LITERATURE REVIEW: VIRGIN ATLANTIC AND EMPLOYEE MOTIVATIONS WITHIN THE AVIATION INDUSTRY
Virgin Atlantic is one of the largest names in the aviation industry in Europe. Although the company began as a rather small, localised group, it quickly grew into a group that has become one of the powerhouses of British airlines. This discussion will center around the details of the company; it will also investigate the literature surrounding the question of how employer and management attitudes affect staff and employee motivation in the aviation industry and beyond into other industries.
Virgin Atlantic is a British airline which was established in June 22, 1984. Leadership is a significant skill that can increase the survival of a company or amend its failures. The leadership approach or decision making process is a fundamental aspect for Virgin Atlantic Airlines; henceforth the ultimate aim of this research is to focus on ‘factors affecting employee motivation’ within Virgin Atlantic airlines.
Historically, Virgin Atlantic Airlines has been a success. The company began in the 1980s, and quickly rose to prominence in Britain; partnered with the record label, Virgin was a brand that was already well-known, which made it much easier for the company to grow and build its brand base (Virgin-atlantic.com, 2014). In the 1990s, the company expanded further; according to Virgin Atlantic, the 1990s were a time for change for the company. Virgin Music was sold, and the company spent most of the 1990s expanding the route network and buying new planes (Virgin-atlantic.com, 2014). In 1999, Virgin Atlantic CEO Richard sold a 49% stake in the company to Singapore Airlines valuing us at a minimum of £1.225bn (Virgin-atlantic.com, 2014).
The Virgin Atlantic strategy has long been focused on providing customers with the best service possible for their fare (Dickinson, 2009). Dickinson (2009) suggests that one of the reasons other carriers have had trouble competing with Virgin is a combination of low fare rates and high employee satisfaction; employee satisfaction has long been known to be linked closely to the levels of customer support satisfaction that customers report (Kuvaas and Dysvik 2009). Employee satisfaction in the workplace is one of the key motivating factors for good customer support, and thus, employee satisfaction should be (and is) linked closely with customer satisfaction (Kuvaas and Dysvik 2009).
Kuvaas and Dysvik (2009) write, “Three cross-sectional surveys of a total of 826 respondents from organisations located in Norway showed that the relationship between perceived investment in employee development and work effort was mediated by intrinsic motivation. In addition, intrinsic motivation was found to moderate the relationship between perceived investment in employee development and organisational citizenship behaviour (Subrahmanian et al., 2014). The form of the moderation revealed a positive relationship only for employees with high levels of intrinsic motivation” (Kuvaas and Dysvik 2009). Intrinsic motivation is something that is fundamentally important for success in an employment situation, according to Kuvaas and Dysvik (2009). It can be elucidated from an employee by an employer, but it cannot be bribed out of an employee (Fernandez and Pitts, 2011). Motivation for employee development begins with employers, Fernandez and Pitts (2011) postulate, but grows organically outward from there, resulting in self-reliant employees (Fernandez and Pitts, 2011).
Virgin Atlantic has a strong incentivisation policy towards ensuring that employees are properly taken care of by the company. Virgin Atlantic writes, “We expect our suppliers to provide safe and fair working conditions for their employees, as we do within Virgin Atlantic. Standards should, at a minimum, meet national laws and include the following Suppliers must not use child labour; Employees should be free to choose to work for an employer and free to leave after reasonable notice is served; Employees should be paid a fair wage” (Virgin Atlantic, 2014). Basic levels of fairness from management are the primary building blocks for a cohesive and positive workplace, and employers are responsible for providing these conditions to their employees.
Another area of employee management that must be addressed is the necessity of employee innovation. Employers are often faced with a dilemma; they must encourage employee motivation and innovation without allowing employees to maneuver without enough direction. Directionless employees, according to Webb (2007), are often overwhelmed by the amount of freedom they have; they cannot make effective decisions and are often paralyzed by the freedoms granted to them by their employers (Webb, 2007). A good employer will find a way to walk the line between too much freedom and too little; Webb (2007) suggests that employers form a bond or rapport with employees, rewarding for good performance and correcting undesirable behavior (Webb, 2007). This has the dual purpose of encouraging the previously-mentioned intrinsic motivation within employees (Webb, 2007).
Developing innovation, then, is a process that can be complex and involved for employers (Runte and Basil, 2011). Fernandez and Pitts (2011) write, “The results show that a constellation of factors encourage bottom-up innovation, including the expectancy of innovation being rewarded, employee training and development, employee empowerment and involvement in decision-making, and high-exchange dyadic relationships with supervisors” (Fernandez and Pitts, 2011). Rewards are, according to all literature, an excellent way for employers to connect with their employees; however, much of the literature on the subject also seems to suggest that employee rewards alone are not enough to motivate employee behavior (Fernandez and Pitts, 2011). Webb (2007), Žaptorius (2013), and Fernandez et al. (2011) suggest that ongoing employee support, empowerment, and training are highly effective tools for motivating employee involvement in their chosen job.
Employers play a large role in employee motivation, but must do more than offer rewards for employee behavior (Webb, 2007). Rewards are short-term motivations for employees; to build a lasting relationship with employees, employers must find a way to reach an employee’s intrinsic motivation (Hays and Lovrich 1990). Employee motivation and drive stems from the employee-employer relationship as much as it stems from the employee’s personality; Wright (2003) suggests that an employer’s personality must match an employee’s. Employers or managers must be able to develop a rapport with their employees if they have any hope of eliciting the best work possible from them (Wright 2003).
Darling, Gabrielsson and Seristö (2007) also suggest that utilizing employees to train other employees builds a company or organization where all employees and participants are more involved in the process (Darling et al., 2007). When employees are more involved in the process, they become more involved in the overall success of the organization; this is a benefit for both the employee, who has an increased satisfaction level in the workplace, and the employer, who is experiencing higher levels of customer satisfaction and employee effectiveness (Korzynski, 2013).
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