Motivation, Teamwork, and Organization Structure at Emirates Airlines - Case Study Example

DIMENSIONS OF MOTIVATION Name: University: Date: Motivation, Teamwork, and Organization Structure at Emirates Airlines Motivation as a concept Motivation can be defined as an internal condition or state, which stirs employees to action, persists and directs their behaviors, as well as engaging them in work-related activities. Motivation enables the business organisations to pursue their goals and determine the level of effort needed to perform tasks effectively. Motivation can be divided into; extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation according to Cheng and Yeh (2009) happens when the source of motivation is outside the employee and the performed task; therefore, it originates from environmental consequences and incentives such as money or food. On the other hand, the intrinsic motivation happens when the source of motivation comes from the task and the employee; therefore, it surfaces extemporaneously from innate growth strivings, personal curiosities, and psychological needs. Unlike the extrinsic motivation which places emphasis on the reinforcement, intrinsic motivation focuses on employee actions’ self-regulation and self-determination. Basically, effective motivation enables the organization overcome negative attitude and change resistance from the employees. When employees are satisfied, they are more inclined to become interested in the new goals of the organization and are can help improve the operations’ efficiency. Cheng and Yeh (2009) assert that effective motivation leads to work/job satisfaction and amiable relations between employees and their employer. Motivation can help reduce turnover, absenteeism, as well as industrial disputes. Besides that, motivation enables the organization to solve management-related issues such as using the human resources effectively. When employees are not motivated, they less likely to put their best efforts and could look for satisfaction from the organization’s rivals. Team work as a concept Teamwork has been defined by Manzoor, Ullah, Hussain, Ahmad (2011) as a cooperative process, which enables the employees to realize extraordinary outcomes. Normally, a team has a common purpose or goal whereby members of the team can effectively develop mutual relationships with the objective of realizing the team goals. In teamwork, employees work together in a collaborative setting so as to achieve collective team goals by means of sharing skills and knowledge. The most important component of a team is its emphasis onto a clear and common goal. Clearly, teams are an important part of business organisations, but their success depends on the ability of the team members to create a friendly environment where every member can contribute willingly. In addition, effective teamwork depends on the flexibility of team members in terms of acclimatizing to the collaborative work setting where social interdependence and collaboration are the main drivers for success. Manzoor, Ullah, Hussain, Ahmad (2011) define an employee team as a group of interdependent employees sharing responsibility for suitable results. Teamwork is a crucial tool that enables the organization to function smoothly. The majority of organizational activities have become complex because of technological advancement; for that reason, teamwork has become a major focus for almost all business organisations. Team members improve their abilities, knowledge as well as while skills when they work in teams. Generally, teamwork is considered beneficial because it leads to improved organizational and employee performance, improved problem solving at the workplace, and greater productivity. Organization as a concept Organizations exist in order to realize goals, which are broken down into tasks to create jobs. According to Lunenburg (2012), the jobs are assembled into departments, which are categorized into manufacturing, sales, marketing, advertising, and so forth. More distinctions are found in every department, especially between the types of jobs the employees do. The departments are connected so as to create the organizational structure. Therefore, organizational structure can be described as the formal configuration between groups and individuals with regard to the assigning of authority, responsibility, and tasks in the organization. Normally, organizations are created by groups of individuals so as to achieve the goals that cannot be realized by one individual single-handedly. Improved results are generated because of organizational effect, which consequently enable the organization to archive a number of organizational goals. Such goals can be achieved by creating inner relations and order amongst the parts of the organization, which is normally referred as organizational structure. Every organizational part in cooperation with their coordinative mechanisms and relations is crucial for the organization to function properly. As mentioned by Tran and Ti (2013) organizational structure involves allocating power, responsibility, as well as work procedures between the members of the organization. Control, centralization, and formalization are the most crucial elements of the organizational structure. The organizational structure defines the organization’s character as well its values. All organizations should have a structure so as to operate in a systematic way. Besides, the organizational structures should fit into the organization’s nature and its maturity. Normally, most companies evolve through organisational structures and improve their manpower and processes while progressing. Analysis of Motivation at Emirates Airline At Emirates Airline, employees are strongly motivated, and this can be evidenced by the high number of people showing the willingness to work for the company. The company motivates its employees through recognition, rewards, performance programs, and incentive. According to Emirates Group (2010) the company has remained successfully for many years because of the highly-motivated workforce who are well skilled and trained. The company offers it employees’ vocational training and development with the aim of motivating them and making sure they can handle their tasks effectively. When employees are trained to handle their work effectively, they are inclined to become more motivated. The crewmembers at Emirates Airline are high performing to the extent that they have achieved the Flight Purser position in only five years. Whereas many organisations train their employees partly with the objective of motivating them and building their morale, the flight attendants at the Emirates Airlines are offered an opportunity of developing new to improve their confidence and facilitate their autonomy after leaving the company. Emirates Airlines determination to motivate its employees through training is evidenced by the espousal of ICDL program, which empowers the staff with the important skills for competence diversification and improves their job prospects after leaving the company. Furthermore, Emirates Airlines ability to maintain high performance for many years proves that employees are much satisfied with the existing systems. For instance, they are amongst the highly compensated employees in UAE and are normally rewarded for their effort. High performing employees are always recognized; thus, promotes internal competition amongst employees and results in improved organizational productivity. Analysis of Team work at Emirates Airline Emirates Group (2009 ) pointed out that teamwork is the foundation of Emirates Airline since it promotes the generation of innovative ideas. Emirates Airline encourages the creation of teams, where deemed suitable in every part of its operations since they are synergies that can be gained through high levels of employee involvement. Emirates airline understands that teamwork promotes innovation and creativity in the company. The company has consistently been rewarded for exceptional service because of its innovative teams that make life easy for both employee and customers. The company utilizes crew briefing as a strategy to ensure team cohesiveness. Although the company’s crew has been trained thoroughly, teamwork is considered crucial for a smooth flight as well as reducing human-induced accidents. Therefore, when serving their customer, the employees are required to work as a team so as to ensure that everything is in working order. Emirates Airline has introduced training to help captains together with the co-pilots learn ways of working as the team during the flights. The company encourages team work because it promotes safety and reinforces the employees bond. Furthermore, the employees share the workload and are able to learn each other as well as how to work together effectively. Teamwork has enabled employees at Emirates Airline to generate ideas through team discussions. The company has offered an effective team environment, whereby employees feel motivated to suggest ideas. Analysis of Organization structure at Emirates airline Since its establishment in 1985, Emirates Airline has made distinctive growths since it operates in more than 124 destinations in 6 continents and has almost 55, 000 employees from different backgrounds. Furthermore, the airline has diversified into associated sectors and industries, which includes catering and hospitality services, engineering, airport services, as well as tour operator operations (Emirates Group, 2015). The airline uses hierarchical structure headed by the Chairman, several vice presidents, Executive secretaries, and scores of managers. The company has numerous departments (sales, marketing, engineering, catering, and so forth), which are involved in different tasks. The department heads are tasked to oversee their departments and report upwards to their immediate manager. The airline has selected a structure that is appropriate and suitable for efficiency maximization. The airline’s organizational structure appropriateness is evidenced by the smooth relationship that exists between different departments and sections within the company. The airline’s organizational structure promotes learning; thus, enables ambitious employees to ascend to the top positions while still working. Specifically, the organizational structure promotes informal learning, which normally can be achieved effectively in the work place. Therefore, the airline’s crewmembers that desiring to work at the first class level are given a chance to acquire expertise and knowledge through learning, but while still working. Emirates Airline bureaucracy is considered less strict since the airline can change flexibly according to existing environment considering that the airline industry is always changing. Therefore, the company’s organizational structure promotes learning and allows adoption of new trends so as to overcome stiff competition in the airline industry. Furthermore, the airline’s organisational structure place emphasis on the integrating employees with the Airline’s tolerance, experiments and personalities. Suggestions on improving Motivation, Team work and Organization Structure at Emirates To improve motivation at the Emirates airline, the company should consider integrating different motivating factors that could help motivate all the employees. The airline should consider introducing performance-based rewards not just for the high performers, but also to employees showing determination to perform superiorly. Furthermore, employees should be given some autonomy to perform their job since it will empower employees to work faster and harder. The employees should be allowed to participate in the airline’s decision making, particularly in areas where they excel. The company should also recognize employees’ contribution towards the success of the airline considering that all employees always want to be appreciated and recognized when they perform well. To improve teamwork at Emirates Airline, the management should implement recognition programs so that a sense of value and meaning could be instilled into the employees’ job. In so doing, teamwork between the group members is improved. Furthermore, the airline should encourage social activities that would enable employees to know one another and to easily discuss various issues. The company should clearly outline the team roles so as to reduce the possibility of conflicts and uncertainty. Besides that, teamwork can be improved through identification of team-related problems and mediation of disputes by providing effective communication channels. To improve organizational structure, Emirates Airline should facilitate interaction between departments in order to ensure efficient operation and reduce the chance of creating new organizational structures. Organizational structure of Emirates Airline should be designed to a way that facilitates coordination between departments and employees. This can be achieved by ensuring that the department heads meet every week to briefly review the recent achievements of each department and discuss the existing challenges. Additionally, the airline should combine some functions such as sales and marketing department so as to facilitate smooth operation. Implications of the Recommendations When the motivation at the Airline is improved, the employees’ performance and commitment level will increase since they will be able to achieve their individual goals, values, potentials, and needs. More importantly, motivation will make employees be satisfied in their jobs. Therefore, ensuring employees are motivated would be an important factor that would enable Emirates Airline to retain its best performing employees. On the other hand, effective teamwork would result in far improved results as compared to the individual efforts. Certainly, teams would improve the airline’s productivity and would facilitate the creation of valuable new products. Still, failure to improve teamwork can result in conflict and unclear objectives. An organizational structure that is well designed could promote business success. The airline needs a well-designed business structure to remain profitable and grow. Therefore, improving its organization structure would enable the top management to easily recognize talent that could benefit the company. When the organizational structure fails to fit the airline’s objectives and goals, it could hamper cooperation and lead to poor utilization of resources. Therefore, an improved organizational structure could promote competence and coordination at Emirates Airline. Conclusions In conclusion, this paper has demonstrated the concept of motivation, teamwork, and organization at Emirates Airline. Motivation is evidently important for Emirates Airline because it puts the employees into action and improves their efficiency. As pointed out in the essay, motivation leads to improved productivity and overall efficiency, reduced operation costs, and improved employee performance. Motivation is important because it enables the organization to solve management-related issues such as using the human resources effectively. Teamwork is also important because it improves the project’s efficiency as well as promotes higher-quality outcomes. Communication is important in teamwork because it is used to ensure that everything within the team is running smoothly. Furthermore, effective teamwork depends heavily on the flexibility of team members in terms of understanding the value of collaborative work setting where success id defined by social interdependence and collaboration. As pointed out in the essay, a well-designed organization structure facilitates the shaping of organizational competence and performance. Emirates airline needs appropriate structures to ensure coordination takes place. In the business world, organizational structure involves harnessing experience, focusing on the needs of the customers, and making crucial organizational decisions. As suggested in the essay, organizational structure of Emirates Airline should be designed to a way that facilitates coordination between departments and employees. References Cheng, Y.-C., & Yeh, H.-T. (2009). From concepts of motivation to its application in instructional design: Reconsidering motivation from an instructional design perspective. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(4), 597–605. Emirates Group. (2009 ). Emirates Group employees recognised for exceptional achievements. Retrieved from Emirates Group: http://www.theemiratesgroup.com/english/news-events/news-releases/news-details.aspx?article=403394 Emirates Group. (2010). Our People. Retrieved from Emirates Group: http://www.emiratesgroupcareers.com/english/about/why/People.aspx Emirates Group. (2015). Our Company: A world force in travel and tourism. Retrieved from Emirates Group: http://www.theemiratesgroup.com/english/our-company/our-company.aspx Lunenburg, F. C. (2012). Organizational Structure: Mintzberg’s Framework. International journal of scholarly academic intellectual diversity, 14(1), 1-8. Manzoor, S. R., Ullah, H., Hussain, M., & Ahmad, Z. M. (2011). Effect of Teamwork on Employee Performance. International Journal of Learning & Development, 1(1), 110-126. Tran, Q., & Ti, Y. (2013). Organizational Structure: Influencing Factors and Impact on a Firm. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 3, 229-236. Read More