Customer Service and Cabin Crew
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
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
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 * Julien A., Quellet R., Mathelin, D. (2004) “RYANAIR Flying Cheaper and Cheaper”, European Case Clearing House * Kaufman, R * Millward, D (2009), Ryanair-to-charge-for-online-check-in, Telegraph * Paswan, A * Suff P., Reilly P. (2006) “Selling Rewards Paying for performance in your sales force” Brighton: Institute for Employement Studies * http://www.itfglobal.org