Motivation at Ryanair free essay sample

In the light of this culture, Ryanair has motivation roblems in all areas of the company, such as cabin crew, pilots and ground staff. It might be possible to use: MasloWs hierarchy of the needs theory; Herzbergs two- factor theory; Equity theory and Expectancy theory, to solve the Ryanairs motivation problems, however while all these theories can influence motivation of Ryanair employees, for some of them it would be difficult to analyse the results (e. g. MasloWs and Herzbergs theories). Next I will describe the characteristics of Ryanair culture, indicate the importance of motivation from an organisation point of view, and give a rief introduction about each theory, then I will analyse these theories strength and weakness, and finally I will explain how these theories can be used to influence motivation at Ryanair. Characteristics of Ryanair Culture At Ryanair there are several rules in regard to their company culture, such as, cuts of office expenses, and costs like training, uniforms or crew meals that staff has to pay for themselves. Normally, these costs are support by the airliners companies, which does not happens within Ryanair; thus due to the above mentioned rules Ryanair employees have a high urnover of staff. In facto, International Transport Workers Federation (IFT) has received hundreds of messages with complaints regarding the poor working conditions that exist at Ryanair workplaces (International Transport Workers Federation, 2004). Furthermore, Ryanair is very hostile to the employees, who as a result are hesitant to choose a union to fight for their rights. A second MBA 0B Motivation at Ryanair Ricardo Lopes problem is long working hours; some cabin crews had reported that they are regularly scheduled for long shifts (i. e. twelve-hour periods) without any rest International Transport Workers Federation, 2004). Third, although Ryanair is one of most profitable airlines, they request that new recruits pay 1,900 Euros for training, and if they are not chosen to Join the company, that cost will be lost (Boru, 2006). Of course, this leads to a plunge in the number of Irish recruits. Alternatively Ryanair has started recruitment of cabin crew in Poland and Latvia for less 33% off European staff wages. Pilots also have to pay for their own training (about E60,OOO) and do not Ryanair are pressured in their Jobs and receive low wages comparing with other companies. They are treated poorly by the company and have low morale, which leads to low Job satisfaction, high turnover and high absenteeism of the employees. Motivation in organisations Motivation can be defined as a persistent effort in a direction to a goal. From an organisation point of view, motivation is important because there is a strong link between motivation and performance. However, there are other factors that also contribute to performance, and even a highly motivated employee could have a poor performance if they do not understand their Jobs or have low general cognitive ability Oohns and Saks, 2005). But a motivated employee could increase the customers satisfaction, contribute to the growth of the company, and is more likely to keep their Job. Udechukwu (2009) suggets that Job satisfaction or dissatisfaction can influence the behavior of the employees, and that some of these behaviours could originate disruption in the organisation. Several studies have descrive that there are intrinsic and extrinsic factors that afect satisfaction possivitly or negatively (Udechukwu, 2009). It has been suggested that there are process and content theories. MasloWs and Herzbergs are considered content theories, which escribe the level and type of needs and how are associate with behaviors that determine satisfaction (Udechukwu, 2009). Process theories like equity theory, expectancy theory, reinforcement theory 2 and goal setting, are associate to the indivdual, about there inputs and outcomes and how individual behavior can be influenced to achevie satisfaction. A. H. MasloWs Theory of Motivation There are early theories and contemporary theories of motivation; one of earliest is the theory of Human Motivation from A. H. Maslow (1943). Maslow argues that there is a hierarchy of five needs in each person: hysiological needs, love needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs. The needs are grouped by lowerorder and higher-order: the lower-order of needs are physiological and safety, these needs are satisfied externally; the higher- order are love, esteem and selfactualization, are satisfied internally. After one need is substantially satisfied, the next need will emerge, until the last one, so the need satisfied not longer motivates the person (Robbins and Judge, 2009). To put this theory into practice, organization must know what is the need of the employee that must be motivated. The weakness of the MasloWs theory is that there are few studies on it and it had not been validated in the field, mainly because the theory is very complex, has a psychodynamic base (Schwartz, 1983), and states that most persons have the same hierarchy of needs Oohns and Saks, 2005). This theory is a core of other motivations theories, and still used for academic studies; however, it is not used by managers in their organisations (Robbins and Judge, 2009). At Ryanair, see other needs, for example safety needs, being satisfied by the organization. Even the high-order needs of employees are not motivated. For instance, applying MasloWs theory safety needs, it would be necessary to improve the stability, by decreasing the number of hours per work period and stopping to pressure the employees with excessive commercial goals. In what concerns the satisfaction or improvement of esteem needs, Ryanair could implement measures that would appreciate and recognise employees (not only for achievement of commercial goals but also for customer support) and have a fare promotion rules. 3 F. Herzbergs Two-Factor Theory Other early motivation theory is from Frederick Herzberg and his collaborators, a two-factor theory which is also called as motivation- ygiene theory. This theory considered fourteen factors that can be grouped in two types of factors that could influence employees. On the one hand, there are intrinsic factors, also called motivators, such as achievement, recognition, and responsibility, which lead to Job satisfaction. On the other hand, there are extrinsic factors, also called hygiene factors, like working conditions, wages, security and supervision, which lead to Job dissatisfaction. According to Herzberg, Job satisfaction and Job dissatisfaction are not opposite; in fact, both are separate and lead respectively to no satisfaction and no dissatisfaction. If a employee is satisfied with his salary or work conditions, it does not necessarily make him an employee with higher Job satisfaction (Robbins and Judge, 2009). As other early theories, Herzbergs theory is not researched-based. Indeed, this theory was put in doubt because of the methodology used. Critics argued that when a person is asked a question, the presence of ego and self-recognition can be used to Justify that they are satisfied, otherwise when there is a problem the person can blame external factors. As a result of this criticism, Herzberg point out in 1968 that motivators are internal to each erson and cannot be externally stimulated. Nevertheless, this theory can contribute to Job enrichment (Bassett-Jones and Lloyd, 2005). When comparing this theory with MasloWs hierarchy of needs theory, Herzberg states that if a person feels that his hygiene factors are no dissatisfaction, this does not mean he is motivated. Therefore the organisation must influence the motivator factors to achieve motivation between employees; but for Maslow, if a person does not see satisfied his lower- order needs, the organisation must satisfy this needs first, in order to the person chieve high-orders of needs, because MasloWs theory uses a vertical hierarchy to describe the needs, while Herzbergs theory describes the needs horizontally (Udechukwu, 2009). At Ryanair, as compared the physical needs of Maslow, hygiene factors such as work conditions, salary or supervision have a negative impact within the employees, and lead to Job dissatisfaction. In addition, the motivator factors are also no satisfaction; however there are some employees that like and understand the Ryanairs culture, and thus are happy to be part of it. The implementation of Herzbergs theory must be pplied to hygiene and motivators factors, because both factors are not satisfied. For instance, Ryanair could change its policy in what concerns training fees, work conditions, and rest period, and this way improves hygiene factors. Furthermore, the organisation could also start of new polices regarding recognition and responsibility to their employees when performing there tasks, as motivators. Equity Theory Equity theory is considered a contemporary theory, which determines that Job satisfaction is on balance, when a person compares their own inputs and outcomes against the inputs and outcomes of other persons or groups. The inputs are everything that the person gives to her organisation, and the outcomes are what a person receives from the organisation. The ratio of input-outcome must be fair to the employee, because the equity in the distribution of outcomes for each employee is important (Robbins and Judge, 2009). Employees can compare themselves both internally the organisation with colleagues, or externally with friends, neighbours or ex-colleagues, even from past Jobs. The employee can make this comparison with persons of same gender, education, and work experience. These comparisons can lead a person to eel underrewarded, equity or overrewarded. When an employee feels inequity in an organisation, it can lower his inputs or can change the outcomes. He can assume different reality about him-self, assume different reality of others, choose other references for comparison, or even leave his Job. To summarize, the equity distribution of the outcomes contributes to the Job satisfaction. However, there are cultural differences that must be considered. In western culture, the economic outcomes are more important, while in more collective cultures the fairness of distribution is more relevant. Robbins and Judge, 2009, Johns and Saks, 2005). This theory has a strong research support, however it is mostly based in economic outcomes, and uses modifications of inputs and outcomes to change equity of the employees. The research of the person when underrewarded is more relevant 5 than when the person is overpaid, because the latter has less impact on behaviour. Some persons that are not equity sensitive are called benevolent, and for these the also the equity sensitives, in this case a person feel incommoded when underrewarded and guilt when equity or overrewarded. The entitleds are omfortable when overrewarded and feel upset when equity or underrewarded (Huseman et al. , 1987). The employees at Ryanair, when comparing their outcomes externally with other companies, conclude that they are underwarded. They receive lower wages than other airways employees, and their inputs are the same or greater than others, even though there is sense of equity internally. Ryanair employees are more concerned with external comparison because, changes of behavior have more impact when a person is underwarded. To improve the equity at Ryanair, the company could invest in surveys to know the average wage of low-cost airlines. It ould also implement more incentives to employees that match other airline companies. They could improve the outcomes for staff that work 12 hours shifts without breaks, to Justify the work they do for the company. They may consider having a collective agreement or union as other lowcost airlines, where employees earn more and have better work conditions. For internal equity and fair distribution of the outcomes, they could implement a reward system for the best employees, which would be fair for all. With better equity at Ryanair, Job satisfaction could increase and lower turnover. Expectancy Theory The expectancy theory from Victor Vroom describes motivation as being delineated by the outcomes that a person will receive for their performance at work. These outcomes can be rewards like promotions, wage increases, annual bonuses or better work conditions. Furthermore, the theory says the employees will be motivated if they believe they will be rewarded by the company for good performance. There are three sequential ideas about this theory: the effort given by the employee will achieve good performance; the belief of the employee that his performance could achieve a 6 desired outcome, and the reward itself given by the company satisfies the needs and ndividual goals of the employee. Many companies have limitations on the rewards they give; this compromises the goals and rewards each employee wants to receive for their good performance. The best way to reward the employees is though flexi- packages (include different types of rewards that an employee can choose), this way the employee has more opportunities to achieve their goals (Robbins and Judge, 2009). This theory is very complex to test because persons have difficulty identifying what is an instrumental reward and what is a reward for their good performance. Despite of this complexity, tests have moderate support and it is accepted by managers Oohns and Saks, 2005). Furthermore, the critics of the theory state being promoted or getting a wage raise could lead to outcomes that are not the employees individual goals, which concludes that the expectancy theory will not lead to the motivate an employee; however this is not simple because it is difficult to know what is the goal of each employee, and so, have the rewards available. In addition, several researches could not conclude if there are similarity or ambiguity between equity theory and expectancy theory. However, in terms of ambiguity, equity theory can be incorporate into expectancy theory (Steers et al. , 1996). Other studies, assume that expectancy theory can influence human behavior by cognitive manifestation and personal factors. These findings are supported by studies using expectancy-value as framework (Lynd-Stevenson, 1999). It appears that Ryanair does not use expectancy theory to motivate their employees, as employees do not expect any rewards when performing their tasks, because the only reward is to maintain their Job. The best way for Ryanair to improve motivation using this theory would be to implement a erformance appraisal system. To illustrate, this system would be fair and objective when measuring the performance of all employees, and this way they would feel they had the same treatment. For the outcomes of good performance, Ryanair could have several rewards to try matching these with employees individual goals. With these measures, issues of Job satisfaction and turnover could addressed among the Ryanair employees. 7 Conclusion To summarize, motivation is important for companies to improve Job satisfaction, and reduce turnover and absenteeism. If employees are motivated they an have a better performance and achieve their individual goals as they also achieve the company goals. All four theories above mentioned could be applied to Ryanair to solve Job dissatisfaction and high turnover of their employees. One theory is not better than other, they have all different approaches, although, the contemporary theories have better research support and practical methods compared with early theories. They could all, be applied at the same time, because one theory does not invalidate other theory, they can be complementary. Managers at Ryanair need to improve their human recourses measures to solve motivation roblems. They can use equity and expectancy theories for higher motivation and achievement of rewards for performance, and the employees can satisfy their dominant needs. There are different measures like bonuses, health plans, promotions, payment of extra-work, fair performance system, in-office childcare, all training paid by the company, and tenure benefits that can be implemented. All things considered, with the staff motivated and more appreciated by the company, the employees of Ryanair could have higher morale and consequently better performance. The Ryanair would also benefit with improved customer service and ncreased service standards, to become a low-cost airline with the service of a fullservice one.