Biographical Accounts of Australian CEOs

Running head: MGT 536-LEADERSHIP -A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
MGT 536-Leadership -A Critical Perspective
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1MGT 536-LEADERSHIP -A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Three biographical accounts of Australian CEOs.......................................................................3
3. Compare and contrast leadership style and leaders’ conceptualisation of leadership and
success.............................................................................................................................................5
a) The ways in which each leader is constructed as a leader by the accounts.............................5
b) How the leaders describe their conceptualisation of leadership..............................................6
c) How each leader conceptualises success through their leadership..........................................7
4. Application and critical evaluation of relevant concepts to the impact of leadership practice on
organisational success......................................................................................................................8
5. Identification of an organisational issue facing Alan Joyce and application of leadership
research to suggestions made to resolve the issue.........................................................................10
6. Drawing conclusions from the research and make suitable recommendations.........................12
Reference List................................................................................................................................14

2MGT 536-LEADERSHIP -A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
1. Introduction
An organisation is made up of a large set of employees who work together to attain the
organisational goals. This study will highlight the role of leadership of different leaders in
meeting the organisational objectives. Leadership is a critical thing in terms of organisational
success that underpins both theoretical and practical knowledge of the leaders. Leaders need to
have critical thinking spirit, risk-taking ability and decision-making capability in order to make
the organisational successful, motivate the employees and productivity of the organisation. In
this report, in the first part, three Australian CEO's role in leadership will be analysed with
setting the examples. In the later part, their leadership in work-related environment and their
effectiveness in organisations will be discussed. Thereafter, a critical aspect of leadership with
comparing and contrasting their roles will be analysed. This study is intended to highlight the
organisational issue of one of the leaders. In the final section, recommendations will be made in
terms of improvement of leadership effectiveness.
2. Three biographical accounts of Australian CEOs
Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas Group
Alan Joyce has been Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Qantas Group
since the time of 2008. He has done graduation in Applied Science (Physics, Maths) and then he
completed MSc. He has a degree in M, FTSE and FRAeS. He was born in the year 1996 in the
suburb of Dublin. He was a student of Royal Aeronautical Society. Joyce made a huge
transformation in Qantas Airlines and the organisation saw the best financial performance in the
year 2016 almost after 96 years in employee engagement and customer satisfaction. Qantas was

3MGT 536-LEADERSHIP -A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
privatised in the year 1995 and the organisation started its diversification of Loyalty business.
Joyce served previously as CEO in Jetstar almost for five years and within Jetstar, Joyce started
its operation in Asia and Australia. Before Jetstar, he employed in Qantas, Aer Lingus and Ansett
(Afr.com, 2017) [Financial Review Australia]. He saw renewed growth of Qantas in
international market and renewal of fleet with more than 150 aircraft. Apart from this, Alan
Joyce is world's most influential gay business leader.
Andrew Penn, CEO of Telstra
Andrew (Andy) Penn is CEO of Telstra and Penn was announced as CEO of Telstra after
David Thodey in 2015. At first, Penn was CFO of Telstra and then he became CEO. Penn has 30
years of experience in executive before joining to Telstra. Penn is from the UK and then he
moved to Australia in the year 1992. He did his MBA from Kingston University and he also did
FCCA from Harvard Business School. Before joining in Telstra, Penn served in National Mutual
and this organisation later merged to AXA. He became the CEO of AXA Asia Pacific and Penn
became one of the seven directors of AXA. However, Penn's leadership is not happy hours for
Telstra as investors cannot trust Penn and former CEO Thodey negotiated with investors.
Moreover, Penn cut the dividend and he failed to communicate with the market
(Thewest.com.au, 2017) [The West Australian Newspaper]. Penn has contributed to not-for-
profit causes and community affairs. Penn has a passion for Visual Arts.
Bradford Banducci, CEO of Woolworths
Bradford Banducci is the CEO of Woolworths Ltd and he has been CEO of Woolworths
since 2016 February. Before joining to Woolworths, he has been Managing Director of
Australian Food and Liquor sector of Woolworths during the time of 2015-16. He has done LLB