Leadership and Management Practices in Virgin Atlantic Airways

This report examines the leadership and management practices of Virgin Atlantic Airways, focusing on the impact of their styles on employee engagement and organizational performance. It analyzes the company's leadership style, management practices, communication mediums, team building strategies, benefit and reward systems, and their impact on organizational performance. The report also explores the potential reasons behind the decrease in Virgin Atlantic's turnover in 2016 and the increase in profit before tax.

People in Organisations
[Assessment Part 2]
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
a) Leadership style...........................................................................................................................4
b) Management practice..................................................................................................................5
c) Effective communication medium...............................................................................................6
d) Effective team building...............................................................................................................7
e) Benefit and reward.......................................................................................................................9
f) Organisational performance.......................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
Leadership and management styles are having huge significance in the organisation success in
terms of attaining organisational objectives and employee’s satisfaction with the organisation
which will more describe in the report. This report is based on the Virgin Atlantic Airways to
analyse the leadership and management style of the organisation. This report is based on the
possibilities of the strike by the pilots to get more hikes in their salary as an increment. In the
starting of this report will focus on the impending leadership style of the company. It will also
analyse the management practices in the VA to engage its people in the work. After this, it will
target the communication medium utilised in the organisation. Team development, motivational
rewards, and organisational performance are analysed at the end of the report.
Figure 1: Virgin Atlantic
Source: Airlines Inform 2012.
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a) Leadership style
It is essential for the organisation to have a better leadership in the higher position to attain the
organisational success according to the predetermined targets. Leadership plays a significant role
in the development of the organisation. Virgin Atlantic is owned and leads by Richard Branson
who is highly determined person towards the goals and objectives of the organisation. Vision is a
significant thing for the organisation to proceed in a particular direction. Virgin Atlantic Airlines
is totally controlled by the Richard Branson and other board of director to take better decision.
The organisation is using the mixture of transformational and democratic leadership style which
helps them to precede their action in a better manner (Nanjundeswaraswamy, et. al., 2014).
Objectives which are developed by the leaders are based on the SMART target approach so all of
the objectives and targets determined by the board of directors and leaders are effective
according to the organisation. It is essential that targets have to be based on realistic data by
which organisation can effectively attain them.
All of the decision which is taken by the leaders is based on the participative leadership
approach. It is effective for the organisation to take a better decision regarding the organisation
which can help them to implement a better change. Democratic leadership is effective for the
Virgin Atlantic to keep a better working environment and culture in the organisation. It supports
to keep motivate the employees to work effectively in their job role. Another benefit is that most
of the employees want to be part of the organisation by providing their effective and precious
suggestion for the organisation. Sir Richard Branson is highly focused to use the views and
suggestions of the employees which effectively support them to keep engage the employee in the
organisation.
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b) Management practice
Virgin Atlantic is having its focus on the best customer assistance by the employees so it is
essential for the organisation to recruit better people on the job roles. Recruitment and selection,
remuneration, employee’s engagement, working environment, coordination are the key area of
the management in which management practices are made. Sir Richard Branson wants that their
employees have to be engaged in their job role effectively. It is essential for the organisation to
engage their employees effectively in their work which supports them to provide better
customer’s services to the customers. The Virgin Atlantic is having a proper hierarchy in the
management level which helps them to implement better control on the teams which are working
in the different level. A proper hierarchy in management is effective to develop coordination in
the team and it also supports in managing a flow of orders in an effective manner.
The management of the organisation is highly focused to engage its employees in their job role
in an efficient manner which can help them to provide better services to the customers which are
the main focus of the company. Coordination in the team is effective in the company which helps
them to work on the organisational objectives in an effective manner (Purce, 2014). It is essential
for the team managers to enhance the contribution of the subordinates in developing team
strategies to attain their team objectives in an effective manner. It is essential for the organisation
to implant flexibility in the work and working environment which can help them to enhance
employee’s engagement in the job. In an overall manner, it can be said that Virgin Atlantic
contains an effective management in the organisation to deliver better services to the customers.
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c) Effective communication medium
Communication is the key straight of any organisation which helps them to attain organisational
objectives in a better manner. It also has a significant role in managing people in the organisation
and managing the flow of orders. The Virgin Atlantic have a proper hierarchy in the management
which helps them to manage employees in a better manner and it also helps them to
communicate in an effective manner. Writing and verbal two types of communication are used in
the organisation. Verbal is known as informal communication which is not appropriate for the
big structured organisation. Written communication is mostly used and effective communication
method to communicate and share information in the all management level and teams. Written
communication is an authentic way of communication which has potential to share the authentic
information in all receivers.
Written communication is used as formal communication which is also used in the Virgin
Atlantic. E-mails are used by the company to flow the orders from the higher to lower
management. It is an effective way to communicate an order or information in the whole teams.
Each and every team is connected via email to share information and communicate with each
other. It is mandatory for the organisation to keep the hierarchy in the flow of information which
supports to keep the authenticity of the information (Gallois and Giles, 2015). Communication
through e-mail is used to communicate in between teams which help to communicate clear
information within the teams. It provides a quicker communication to the teams to communicate
e.g. finance team and marketing team uses the e-mail to share excel sheet of marketing data.
Verbal communication is used in internal team’s communication which helps them to involve
people in the work. It helps to the team manager and subordinates to effectively communicate on
the issues and problem to resolve it. It is essential for the company to keep the flow of
information and orders which supports them to coordinate better against the external factors of
the organisation. It improves the functionality of the organisation to deliver a better service to the
customers.
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d) Effective team building
A hierarchical management structure contains different team which works with the
organisational objectives. It is essential to develop better teams according to the organisation’s
work and function which helps them to work better. Virgin Atlantic is working in the highly
competitive aviation market so it is essential for the company to develop better teams according
to the work and demands. It is required that productivity of the team must be higher which
supports to the organisation to enhance productivity and profits higher. Belbin team role theory
is effective to build different teams in the company by which organisational productivity can
enhance and as well as to decrease the operational cost of the company. It is effective for the
organisation if it uses the Belbin theory of team roles which is described in the below-mentioned
points:
Action-oriented roles
 Shaper: People who have potential to challenge the team to enhance their capabilities to produce
better productivity from them. These people create a discussion on the work to develop a better
outcome (Belbin, 2012).
 Implementer: Those people who have potential to provide their efforts in completing the work.
These people are practically experienced and their basic concepts are clear to work.
 Complete finisher: People who know the outcomes effectively and supports that outcome is
errorless or not.
People-oriented roles
 Coordinator: A person in the team which has leading capabilities to coordinate team-members
according to the work and outcomes. These people provide their guidance to the teammates to
start and accomplish their work.
 Team worker: These people are having their own significance in providing their support to team-
members where they have needs. These people are effective negotiators which help to avoid
obstacles in the performance of the team.
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 Resource investigator: These people also prior to the team to keep the productivity by utilising
the available resources in the work. They work on behalf of the team to investigate the resources
and use them to keep continuity in the work.
Though oriented roles
 Plant: These people are creative and innovative which has new ideas and approaches to use in the
team. They work hard to enhance the effectiveness of the outcomes of the team according to the
objectives.
 Monitor- Evaluator: These people are having special skills to evaluate the innovative ideas
according to the team objective and benefits for the team members (Belbin, 2012).
 Specialist: Some specific task has a need for the specific skills e.g. pilot so these people are
specialist in their task. They are having their own significance in the team and no one can replace
them in the team.
According to this Belbin team role theory Virgin Atlantic has to develop their internal teams to
enhance their performance according to the organisation.
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e) Benefit and reward
Benefits and rewards are effective to involve people in the job role. In the Virgin Atlantic pilots
going for the strike due to dissatisfaction with the remuneration they are getting, so it is effective
to use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to satisfy their employees which are explained below:
Figure 2: Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Source: McLeod, S., 2017
Basic needs
 Physiological needs: It is the basic need in which organisation has to accomplish the physical
needs of employees.
 Safety needs: Work-place safety, employee safety, and health are the key safety points which are
a need of the employees.
Psychological needs
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 Belongings and love needs: It is essential to provide better working environment and culture in
the organisation.
 Esteem needs: Each and every employee wants promotion on in his designation and salary on
behalf of his efforts which has to be accomplished by the company.
Self- fulfillment needs
 Self-actualization: This is the end of the needs when an employee has realised his potentials
which have more possibilities for him to get better remuneration (McLeod, 2017).
Some of the effective benefits and rewards schemes are here in the points for Virgin Atlantic:
Bonus: Company has to provide annual bonus before the Christmas which is can be effective to
entertain employees.
Performance-based incentives: The Company can use this monetary incentive scheme to
engage employees in work.
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f) Organisational performance
Figure 3: Turnover of Virgin Atlantic
Source: Annual Report, 2016.
According to the above-presented figure total turnover of the organisation has decreased in the
year of 2016. It is €2782 million in the year of 2015 which is decreased in the year of 2016 to
€2690 million. It is essential for the organisation to make some effective changes in their
working which can help them to enhance their revenues and turnover. Total turnover has
decreased by 3% in the year of 2016 so it is essential for the organisation to analyse the possible
reasons behind this.
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Figure 4: Profit before tax
Source: Annual Report, 2016.
This graph is showing that their taxable profits are increased in the year of 2016 as compared to
last year which shows that operational cost has decreased of Virgin Atlantic in the year of 2016.
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Conclusion
On the basis of above report, it can be concluded that leadership plays a significant role in the
development of the organisation. Decisions of leaders determined the organisational success in
attaining its target. Management and leadership are the significant part of the business which has
to be participative with the employees. It is found that a proper communication medium has to be
established in the company to make a flow or orders and information. It is essential to provide
benefits and rewards to the employees to better engage them in the work which supports to
enhance the productivity of the employees.
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References
 Airlines Inform, 2012. Virgin Atlantic Airways, [Online]. Available at:
https://www.airlines-inform.com/world_airlines/Virgin_Atlantic_Airways.html [Accessed on 28
March 2018].
 Annual Report, 2016. Virgin Atlantic, [Online]. Available at:
https://www.virginatlantic.com/content/dam/vaa/documents/footer/mediacentre/
VAL_FY16_Annual_Report.pdf [Accessed on 28 March 2018].
 Belbin, R.M., 2012. Team roles at work. Routledge.
 Gallois, C. and Giles, H., 2015. Communication accommodation theory. The
international encyclopedia of language and social interaction.
 McLeod, S., 2017. Simply Psychology, [Online]. Available at:
https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html [Accessed on 28 March 2018].
 Nanjundeswaraswamy, T.S. and Swamy, D.R., 2014. Leadership styles. Advances in
management, 7(2), p.57.
 Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New
Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.
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