Case Study of Emirates Airways

Case Study of Emirates Airways - How Employees Are Motivated In The Service Industry

Abstract

In the present research study, the researcher tries to investigate how the employees are motivated in the service industry. In order to make this study more realistic and practical, the researcher has considered Emirates Airways. The existing literature has helped the researcher to gain in-depth knowledge about the importance of employee motivation by focussing on the airline industry. The researcher has given theory of conservational resources in order to gain a vivid understanding or organisational behaviour. The concept of organisational citizenship behaviour and the factors influencing it have also been analysed in the study. The researcher gives a vivid understanding about the relationship between employee motivation and their organisational performance.

For the purpose of this study, the researcher has chosen a post-positivist reach philosophy, deductive research approach and descriptive research design. The sample size for this study is 55. Among this, 50 are employees and 5 are manager of Emirates Airways. The researcher has used both primary and secondary sources of data collection and analysed it with qualitative and quantitative techniques.

Through the study, the researcher has derived that the main focus of any organisation is to motivate the employees in order to enhance their performance. For this, service industry adopts appraisal system and rewards. It also pays adequate attention on the pay and salary of the individual employees. It is also important for the organisation to recognise the performance and achievement of the employees regularly in order to motivate them. However, due to excessive pressure demotivated employees. Employees are unable to maintain the work-life balance. Moreover, Individual egoistic behaviour often forces them to overlook the overall development of the organisation. Hence, it is important for the organisation to promote positive reinforcement of good performance. The organisation should also be better designed in order to provide maximum satisfaction to the employees.

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Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Purpose of the project
• 1.1 Introduction:
• 1.2 Background of the study:
• 1.3 Rationale of the study:
• 1.4 Problem statement:
• 1.5 Research aim:
• 1.6 Research objectives:
• 1.7 Research questions:
• 1.8 Significance of the research:
• 1.9 Dissertation structure:
• 1.10 Summary:
• Chapter 2: Literature Review
• 2.1 Introduction:
• 2.2 Conceptual Framework:
• 2.3 Previous research works:
• 2.4 Concept of employee motivation:
• 2.4.1 Employee motivation in service industry:
• 2.5 Theory of employee motivation:
• 2.5.1 Theory of conservational resources:
• 2.6 Concept of organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB):
• 2.7 Factors influencing the organisational citizenship behaviour:
• 2.8 Relation between employee performance and employee motivation:
• 2.9 Importance of work life balance in service industry:
• 2.10 Strategies adopted by airline industry to motivate employees:
• 2.11 Comparison between theories of conservational resources with organisational citizenship behaviour:
• 2.12 Comparison between previous researches and the present research study:
• 2.13 Summary:

Chapter 1: Purpose of the project

1.1 Introduction:
The current research work mainly focuses on "how employees are motivated in the service industry". The researcher has paid much attention on factors that affect organisational citizenship behaviours and intrinsic motivation factors. Apart from that, the researcher has also discussed about relationship between employees motivation and organisation performance. For rendering a detailed and comprehensive insight on the research topic, the researcher has selected Emirates Airways.

This particular chapter is the introductory section of this research work. In this section, the researcher has mentioned the background of the study and rationale of the research. The researcher has also formed specific research aim, research objectives and research questions for conducting this research effectively. On the other hand, the researcher has also depicted the significance of this research and how this research can help future learner in their research work.

1.2 Background of the study:
Bowles and Cooper (2009) stated that employees are supposed to be the most important factor behind the success of any business organisation. The performance of an organisation in market mainly depends on how employees are dedicated towards their works. It has been figured out that employees motivation is one of the most effective human resource (HR) practices and activities. Macey (2009) opined that employees motivation is must for increasing the productivity at workplace and increasing competiveness in marketplace. It has been observed that satisfied and motivated employees are more productive at work and they are more efficient in dealing with issues and challenges faced in the service industry.

Thomas (2009) opined that organisational citizen behaviour also plays an important role to the development of business firms. The employees must think about the betterment of an organisation rather personal development only. Bergeron (2007) opined that employees need to assist their subordinates and co-workers at workplace. They must be a representative of an organisation in which they work in.

According to Podsakoff et al. (2009), significance of the employee motivation in service industry is immense. It has been observed that the quality of services offered by the employees has a direct link with the competitive advantage of the service organisation in market. In the service industry, different type of strategic actions and steps are taken for motivating employees in order to deliver effective service to consumers. Williams and Anderson (2009) opined that most of the business firms in services industry mainly focus on intrinsic needs of employees in order to motivate them. An organisation in service industry mainly adopts rewards and appraisal system for satisfying the needs of employees and motivates them.

Carl (2009) stated that employee motivation is also influenced by altruism and egoism. It has been observed some of the employees within the organisation only think about the self-development. They do not think about their co-worker development. The concepts of altruism and egoism are always being there at workplace. These two factors have also major impact on the employee motivation.

On the other hand, Chorng et al. (2009) pointed out that, most of the business firms also give incentive and others extra benefits to employees for recognizing the additional inputs of the employees. Praising employees for their performance is also considered as the factor of employee motivation.

Background of Emirates Airways:
Emirates Airways is one of the famous airline companies in United Arab Emirates, based in Dubai. The airline is the subsidiary of Emirates Group and is the seventh largest in the world in terms of fleet size, passenger carriage as well as revenue. The company was founded in 1988 and since then the company is serving its serving its consumers with high quality hospitality services.

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1.3 Rationale of the study:

What is the issue:
The major issue in the service industry is to identify proper ways and strategies for motivating employees. It has been observed that organisational citizenship behaviour among the employees at workplace is very important for the growth of service industry. Fred et al. (2009) opined that most of the companies in the service industry face issues and challenges in motivating employees. Needs and demands of employees at workplace are variable.

Why is it an issues:
There are so many reasons behind the issue faced by service industry in current business market environment. It has been found that employees are becoming self-entered at workplace. They are not assisting their co-worker and their subordinates for their skills and knowledge development. The egoistic and altruistic behaviours of employee are also major challenges in employee motivation On the other hand, the employees in service industry are not delivering quality service to the consumers. Changing behaviours of employees at workplace hinder in the path of growth for services quality.

Why is it an issues now:
It has been noticed that expectation of the customers in market is very high. They focus much on how the services are being delivered to them. Apart from that, the competition is very high in service industry. It has been found that motivated employees are very productive at workplace and this further impact on the customer satisfaction. Bergeron (2007) opined that in order to make the business sustainable in service industry, employees must be motivated for delivering quality of services.

What could this research shed light on:
The research would mainly shed light on different ways and strategies for motivating employees. The research would also highlight the importance of organisation citizenship behaviours among the employees at workplace for the growth of service industry in global market. Apart from that, the research would also make a good attempt to establish a relationship between the intrinsic needs of employees and their motivation.

1.4 Problem statement:
The proper identification of ways and strategies for employee motivation in service industry is considered as the main problem of the research work. It has been figured out that organisational citizenship behaviour of employees is very critical to success of the business organisation in service industry. An organisation needs to make an effective evaluation of employee behaviours before the implementation of motivational strategies.

1.5 Research aim:
The aim of this research is to investigate how employees are motivated in service industry. The researcher has selected British Airways as a case study for conducting research work over the research topic.

1.6 Research objectives:
• To understand the importance of employee motivation in the service industry
• To investigate the factors that affect organisational citizenship behaviour among the employees at workplace
• To identify different strategies for employee motivation in the service industry
• To assess the current employee motivation strategies adopted by British Airways
• To recommend other alternative to British Airways for employee motivation

1.7 Research questions:
• What is the importance of employee motivation in the service industry?
• What are the factors that affect organisational citizenship behaviour among the employees at workplace?
• What are the different strategies for employee motivation available in the service industry?
• What are the current employee motivation strategies adopted by British Airways?
• What recommendation can be made to British Airways for employee motivation?

1.8 Significance of the research:
The significance of the research lies in the fact of understanding the different ways and strategies for employee motivation. The researcher has explained the organisational citizenship behaviour and its influence on the success of the business organisation in the service industry. The research is also helpful in understanding the importance of the employee motivation for growth of service industry in global market.

1.9 Dissertation structure:

Purpose of the project: In the introduction of the research work, the researcher has formulated research aim, research questions and research objectives. The researcher has also introduced the topic of the research and its background. The researcher has also presented rationale of study where the major issue of the research is comprehensively discussed.

Literature review: In this particular section, the researcher has discussed several theories and models related to employee motivation. The researcher has also gained different types of knowledge and ideas about the organisational citizenship behaviours and intrinsic motivation factor.

Research methodology: In this section, the researcher has explained how the research has been conducted and what types of research philosophy, research approach and research design have used for conducting this research. The researcher has also depicted research strategy and methods of data collection.

Data analysis and interpretation: In this section, research has analysed the collected data based on the empirical knowledge and ideas gained from literature review.

Conclusion and recommendation: This is the final section of the research work. Here the researcher has made a final conclusion and recommendation to British Airways.

1.10 Summary:
In this particular chapter, the researcher has mainly introduced the purpose of the project. The researcher has formulated research aim, research objectives and research questions in order to understand how employees are motivated in service industry.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction:
In this chapter, the researcher has mentioned the outcomes of the previous research studies on employee motivation. In the following section, the importance of employee motivation in the service industry has been described by focussing on the airline industry. The effect of Organisational citizenship behaviour on performances of the employee in service industry has been illustrated with valid arguments. Relation between the conservational behaviour theory and the organisational citizenship behaviour has been established by the researcher. At the end of the chapter, outcomes of the previous researches have been compared to the present research study in order to validate the findings.

2.2 Conceptual Framework:

2.3 Previous research works:
Bergeron (2007) in the article ‘The potential paradox of organizational citizenship behavior: God citizens at what cost?' published in the journal Academy of Management Review has contemplated the different aspects of organisational citizenship behaviour. Grant (2008) has focussed on the intrinsic motivational theories that are acting as the strategy to improve the performance and productivity of the employee. Williams and Anderson (1991) has previously mentioned the topic of Job satisfaction and organisational commitment. It shows that the previous researches have focussed on the different motivational factors and the organisational citizenship behaviour.

2.4 Concept of employee motivation:
According to Williams and Anderson (1991), employee motivation refers to the efforts put up by the management to exert interest in the employee in accordance to the goals fixed by the organisation. Anderson and Fornell (2009) opined that employee motivation can be successfully implemented in an organisation only if the unfulfilled needs of the employees are recognised by the managers. Armstrong (2012) added that airline industry needs its customer to be satisfied with the services provided by it. Selling the flight seats depends upon the performance of the employees in convincing the customer about the quality services. If the employee is not motivated towards the job the customers would not be able to get satisfactory services in the airlines.

Bergeron (2007) explained that the behaviour of the employees for the customers shape the perspective of the employees about the company. In case, the airline industry invests a huge amount for creating customer loyalty but does not pay interest in building the employee motivation the efforts of the company might go into vain. It can be said that the behaviour of the employees at the time of sales and during the flight retains the relationship of the customer with the airline company.

2.4.1 Employee motivation in service industry:
Azar (2011) stated that in service industry there is an intrinsic relationship between the employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. If an employee in a service industry shows interest in creating a two way communication with the customers then the motive of the company in spreading its name among the potential buyers is likely to be fulfilled. Appelbaum et al. (2011) claimed that other than communication, an employee can help the company to build its brand image in the market. The quality of the services is being maintained by the employee during providing its services to the customers on flight. In the present time, millions of passengers travel through the airline industry in a year. Bogler and Somech (2010) opined that to determine the personal demands of all the customers at a time is a difficult task for the employees. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the entire management of airline industry to look into the demands of its customers.

Emergence of globalisation has compelled the airline industry in UK to adapt the successful notions of the employee motivation. Chen (2011) explained that presently airline industry in the world is accepting the new technologically advanced strategies to provide financial and non financial benefits to its employees. In this way, the employees are being motivated to deliver quality services. Under the scheme of promotional techniques, airline industries have developed different departments in which employee motivation to stands at an integral position. In this way, the airline industry is trying to convey the mission and vision of their organisation to the employees. The subsequent results are expected from the responses received from the customers.

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2.5 Theory of employee motivation:

2.5.1 Theory of conservational resources:
According to Cardona et al. (2009), the stress theories involved in this model directs the collaboration of the personal objects and personal characteristics. The personal objects refer to the homes, clothes and food whereas personal characteristics refer to the self esteem and confidence of an individual. On the other hand, resources of energy refer to the time, wealth and knowledge of a person. The social and financial security of an individual accumulates the conditional resource of an individual. If any of these resources gets lost, a person is prone to be getting stressed.

Cohen and Kleiner (2010) stated that theory of conservational resources refers to the stress level present in the organisational settings. The theory clearly states the resources that construct the survival of the person. Grant (2008) defined that the theory focuses on the stress level of the individuals working in the service industry. The first reason behind the stress could be the loss of one's individual resources. The second reason could be the inability of the individual in gaining the reliable resources. Hoffer Gittell et al. (2011) defined few principles of conservational resources theory. The first principle directs towards the loss of resources. It implies that loss of the qualities of a human being. It gives rise to the negative emotions like reluctance to work or low self esteem. Garavan and McGuire (2009) added that mental state of a human being can be the biggest impact on the loss of resources. It can be said that once the resources are lost, the individual loses its interest from its strengths.

The second principle is the investment made for the gain of the resource. It implies that the resources must be engaged in a beneficial work but it should not be conserved in fear of its loss. The third principle refers to the spirals caused with gains and losses of the resources. Gilbert and Veloutsou (2011) stressed on the fact that once a resource is lost; the remaining loss goes through the threat of loss. The theory directs that the scope of resource gain once the individual has gained a certain amount of resource on the first chance.

2.6 Concept of organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB):

According to Dermody et al. (2012), organisational citizenship behaviour refers to the choices put up by the employees in an organisation. At times, the intentions of the employees stand apart from the statements made in their contractual agreements passed by the organisation. Cohen and Kleiner (2010) opined that the organisational citizenship behaviour is most of the time not regularised by the company as it is framed on the basis of the personal outlook of the employees. It can be defined in the form of choosing the ideal supervisor or ratings done for the performance of the employees.

In this way it can be understood that all the activities of the employees that comes under the organisational citizenship must be driven towards the effective functioning of the company. Lian (2011) contemplates the fact that OCB welcomes the flexible attitude of the employees towards the work. Some of the service oriented firms award the employees for getting engaged in the process of OCB. It is due to the fact that employees sometimes choose their desirable leaders that speed up the process of production and marketing in the company. Kagaari and Munene (2007) explained that activities involved in OCB directly influence the social and psychological environment in the work place.

In the service industry it has been seen that senior employees try to help out the junior employees as an attempt of the OCB. On the other hand, if an employee is fighting with the deadlines of the job, rest of the employees contribute on their part to complete the job. In both the cases, the organisation gets the benefit. The organisation thus utilises the human resources present in the organisation rather than appointing any extra resources. Locke and Latham (2012) added that a dedicated employee does not show reluctance in working extra hours at the time of work pressure. In such cases, the extra benefits like bonus and day offs are not expected by the employees. Such activities of OCB heighten the level of performance of the employees and subsequently speeds up the office oriented functions.

2.7 Factors influencing the organisational citizenship behaviour:
According to Lin and Chang (2014), there are two main factors that influence the organisational citizenship behaviour.

Empowerment is the first factor that needs to be present in the minds of the employees. Podsakoff (2009) argued that empowerment of the employees depends on the leadership styles of the managers. If the manager provides enough liberty to the employees to give a though upon the progressive attempts for the company then only the employees will feel to be an integral part of the organisation. They will automatically take it as their responsibility to upgrade the present status. Moye and Henkin (2011) added that the organisational culture needs to be formed in such a way that equality appears in the responsibility of the employees as well as the leaders. In this way, the self motivation factor too gets the wings. The employee willingly performs consistently towards the fulfilment of the company's goals. Masterson et al. (2009) explained that the team performance can also be improved with the implantation of OCB. It reduces the instances of conflicts and arguments between the different hierarchies existing in an organisation. In addition to that, the decision making process must be shared with the employees and the leaders. Podsakoff et al. (2009) contradicted with the thought that it is the responsibility of the leader to pursue the employee regarding the decision taken by the higher authority. It means that forceful conviction can disrupt the culture of OCB in a service industry.

Competency is another factor that influences the OCB in an organization. Rynes et al. (2011) stated that the competency is the skills and talents of the employees to perform for the benefit of the company. It is referred to the characteristics of the person in performing well in the company. Saari and Judge (2013) added that an employee possess of some in build qualities in order to perform for the betterment of the service provided by the company. On the other hand, it can be said that competencies refer to the success of the employee in fulfilling the aims and objectives of the firm. It is the skill of the employee to predict the choices of the customers. Therefore, customer awareness is a part of the competency.

2.8 Relation between employee performance and employee motivation:

According to Yang and Peterson (2013), in the service industry the employees either work in an egoistic manner or they are performing in an altruistic manner. It implied that there are few employees in a service industry who focus on the personal benefits. They solely focus on the personal development that depends on the work performances. Colella and Varma (2009) added that there are few employees in service industry those who try to help other employees in achieving their work target. In both the cases, the employee motivation is the main factor. As it is a known factor that the employees are the main factor behind the success of the company.

Chien-Chang (2011) stated that in case of the airline industry, the employees need to be intrinsically motivated by the managers. Intrinsic motivation refers to the reward in the form of more work. In contrast to that extrinsic motivation refers to the employee motivation practises in the form of monetary benefits. In case of the service industry, most of the time intrinsic rewards are being paid to the employees. It is being felt that employees in airline industry are sometimes not satisfied with that.

Ahearne et al. (2010) suggested that an employee can be motivated intrinsically by two methods. The first method is creation of job in such a way that it attracts the employees. In case of airline industry, the airhostess who has an inclination towards nursing must be conferred this job. Similarly, the employee having interest in the technical jobs must not be forcefully given the job of nursing. The second method is the participation of the employees in the decision making process. It gives the employees the liberty to choose their genre of work. These two methods motivate the employees towards quality performance. In case, the intrinsic factors are not satisfactory, the employees who have a passion to serve the people continuing working for the service industry (Cheng et al. 2012).

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2.9 Importance of work life balance in service industry:
According to Coyle-Shapiro et al. (2011), work life balance is a modern technique to satisfy the employees and increase the rate of employee retention. Previously, management used to think that on following the rules of work life balance the business run through losses. Greasley et al. (2014) explained that less working hours, more number of holidays, huge incentives and lower productivity causes a threat for the company. But, in recent times it has been found that the techniques to establish work life balance acts as a motivational factor for the employees. Longer the hours an employee spends in an office decreases his interest in performing. The essence of quality work and commitment towards work gets affected in this way. If the employees would get time to spend with their family after returning from office, the next day he will come afresh to perform in a better manner. Williams and Anderson (1991) suggested that if the workload in an organisation increases the management must not overburden the existing employees but hire new employees in order to cure the losses.

Anderson and Fornell (2009) explained that the myth of extra working hours to be equalising more work must be abolished. It implies that mere the presence of the employees cannot provide extraordinary results for the production process of the company. It is the responsibility of the management to monitor the grade of the work done by the employee in few hours rather than the total amount of hours spent by the employee in the office. Armstrong (2012) argued that an overworked employee is not at all happy to deliver more towards the family. This results in absenteeism amongst the employees. It can be said that employee must manage their time to adjust with the work life in an organisation. Despite of missing the deadlines, the management must provide enough scope of rest for the employees so that the work can be completed on time.

2.10 Strategies adopted by airline industry to motivate employees:
According to Bogler and Somech (2010), airlines being a service industry prefers to motivate the employees with it are intrinsically. In the recent times, the airline industry is adopting the extrinsic motivational methods for the purpose of motivating the employees. It is believed that all the people working in the service industry are dedicated towards their work. The employee solely attracted towards the pay check and the increments does not invest full time on up grading their level of performance. But, airline industry is monitoring the performances of its employees and accordingly providing them reward, appraisals, promotions and bonus. Bergeron (2007) added that in order to avoid the situation of employee turnover, there is a necessity of empowering the employees with the power of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors. Globalisation has invited the different strategies of motivation that is accepted by worldwide industries. Therefore, it is presently the turn of service industry including the airline industry to satisfy their employee and subsequently satisfy their employees (Duminica, 2011).

2.11 Comparison between theories of conservational resources with organisational citizenship behaviour:
Chen (2011) explained that if a person has lost any of the resources then he loses the interest of contributing towards the OCB activities. For instance, is an employee is not getting enough work life balance then the energy level in the employee will not remain so high to train the new employees hired by the company. Gilbert and Veloutsou (2011) added that conflicts in an employee's personal life can also make his attitude irritated while helping a fellow employee. On the other hand, if the salary paid by the company is not enough to fulfil the needs of the employees in buying desired clothes and residence then automatically the person would not be able to confer extra working hours. Therefore, it can be said that only if the employee is not facing loss of resources then only the employee would be able contribute towards the activities made for attaining the goals of the company.

2.12 Comparison between previous researches and the present research study:
The previous researches focussed on the paradox of OCD but in this research, the researcher has established the relationship between the OCD and theory of conservational resources. The aim of the researcher is to understand the requirements of an employee while performing for the betterment of the service industry.

2.13 Summary:
Concept of employee motivation has been described by the researcher that encompasses the involvement of the service industry. Theory of conservational resources has defined the requirement of different dimensional resources needed for an individual working in an organisation. Concept of organisational citizenship behaviour related the activities of an employee to be beneficial for the advancement of the company. Empowerment and Competency are found to be the two factors influencing the OCD. Work life balance, employee performance and the employee motivational activities are found to be collaboratively contributing to the customer satisfaction. It can be said that an employee can perform well only if the genre of work aligns with the person's lane of interest or else the decline in the employee performance rate can be witnessed.

FAQ:

• Q: How does Emirates Airways motivate its employees?
• Q: What motivational theories does this case study highlight?
• Q: Are there any challenges in motivating service industry employees?
• Q: How does Emirates address these challenges?

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