Entrepreneurial Leadership and Risk Management

The assignment examines the role of entrepreneurial leadership in managing risks and driving strategic enterprise development. It analyzes how a company's board of directors provides effective control frameworks, aligns with organizational objectives, and manages human resources to achieve success. The focus is on the interplay between risk management, strategic planning, and human capital within a business context.

INTRODUCTION
TO
MANAGEMENT
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QUESTION 1
Management can be described as a process which focuses on coordinating the efforts of
individuals so that they can accomplish their goals and objectives more precisely. Basic functions
of management include planning, organising, directing, staffing and controlling. Top
management of any business venture has to consider these effectively so that they can work with
best of their efforts to achieve their mission and vision. Management within the organisation also
emphasizes on giving best of the products to the individuals so that their needs and demands can
be satisfied more precisely (Schermerhorn, 2011). Management also has responsibility towards
their employees so that they can work with best of their dedication to meet the business aim and
objectives.
Considering the above scenario, the organisation undertaken for preparing this report is
British Airways (BA) which is one of the largest airlines in the UK on the basis of fleet size.
Cited firm has more than 290 fleets which fly over 183 different destinations in whole around the
globe. Further, cited firm also maintains strength of almost 42,000 employees who are giving
their productive services throughout the world. The staff of BA is very dedicated towards the
work and they work with best of their dedication so that the firm can get competitive edge over
the competitors which are working in the same industry (Albert and Beatty, 2014).
It is necessary for the management as well as HR manager to analyse their internal
environment effectively because from their only, all the work will be processed. HR manager of
cited venture also has to emphasise on selecting best of the individuals for the venture’s
operations so that efficiency of BA can be maintained as well as their market share and goodwill
can be enhanced. Further, cited firm has made various changes in their infrastructure to make
more flexible for their employees. According to Gray (2010), with the increasing competition, it
has become tough for the organisation to deal in the competitive environment. Moreover, cited
firm also focuses on implementing democratic style of decision making where management
focuses on the valuable suggestions given by the employees. This will help manager of cited
venture to take decision more precisely and employees will also be motivated as their
suggestions are taken into consideration (Gray, 2010). Moreover, top management should
constantly focus on changing their strategies as this will help them in getting competitive edge
over the competitors. Changes in the plans and policies can also be made by considering the
plans and policies used by the competitors.
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Internal analysis for the cited business firm can be done with the help of conducting
SWOT analysis as it reveals the major positive and negative outcomes of the venture. Further,
BA will also be able to identify the major opportunities available with them which they can use
precisely to increase their market share, revenue, productivity and profits. The major emphasise
will be on the strength and weakness points and discussion for the same has been made down
under:
Strengths-
Vast experience: Cited firm has almost 90 years of experience in the airline industry.
This is generally giving the firm a competitive edge in highly dynamic environment. Further,
with this, firm is also able to attract large audience because they have a dominating and satisfied
customer base.
Management and skills: BA has huge amount of experience in the management and
operation. Further, employees of cited venture are skilled and talented who have outstanding
marketing skills (Gunny, 2010). Top management has also made an effective bond with the
government as they follow all the norms and regulations in a precise manner.
Fleet size and destinations: BA has the largest fleet size of over 250 aircraft and venture
also runs their services in 150 different international destinations over 6 continents
Effective use of technology: British Airways uses to upgrade their technology from time
to time and they have also marked their presence in e-tickets so that it is helping them in
diversifying their operations.
Financial stability: BA has financial stability with over 2000 million British pound and
7500 million revenue every year.
Weaknesses-
More dependent on UK market: According to Runge (2011), British Airways is more
dependent on UK market and their 50% revenue is generated from the same country and rest
from whole of the world.
Unions: Mentioned firm has large and unionised workforce. Trade union works on the
basis of protecting the right of individuals and for satisfying this, collective bargaining process is
done with management team by the union leader.
Low growth in globalized market: From the view point of Mellahi and Budhwar (2010),
it does not matter that organisation has worldwide presence but still they are not able to make
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effective market in countries like India, China, etc.Half-hearted strategies: The strategies which
management propagates are normally half hearted and these are not continued for long time
period. It takes more time to plan and implement the strategies but sudden alteration is made
constantly by the business venture.
Intense competition: BA is facing stiff competition from airlines like EasyJet, Virgin
airlines, Fly emirates, Jet airways, etc. Due to this, firm is not able to extend the base of their
loyal customers and this competition is getting stiff day by day.
QUESTION 2
Barzelay and Gallego, (2010) stated that British Airways started their operation in the
year 1974 and got privatised in 1987. The organisation performance since last two decade is at
continuous growth and management is also focusing on improving the same so that their market
share and brand image can be maintained and firm's revenue and productivity can be increased
constantly. Even having so much of intense competition, firm is able to excel their services in the
tough times as well and currently firm is having fleet size of over 250 aircraft and their
productive employees are giving effective services in 150 different international destinations
over 6 continents.
Cited organisation also have effective leaders who generally motivate employees so that
they can work with best of their efficiency and dedication to achieve their individual and
organisation goals and objectives. Further, for adopting the changing environment, BA has
introduced 'High performance leadership' model which assists the firm in achieving their
business strategy (High Performance Leadership, 2016). The five major practices which are
followed by a leader related with modelling the way, inspiring the shared vision, challenging the
process, allowing team member to take certain decisions and at last focusing on achieving their
heart in a precise manner. From the view point of Gray (2010), leaders in BA follow the role
culture where each and every employee is assigned for particular duty as per the qualification or
knowledge they possess. It eventually leads towards the proper functioning of the enterprise and
firm gets a competitive advantage over the rivals. Moreover, leaders in BA plays an important
role because they are the one who maintain the efficiency as well as the revenue and productivity
of the enterprise. Further, in current scenario, it is necessary for venture to have a leader because
without them, workers will not be able to work with their utmost efficiency and capability. There
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exist 5 major practices which each and leader need to function within the enterprise and the
description of the same has been given down under:
 Modelling the way
 Inspire the shared vision
 Challenge the process
 Making others to act
 Giving employees autonomy and authority
 Encourage as well as achieve heart
According to Schermerhorn (2011), corporate culture within the venture plays an
important role and without having any sort of culture, firm will lose their direction to achieve the
strategic goals and objectives. Further, corporate culture of the venture proves to be a yardstick
to have long term success and progress. The firm depends on the working culture and also the
services rendered by their employees. Further, it is necessary for the management to maintain its
culture so that they can be able to give best of the results to their stakeholders. Gunny, (2010)
stated that management is also responsible to communicate crucial information to the
stakeholders so that they can be aware of the changes and decisions which top management is
about to undertake. This will help the firm in improving its brand image and getting more of the
stakeholder’s support. Further, their culture is also different from their competitors and this is the
only reason why firm has immense brand image throughout the globe. Moreover, it is found that
cited organisation generally emphasise on pragmatic culture where manager place special
concern on the external parties of organisation. Their main role is to satisfy the needs and
demands of the customers so that firm can excel their revenue and productivity.
According to Mellahi and Budhwar (2010), BA is committed with their high standards of
corporate governance. The board of the members is accountable for the organisation
shareholder's because these people contribute their best in growth and development of enterprise.
The board of the cited firm provides entrepreneurial leadership which is generally considered as
a framework of prudent as well as effective control which certainly enable to manage risks
(Corporate governance statement, 2016). Further, the board also shares the organisation’s
strategic aim and objectives which ensures that human and financial resources are needed to be
managed effectively so that firm can achieve their goals and objectives in a precise manner.
From the view point of Schermerhorn (2011), the management team keeps on changing as per
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the tenure of particular individual gets over and new people are selected by consulting with the
panel of shareholder's. Further, with the expansion of operations, there is also need of effective
human manpower and HR manager precisely focuses on it so that they recruit the best talent for
the organisation’s success. This will assist the firm to achieve the aims and objectives of venture
in a precise manner.
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REFERENCES
Journals and Books
Albert, M. and Beatty, B. J., 2014. Flipping the classroom applications to curriculum redesign
for an introduction to management course: Impact on grades. Journal of Education for
Business. 89(8). pp. 419-424.
Barzelay, M. and Gallego, R., 2010. The comparative historical analysis of public management
policy cycles in France, Italy, and Spain: Symposium introduction. Governance. 23(2).
pp. 209-223.
Gray, N. F., 2010. Water technology: an introduction for environmental scientists and engineers.
IWA Publishing.
Gunny, K. A., 2010. The relation between earnings management using real activities
manipulation and future performance: Evidence from meeting earnings benchmarks.
Contemporary Accounting Research. 27(3). pp. 855-888.
Mellahi, K. and Budhwar, P.S., 2010. Introduction: Islam and human resource management.
Personnel review. 39(6). pp. 685-691.
Runge, M.C., 2011. An introduction to adaptive management for threatened and endangered
species. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management. 2(2). pp. 220-233.
Schermerhorn, J.R., 2011. Introduction to management. John Wiley & Sons.
Online
Corporate governance statement. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.britishairways.com/cms/global/microsites/ba_reports0910/pdfs/
Corp_gov_statement.pdf>. [Accessed on 1st July, 2016].
High Performance Leadership. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.stepsdrama.com/our-clients/case-studies/412/high-performance-leadership>.
[Accessed on 1st July 2016].
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