks focus on different
elements of organisational behavior. In the first task, organisational politics, power, and culture
have been discussed. Then in task 2, it has been described how people can motivate individuals
and teams. Then in Task 3, the cooperation of the teams, theories, concepts of organisational
behaviour has been discussed in the assignment.
Ryanair was established in 1984 and it did not become successful at that time. Then it
changed the strategy in the 90s and it adopted an approach of low cost. Therefore, it gained the
attention of the media and common people. The media also concentrated on the issue of staffing
and weak customer service. The headquarter of this Irish airline is situated Dublin and its
operation is situated in the airports of Dublin and London. The name of its CEO is Michael O'
Leary who created a macho organisational culture in the workplace.
Task 1 Organisational culture, power, and politics
a) The organisational culture, management's political behaviour, and
power's nature
Organisational culture refers to the values, habits, and technique of communicating with
others in the workplace. It helps in creating a unique and interesting psychological and social
environment there (Gothamculture.com, 2019). In an organisation, it is generally based on the
shared customs, beliefs, values that were created over the years for the organisation. As far as
Ryanair is concerned, the CEO created the macho culture for this organisation.
However, the CEO recently decided to reform this organisational macho culture
(Selectstrategies.com, 2019). He realised that there were certain aspects of the culture that were
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not good. He talked to the shareholders of Ryanair in a meeting that aspects should be eliminated
that annoy the airline’s customers (Telegraph.co.uk, 2019). He also realised the fact that some
positive feminine business characteristics like kindness, nurturing and sympathy were not
considered effective in the organisation's macho culture. It has also been observed that the theory
of Deal and Kennedy states that good teamwork and collaboration is not possible in this
organisational culture. In the meeting, the shareholders showed their concerns and said that the
issues of customer support affected sales of the airline significantly (Bbc.com, 2019). He also
told the shareholders that Ryanair would develop a new department or teams for to complaints of
customers and the website would be revamped as well.
Power and political behaviour are important parts of businesses. Power refers to the
capability of influencing other people in the workplace. Generally, the leaders or the managers
are considered powerful who you have a capacity of influencing the subordinate. In an
organisation, the influence of leaders affects other people and the performance of that
organisation. In the case of Ryanair, it has been observed that the organisation uses reward
power. As per the theory of Raven and French, there are different types of powers and different
powers are suitable different types of organisation. These powers are expert, legitimate, referent,
coercion and reward (Swlearning.com, 2019). The CEO of Ryanair realised that he could use
reward power motivated employees. In this way, the productivity of this well-known airline gets
increased. When the employees of Ryanair receives satisfactory rewards on the basis of their
performance feel encouraged to always deliver a good performance. It is also important for the
managers to make the employees feel that the organisation value their contributions. Therefore,
they will prefer to stay loyal to the airline and consider them as significant parts of Ryanair.
The management of the Irish airline follows political behavior because it is important to
know what characteristics they possess. As for the model of Chanlat, there are different
characteristics of political behaviour and they are decisional, structural and personal
characteristics. It has been observed that managers mostly have decisional characteristics. Their
decisions get affected by the political factors that the business organisation often faces. Apart
from that, the decisions of the managers also get affected by the political attitude and mentality
of their subordinates as well.
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b) Impact of the culture on the behaviour, feelings of staff and
performance of the airline (P1, M1, D1)
Macho culture affects the businesses negatively and it does not provide the businesses to
grow well. As this culture does not support collaboration and effective teamwork in the
workplace, it prevents the organisation's development. The roles of leaders or managers are
imposing and authoritative in this organisational culture. Certain characteristics of macho culture
like overconfidence and control hamper the productivity of Ryanair (Pbs.org, 2019). In this
culture, friendly and cordial relationships among the managers and the employees do not get
developed. Therefore, the employees maintain distance from the managers and they feel
hesitated to share the issues that face with the managers.
The organisational culture is mainly known as a system of values, practices, traditions,
etc. and all of these elements are shared by individuals who work in an organisation. It is very
important for the business organisation to develop a good work culture for achieving success.
The work culture of air is known as a weak organisational culture. This weak and macho culture
exists in the organisation, Ryanair because rules are generally imposed on the employees.
Therefore the employees do not get an opportunity to grow and share their thoughts with the
leaders of the managers. That is the reason, many employees have left the organisation and the
turnover rate of Ryanair has become really high. Charles Handy’s model of organisational
culture can be used to understand the culture of Ryanair. According to Charles handy, there are
four types of culture and those cultures include power, person, task and role (Tutor2u.net, 2019).
In the case of Ryanair, power culture got developed in the workplace over the years. It simply
means that only a few people are really powerful and they have the capability of the
organisation. In this culture, the employees of Ryanair do not feel empowered at all. As the
employees do not develop professionally, this type of culture can become toxic quickly.
Power, politics and organisational culture are all connected with each other. The most
powerful person associated with this airline is the CEO and he has the capability to change the
existing organisational culture. As far as politics is concerned, it is a significant aspect of
organisational culture (Swlearning.com, 2019). In every workplace, politics influences the
behaviour of employees and some of their actions. On the other hand, motivation is also a
significant part of organisational culture. If the employees feel motivated and empowered, the
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performance gets better and their innovative ideas contribute to the organisational success. In
Ryanair, the business professionals will have to focus on all these significant aspects, power,
culture, politics and motivation and try to ensure these aspects affect the business positively.
The business leaders of Ryanair have decided to change the organisational culture.
Before implementing a new culture, leaders need to gain knowledge about the Hofstede model of
culture. This model suggests that certain factors or elements contribute to the organisational
culture and affect the behaviour of employees. There are five factors and those factors include
power distance, femininity versus masculinity, avoidance of uncertainty individualism and long-
term orientation (Lee et al., 2018). If the leaders get an idea about all these factors, they will be
able to understand what should be the appropriate culture of Ryanair.
Task 2 Motivating individuals and teams
a) Analysing how the process theories and content theories can
contribute to the success of team performance, individual performance and
success of Ryanair (P2, M2)
It has been observed that the turnover rate is high in Ryanair, therefore the business
professionals need to apply some motivational theories to motivate and retain the employees.
The employees do not feel motivated because of the managers’ autocratic approach. That is the
reason they need to change their approach and find out the factors that can motivate employees
to a great extent. Apart from that, the organisation faces some other issues as well. The levels of
customers levels have decreased greatly and the organisation's performance became poor.
Therefore, the leaders have taken the decisions of re-structuring this airline (Ryanair.com, 2019).
In order to make the organisation's reputation better, the leaders must apply effective theories to
motivate their employees and make business performance better.
Herzberg's theory and Alderfer’s ERG theory are popular content theories of motivation.
Herzberg’s theory can help in finding out the hygiene factors and the motivators of the
employees who work for Ryanair if it is applied by the managers (Bapress.ca, 2019). When
hygiene factors are considered as factors that cause dissatisfaction among the employees,
motivators are known as the factors that create a sense of satisfaction among those employees.
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With the help of Herzberg’s theory, it can be understood how the business leaders of
Ryanair can satisfy their employees. Tough work conditions and lack of effective
communication prevent the employees from being motivated. The airline needs to realise that
their employees are not machines, therefore, they should be provided positive work culture and
environment. According to Alderfer’s ERG theory, the needs of employees can be divided into
three different categories and these categories include growth needs, relatedness needs, and
existence needs. The managers are the leaders need to ensure that all of these needs employees
get fulfilled and they feel satisfied.
Apart from content theories, there are process theories of motivation as well. One of the
most effective process theories is goal-setting theory. Edwin Locke opines that the development
of goals is interconnected to the performance of employees. Productive feedback and clear goal
help in achieving better performance (Careertrend.com, 2019). The goals need to be both
challenging and attainable therefore the employees will feel glad after the completion of tasks.
Therefore, the team leaders need to conduct meetings with team members to communicate the
goals with their employees in such a way that they understand their goals well.
Another interesting process theory is the expectancy theory of Victor Vroom and it
suggests that individuals can be effectively encouraged to meet common objectives even through
their individual goals are different from one other. Achievement of common goals is extremely
important in achieving the leading position in the market and in gaining a competitive advantage
over other airlines. When the employees feel motivated and perform their duties perfectly, the
efforts and hard work contributes to the long term goals of the organisation. If Ryanair wants to
become the best airline in Ireland, the organisation's productivity plays an important role in
success. If employees feel motivated or satisfied, their productivity will be increased greatly.
When individuals or team members remain satisfied, they do their works well. In this way, the
performance of teams becomes betters. Apart from the managers, the team leaders need to make
an effort to motivate their team members so that the goals of teams can be achieved.
When many motivation theories focus on the needs of employees, behavioral theories
believe the fact that some motivating factors can affect the behaviour of employees. A popular
behaviour-based theory is enforcement theory and the business leaders of Ryanair should use this
theory to influence the behaviour of employees. With the help of this theory, managers can
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modify the behaviour of their employees by using four different techniques. These techniques are
positive reinforcement, avoidance, punishment, and extinction. The first one, positive
reinforcement appreciates and gives rewards to those employees who show appropriate
behaviour (Cliffsnotes.com, 2019). The employees will feel motivated to show desired or
appropriate behaviour due to rewards and appreciation.
Another technique, avoidance is used to show the employees what consequences they can
face because of their inappropriate behaviour in the workplace. If the employees so desired
attitude and behaviour they will not face doors consequences. The technique extinction refers to
ignoring an employee’s not giving that person any kind of reinforcement. The fourth technique is
punishment and it is mainly used to decrease the chances of improper or inappropriate behaviour
in the workplace. The managers of Ramayana should apply this theory and before implementing
this behaviour motivational theory in the workplace they will have to talk to the employees and
make them understand what that type of behaviour they should show to get positive
reinforcement.
Task 3 Proper collaboration among the concepts, theories, and
concepts of organisational behaviour
a) Identifying and explaining various kinds of teams operating in
Ryanair and their importance (P3)
There are different types of teams that perform activities in organisations, all of these
teams perform different actions from each other and every team is equally important. The
organisation's leaders have taken the decisions of the organisational structure in the next year and
in the re-structured Ryanair, small management teams will be developed for overselling over
subsidiaries such Ryanair UK, Ryanair Dun, Ryanair DAC, and Laudamotion. Virtual teams,
project teams, problem-solving and functional teams play important roles in the business and
Ryanair understand the significance of all these teams.
Project teams are groups of employees who worked with one another and have common
strategies and goals. With the help of these teams, the works can be structured in a time-
constrained, measurable and specific manner. Functional teams are concerns it refers to two
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employees of a particular department who perform different duties (Hygger.io, 2019). This type
of teams is generally used in project management organisations. In the case of these teams,
managers remain responsible for each and everything and every team member reports to the
manager. In most of the cases, functional teams are permanent. On the other hand, problem-
solving teams are generally temporary. These teams are usually created for solving some issues
that occur in the workplace. These teams can be developed if any types of unplanned challenge
or financial issues are faced by the organisation. Once all the goals are met properly, the teams
are totally disbanded. Virtual teams refer to a group of people who communicate with one
another from various locations. This type of team is absolutely suitable for a large company like
Ryanair where many people from different people work with one another. These teams have
become popular in companies because they provide an opportunity to maintain a good balance
between personal and professional lives.
There are some differences between effective teams and ineffective teams that the
business professionals need to understand. When all of the team members of an effective team
collaborate with each other, a sense of understanding is developed and it helps them perform
their tasks. Other than that, the team leaders communicate the team goals clear goals in an
effective team so that the employees understand those goals well. Development of effective
teams can contribute to the success of Ryanair and improve its reputation among its customers.
b) Using theories to make the teams of Ryanair more effective (M3, D2)
In order to make the teams even more effective, it is important for the managers to apply
Tuckman and Jensen's model and Belbin's team theory. Both of these theories are widely used in
many organisations. Belbin states that there are nine roles and every team role has certain
strengths. The nine roles include shaper, implementer, completer-finisher, coordinator, team
worker, resource investor, monitor-evaluator and specialist. All of these people have their unique
qualities and they perform specific tasks. For instance, when shapers challenge their teams and
help those teams improve, coordinators perform the roles of team roles. Their qualities, their
performance, and co-operation with others can make the teams much more effective than usual.
That is the reason, it is very important for the managers to select the right employees for these
team roles. Otherwise, it will not be possible to achieve the desired team goals. On the other
hand, Tuckman and Jensen's model focuses on four different development stages and they are
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forming, forming, performing and storming. The business leaders need to apply this theory to
ensure the team goals are met and team members collaborate with each other. In the first stage,
forming, the team members become familiar with each other and agree on the team goals and
purpose (Ccconline.org, 2019). In the second stage, storming, conflicts may appear among the
team members. In the third stage, norming, conflicts among the team members generally get
resolved. In the final stage, adjourning, the team members get disbanded once the tasks get
completed.
c) Evaluating the usage of path-goal theory for improving the airline's
productivity and performance (P4, M4)
The path-goal theory should be applied by the managers of Ryanair to improve its
performance and productivity. It is based on the behaviour or style of a manager or leader that
perfectly fits the work environment and employees for achieving the goals. This theory suggests
that the managers should choose particular behaviours that are suitable for catering to the needs
of employees and the work environment (Pathgoal.com, 2019). The theory states that leaders
need to get engaged in various types of leadership behaviour to meet the demands and nature of a
specific situation. When the needs of employees are identified and met, they become satisfied
and the productivity gets increased, that is the reason; the path-goal theory is the ideal for
Ryanair.
Conclusion
It has been understood that organisational behaviour plays an important role in business.
A well-known Irish airline, Ryanair has been selected for this assignment. With the help of this
assignment, Ryanair's culture, the political behaviour, power and different types of teams have
been understood. It has been understood that organisational structure or organisational culture
should be changed when required. It is very important for the business leaders to identify the
needs and preferences of customers and take necessary steps to cater to those preferences and
needs of the customers. In order to modify the culture, the leaders need to take a look at their
competitors. They have to incorporate the positive aspects of competitors' work culture. They
should also use some effective theories of work culture to meet business goals and achieve
success.
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Reference list
Bapress.ca, (2019). A Case Analysis of the Organisational Behaviour of Ryanair and Its
Impact Available at http://www.bapress.ca (Accessed on: 25.05.2019)
Bbc.com, (2019). Ryanair's O'Leary to end 'abrupt culture' Available at
https://www.bbc.com (Accessed on: 25.05.2019)
Careertrend.com, (2019). What Are Process Theories of Motivation? Available at
https://careertrend.com (Accessed on: 25.05.2019)
Ccconline.org, (2019). Tuckman and Jensen Model Available at
https://www.ccconline.org (Accessed on: 25.05.2019)
Cliffsnotes.com, (2019). Motivation Theories: Behavior Available at
https://www.cliffsnotes.com (Accessed on: 25.05.2019)
Gothamculture.com, (2019). WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE? Available at
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Hygger.io, (2019). 5 Types of Teams. What’s Your Choice? Available at https://hygger.io
(Accessed on: 25.05.2019)
Lee, Y., Howe, M. and Kreiser, P.M., 2019. Organisational culture and entrepreneurial
orientation: An orthogonal perspective of individualism and collectivism. International
Small Business Journal, 37(2), pp.125-152.
Mindtools.com, (2019). Belbin's Team Roles Available at https://www.mindtools.com
(Accessed on: 25.05.2019)
Pathgoal.com, (2019). What is Path-Goal Theory? Available at https://pathgoal.com
(Accessed on: 25.05.2019)
Pbs.org, (2019). Column: Why macho culture is bad for business Available at
https://www.pbs.org (Accessed on: 25.05.2019)
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