Leadership and Governance in Air New Zealand: A Comprehensive Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and governance within Air New Zealand. It examines the impact of leadership on organizational behavior, culture, and vision, exploring different leadership principles and their application. The report also evaluates the usage of entrepreneurial thinking and creativity in identifying needs and opportunities, highlighting innovative strategies implemented by the airline. Furthermore, it assesses the role of innovation and knowledge management in enhancing organizational effectiveness and competitiveness. The analysis includes discussions on transformational leadership, communication strategies, and the challenges of resistance to change. The report concludes with recommendations for Air New Zealand to further strengthen its leadership and governance practices, fostering a competitive advantage in the market.

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
Leadership and Governance
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
Executive Summary
The report has thrown light on the importance of leadership and entrepreneurship on the
organisation named Air New Zealand. The different kinds of leadership characteristics have
been considered which helped in managing the overall efficiency of the organization
appropriately. The importance of the entrepreneurial activities along with knowledge
management have been analyzed for the company to assist them in gaining a competitive
advantage in the market. The six principles of leadership have been discussed concerning Air
New Zealand, and the examples have helped in managing the overall competitiveness.

2LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion 1...............................................................................................................................2
Overview of Organization......................................................................................................2
Discussion 2...............................................................................................................................3
Evaluation of Impact of Leadership on Organizational Behaviour, Culture and Vision.......3
Discussion 3...............................................................................................................................7
Evaluation of Usage of Entrepreneurial Thinking and Creativity in Identification of Needs
and Opportunities...................................................................................................................7
Discussion 4...............................................................................................................................9
Evaluation of Role of Innovation and Knowledge Management to Enhance Organizational
Effectiveness and Competitiveness........................................................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
Recommendations....................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................12

3LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
Introduction
The report throws light on understanding the role of leadership in developing a
healthy organizational culture. The corporate leadership mainly emphasizes on developing
the leadership skills along with abilities which are relevant across the organizations. Proper
evaluation of the impact of leadership on Air New Zealand will be analysed with the
implementation of the different leadership theories.
Proper investigation of the usage of the entrepreneurial creativity and thinking will be
studied which will be utilized to identify the trends and to recognize the opportunities. Lastly,
the role of innovation along with knowledge management is evaluated which will be
enhancing the effectiveness of Air New Zealand.
Discussion 1
Overview of Organization
Air New Zealand Limited is flag carrier airline of New Zealand which is based in
Auckland wherein the airline operates the scheduled passenger flights to more than 20
domestic and 31 international destinations in more than 19 countries (Airnewzealand.co.nz,
2018). The airline company commenced their operations from 1st April 1965, and they are
operating in the airlines' industry. The key person who is involved in making Air New
Zealand best in comparison to the other competitors are Christopher Luxon who is the CEO
of the company. The revenue earned by the organization is NZ$5,231 million till the year
2016, and the employees who are employed in the organization is 10527 till the year 2016.
The mission of Air New Zealand is to deliver the different customers by providing the
in-flight experience. Furthermore, the vision of the company is to make civil aviation
sustainable. The opportunities which are available for the airline is that the strategic alliance

4LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
with Qantans will be beneficial for them to strengthen their position in the entire industry.
Moreover, the leverage on the award-winning airlines can be helpful to create a strong brand
image and identity in the whole competitive market. However, the threats which can affect
the competitiveness of Air New Zealand is the intense competition from the different foreign
players. Furthermore, the increase in fuel and labour cost are the two major threats which can
affect the overall identity of the organization (Air New Zealand, 2018).
Discussion 2
Evaluation of Impact of Leadership on Organizational Behaviour, Culture and Vision
According to Doz (2017), leadership is essential for the firm as this leads to higher
performance by the different team members along with improving the morale and motivation
within the various individuals and they are the ones who respond to the change. Proper
leadership facilitates organizational success by creating proper accountability and
responsibility among the various members of the organization, and this increases the value of
Air New Zealand.
There are different principles of leadership which can be considered for analyzing the
role of leadership in Air New Zealand. Firstly, the independent judgment and intuition play
a significant role in Air New Zealand for the continuing success as the different employees
can share their viewpoints on the various aspects which will be useful in the process of
decision-making. The CEO and the other managers in Air New Zealand have skills along
with expertise in taking the decisions and applying the same to the organization (Tvnz.co.nz,
2018).
On the other hand, the leaders in Air New Zealand provide the employees with the
scope to showcase their viewpoints and they are being valued which is helpful in the final

5LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
decision-making of the organization. The CEO of Air New Zealand feels that the independent
judgment is valuable for the collective decision appropriately making for the organization.
Secondly, the political behavior can positively impact the Air New Zealand as the
workplace politics involves power and authority as this is the tool which helps in assessing
the operational capacity which will be beneficial for balancing the views of the different
interested parties (NZherald.co.nz, 2018). However, in case of Air New Zealand, there has
been resistance to change among the employees working in the organization as there has been
threatening of the employees which cause decreased job satisfaction among employees, and it
increased anxiety among the employees (Georgalis et al., 2018, p.113).
As there is substantial political pressure on the Air New Zealand, this can be
identified that to remain competitive in comparison to the other competitors; there has been
pressure on employees which changed their attitude towards performing the tasks as there is
an increase in stress which demotivated employees. However, after the profits have been
decreased due to the other competitors, the employees were not motivated to work (Air New
Zealand., 2018). Due to the turnover of the employees, there was a reduction in the
performance level of the employees. Lastly, this was being seen that the main concern of the
company is to provide the satisfaction to the customers and increasing their profit.
The third principle deals with the high-performance team which plays a significant
role in the organizations as all the members in the group are working towards the same goals,
and the team members are clear on the goals which are required to be achieved by the
members (Hislop, Bosua & Helms, 2018). In case of Air New Zealand, this can be identified
that the airline has won airline of the year for the fifth running year for motivating the
employees. After the previous few tragedies faced by Air New Zealand, the company has

6LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
now introduced different financial and non-financial rewards for the employees and this is
being provided to them as per their performance.
Moreover, Air New Zealand has committed to providing a safe workplace to the
different employees who help in delivering highly engaged workforce. The high performing
team is one of the significant strengths of Air New Zealand which allows them in fostering
the culture along with ensuring diversity in the leadership approaches utilized at Air New
Zealand (Diversityworksnz.org.nz, 2018). The respective airline has now focused mainly on
the different kinds of motivational aspects which increased the performance of teams along
with helped the company in gaining enormous productivity in the market
(Diversityworksnz.org.nz, 2018).
The fourth principle is the transformational leadership style in which this will help
the leaders to work with teams to identify the change which is required. There are significant
four contributions of the transformational leadership which is inclusive of individualized
consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation and idealized influence
(Airnewzealand.co.nz, 2018). These are the major four components which are related to
creating strong and positive organizational performance. In the case of Air New Zealand,
there has been the introduction of the transformational leadership in which the employee’s
opinions are being considered for the process of decision-making (Hitt & Duane Ireland,
2017, p.63).
There has been the inclusion of the different innovative techniques which will be
beneficial for the overall success of Air New Zealand. Due to the adoption of
transformational leadership, Air New Zealand has lowered the turnover rate of the
employees, and the change has been managed effectively as well (Stuff.co.nz, 2018). There
has been the creation and introduction of enthusiasm among the employees which will be

7LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
beneficial for motivating the employees to improve the quality of the performance. Moreover,
this has been noticed that the new corporate visions are quickly formulated which will be
beneficial for the overall success of the airlines in a positive manner.
Communication is the other principle wherein language plays an essential role to
understand others and to welcome diversity in the workplace. There have been different
issues related to communication which has been faced by Air New Zealand which affected
the overall performance of the company along with created an adverse effect on productivity.
In the year 2013, the CEO of the organization Air New Zealand faced various kinds of
cultural challenges that increased turnover of employees as they met diversity-related issues
(NZ Herald., 2018).
However, with the help of the communication, the previous CEO Christopher Luxon
sent a strong message which was that by the year 2020, more than 40% of the senior
leadership team would be women who will be efficiently leading the different higher
positions. Air New Zealand tries to maintain and provide equal opportunity to all the
employees by providing them with various possibilities for appropriately managing the
culturally diverse culture (Diversityworksnz.org.nz, 2018).
Lastly, the resistance to change is the last aspect in which this has been noticed that
in the last few years, the turnover rate of the employees has increased to a large extent which
affected the overall efficiency of the firm in a negative manner. However, after the company
was losing their profitability in the market, Air New Zealand tried to include different aspects
wherein the employees are involved in the process of change which will make them feel that
they are essential, and their opinions are being valued as well (NewsroomAir, 2018).
In Air New Zealand, the higher officials tried to analyze the reasons for the resistance
to change by examining the feedback from employees. Moreover, with the introduction of

8LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
innovative procedures, Air New Zealand decided to include all the employees in the decision-
making process which improved the overall productivity of the organization positively. The
engagement of the proper and right resistance managers is required to be hired who will be
helping in managing the resistance in an appropriate manner (Innovation, 2018).
Discussion 3
Evaluation of Usage of Entrepreneurial Thinking and Creativity in Identification of
Needs and Opportunities
The entrepreneurial thinking along with creativity plays a significant role in managing the
different aspects of the organization positively. The mind of the entrepreneurs revolves
around for new ideas along with opportunities for innovation. The entrepreneurship tries to
involve the continuous examination of existing business workflows in such a manner which
will be devising different other techniques to improve the organizational effectiveness as the
entrepreneurial thinking works towards optimization of business (Li et al., 2018, p.698).
In case of Air New Zealand, the entrepreneurial thinking and creativity help in
identification of the needs and opportunities with the help of Entrepreneurship Innovation
theory, this has assisted higher officials in Air New Zealand in gaining organizing and risk-
taking abilities to create successful innovation (Bayon, Vaillant & Lafuente, 2015, p.49).
With the different innovative techniques used by the organization, this was in favor of Air
New Zealand to innovate the different kinds of in-house airline experience for the different
customers travelling with them.
It has been noticed from the different articles that the airline is increasingly looking to
digital technologies which will be beneficial for enhancing the performance of the customers
and deliver the best to their customers as well (Li et al., 2018, p.698). The different

9LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
innovations include Airband which is the wristband wearable for the children who are
travelling unaccompanied which will be providing the guardians more significant type of
visibility of the journey of their children. Moreover, there has been the introduction of
artificial intelligence chatbot named Oscar along with unique coffee ordering technique
which is making the airline more innovative in comparison to the other competitors who are
performing in the same industry.
Moreover, with the help of such creativity and entrepreneurial thinking as the creative
thinking increases the quality of the solutions to the different organizational problems which
will help in stimulating the successful innovations along with upgrading the personal skills
and revitalizes the motivational aspects. In the case of Air New Zealand, there have been
innovations which increased the satisfaction level of the customers travelling with them. On
the other hand, the entrepreneurial activities revitalized the motivation among the employees
and increased their dedication towards performing the tasks (Li et al., 2018).
Due to the creativity, the different opportunities of Air New Zealand are being
increased which includes the leadership skills to improve the morale of employees working in
the organization. In case of the employees working with Air New Zealand, there has been the
introduction of different financial and non-financial rewards which benefits the employees to
become more effective in their operations (Li et al., 2018). The CEO of Air New Zealand
have tried to create an environment conducive to growth that has proved to be successful for
the employees working in organization along with creating an environment wherein the
employees have the right to share their ideas with the proper utilisation of the different skills
and knowledge (Bayon, Vaillant & Lafuente, 2015, p.49).

10LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
Discussion 4
Evaluation of Role of Innovation and Knowledge Management to Enhance
Organizational Effectiveness and Competitiveness
Wang et al. (2016), have commented that knowledge management and innovation
play a major role in enhancing organizational competitiveness and effectiveness. The
knowledge management and innovation are the set of business processes which are being
developed in the organization to store, create along with apply knowledge (Meyer, Neck &
Meeks, 2017, p.44). The purpose of the knowledge management is to provide the right
information to the right individuals at the right time which will be helpful in increasing and
enhancing the effectiveness of the organization.
In the case of Air New Zealand, Knowledge Management is the heart of the performance of
the organization, and this enables the companies to realize the value of human capital as well.
It is the mix of experiences, benefits along with information which helps in making the
organization useful in the different kinds of operations performed by them. The employees
are the biggest asset of the organization Air New Zealand wherein they provide sufficient and
efficient knowledge management (Omotayo, 2015).
In Air New Zealand, this was being noticed that the employees were not being valued
and these decreased the morale of the employees working in the organization as well.
However, after the increase in the turnover rate of the employees at Air New Zealand, the
company tried to use the innovative capabilities which facilitated the decision-making
capabilities. Moreover, this helps in stimulating the cultural change along with innovation
which will be achieved through the combination of motivation and recognition by evaluating
the performance through performance measurement systems (Wheelen et al., 2017).

11LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
Furthermore, knowledge management improves and integrates the growing
willingness of the firm which has a positive influence on increasing the overall productivity
of the airline in a positive manner (Hislop, Bosua & Helms, 2018). Lastly, this was being
noticed that organizational culture is the mediator between personal and organizational
knowledge and the knowledge management helps in better management to prove to be useful
and beneficial for the effective functioning of the organization in a positive manner (Jones,
2016).
Air New Zealand has played a significant role for both the employees’ effectiveness
and for satisfying the different demands of the customers appropriately through the inclusion
of knowledge management. Due to the addition of knowledge management, the organization
Air New Zealand has been able to increase the profitability of the organization along with
motivating and improving the morale of the employees in positively performing the
organization.
Conclusion
Therefore, this can be concluded that Air New Zealand faced various difficulties
regarding the turnover rate of the employees and the political behaviour aspects. From the
entire discussion, this has been analysed that there are multiple issues faced by the company
as the resistance to change among the employees were huge and this affected the overall
profitability of the organization negatively.
However, on the other hand, the communication and transformational leadership of
the present leader of Air New Zealand helped in making the organization effective in
achieving the different aspects positively, and the involvement of employees in the decision-
making process has helped the company to be more competitive in their approaches.
Furthermore, this has been noticed that the entrepreneurial thinking and decision-making