The Developing Manager: A Case Study of Thomas Cook's Management Styles and Leadership

This report examines the management styles and leadership characteristics employed by Thomas Cook, a leading travel company. It analyzes the company's organizational culture, communication processes, and the role of managers in motivating and leading teams to achieve goals. The report also provides recommendations for improvement based on the findings.

THE DEVELOPING MANAGER

Table of Content
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Compare and contrast two different management styles of Thomas Cook...............................4
1.2 Leadership Characteristics followed in Thomas Cook..............................................................4
1.3 Communication process in Thomas Cook.................................................................................5
1.4 Analysing organizational culture of Thomas Cook and changes in values...............................6
3.1 Manager motivating and leading team to achieve goals and objectives of Thomas Cook........7
3.2 Justification of managerial decisions and recommendations for improvement for achieving
goals and objectives for Thomas Cook............................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
In this report two different management styles are used by the hospitality organization name
“Thomas Cook”. It is a first successful tour and travel agency founded by Thomas Cook. The
branches of Thomas Cook travel agency can be found around the world. In this type of
organization it is difficult for managers to maintain brand value as their products are services
rather than goods. These services are intangible means done for your benefit. The management
styles used in this organization are responsible for maintaining their image or brand value in the
hospitality industry. These styles are followed by their managers which help not only in
increasing customer satisfaction level but also with their employees. Other than this there are
different tasks discussed in this report like for a manager to be successful in an organization what
are the leadership qualities required by him/her, how communication process should be
implemented in an organization, analysing the organization culture of this travel company, how
manager should motivate his/her employees to achieve goals and in the end justification for the
managerial decisions taken for achieving goals and recommended suggestions are discussed.
1.1 Compare and contrast two different management styles of Thomas Cook
There are different management styles that managers follow depending upon on the situation,
people and the task. Management styles are the processes that managers follow in an
organization with the employees. These management styles’ main aim is to provide job
satisfaction to employees as they deserve respect and secondly job satisfaction of employee will
help smooth functioning of an organization. Because if employees are tortured at their work then
they will be more absent, reduce output as compared to satisfied employees they will be less
absent and large output for an organization. Therefore, these management styles are very
important for an organization to achieve their goals and objectives (Al-Ababneh, 2013).
Thomas Cook started its innovation in travel and tour industry from 1842. As a result of
personalization and innovation it is serving 20 million customers annually. To maintain the
sustainability in the market they engage and energize their employees by talent development

programs (Transforming for a better future, 2013). They follows active management style is used
by top management. In active management style employees are directed and their feedback taken
for smooth running operations in an organization (Baum, 2015). This style helps in motivating
staff members so as to increase profitability of an organization. This active management style is
a combination of autocratic and democratic management style. The mostly used management
style in hospitality industry is an autocratic management style that helps in providing lower level
of job satisfaction to employees (Al-Ababneh, 2013). However, sometimes to motivate
employees participative management styles are also used to increase their morale. In this style
regular feedback from employees are taken and then manager process the feedback and tries to
implement if possible. This procedure make employees feel more connected to an organization.
As for sustainable growth of an organization it is very important that employees work from their
heart. In order to maintain friendly working culture is foremost requirement for managers for
example employees work together and complete task in given deadline.
1.2 Leadership Characteristics followed in Thomas Cook
Hospitality organizations are dynamic in nature they have customers, suppliers, government and
competitors that can affect the company. As hospitality industry provides product as services
there it is very important to maintain quality. Therefore, good leadership characteristics are very
important in an organization. Managers should be courageous, innovative, decision making,
consistent, self control, understanding, cooperative, good communicator etc (Hinkin, 2011).
Depending on his/her characteristics the leadership style is followed in an organization. For
example if leader has strong influence over employees then he can implement autocratic style in
an organization where he has full authority of decision making without sharing with other
employees while in case of democratic style of management manager will delegate power of
decision making and responsibility to other employees. In Thomas Cook, the CEO Harriet Green
was the successful leader. She received National Business awards in 2013. She is always full of
energy and maintain her all emails, twitter account by herself. She worked hard to gain insight
for all the problems faced by Thomas Cook. The main cause for the success of Thomas Cook is
to maintain the loyalty and trust of the customers. The characteristics that make Harriet Green a
successful leader are decision making, organizational culture like building self belief or self

esteem. She follows both autocratic and participative styles are implemented. She is very good in
saving costs and managing cash. She uses to behave like an automotive engine that drives an
organization effectively. The important characteristics of CEO were good with people, resilience,
and agility and ready to accept changes.
Her main focus was to understand organization and motivate staff members. For this, sometimes
participative leadership styles are also accepted by her to increase the morale of employees
(Nieves and Segarra-Ciprés, 2015). If any changes have to be implemented in an organization
then this type of leadership style works. So in any organization depending on the organization
environment, situation and employees characteristics the leadership style can be accepted by an
organization. This makes them feel that their opinions also matters. According to her it is not
good to always ask only for numbers and strategy but also, should help the people working in an
organization. Her approach was not very aggressive. The CEO of Thomas Cook believes in
helping employees and providing customer satisfaction. She never bothers about others.
1.3 Communication process in Thomas Cook
In hospitality tourism industry effective communication between employees and customers is
very important (Dhar, 2015). Communication is a process by which information or message is
transmitted by transmitter to receiver. If managers or employees of hospitality industry lack this
skills then it can cause wrong message delivery, decrease in their profitability due to customer
dissatisfaction etc. So it is very important that frontline employees are well versed in
communication skills and dealing with customers. They should be aware of an organization rules
and policies and follow positive approach for every action.
Thomas Cook is a leading British global travel company. According to them for effective and
sustainable growth effective communication is necessary. In Thomas Cook two ways of
communication like upward communication and downward communication are used between
employees and management. In the upward communication occurs from employees to higher
management. In this managers listen to the feedbacks given by their employees for this they
conduct employee engagement survey that also motivate them to work more efficiently. This
type communication occurs on regular basis. They are very important to boost employee’s
confidence. While in downward communication takes place from higher management to

employees informing about new policies and actions they have to follow. All this information is
communicated to both ways upward and downward using various communicative ways Email,
meetings and written communication circulated between all the employees and top management
of an organization. For the suppliers the communication is done for improving the delivery the
quality of raw products etc by arranging supplier relationship management meetings and lastly
for investors the mode of communication can be done by updating them on trading updates etc so
as to gain their trust of the investment they did in their organization.
1.4 Analysing organizational culture of Thomas Cook and changes in values
An effective organizational culture across the group is important for sustainable growth. Thomas
Cook has set of code of conduct that must be followed by all the employees and their managers.
These values are broadly classified into five categories. First category in Thomas Cook is they
always thrive or open for new improvement by transforming the methods like using various
innovative techniques or apps to increase the online web experience for customers as they want
to be pioneer of the future. Employees of this organization work together and maintain healthy
hygiene for working. They always recognize and appreciate their employees by giving different
awards and redeemable points across the different countries. Thus, there is transformation for
high tech to high touch. According to their policies employees should work as team and
complete task on time. Manager maintains good working environment by always listening to
employees. Secondly, customer’s satisfaction is priority for them. There is slogan is “Customers
at their Heart”. By increasing use of technology will help in transforming the communication
link with the customers. They developed products, services and systems keeping in mind the
customer’s needs and their feedback. Thirdly, they promote the local culture and their economic
development by hiring local people for example Thomas Cook has helped local Mayan Women
by using the Honey they harvest from the forest in their toiletries. Thus it is a big source of
income for women and hence helps in increasing economy of their local people. Fourth value is
their organization is focused on diversity. Thomas Cook strictly follows the policies like
everyone has to be treated equally irrespective of caste, sex or religion. Their employees are
from different cultural backgrounds with different skills and they are all very hard working. In

recruitment process Thomas Cook treats every candidate equally and also helps their existing
employees. And lastly, it provides loyalty to their customers and employees.
The change in organizational culture is required sometimes for maintaining future sustainability.
Some times higher management change like CEO lay down new values for successful growth of
an organization. Their own team helps in transforming change in their values and embracing new
values in an organization for example they follow new brand called the Sunny heart which
follow a unified culture. In this they are share common symbol and common brand
(Transforming for a better future, 2013). Proper communication is very important for spreading
the transformation or change across the group using intranet and many other different mediums.
3.1 Manager motivating and leading team to achieve goals and objectives of Thomas Cook
For a manager to motivate and lead a team effectively to achieve goal and objectives of an
organization it is very important to adopt correct management styles. Managers know different
leadership styles they had studied in their education or training. In hospitality industry mostly
autocratic leadership style is followed. However, to motivate employees manager sometimes also
adopt participative style. To motivate employees for job satisfaction is very important. There are
various motivational theories that manager can deploy like Maslow's hierarchical need theory or
Frederick Herzberg motivation hygiene theory etc. Therefore, as a manager its their duty to
choose appropriate motivation theory and leadership style for employees satisfaction (Kim and
Brymer, 2011). As a manager various activities likes rewards, salary, promotion etc. are given to
the staff members. This help in maintaining hygiene working environment that help any
organization to achieve their goals and objectives. Other than this, managers should support team
members and maintain discipline or follow code of conduct while dealing with customers.
Therefore, leadership of managers is very important for any organization to be successful.
For leading a team a manager should have various skills like good communicating skills,
innovative, problem solving, calm, leadership techniques, positive attitude, decision making,
knowledge of latest technologies etc. Manager should handle all the difficulties in positive and
cool headed. He should be polite and respect customers and his employees. Manager should be
an example for employees. He should conduct Team building exercises for giving staff training
time to time for dealing with customers. All these activities will help in improving customer

service. For organizations like Thomas Cook for them customers are their God. Team building is
very important concept that is used by managers for successful organization. Managers help
employees to work collaboratively and share the best practice. Managers should always listen to
the feedback given by their employees follow them and reward them for their good work. This
will motivate staff members or team and will help in making an organization successful (Smith,
Rees and Murray, 2016).
3.2 Justification of managerial decisions and recommendations for improvement for
achieving goals and objectives for Thomas Cook
From the above discussion it was found that all the decisions taken by managers help in
achieving goals and objectives of an organization. Decisions taken by managers are divided into
three categories like strategic, tactical and operational decisions. The strategic decisions are
taken by higher management as these decisions are for long term growth of an organization. In
tactical decisions are taken based on the strategy planning decided to meet organization
objectives while operational decisions are for meeting shorter term goals of an organization
(Evans, Stonehouse and Campbell, 2012). Therefore, decisions taken by manager depend on
various factors like it is short term or long term. Sometimes manager take decisions for
employees to make them happy and for customers. As both employees and customer is loyalty
for hospitality industry. So manager before taking every decisions meetings were conducted and
under strategic planning and keeping in mind goals and objectives of an organization decisions
are taken.
But according to the situation the managers follow the appropriate management style. In
autocratic style manager take whole decisions. But sometimes it is very important to motivate
employees and listen to them. Therefore, participative style is then followed in which employees
can give their feedback and managers will overlook all suggestions and tries to implement them.
This help in motivating employees which in turn help an organization to achieve their goals and
objective. Sometimes managers also follow democratic style in this managers give authority to
employees for some work .This will help in boosting morale for employees. For a successful
organization it is very important that there should be job satisfaction for employees. They should
be given rewards and appreciation for good work timely.

Various recommendations for improvement in an organization Thomas Cook like customer
satisfaction is priority. Therefore, sometimes manager take decisions like training their staff
members that help them in dealing with customers and many team activities are organized by
managers for their employees so that they can work friendly together. All these decisions will
enhance the growth of an organization (Chon and Maier, 2010).
Manager should pay attention to such activities like team building in which employees should
work in team for better output or completing the task in given deadline. Managers should do
inspection regularly for activities like cleanliness, food and various other arrangements so that
customer can have nice experience in holidays. Managers should follow the combination of
autocratic, democratic and participative management style for successful organization. Manager
should closely watch the performance of employees and track their record. All this activities help
the Thomas Cook to achieve their objectives and goal.
Conclusion
In the above report, world’s largest travel company Thomas Cook- leadership style, their
organizational culture and leadership characteristics of their CEO are discussed. For a
sustainable growth of an organization it is compulsory to motivate employees. To achieve this
management style is adopted that helps in gaining feedback from employees and managers tries
to implement them. This motivates employees and other than this several rewards or appraisal of
salary are given to employee according to their performance in work. CEO of Thomas Cook is
very supportive and helpful to employees. For them customers come first. To maintain customer
satisfaction various methods are followed by managers that discussed in report already.

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