Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INTRODUCTION
The project aims to analyze the organizational behaviour of two organizations belonging
to the same nature of industry; one from the public sector while the other from the private
parameters of Organizational Behaviour has been carried out in the report. This has been
done to analyze the impact of individuals, groups and structures on behaviour within the
Thus, the report evaluates the two organizations on their organizational culture,
leadership styles, employee behaviour, development and motivation, group behaviour and
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
HISTORICAL PROFILE
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is a national airline, operating passenger and cargo
services covering eighty-two domestic and foreign destinations. Established in 1955, PIA
has a vast experience in the airline industry of Pakistan with a large fleet of aircrafts. The
PIA is a huge corporation with more than 17,000 employees. This organization is divided
Assurance.
The organogram of the organization follows, with the Chairman at the top and directors
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
AIRBLUE
Established in 2003, Airblue is a private airline which offers passenger and cargo
transportation to both domestic and foreign destinations. There are nine destinations of
Airblue. It is credited as the first private carrier of Pakistan to operate the Airbus A320
and introduce e-ticketing, wireless check-in and self check-in kiosk facilities. The major
The size of the organization is not as huge as PIA and mostly comprises of young
standards. It is technologically advanced though the size of the fleet is not comparable to
The organogram of the organization follows. It shows that the employees report to their
divisional heads that in turn are answerable to the Chief Executive Officer.
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
1.1. CULTURE
throughout the structure and amongst people. Since Pakistan International Airlines is a
culture. The culture determines the type of leadership, communication and group
dynamics within the organization. The workers perceive this as the quality of work life
which directs their degree of motivation. The final outcome is performance, individual
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
The results show that PIA focuses more on the goal rather than means to achieve it while
Airblue does the opposite. Therefore, employees are highly valued in Airblue. The
characteristics and values form the organizational structure which determines the
1.4. VALUES
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
A public organization, PIA, has an autocratic style of leadership. The decisions are made
by the top level management without involving their employees. These decisions are
primarily policy-based decisions like the purchase of new planes, replacement of new
fleets and changes in the fares of tickets. On the other hand, Airblue involves employees
in the decision making process, however, the right to make the final decision rests with
the authorities. The top management reserves the right to take decisions regarding
AIRBLUE
Leaders
PIA Leaders
AIRBLUE
Employees
PIA Employees
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
Delegation of authority is limited due to the centralized structure of PIA. The authorities
The scope of delegation of power in Airblue depends upon situation; the more critical the
situation the more top level management is involved and vise versa. This is because at the
end of the day, decision making affects the processes. Thus, decisions are made by right
according to their designations. Apart from that, there are some restrictions like every
employee cannot visit the passenger check –in data. Only the authorized employees, who
use ‘ED NET’ (intranet, protected by strong firewall) have the access to such information.
This leads to differentiating one employee from the other in terms of delegation.
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
attitudes and avoid behaviour which clashes directly with the organization’s interest. In
case of deviant workplace behaviour, administrative action is taken against the employee
All human resource issues are dealt in accordance with the POLICIES AND
PROCEDURES MANUAL VOL. I & II, which deals with every aspect of employee
behavior.
At Airblue, if a conflict arises between the individual’s work behavior and the
inquiry committee takes a thorough review of the problem. The employee is called
personally and the matter is discussed along with a verbal warning. If the situation arises
again, the employee is given a written warning to strongly clarify his inappropriate
performance. The third time a letter of termination is handed over to that person. This
signifies that Airblue is very particular in maintaining high standards of quality, negligent
A PIA Training Center (PTC), operating in Karachi, conducts training courses to augment
the skills of employees while the scope for enhancing their attitudes (beliefs and
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
Airblue does not conduct any formal training programs regarding the development of
through Attitudes’ are being conducted. Further, employees are given instructions
employees, then the root cause of such factors is identified. If a genuine reason emerges,
the employee is assisted in rectifying the situation; if not, then the employee might get a
letter of warning.
Employees at PIA can express dissatisfaction through the ‘Suggestion Boxes’ located at
various sites of PIA. Furthermore, quarterly employee co-ordination meetings are held
where all employees can share their views with their bosses and subordinates.
• Shifts among the employees can be rotated. There are 2-3 shifts in day so they can
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
valid, the company voluntarily grants the employee a leave, for instance, if an
In the employee wishes to raise his voice against dissatisfaction, there is a proper channel
to report the issue at Airblue. Initially, the employee can report to the supervisor. If the
problem still persists, then the matter can be taken to the assistant manager, who in
accordance with the marketing or other senior manager takes into consideration the cause
of employee dissatisfaction.
If the code of conduct is violated in PIA, a ‘Show Cause Letter’ is issued while in severe
Airblue strictly emphasis on the code of conduct for its employees as it aims to maintain
the behavioral ethics set by the organization. In case of a conflict over the code of
conduct, then formal discussion between the employee and the upper management takes
place to resolve the issue. Largely, the organization believes in maintaining a flexible
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
Department. Decisions are taken by the top management of PIA regarding the attributes
personality, skills and qualifications, is used to evaluate a candidate. The verdict of the
management is forwarded to the recruitment division which then initiates the procedure
After difficult circumstances the Human Resource Department is now fully functional
and policies and procedures are now in place. New recruitments with clearly defined
levels of skill and competence in all areas are being made. New inductions both on the
management side and specifically the operational side of cockpit crew, cabin crew and
ground engineers will continue at regular intervals so that the shortages experienced in
these areas are fully taken care. The policy is to promote people from within the airline at
all levels. However, where PIA does not find the relevant competencies they hire people
from outside which is based on market salaries. Salaries of all the employees including
operational crew have been considerably enhanced in an effort to align PIA salaries with
The hiring process is centralized as it is done by the top level HR team by Airblue.
Airblue incorporates various initiatives for the employee development program as it leads
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
• Language Skills: Airblue prefers people with fluent spoken English and coherent
field.
• Confidence Level of the Employee: The extent to which he/she can bear
• Level of Adaptability: As Airblue requires the ‘best fit’ person for their
During promotions experience, skill, education and past performance of the employee are
considered, however, experience takes precedence over all other deciding factors. PIA
believes that experienced employees have the knowledge and expertise, gained over
Regarding preference of experience over the skill or vice versa for the promotions,
Airblue prefers skills as compared to experience. This suggests that the organization has a
dynamic culture that respects talent and caliber over the constraint to attain a certain
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
4.3. COMMUNICATION
that the current Chairman is inclined towards a decentralized system, the effectiveness of
essential in an organization like PIA due to its large size and expanded network. It is
necessary that people from various departments communicate between each other to have
an overall uniformity. Previously fax was widely used to transmit information, however,
with the technological advancement e-mails are used for this purpose. Another mode of
mail, through internet, since it saves time. In addition to this, there is quite frequent
intermingling of people across different department. Cross functional teams often meet
4.4. FEEDBACK
management and the human resource department to have an insight on the needs and the
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
employees’ necessities which have led to decisions being made in the favor of the
employees in the past and has also improved overall system of the organization.
• Informal feedback is conducted throughout the year. Employees can easy access
their higher officials for any kind of issues, suggestions or complaints. Every
nature.
processes. Every employee gives their open feedback and these complete documents
are forwarded to the top management where a formal meeting is conducted to discuss
Apart from this, any striking idea from employees, if it actually suits the organization
interest is soon adopted and the employee is given due credit for that in either monetary
terms or promotion. This shows the high employee involvement in the organization
culture.
At PIA, employees are not rotated amongst various departments unless they request for a
rotation.
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
In order to make the employees familiar with multi-dimensional tasks, employees are
rotated within the department at Airblue: employees in finance exchange tasks relating to
finance; employees for operations are rotated so they learn various kinds of operations
According to the “Business Principles & Ethics Policy”, employees at PIA are required to
freedom and mutual trust. Employees are encouraged to voice their troubles and
Airblue believes in maintaining a secure culture within the organization to rule out any
verbal abuse, sexual harassment or any other irregularity. The company maintains a set of
HR policies that clearly defines the issues, procedural solutions and the penalties the
violator has to bear. Especially for those departments where there is more female staff, a
supervisor is kept to check for any irregularity on every shift to ensure a safe working
environment.
At PIA, exit interviews depend on the immediate supervisors and Departmental Heads.
Some of them are keen on the idea, others are not: there is no clear policy for exit
interviews.
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
During downsizing employees are offered different packages such as a ‘Golden Hand
Shake’ in which employees are paid a lump sum amount for their services. This is done to
maintain a healthy relationship between the management and the employees and also to
make employees feel that they are being taken care of in the organization.
Airblue always carries out exit interviews if employees voluntarily want to leave the
issues. A separate record is maintained for all such employees and then based on that, the
employees are provided with additional tools for continuous motivation and enhanced
satisfaction.
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
Amid a highly competitive environment, PIA needs to motivate its employees. For this
purpose, ‘Promotion Boards’ are held twice a year. ‘Extra-mile Awards’ are handed over
opportunity to be vociferous regarding their issues. The three best suggestions are given
Apart from the basic salary, fringe benefits are in the form of Medical Entitlement,
Free/Rebated Air Tickets, Utility Allowance, Rent Allowance and Meals at discounted
rates.
through different tools to ensure continuous satisfaction, growth and energizing behavior.
The core elements used to motivate employees are yearly and quarterly monetary
Employee satisfaction is essential for the retention of competent employees at PIA. The
management strives to achieve this by promoting employees in next pay groups (move-
over), giving monetary rewards (bonuses) and transferring employees to foreign posts.
Airblue emphasizes on employee satisfaction because it believes that employees are the
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
enhance customers’ perception about the organization. The Vision Statement of Airblue
Airblue gives special consideration to its highly competent employees. For continuous
motivation that keeps the driving force within these people alive, Airblue uses several
• Long-term additional benefits: educational loans for the children, medical and free
air-traveling facilities through Airblue, greater insurance benefits and several other
• Continuous rise in salaries and bonuses when employees exceed pre-set targets.
However, continuous review is also kept on the performances so that any decline in
performance can be monitored and rectified. Notice is then immediately sent to the
• Promotions that include job enrichment program are included in the motivation plan,
so that the competent employees could be given more challenging jobs in order to
• Airblue is expanding its operations as it has recently started its flight service to
Manchester on June 1, 2007 and would soon be launching its operation to USA. They
motivate employees through short training courses abroad where they are paid extra
bonuses US Dollars along with regular salary. The expansion process enables quick
and better job promotions to these foreign flights, though the criterion is strict and it is
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
mandatory to complete certain number of flight hours before employees are taken to
foreign flights.
Airblue conducts various program and meetings to signify the achievements made by its
employees that depend on particular region, District or Sales Office. The ceremony for
this purpose is held every third month and titles such as ‘Employee of the Quarter’ or
‘Employee of the Year’ are awarded. They have the ‘Travel Counselor of the Quarter’
whose job is to handle the traveling and various flight processes the customer
convenience. According to the Area Manager: “We consistently challenge our employees
(to remain competitive) by maintaining a healthy competition between them. For example
we divide our aircraft maintenance staff into teams and challenge them to turnaround the
aircraft within 35 minutes. If they finish the task before time (say 32 minutes), their team
gets 5 points. These points are added at fixed intervals and are used to recognize and
procedures according to the policy of PIA. This can also be due to the
Airblue does not have benefits and administrative policies that are unique for any
particular employee: they are unanimously applicable to all employees. However, there is
some leniency for senior officials; for instance, a person amongst the top management
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
who had served for considerably longer period of time will enjoy more health and
The success stories at PIA are narrated to employees in order to motivate them and obtain
Airblue believes in narrating past examples, of those who have made an extraordinary
• Quarterly Conferences are conducted in their press room where they call some worthy
guest to address the employees to narrate paradigm examples from the past.
• Being highly technology-oriented, they mail the success and development stories of
renowned people to every employee, from the head office, for easy access.
Efforts are made by PIA’s management to ensure that employees are exposed to
information in a manner which minimizes uncertainty amongst them so that they are not
does not disclose complete information to its middle and lower management, only
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
motivating tool for its employees rather it is a part of the organization charter that is set
by the top level management. However, customer feedback is notified to every employee
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
6.1. TEAMWORK
In an airline industry almost all tasks are performed through team work and PIA is not
any different. From ticket reservation to the landing of the plane team work is the
decisive factor. Employees work in various teams such as ground staff, cabin crew, flight
attendants, office staff etc. All these teams have different sets of tasks to perform but
cohesion among these teams is necessary to run the day to day operations. Considering
the diverse nature of employees PIA has, it is difficult to make team work efficient so it is
Airblue strongly believes that its efficiency and effectiveness is attributed to team work,
so it takes all measure to enhance teamwork performance. The work processes are carried
out by mutual collaboration, and the right distribution of work according to the caliber of
employees. To enhance team spirit among various teams that are meant for specific
project or assignment, the organization motivates them through certificates, shields, and
personal word of appreciation. The continuous interaction with each other and learning as
under the policy of the government. Disagreement among employees is resolved through
applications and appeals. Some cases may be dealt by the ELT (Employee Leadership
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
Being a service provider, Airblue does not have any labor unions that could go on strike
due to disagreements. If disagreement occurs, the issue is taken to the concerned manager
for mutual discussions to resolve the issue. The organization takes care in providing
The sheer size of the organization leads to the formulation of various formal and informal
groups at PIA. The informal groups influence the overall decision making process to
some extent due to the nature of the workplace. These informal groups are formed
because many employees have been there in the organization for several years and they
At Airblue, only formal teams have the authority to take part in the decision making
process while informal teams does not take part in such processes. Nevertheless their
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
In PIA employees are less empowered which means all the power rests with the top level
management and they can exercise it at their will. Also their power cannot be challenged
by the employees and compliance to the decisions being made by them is essential. We
can also say that in PIA that legitimate power is exercised. This also leads to high
contacts. This is the reason employees focus more on networking rather than
concentrating on their jobs. We were not able to get an insight on the various political
In Airblue employees are empowered and have a freedom to express their own opinions
though compliance to the decisions being made is also mandatory there but before the
decisions are being made employees feedback are taken. Contacts do matter but the level
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
CONCLUSION
Organizational Behavior forms an integral part of any organization for prosperity. Greater
because in the present dynamic environment employees are the key to success in any
organization.
It has been observed that PIA and Airblue share similarities and differences. This is
mainly due to the varying structures and leadership styles. As mentioned on various
Airblue. This has caused higher conflicts and poor management of employees as
decisions are made by the top level management without involving the employees. In
addition, this leads to complexities in employee tasks as it takes more time to reach the
information from top to bottom. Due to this bureaucratic nature of PIA, inefficiencies
have crept in and morale of the employees has plummeted over the years.
Delegation of tasks is minimal at PIA. The current status of employees is less control and
authority over different tasks apart from their own assigned tasks, so employees feel
distant as far as other issues and problems of the departments are concerned.
Both have centralized hiring processes. However, PIA emphasizes on experience whereas
Airblue prefers skills. Therefore, the organization has young and active employees who
may lack in experience but not competence. This has increased productivity of the
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
Both prefer communication through electronic mails. However, Airblue has direct
meetings and suggestion boxes at PIA are ineffective; employees feel reluctant to voice
their concerns in a meeting amid others and complaints in the suggestion boxes take time
It has been observed that Pakistan International Airlines fears change. They fear that the
system will become unstable, their security will be lost, and they will not understand the
new process, therefore, will not know how to respond to the new situations. PIA turned its
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
RECOMMENDATIONS
• DECENTRALIZATION
PIA should decentralize is its structure that would lead to the easy management,
increased motivation, easy access to information and resolution of the conflicts (as
they would be resolved by the immediate manger time span would then reduced).
• EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT
PIA should make efforts towards empowering the employees that is going to lead
to more employee participation in the decision making process and also result in
more employee satisfaction and enhanced motivation. Apart from this, employees
would feel more independent to discuss the issues explicitly without hesitation.
This would also enhance team work process at PIA as quality team and cross-
functional teams. The employees will work with more commitment and dedication
and every employee would work to his/her fullest due to increased motivation.
they empower their employees, there should also be a “controlled check’’ on them
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
to ensue the correct usage of power delegated to every employees within their
circumscribed limits.
• OVERHEAD COSTS
PIA should also reduce its overhead costs that are it should mange its resources:
labour more effectively, so that with less input, more out put can be achieved and
the saved resources can be utilized in other areas such as introducing more
training courses for the employees so that the quality of the workforce could be
increased. Hiring the services of expertise can improve the efficiency of their
services, so by saving the overhead costs, they can utilize that money for the
Organizational behaviour.
• TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION
The suggestions of the employees can prove to be very effective in improving the
operations as they are the ones who manage them. Therefore, a top-down
decision-making.
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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OF PIA AND AIRBLUE
AIRBLUE
• Consistent hiring policies should be administered and should not change from
time to time.
• New venture teams should be incorporated to develop new ideas based on the
• Total quality management should be catered to within the work groups and
employees.
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