1.

Introduction

The aim of this report is to analyse Ryanair’s current service culture and
provide a new strategy to refocus the Ryanair brand to make it more
customer-focused and family friendly.

In 1971, Southwest Airlines revolutionised air travel with its low fares and
strong focus on customer service. Ryanair used Southwest’s innovative
business model and have become very successful. Today it operates
across 26 countries and carries more international passengers than any
other airline in the world (73 million passengers in 2010/11) On the other
hand, unlike Southwest Airlines, Ryanair did not consider focusing on
customer service. They have a very poor reputation in this area
(Euromonitor International, March 2009). Even though Ryanair holds its
dominant position in the market and continues to increase its revenues
every year, this will have a negative effect on its success in the long term.

As management consultants we will try to draw a broader picture of

Ryanair’s service culture and provide recommendations to make it more
profitable.

2.Current service culture problems within Ryanair

According to Kaufman (2000), a strong service culture exists when the

employees are committed to valuing the customer and also valuing each
other. This means they are more likely to help each other to get the job
done more successfully and support the success of their colleagues. They
also have a positive attitude towards the customer which will help them
react efficiently when there is a problem or an unexpected request which
will result in a better service experience for the customer. On the other
hand, a weak service culture exists if there are not common shared values
in the organisation and this will result in feelings of instability and a lack of
trust among the employees. These employees may not know how to react
as well to different situations and requests from the customer. They are
more likely to quit because of a low level of job satisfaction. These
negative attitudes would damage the perceived service quality and,
overall, would damage the organisation itself in the long term (Grönross,
2007). As Ryanair undervalues their employees, we can say that there is a
weak service culture existing within the company. Having a high level of
employee turnover can be taken as evidence for that.

2.1.Poor working conditions & unmotivated staff

Ryanair does not motivate their employees and poor work conditions
result in low morale among the staff. For example, pilots and cabin crew
have to work for long hours without taking a break. According to
International Transport Workers’ Federation report, some cabin crew work
six one way flights a day in twelve hours and some even work these shifts
seven days in a row. This can result in them being stressed, exhausted
and dissatisfied. The staff cannot be expected to provide a good customer
service in these working conditions. There are some examples of Ryanair
employees’ opinions which can reflect Ryanair’s negative attitudes to their
employees (http://www.itfglobal.org):
• I hate the way they treat us: “We have to squeeze cabin crew like
lemons”…. Really? We should be free to choose if we want a union
and not be scared to join one…. We don’t have any rights in this
company….” (cabin crew)
• All I ask for is fair conditions and respect for the fact I’m a skilled
individual and contribute hugely to their success and in return I get
nothing.” ( Ryanair trainee pilot)
It can clearly be seen that, Ryanair provides their employees poor working
conditions. According to the ITF, the company does not recognise trade
unions and employees are under pressure not to join (www.itfglobal.org).
Additionally, Ryanair was accused of forcing their employees to agree on
new contracts. In Ryanair’s defence, it is sometimes believed that
employees "prefer direct negotiation because it has brought higher pay,
rapid promotions, better job security and better conditions”. However, in
this case, this does not seem to be the truth (www.independent.ie).
2.2.Low Salaries
Even though Ryanair claims that they pay the best salary, the reality is
different. Although pilots and the cabin crew work very hard, they are still
underpaid. According to ITF’s survey, EasyJet staff earn better than
Ryanair’s. In addition to that, the cabin crew are expected to pay for their
own uniforms, airport ID and meals (see appendix 4) as well as training
expenses. For example, it has been reported by ITF that trainee pilots
have to pay £60,000 for their own training and they are not paid salary
during this period. They pay this money as they hope it will result in them
earning a high salary after they qualify, but this is not guaranteed.

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2.3 Recruitment methods and Training
It seems like Ryanair follows the normal procedure for recruitment
(advertising, interviewing and training the successful candidates) but the
documentary which is called “Ryanair caught napping” (Channel 4, 2006)
shows that their training programme is very poor. Additionally, the
documentary also shows how safety and security checks are inadequate,
how dirty the planes are, as well as exhausted employees who complain
about the long working hours. All these resulted in poor performance and
work results.

The highlighted service culture problems urgently need to be fixed.

Otherwise it would affect Ryanair’s success and effectiveness in the long
term. Ryanair needs to understand that having a strong service culture is
very important for an organisation because;
• There is a high degree of competition: For a company to attract
new customers, as well as stopping their existing customers from
going to organizations with a better service culture, they must
create a strong service culture within their own company.
• Customers have rising expectations: Due to competition,
customers expect more from companies that they use than they had
before. Having a strong service culture will help the company to
match their customer’s expectations and even do more.
• Staff perform better and work better: When employees work in
organisation where the culture is very strong (the staff know each

3
 other very well and help each other to succeed), they naturally will
have a higher level of job satisfaction which will result in better
performance. This will help the organisation keep its good staff and
also attract talented people to join.
• Improves profitability: good customer service attracts more loyal
customers which would result in higher margin and greater market
share (Kaufman, 2000)
3.Organisational Actions Needed for ‘Cultural Change’ &
‘Customer-Centric Approach’
Ryanair needs to change their view of service culture and start to serve
customers’ needs rather than its own. However, a change like this can
complicated and can require “long-range activity programmes”. According
to Grönross, “the requirements for good service are strategic,
organisational, management and knowledge and attitude requirements”.
(Grönross, 2007, p421) He further suggests that if one of the requirements
is not applied, the change cannot be achieved. So it is very important that
the company is careful to pay attention to each requirement. According to
Grönross’ suggestions I will demonstrate the steps that Ryanair needs to
take.
3.1 Developing a Service focused strategy
First of all the service concept needs to be well defined. The employees
should clearly understand organisation’s objectives, their own goals and
responsibilities (Grönross, 2007). HRM needs to change their recruitment
& training process. First of all they should hire the right people. To create
a customer centric approach they should make it clear on their
advertisements and during the interview that good customer service is a
priority and is everyone's responsibility. They can use behavioural tests in
the interview process to ensure that a candidate's attitudes and actions
match with the organisation’s service goals.
Moreover, on the careers section of the Ryanair website, applicants are
offered a fixed term contract for 3 years with a Cabin Crew agency who
are contracted to supply cabin crew to them. They also say that after six
months employees MAY be offered a position directly employed by Ryanair
but no position with the company is guaranteed. Compared with other
airlines, Ryanair also has one of the longest probation periods
(appendix2). Because of this, employees feel insecure in their position
which can result in them feeling undervalued and not committed to
Ryanair or its objectives. Employees should feel that they have a good
chance of becoming full Ryanair employees. HRM needs to work with
4
employees on their career development plan. Additionally, good service
should be recognised with a reward system which will encourage them and
they will realise the importance of good service. The new rewards system
should not be based on just financial results as it is now, the staff should
be encouraged for team spirit & good customer service (Suff and Reilly,
2006).
3.2 Developing the organisational structure
The organisational structure should not be complicated and should allow
the employees to be a part of decision making. The cabin crew are the
closest personnel to the customers. They need to be supported to get
more responsibility and should perform more independently. Employee
empowerment is very important for service recovery because they should
be able to solve the problems or know how to react if there is an
unexpected request from the customer.
3.3 Developing a service-focused leadership
Managers should be supportive to the employees and be able to
communicate with them effectively. They should encourage the staff and
motivate them for service- focused performance. ”Openness and trust” are
very important motivating factors. Employees who view their managers as
being honest and trusting are more committed and satisfied in their job
(Paswan et al, 2005) and, according to Grönross (2007) this can be
achieved through open and free communication between employees and
managers and through effective feedback. Additionally, employees need
to give information to the managers about customer’s needs or problems.
If the manager is not aware of the importance of strong service culture,
this would be a problem. Ryanair is not seen as having a friendly or caring
attitude to their customers. This actually reflects O’Leary’s perception that
customers have no right to feel angry about bad service as they pay a lot
less than with other airlines. It is very clear that he is not aware of the
importance of the customer service. Just because a customer feels they
have got a good deal, they will not necessarily feel that they should be
treated any worse than if they had paid more. His attitude to the
employees is not very caring either and people have criticised his
“aggressive management style”(Julien et al, 2004) Therefore, to develop a
service-focused management within the company, we recommend Ryanair
should change their CEO (O’Leary).
3.4Effective training programmes
The cabin crew has to be aware of the company’s culture and the
objectives to have a greater understanding of their role as the public face
5
for the company. A customer’s view of a company is affected by the way
that they are treated by staff. Therefore, the attitude of these staff is very
important and must be shaped by an effective training process. If the
cabin crew are not motivated for service-focused thinking, their attitudes
would cause poor service quality. Ryanair’s training programme is very
poor and needs to be developed. They should provide employees a good
quality customer service training which helps them realise the importance
of how they can affect the customer’s view of the company. They should
make everyone feel comfortable and motivated in helping the customers.
4.Corporate Communication
Ryanair’s communication is very direct and can often cause controversy,
like O’Leary. They do not employ an agency for advertising. Their
marketing budget is not large and sophisticated, but the media coverage
generated by their aggressive and innovative campaigns is worth 5 million
euro, according to O’Leary (Julien et al, 2004). They also use comparative
advertising by comparing their prices with other airlines to make their
competition look bad. For example in 2001, one of their advertisements
used a picture of the Manneken Pis and used the words “pissed off with
Sabena’s high fares”. The court decided that the advertisement was
misleading and offensive. Ryanair had to apologise in Belgian newspaper
but even this was confrontational as they used the words, “We are
soooooo sorry Sabena”(Guardian, 2001). There have been numerous other
comparative and misleading advisements. This may be good for them now
as it raises awareness of their company, but it will have a negative effect
on Ryanairs’ brand image in the long term. These cases make the
company seem aggressive and unwilling to apologise when they have
been wrong and customers may feel that this is also how they will be
treated by Ryanair.
Moreover, advertising gives promises to the customer and if the
information is not true this will affect experienced service and will have a
negative effect on the perceived quality in the long term. Ryanair seems
like they offer fares which are about 50% cheaper than Easyjet. However,
they charge £5 pound for every transaction using a bank card, £ 40 for
printing out a boarding card at the airport and £100 for changing the
name of a booking online (Millward, 2009). Customers very often end up
paying a lot more than they originally expected. This makes Ryanair
appear dishonest and the customers feel cheated. These all have a
negative impact on experienced service and customer dissatisfaction
occurs. First of all they need to change their strategy and give accurate

6
information to the customer. Also they should focus on redesigning their
website to make this information as easy to access as possible. If items
like terms and conditions are not easy to find and understand, the
customer will feel tricked if they do something wrong.
Moreover, another issue is ignoring customer complaints. Ryanair should
improve their databases, they should record information on their
customers and keep their contact details. If there is a problem, they
should respond quickly and efficiently. There should not be any delayed
answers to the emails.
Apart from advertising and internet activities, the appearance and attitude
of the cabin crew is very important. How they behave or their appearance
can have a positive or negative effect on communication. That is why, the
cabin crew should be dressed nicely and should be kind to the customer.
Additionally, If there is a problem, they should inform the customers about
the situation. If they do not know what the problem is, they should not
give incorrect information and should be honest and keep customers
updated (Grönroos, 2007).
5 .Relaunching the New and Improved “Customer-Centric”
Airline
Ryanair needs to change its negative brand image in customer perception
through relaunching. First of all they need to consider the issues like name
and logo. On the other hand, as they are not the only factors contributing
the brand, service process need to be considered as well because the
customer has a crucial role in this process. As Grönross suggests “ If
anyone can build a brand, it is the customer. Marketers cannot do that.
They can only create favourable conditions for a brand image to develop
in customer’s mind” (Grönross, 2007, p329) Therefore Ryanair needs to
focus on product messages and service messages to relaunch themselves
• Its name, Ryanair, will remind the customer of its bad reputation and
therefore, the company’s name should be changed. Logo also needs
to be considered and should reflect company’s new image and give
a pleasant message to the customer.
• The cabin crew should have a nice look to reflect the new image.
Their uniform should be changed.
✔ For example, EasyJet has a strong, simple brand image. Customers
view them as good value for money and honest. Their visual brand is
powerful and recognisable from the orange colour logo, planes,

7
 uniform from the rest of the Easygroup companies. (Euromonitor
International, June 2009)
• The company should improve the quality of their employees (cabin
crew are the part time marketers, their attitudes and behaviours will
have a positive effect on relaunching the new brand)
✔ Customer service skills needs to be improved by training and
communication(friendliness, personal attention to the customer,
body language)
✔ Employees attitude needs to be improved by rewards&
empowerment& team work
✔ To attract these people, the recruitment campaigns and processes
should be changed to attract more customer service focused people.
They should also change their policy on probation so that these
people feel secure and satisfied in their jobs and are confident that
they can succeed.
• Access to information should be easy
✔ They need to change their website. The right font &size, right colour
scheme need to be chosen. In addition to its visual design, usability
and accuracy is very important. In comparison to easyjet, the
Ryanair website feels cluttered and hard to use. Furthermore, they
need to focus on email contact opportunities. It is very important to
respond to the customer complaints quickly. Email promotions to
registered customers should also be adjusted to suit this new image
and should be used more regularly to build business.
• Their advertising strategy should also be changed.
✔ It can still be funny and innovative (attracting valuable) but they
should try to appear less aggressive as this has a bad effect on
customer perception. To achieve this, they should increase their
marketing budget to allow them to use a specialist advertising
agency.
6. Significant Benefits of the Changes
As we mentioned earlier, there is a high degree of competition in the
airline industry. It is becoming difficult to keep your customers and deliver
their rising expectations. The benefits of these changes will be that, in
time, Ryanair will build a more loyal customer base who are not just
attracted by low fares. Moreover, employees will be satisfied and
motivated which will result in better performance and therefore better

8
service experience for the customer. They will lose their reputation for
poor customer service and have a stronger and more recognisable brand
and can position themselves better in this market.
Significant benefits of having strong service culture and customer centric
approach can also be seen from airlines such as Southwest and more
recently Easyjet. As well as offering low fares, both companies are also
known for a strong focus on customer service while still maintaining profit
(Euromonitor International, January 2009).
Although now Ryanair is more profitable than Southwest and Easyjet, it is
very unlikely to maintain its success in the long term. We believe that
improving service quality through cultural change which will bring them
more loyal customers will enable them to maintain its growth and to have
higher margin and greater market share in the long term.

References
• Euromonitor International, (2009): Global Company Profile:
easyGroup Ltd - Travel and Tourism – World, June
• Euromonitor International , (2009) Global Company Profile: Ryanair
Holdings Plc - Travel and Tourism – World, March
• Euromonitor International, (2009): Global Company Profile:
Southwest Airlines Co - Travel andTourism – World, January
• Grönroos, C. (2007), “Service Management and Marketing: Customer
Management in Service Competition”, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester
• Julien A., Quellet R., Mathelin, D. (2004) “RYANAIR Flying Cheaper
and Cheaper”, European Case Clearing House
• Kaufman, R. (2000), Up your service, Ron Kaufman Pte Ltd
• Millward, D (2009), Ryanair-to-charge-for-online-check-in, Telegraph
• Paswan, A. K., Pelton L.E. and True, S.L (2005) “Perceived
managerial sincerity, feedback-seeking orientation and motivation
among front-line employees of a service organization” ,Journal of
Services Marketing, Vol.19,1, pp3-12
• Suff P., Reilly P. (2006) “Selling Rewards Paying for performance in
your sales force” Brighton: Institute for Employement Studies
• http://www.itfglobal.org
• http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/labour-court-can-rule-on-
practices-at- ryanair-52908.html
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2001/may/10/4
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2005/apr/23/theairlineindustry.tr
ansportintheuk

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APPENDICES
Appendix 1

10
Appendix2

Appendix 3

Appendix 4

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12