Impact of Leadership Style on Employee Performance in Airline Industry

Running head: MBA - International Business
MBA - International Business
Name of the Student
Name of the University
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MBA - INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS1
Abstract
The study with the research title “impact of leadership style on employee performance in
airline industry”. Purpose of the study was to investigate how leadership style can affect
employee performance. To derive specific outcome from the study, operation of Emirate
Airline UK has been considered in the study. Study effectively answered the research
questions which were framed as the impact of leadership on employee performance. In the
present study, in order to learn about employees’ view about leadership style, quantitative
data has been collected from the employees through the survey method. The respondents
were selected the basis of sampling methods applied in the study. Almost 50 employees of
Emirates Airline have been surveyed to know how leadership style in their organization is
affecting the employee performance, have been surveyed. The analytical work presented in
the paper demonstrates that leadership style has the potential to create sustainable effect on
employee performance.

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Table of Content
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................6
1.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................6
1.1 Background to the Study..................................................................................................7
1.2 Problem Statement...........................................................................................................8
1.3 Research Aim and Objectives..........................................................................................9
1.4 Research Questions..........................................................................................................9
1.5 Research Significance......................................................................................................9
1.6 Dissertation Structure.....................................................................................................10
1.7 Summary........................................................................................................................11
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................12
2.0 Literature Review...............................................................................................................12
2.1 Concept and the role of leadership.................................................................................12
2.2 Leadership theories........................................................................................................14
2.3 Transactional theory of Leadership................................................................................16
2.4 Employee Performance..................................................................................................18
2.5 Factors affecting employee performance.......................................................................19
2.6 Relationship between leadership and employee performance.......................................21
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................23
3.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................23
3.2 Research Philosophy......................................................................................................23
3.3 Research Approach........................................................................................................25

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3.4 Research Design.............................................................................................................25
3.5 Data collection method..................................................................................................27
3.6 Sampling........................................................................................................................28
3.7 Data Analysis method....................................................................................................28
3.8 Ethical Consideration.....................................................................................................29
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS...................................................30
4.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................30
4.2 Quantitative data............................................................................................................30
4.3 Discussion......................................................................................................................53
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION................................................57
5.1 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................57
5.2 Recommendation............................................................................................................61
5.3. Future Study..................................................................................................................63
5.4 Limitation.......................................................................................................................64
References................................................................................................................................65
Appendix..................................................................................................................................71
Survey Questionnaire...........................................................................................................71

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List of Graph
Graph 1: Importance of leaders’ communication.....................................................................29
Graph 2: Leaders’ also require suitable communication training............................................31
Graph 3: Lack of communication between leaders and employees make leaders lack support
in the organization....................................................................................................................33
Graph 4: Job stress can negatively affect employee performance...........................................35
Graph 5: Leaders of the organization should address employee job stress..............................37
Graph 6: Whether autocratic leadership style responsible for employee job stress.................39
Graph 7: Leaders should motivate employees.........................................................................41
Graph 8: Lack of motivation can negatively affect employee performance............................43
Graph 9: Employees can be motivated by leadership skills and personality of their leaders. .45
Graph 10: Effectiveness of leadership on employee performance depends upon the type of
leadership style.........................................................................................................................47
Graph 11: Leadership style is a secondary concern in employee performance.......................49
Graph 12: Inappropriate leadership style the major reason for poor employee performance..51

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List of Table
Table 1: Importance of leaders’ communication.....................................................................30
Table 2: Leaders’ also require suitable communication training.............................................32
Table 3: Lack of communication between leaders and employees make leaders lack support
in the organization....................................................................................................................34
Table 4: Job stress can negatively affect employee performance............................................36
Table 5: Leaders of the organization should address employee..............................................37
Table 6: Whether autocratic leadership style responsible for employee job stress..................40
Table 7: Leaders should motivate employees..........................................................................41
Table 8: Lack of motivation can negatively affect employee performance.............................44
Table 9: Employees can be motivated by leadership skills and personality of their leaders...46
Table 10: Effectiveness of leadership on employee performance depends upon the type of
leadership style.........................................................................................................................48
Table 11: Leadership style is a secondary concern in employee performance........................50
Table 12: Inappropriate leadership style the major reason for poor employee performance...51

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Topic- Impact of leadership style on employee performance- A case study of Emirates
Airline, UK
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction
This research work revolves around the impact of leadership style on employee performance.
Two significant managerial practices namely leadership and employee performance are
mandatorily processed in all businesses.. This study separately investigates effect of
leadership styles that organizations apply, on employee performance in the Airlie industry. In
general, it can be mentioned that employee performance will not be up to the standard, if
organizations do not apply adequate leadership style. When it comes to employee
performance, leadership style is one such approach which has a direct link to employee
performance and businesses. Personal administration on employee performance usually falls
under the responsibility of human resource management. Thereby, control and administration
of employee performance has been analysed with human resource management practices in
the study. Strategic integration of HRM has been aligned with human resource management.
Decidedly leadership style is applied to fit employees to business. As airline industry is all
about providing services, employee performance is a significant subject in the business and
through leadership style, direction, empowerment and decision making are evaluated to
control and assess employee performance. Therefore, leadership style determines employee
performance. However, this implication has been further investigated and analysed in the
study with appraise research aim and objectives (Anitha 2014).
When it comes to employee performance, there are certain areas that be considered that
employee performance usually include execution of duties, meeting deadlines of the tasks,
employee competency and efficiency in performing job responsibilities. Different business

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require different leadership style which determines employee performance. As the
organizations from the global market are entering UK’s airline sector, the industry as a whole
has been competitive in nature. Stable economy is another factor for the crowd of businesses
in UK’ airline sector. (Bamber et al. 2013). So, this competitive market and demand of
service quality are actually driving employee performance. Thus, employee performance in
the airline organization is in the need of suitable guidance –leadership. The present study
considers this areas and investigates how leadership impacts employee performance
particularly in the airline organization. Existing operation of Emirates airline triggers the
need for performing a study with real-world context.
1.1 Background to the Study
Employees are very significant resources in any given organization. This means that the skill
they pose and the roles they play in the organization brings the firm specific competitive
advantages. As put forward by Hussain,, Al Nasser and Hussain (2015), for employees to
play their part effectively, it is highly significant that they are satisfied, motivated and
managed in the most effective way that improvise the level of their satisfaction with the
organization. Employee performance refers to a kind of behaviour that employee possess that
are developed towards organization’s business goals. Hence, leadership plays a crucial role in
leading employees towards the business goals. According to Squalli (2014), leadership is just
not about leaders; it takes up followers, supervisors, organizational culture and several other
aspect of business and whole spectrum creates a diverse workplace. Leaders must possess the
ability to positively influence others to sacrifice self-interest in the interest of an integrated
vision to achieve it effectively.