Ryanair Developing Manager Assignment

Introduction

Manager is one of the key roles in any organization because a manager is expected to carry out different roles. A manager should be a good motivator as well as a good orator. A manager should channelize effective communication between employees and should also be a leader who leads by example. It is important for a person to understand all these roles in deep so as to improve his or her skill to fit himself or herself for the role of manager in a company. The  Ryanair Developing Manager Assignment focuses on Ryanair, an airline company in the UK and the organizational behavior that prevails in the company. Based on the shortcomings of current management system of the company, and based on the skill possessed by me, the Ryanair Developing Manager Assignment how to use managerial, personal and professional skills into practice in order to overcome the issues. The report also focuses on the career path and development plan one should adopt to climb the ladder and move ahead in his or her own career.

Task 1 Understand principles and practices of management behaviour

1.1 Compare different management styles. Management style followed by Ryanair and suitability of different management styles to Ryanair.

Types of Management theories:

Classical Theory: According to the classical management theory, employees were managed by the supervisors and the supervisors by their managers. There used to be difference at each level as all the employees were expected to follow strict business rules. Employees and managers were not allowed to have personal relations and the focus was mainly on professional aspect. The organization use to hire and terminate employees on the basis of skill possessed by the employees.

Human Relation theory: Human relation theory gives more preference to employees rather than rules and regulations of the company. It allows employees and managers to interact. Managers interact with employees to motivate them deliver quality work, while employees gives their suggestions to managers in the decision making of the company. Human resource management theory looks after the employees and considers them the most important aspect of any organization.

The main advantage of Classical theory was that the strict procedure and rules and regulations results in high quality work as the company focus was on working with designed procedure without being impacted by personal issues of employees. However, the theory failed to understand the importance of human resource and that they can’t be treated like other non-living resource. Human resource has feelings and their satisfaction plays an important role in bringing out the best from them and improving efficiency. This shortcoming has been fulfilled by Human Relation Theory which provide better work conditions for the employees, therefore, employee feel more committed and satisfied with its work environment, thus, improving its productivity.

 Being hierarchical in nature, Ryanair follow Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs (Cowie, J, 2009). The lowest level of employees are expected to fulfill their physiological needs, hence are rewarded lesser. As they move ahead in the career through promotions, it is expected that their needs will change according to the below pyramids and hence the rewards and salary structure will be revised so that their needs are fulfilled.

Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of Needs Pyramidal model (Source: Huitt, 2004)

1.2 Discuss the various leadership characteristics practiced in Ryanair and in general.

Different types of leadership style:

• Autocratic leadership style: Autocratic leadership style is one in which managers are the ones which takes all the business decisions while the workforce is expected to work as per the commands and guidelines set by the management of the company. Autocratic leadership style is characterized by quick business decisions from the management as employees are not involved; however, it is criticized, by not allowing major workforce to participate in the decision making, thus, demotivation them and decreasing their efficiency.
• Democratic leadership style: Democratic leadership style is one which involves equal participation from all the employees in the decision making of the company. Communication is more in Democratic leadership style. This type of leadership style is mostly followed in flat organizations which have less level and hence everyone is considered to be the same in the company. Employees feel more committed towards the company as the company offer more responsible in terms of decision making for the company and value the suggestions given by the employees.
• Laissez-Faire: Laissez Faire type of leadership style is one where there is no leadership at all. All employees are highly trained and experienced and hence do not require any supervision. However, Laissez-Faire type of leadership style is not followed these days because any organization does have employees which require supervision and guidance to work in the organization (Eagly, 2003).
• Ryanair leadership style: It can be seen from the behavior of Michael O’Leary that Ryanair follows autocratic leadership and highly transformational leadership style from Leary (Nwagbara, 2911).  The strict and dynamic approach of Michael resulted in the rapid expansion of Ryanair in such a small span of time with low cost and low price business model. On the other hand, British Airways, one of the competitors of Ryanair enjoys democratic leadership style. Employees are given power to take business decisions by themselves in order to fulfill customer requirements quickly (Kasper, 2002).

1.3 Evaluate the communication process practiced In Ryanair

The highly rigid and autocratic leadership style followed at Ryanair has adverse effect on the communication process that is followed inside the company.

The company has strict way of upward and downward communication process using proper source of communication like email, fax, notice board, team meetings, etc. However, the horizontal communication between employees of same level is minimal in the company.

The information flows from the top level to their lower levels which in turn pass it to their next lower level. While submitting reports, the upward flow of information also follows the same procedure. The lowest level passes the information to its above level which in turn passes it to the next higher level. This makes flow of information time consuming and hampers performance.

Employees in Ryanair are supposed to work without communicating with each other for long durations under strict supervision of their supervisors which only expect professional behavior from each other without discussing any personal aspect or developing any inter-personal relationship with each other. This kind of attitude demotivated the employees and has negative effect on employees and the organization as a whole (Mennen, 2010).

Unlike other airlines like South West Airline of America, Ryanair do not have any problem solving communication with its employees. Moreover, the key emphasis is laid on focusing on your own job without interfering in other’s work.

However, flow of information to stakeholders is managed by the Chairman of the company which acts as the link between the Company and the stakeholders of the company.

Being a low cost company, Ryanair tries to use low-cost medium of communication like face to face and print media for communicating within the organization. The company uses newsletter like “The Limited Release” and also has internal TV network which provide employees about information of company’s new plans, issues and challenges. The company also invested on web-based communication system like intranet, emails, etc. for quality management which helps crew members, ground members and maintenance team to stay connected to coordinate.

The external communication in Ryanair towards is stakeholders are much more managed. However, Michael O’ Leary approach towards media and his provocation words have left the company on the mercy of its customers.  Media is one of the powerful stakeholders in the company and should be dealt wisely to improve reputation of the company. However, Michael aggressive behavior in the media has resulted in low reputation of the company among people (Power, 2008).

1.5 Analyze the organizational culture and structure of Ryanair

The organizational structure of Ryanair is hierarchical in nature with many levels involved in the company. However, the company has a weak culture within the organization because of the less communication within the organization. The employees feel insecure, lack motivation and do not have trust among each other which results in less productivity and frequent turn-over rates in Ryanair.

Since, the employees do not have power to take decisions; most of the time a new customer request is turned down by the employees as they are not in the position to react to requests which are not specific to their field of concern.

Thus, it can be said that Ryanair follows hierarchical type of organization culture where operations are performed in strict and controlled manner and main characteristics are efficiency, stability and discipline (Burrell, 2011).

On the other hand, British Airways follows clan oriented organizational culture where the focus is on nurturing and doing things together. The effective communication and developing inter-personal relationship with supervisor makes employees highly motivated and committed towards their work. Employees enjoys feeling of belongingness and are blessed with motivational factors other than hygiene factors according to Hertzberg Dual Factor Motivational theory, which is deprived in Ryanair.

Task 2: Be able to review own potential as a prospective manager

2.1 Assess your own management and leadership skills while applying for role of CEO in Ryanair. Do audit detailing on personal and professional skills.

While taking the place of Michael O’Leary it is important that one should understand the high leadership values that he possesses and should try to eliminate the mistakes or errors made by him.

While applying for the role of CEO in Ryanair it is important that I analyze my management and leadership skills before:

Being a highly analytical person, I do possesses the most important management skill which is quick business decision making, which is highly essential especially while running a hierarchical type of organization like Ryanair.

Secondly, as a leader it is essential to enhance communication within the organization to increase performance of the employees. The main difference between Michael’s working style and I am that I would share more responsibilities on the employees and will promote more and efficient communication within the organization. Employees will be free to develop personal relationship with their subordinates, colleagues and superiors.

Thirdly, the most important leadership quality which I possess is motivator. Following on the principles of Hertzberg theory, I strongly believe that employees should be participated in the decision making of the company. The main reason is that not only it brings a feeling of responsibility and commitment towards the company from the employee, but new ideas and suggestions are important to bring innovation to the company which is highly essential to compete in the highly competitive market (House, 1967).

2.2 Do a SWOT analysis on your self-development.

It is important that a person is aware of its strengths and weaknesses so that the person can work on its strengths and try to minimize his/her weaknesses to become successful in life. SWOT analysis helps to judge you better while applying for a responsible post like the CEO of a company.

SWOT analysis on myself for the post of CEO in Ryanair:

Strength: As mentioned above, my major strength is good analytical skills which are essential for understanding the market conditions and taking quick business decisions based on them.

• Calm behavior: One of the key characteristics which also differentiate me from Michael is that I am cool and composite from inside. Michael on the contrary is an aggressive character as a result of which, ends up fighting in front of media which puts the company in bad light. I believe that a leader may be aggressive in decision making, but should bear a cool head to deal with people, groups, stakeholders and media.
• High leadership qualities: I personally believe that I have been a motivator and believe in leading by example. I respect each and every employee and try to gain trust of the employee through effective communication.

Weaknesses:

• Communication skills: While taking up the post of CEO, it is essential that a person should be a good orator. The person should have the ability to move masses from his or her speeches, which I lack. I have started working on my communication skills by joining clubs and interacting with more people.
• Impatient: I try to finish my work as soon as possible sometimes in the same day to have a sound sleep. I may end up spending hours continuously to finish work which takes a lot on my body and health. It is important to break down your work into smaller portions and work accordingly.

Opportunities:

My dynamic nature along with the hunger to learn more distinguishes me from other people. Every industry is different and offer different learning experience. My appetite to learn more and grow results in providing me with ample opportunities in the management of any type of company which may be airline industry, hotels, IT industry or anything else.

Learning technology like customer relationship management or supply chain management are important tools which most of the company’s these days uses to manage their stakeholders. These tools have revolutionized the working of the company and yielded surplus benefits for them. The performance of many companies has been boosted by the use of latest technologies. Thus, automated enterprise packages like CRM, SCM, etc. offer wide opportunities to fit into any kind of Service Company (Hendricks, 2007). 

Entering into airline industry in UK, companies like Easy Jet and British Airways will offer bigger opportunities. Considering present culture of Ryanair, it is important that the company should soon improve on its working conditions, otherwise the employee turn-over rate for the company will remain on high.

Threats:

• Economic Fluctuations: Economic Recession is the biggest threat for everyone. The organizations suffer as their sales goes down, people suffer as their purchasing power is reduced and employees suffer as unemployment increases. Thus, the biggest threat in my career path is economic recessions.
• Competitors: Managers working in different organizations along with my batch mates are my biggest competitors and also a threat to me.

2.3 Set and priorities objectives and targets to develop own potential

Based on the SWOT analysis it is clear that I need to improve on my communication skills which is utmost important. Therefore, my first SMART goals will be to improve on my communication skill. The time span for improving my communication skills is 2 years time. I need to divide my objective into smaller goals of around six months and measure them continuously. I will join communication improvement programs and join club where proper training is given. I will interact will more people and ask my near and dear ones to give me un-biased advice on regular basis. Since, proper communication skill is the most important aspect of my personal and professional development; it is on the highest priority list and should be completed within the stipulated time set by me.

Working on my impatient behavior, it is important that I engage myself into meditation and gym to keep my body fit and fresh before the start of the day. It is essential that I eat healthy. I should not spend more time sitting on same posture and should look to take regular breaks and does stretch up exercise t remove work stress which reduces efficiency. It is essential that I try to bring all this into my daily routine to avoid any mental or physical stress and work with high efficiency.

It is essential these days to learn web-based technologies and automated software and tools which have become essential component in any type of business. Therefore, my next focus should be to learn in detail about the different managing tools that are being used by Ryanair and keep myself up to date. I should be up to date with the technology and its working in the next one year. A daily hour of learning and practice will help me accomplish my SMART goals for learning new technology. During my learning, I should try to apply me theoretical knowledge gained into practical and real time scenarios to understand things better.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that to become a successful manager in future there are various skills, managerial, personal and professional, which one should possess. After doing SWOT analysis on myself, I realized my weaknesses and various opportunities. Working on my strengths, my career development plan focuses on overcoming my weaknesses and grasping various opportunities which lie in front of me.

References

Bambacas, M., & Patrickson, M. 2008. Interpersonal communication skills that enhance organisational commitment. Journal of Communication Management, 12(1), 51-72.
Burrell, K. 2011. Going steerage on Ryanair: cultures of migrant air travel between Poland and the UK. Journal of Transport Geography, 19(5), 1023-1030.
Cowie, J. 2009. The economics of transport: a theoretical and applied perspective. Routledge.
Eagly, A. H., Johannesen-Schmidt, M. C., & Van Engen, M. L. 2003. Transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles: a meta-analysis comparing women and men. Psychological bulletin, 129(4), 569.
Hendricks, K. B., Singhal, V. R., & Stratman, J. K. 2007. The impact of enterprise systems on corporate performance: A study of ERP, SCM, and CRM system implementations. Journal of Operations Management, 25(1), 65-82

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