British Airways Leadership Style

British Airways lead StyleExamining leadership style in British Airways1. ABSTRACTThis is a study which examine the attractorship in British airways and to a fault evaluates their loss leader i.e. Willie Walsh utilise the relevant theories on leadinghip. in addition critically evaluate the leadinghip style that is required for the success of British Airways. constructions on leaders styles apply in our previous jobs atomic number 18 similarly provided be economic crisis gear.2. INTRODUCTION2(a). LEADERSHIPLeadership has and will always be an great factor in human affairs. In todays time it has compose meaty for organisations to wee a good leader for its success at the uniform time its becoming challenging to find the right type of leader for the job as mentioned in (Kotler, 1988)Leadership is an activity, that of influencing the behavior and beliefs and feelings of other separate members in an intended direction as mentioned in (wright taylor, 1984).Leadership is all a part of the managers job non the whole thing.According to (Posner Kouzes, 2002, p. 13)5 common practices of all leadersModel the wayInspire a shargond tidy sumChallenge the processEnable others to act raise the heart2(b). BRITISH AIRWAYSBritish Airways Plc is the UKs biggest outside(a) scheduled airlines. They not scarcely have scheduled services still as well as operation of international and domestic carriage of freight and mail, and ancillary services. British Airways fly to much than 300 destinations. It was established in 1910 it was formed to preserve the records and artefacts of British Airways antecedent companies BOAC, BEA, BSAA and the pre-war Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. BA was the first to launch the worlds first occasional international scheduled air service between London and Paris. It was a public sector comp some(prenominal) which in 1981 LordKing was appointed Chairman he was then charged by the SecretaryofStateforTrade to take all necessary shade for privatisation.(Airways)British airway has been known to have problem with its employees, be prompt , and financial losses from a very long time it had study problems in the beginning of 1980 which2(c). WILLIE WALSHHe was born on 25th of October1961 in Dublin, Ireland. In 1979, he joined Aer Lingus as a cadet. During his days as a pilot he was a chief negotiator for the heart of pilots. He acquired a Masters degree in management and trade administration from Trinity College, Dublin and later became a CEO of Futura in 1998 before he became a CEO of Aer Lingus 2000. Here he glum a loss qualification organisation into a profit making organisation within 6 months by reducing price and sell painting and art from their office and also by cutting jobs. In 2005 he resigned from his position as the government refused to privatise the air lines.compiled from the unalike annual reports of the Aer LingusCurrently he is the CEO of British Airways. In whitethorn 2 005 Willie Walsh became a pass Executive Designate, after Rod Eddington as Chief Executive on 1 October 2005. He was hired as British Airways were wanting to reduce cost and make themselves into a low cost airlines.From the annual reports of the British Airways2(d). FRAMEWORKS USEDTrait speculation cabbage and Ohio University StudiesTransactional, turn tail shift and Charismatic LeadershipSituational Leadership conjecture3. LITERATURE REVIEWglobalization has made companies compete not merely in the domestic just now also in the global markets, and the demand for an effective leadership has become highly important. Many studies exist on the subject of leadership this is in the main due to the fact that leaders atomic number 18 responsible for the main inborn project in an organization such as creating, sharing and exploiting organisational knowledge, enabling an organization to grow (Bryant, 2003).There is no specific mandate for being a good leader many scholars over the course of studys have debated over the fact what makes a good leader. Earlier scholars remember that leaders were born and the skills to be a good leader give noticenot be achieved over the years one such possibility is The Great Mans Theory other earlier theories such as Trait theory studies the diverse traits of a good leader and states that wholly people having such traits can be good leaders. Even this theory believes in leader ar by birth. However the more recent theories look at the conduct and not the traits and personality. Kouzes and Posner state that Leadership is an identifiable set of skills which atomic number 18 unattached in all men and women not just in a few charismatic and gifted people (Posner Kouzes, 2002)The following theories be used by me to analyse the leadership style of Willie Walsh in context to British AirwaysTrait Theory By Stogdil (Stogdil, 1974)There atomic number 18 diverse theories on traits of leaders they all have a few common qualiti es that are required by a good leader.This theory believes that leaders are born and the skills and traits of a good leader cannot be acquired over a period of time.Stogdil in 1974 identified and suggested the following traits and skills as critical and real(a) in all leadersTRAITSSKILLSAdaptability to agencysAlert to social env conjurementchallenging and achievement orientatedAssertiveCooperativeDecisiveDependable plethoric i.e. having a desire to influence othersEner make upicPersistentSelf- cocksure broad(a) to stressWilling to assume responsibilityCleverConceptually meanCreativeDiplomatic and tactfulFluent in speaking educated about group taskOrganised (administrative ability)PersuasiveSocially completeMichigan Ohio StudiesMichigan University had conducted various studies on leadership in the year 1950. There research showed that leaders could be broadly divided into triplet categories depending on their characteristics.Task oriented behaviour- Leaders would concentrate on task and not on building a relationship with their dependants. They did not do the same tasks as their subordinates they concentrated more on activities like scheduling planning coordinating and providing the resources for their subordinates to perform their tasks.Relationship oriented behaviour- These leaders not only focused on task oriented but also gave importance to building up relations with their subordinates helping them not only in their careers but also in their personal lives thus forming a bond with their subordinates more than close control. They believe in rewarding their subordinate with both Intrinsic as well as extrinsic ways. They fundamentally provided the goal and left it onto their subordinates to decide the path they wanted to take.Participative leadership- These leaders accommodate their subordinates as team members in their decision making process at the same time their decision is final independent whether it matches with the decision of the subordinates. These leaders are nature good team leaders. Such leaders are more facilitative than leading musical composition solving problems. These leaders are more effective for teams rather than individuals.Transactional, Transformation and Charismatic leadershipTransactional leaders believe that people can be motivated either by reward or punishment. They create clear structures as to the requirement of what is pass judgment from the subordinates and what would get them rewards or punishments. the subordinate is fully responsible for the work devoted to him no matter what ever the circumstance that caused the failure. According to Bass a transactional leader comprised of contingent reward (CRW), active management by censure (MBEA), and passive management by exception (MBEP). (Bass M. B., 1985)Transformational leaders are leaders have a vision of transformation that excites and converts potential followers. These leaders may or may not be aware of the way that leads to goal of the vis ion. Such a leader comprises of idealized influence (II), individualized servant (IC), intellectual stimulation (IS), and inspirational motivation (IM). (Bass M. B., 1985).Charismatic leadership are leaders who attract followers using their personality, charm rather than using any form of external power or authority. These leaders while interacting with a person make the person feel extremely important. They glide by a lot of time learning their environmentBass mentions that a transformational leader also will emphasize on higher want development, and arouse followers motivation by means of creating and representing an inspiring vision of the future (Bass B. M., 1997)Situational Leadership Theory-The main school of thought of this theory is that there is no one way of leadership style. It states that a leader who uses different leadership styles dependant on the item he is in (Hersey Blanchard, 1988). This theory has been proposed by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey. This mod el allows you to analyse the various needs of the situation a leader may find himself in and suggest the virtually appropriate leadership style for the situation.source (Hersey Blanchard, 1988)As nailn above this theory divides leadership styles into the following categoriesDirecting (S1)- This leaders is a high directive and a low supportive behaviour orientatedCoaching (S2)- This leader is high Directive as well as high appurtenant behaviour orientedSupporting (S3)- This leader is a high appurtenant and low Directive behaviour orientatedDelegating (S4)- This leader is low Supportive as well as low Directive behaviour orientated(Huczynsky Buchanan, 2007)For this model to be successful it is extremely important that the leader should accurately judge the confidence and motivation of his followers.From all the above theories we see that there is no one best way to predict a successful leader. All the above theories have different ways of spirit at leaders. The best way to exam ine whether a person is a good leader or not is to study him is comparing him to various theories on leadership.4. EXAMINING BRITISH AIRWAYS LEADERSHIP STYLEThe main reason for British Airways to select Willie Walsh as their CEO was because at that time British Airways was veneer stiff competition from low cost airlines. His success as a leader in Aer Lingus an Irish flight carrier which was almost on its way to bankruptcy and then Willie Walsh stepped in not only crook the carrier into a profit making carrier but also one of the most successful carrier of Ireland.During the analysis I implant Willie Walsh to have the following characteristic from the various articles written on him.Intimidating- as his peers were afraid to raise question about T5 at Heathrow before it was inaugurated.Peers are not involved in decisions- He was put up to seclude himself and his colleagues found it difficult to approach him (Michaels, 2006).He is very strong minded and confident He does what he b elieves to be correct with or without any raw sienna following (Walsh, 2009)Hugely energetic, Hard worker and a workaholic he has not taken a vacation for the past 3 years (Walsh, 2009)His work is only professional no emotions- This is the main reason as to his success at turning flight carriers profitable as he does this by cutting cost by job cuts.Tuff leader who rules with an iron fist- his peers at Aerlingus use to call him Slasher Walsh.Confrontational- He is always involved in the meeting with the union and management. Now he sits on the managements side but earlier he use to sit on the unions side.He is merciless in his decision- He fired 2 of the oldest managers of British Airways over the termination 5 walloping (Milmo, 2008).He believes in leading by being a role model- He and Keith Williams, finance director of BA worked gratuitous and requested the staff also to consider unpaid leave or working part time ( pop off Weekly(UK), 2009)Linking Willie Walshs leadership s tyle to Trait TheoryFrom the above table we observe that Willie Walsh has most of the traits and skills that are required by a successful leaderLinking Willie Walshs leadership style to Michigan and Ohio University studiesMichigan Ohio University studies classify Willie Walsh as a leader with Task oriented behaviour. This is seen as he does not maintain any relationship he is only is interested in work if he feels someone is redundant or not doing his work efficiently he fires them. (Nexis,UK, 2005). He also expects his employees to get the work given to them whether or not they have the resources and capability to do the work given to them.Linking Willie Walshs leadership style to Transactional, Transformation and Charismatic LeadershipWillie Walsh follows a transactional style of leadership. As he is task oriented and does not believe in building relations. He believes that the salary given to employee is a reward for their work and in case they dont do their work properly they s hould be punished. Thus motivation for doing the job is either reward or to avoid punishment. He is not supportive to them in their work or personal lives as a transformational leader would be nor does he have the qualities of a charismatic leader as people do not follow him by choice but by compulsion. He also does not take out time to know his subordinates and what would motivate them.Linking Willie Walshs leadership style to situational leadershipWillie Walsh can be placed in the S1 quarter-circle as he has a high directive and a low supportive oriented behaviour. However the theory states that a leader should be flexible and should change his style from time to time depending on the situation however the data collected on Willie Walsh does not show any signs of flexibility and he follows the same leadership style. Thus we can speculate that according to this theory Willie Walsh is not a good leader.EvaluationReflectionCriticalConclusionBibliographyBibliographyAirways, b. (n.d.) . Retrieved 11 22, 2009, from www.ba.co.ukBass, B. M. (1997). Does the transactional-transformational leadership paradigm transcend organizational and national boundaries? American Psychologist , 52, 130-139.Bass, M. B. (1985). Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations, . New York shrive Press.Hersey, P., Blanchard, K. H. (1988). Management of Organisational demeanor Utilising Human Resources. New Jersey Prentice Hall.Huczynsky, A. A., Buchanan, D. A. (2007). Organisational Behaviour (6 ed.). Pioltello Rotolito Lombanda SPA.Kotler, J. P. (1988). The Leadership Factor. Free press .Michaels, D. (2006, October 2). British Airs New Challenges Walsh essential Tackle Rising Pension Deficit, Transition at Heathrow. Walstreet Jornal , p. B.12.Milmo, D. (2008, April 16). Youre fired T5 fiasco proves terminal for BA bosses as Walsh takes personal charge. The Guardian.Nexis,UK. (2005, December 23). British Airways Walsh step up BA turnaround. Travel Trade Gazette UK Ireland , p. 12. Posner, Kouzes. (2002). leadership the challange. san fransisco jossey bass.Stogdil, R. (1974). handbook of leadership A survey of literature. New York Free Press .Travel Weekly(UK). (2009). BA bosses to work without pay in July. Travel Weekly(UK) , 7.Walsh, W. (2009, August 27). I Didnt Set out to be a CEO. (T. Independant, Interviewer)wright, p. l., taylor, s. d. (1984). improving leadership instruction execution a practical approach to leadership. london prentice-hall international Inc.Bryant S. E. (2003), The role of Transformational and Transactional Leadership in Creating, Sharing and Exploiting Organizational Knowledge, Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies, 9 (4), pp. 32-44