An Analysis of Management and Leadership at Contiki Travel Company

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of management and leadership within Contiki, a UK-based travel company. It begins by exploring classical management theories and their application to Contiki, including scientific management, bureaucracy theory, and Henri Fayol's principles. The report then examines the role of a leader and different leadership styles, such as autocratic, democratic, free-rein, and paternalistic, within the context of Contiki's operations. It further delves into the internal and external factors that influence Contiki's management styles and structures, including owners, shareholders, employees, organizational culture, political, economic, and technological factors. The report also discusses the current and future management and leadership skills required for Contiki to maintain its competitive edge in the travel industry. Finally, it offers a comparison between Contiki and Barclays PLC, drawing insights from different management approaches. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and implications for Contiki's management and leadership strategies.

Management and Leadership for Services
Industries
Student Name: Saida
Student ID:
1

Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
LO 1............................................................................................................................................................4
Different classical management theories and their application to Contiki...............................................4
The role of leader and different leadership styles in Contiki....................................................................5
Review the management and leadership styles in Contiki.......................................................................8
LO 2............................................................................................................................................................9
Internal and external factors that influence management styles and structures of Contiki.......................9
LO 3..........................................................................................................................................................12
Current management and leadership ‘hard’ and soft’ skills of Contiki..................................................12
Future management and leadership skills required for Contiki..............................................................13
LO 4..........................................................................................................................................................15
Comparison and contrast between Contiki and Barclay’s PLC..............................................................15
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................16
Bibliography..............................................................................................................................................17
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Introduction
Management is the process of getting people together to achieve the desired goal by using resources
efficiently and effectively. The process includes planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and
controlling by which organisation reaches its destination. Here the managers or leaders play a key role in
maintaining correlation among all the resources of the organisation. They try to keep a better relationship
with their subordinates through democratic or other leadership styles. They are regularly influenced by
some internal or external factors for using resources effectively. They also need some skills to continue
their performance. Acting as a manager of Contiki, a brief discussion of the classical theory of
management, different leadership style, factors influencing the management structure, soft skills, and hard
skills of managers are described in this assignment. Here, Contiki is a UK based tour company
subordinated by The Travel Corporation.
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LO 1
Different classical management theories and their application to Contiki
The industrial revolutions lasted from 1750 to 1850 and were mostly confined to Britain. During the
industrial revolution, the classical theory of management was introduced to enhance productivity within
different factories and businesses. This type of management theory still may provide benefits for some
organisations. Here are the three major classical management theory:
Figure 1: Classical Theory of Management; Source: (Hill, 2014)
Scientific Management Theory
Introduced by Frederick Winslow Taylor, this theory focus on employee’s productivity and the efficiency
of production. He introduced a scientific guideline that helped to train and manage employees
scientifically. The main thing is that this theory state to look at each task scientifically and to divide the
task between managers and subordinates (Kelle, 2010).
Bureaucracy Theory
Bureaucracy theory, created by Max Weber, states that an organisation must have well-defined rules and
regulations, a certain hierarchical structure, line of authority by which it governs, labour specialization,
and so on. But in most cases, the rules and regulations are inflexible and rigid and lead to unnecessary
delays at the time of making a decision (Beach and Lipshitz, 2017).
Henri Fayol’s Theory
Henri Fayol, leader of classical management theory, focused on how to improve management efficiency
rather than each employee’s efficiency. Fayol introduced six functions of management which are essential
for improving the productivity of the organization (Beach and Lipshitz, 2017).
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Scientific Theory
Bureaucracy Theory
Henri Fayol’s Theory

Classical theory in the perspective of Contiki
Contiki is a UK-based travel company that brings travellers from all parts of the world to introduce the
new culture, the new part of the world. It deals with almost 350+ travel spots. The authorities of the
company train every employee scientifically to cope up with any situation. Because their success mostly
depends on the performance of the employees even the tourist spots may not charming. This company has
well-defined rules and regulations, hierarchical structure but all these are flexible for employees.
The role of leader and different leadership styles in Contiki
Role of Leader
A person who leads or commands a group of people or an organisation for achieving a certain goal. So, a
leader has a great impact on his organisation and plays a key role to reach the ultimate goal. Some roles
are:
Figure 2: Role of Leaders; Source: (Roche, 2014)
Decision-maker: Leaders from top-level to lower-level are always decisive and make a hard choice.
Leaders have to choice one, even they go through little or less than perfect information (Vries, et al,
2010).
Facilitator: Leaders have to provide clear directions and need to make things easier for others. In some
cases, they tach some employees practically and prepare for future roles.
Visionary: One of the best roles played by a leader, leaders must have a picture which reflects the
destination of their journey and how it related to the organisation.
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R o le o f L e a d e r s
Decision-maker
Facilitator
Visionary
Coordinator
Supporter

Coordinator: By leadership quality, a leader coordinates the personnel goals with the organisational
goals. He always tries to accumulate the employee’s effort towards the organisation’s goal. (Vries, et al,
2010).
Supporter: The best leader always invites support and cooperation to his subordinates. In this case, he
provides proper guidelines and in some cases implement those guidelines practically. This way he can
render full support to his subordinates.
Friend, Philosopher, or Guide: A leader may be a friend by sharing his desires, feelings, opinions, real-
life story with his subordinates. He needs to supervise subordinate’s performance and guide them to the
right destination. Here, he plays the role of a guide (Vries, et al, 2010).
Role of leaders in perspective to Contiki
Contiki, a UK-based travel company, always tries to keep a better relation among its employees from the
top-level to the lower-level. It has lot of employees living in different countries. So, the leaders provide a
clear and explained directions having all necessary details. They try to coordinate all employee’s
performance and keep consistency so that the customers can’t raise any questions. There remains a
friendly relation among all employees.
Leadership Style
Leadership is a quality of inspiring others to work together for achieving a definite goal. Because of good
leadership, a leader can capture the best output from its subordinates which is essentials for the
organisation. Four basic leadership styles are:
Figure 3: Leadership Styles; Source: (Cummings et al, 2010)
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Autocratic Leadership
Democratic or Participative Leadership
Free-Rein or Laissez-Faire Leadership
Paternalistic Leadership

Autocratic Leadership
According to autocratic leadership styles, the leader has an extreme level of power over his team
members. All decisions making power are centralized. The subordinates don’t get the opportunity to
provide any suggestions even it is for the interest of organisations. This method may be successful when
managers need to take quick decisions (Cummings et al, 2010).
Democratic or Participative Leadership
A democratic leader invites other employees to participate in decision-making process with their valuable
opinions. This not only enhances the satisfaction of employees but also develops subordinate’s decision-
making skills. But this method takes time for ensuring all member’s participation. If teamwork is essential
and quality is important than quick decisions, this method is highly suitable (Vries, et al, 2010).
Free-Rein or Laissez-Faire Leadership
In this method, management provides little or in some cases no directions to complete a particular task.
Employees are given as much as possible freedom and they have to make decisions, have to find out the
way of solving problems on their own. (Cummings et al, 2015).
Paternalistic Leadership
Under this leadership style, the leader considers the whole team as a family and he is the head of the
family. As a family head, the leaders supervise, communicate, and guide all the team members to fulfill
their tasks successfully. This method of leadership provides good and quick results if the team members
are sincere to their heads (Vries, et al, 2010).
Leadership style in the perspective of Contiki
Contiki is a family and all the employees of this organisation enjoy their work happily. They provide
travel without hassle, short transport, accommodation, and a bunch of delicious food for travelers during
the trip. They provide almost 350+ global trips and top-level management may not know about all trips.
So, at the time of making any policies and strategies or in case of changing any hierarchical structure, the
authority must capture information from the field level employees. In this way, it shows a combination of
democratic and paternalistic leadership and tries to ensure the participation of all employees.
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Review the management and leadership styles in Contiki
Figure 4: Leadership Style of Contiki
Contiki, having a better management system, keeps a good relationship among all employees. Everyone
plays a key role in giving better services to travellers. Experienced travel managers, as well as funny and
sensible tourist guide, can make the trip more enjoyable. For these reasons, the authority should focus on
the better performance of employees. Every employee should be trained scientifically so that they can
update themselves in a modern situation. At the same time, employees have to keep a brief knowledge
about local culture as well as local rules and regulations.
Contiki brings travelers from different parts of the world to see the unseen, to know the unknown. It
works in different parts of the world under the head office in Bromley Town, Kent, UK. This organisation
has a lot of employees working in different branches of the world. The policymakers may have slight
knowledge about different branches and tourist spots because of their different cultures. So, there is a
branch manager who is directly involved with the top order management and represents his branch. In this
way, they ensure the participation of all employees from top-level to lower-level. Here, they completely
follow the democratic leadership style by respecting other opinions.
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LO 2
Internal and external factors that influence management styles and structures of
Contiki
Internal factors that influence management style and structure
Figure 5: Internal Factors Influencing Management Structure; Source: (Hill and McShane, 2018)
Owners and Shareholders: Owners or Shareholders invested in the organisation and have a valid claim
on the organisation. They select a board of directors if required and participate directly or indirectly in
policymaking. As owners or shareholders are integral part of an organisation’s internal environment, they
have a strong influence on management structure (Brodaty et al, 2014).
Board of Directors: They are the governing body of an organisation selected by owners or shareholders.
They are provided the responsibility to make policy, strategy, and find out the way to achieve
organisation’s goal. So, the board of directors plays a key role in management styles and structures
(Thompson and D.M., 2012).
Employees: Employees are the most significant element that influences an organisation’s management
system. If management manages its employees properly, it can easily reach its destination. But ill
management may lead to catastrophic situations for the organisation (Hill and McShane, 2018).
Organisational Culture: An Organisation’s culture includes the behavior, values, beliefs, habits, visions
of employees. While making policies and strategies, management has to consider these factors.
Management has to remember culture is an important determinant that influences employees highly
(Brodaty et al, 2014).
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In t e r n a l
F a c to r s Owners and Shareholders
Board of Directors
Employees
Organisational culture
Resources of Organisation

Resources of the Organisation: Organisation’s resources include physical, human, financial, and
technological resources. These internal factors are highly influenced by the style and structure of
management (Thompson and D.M., 2012).
Internal factors in perspective to Contiki
Contiki has a particular management system through which it runs its activities. Contiki is a subsidiary
company of The Travel Corporation which has almost 40 travel brands. So, the parent company, The
Travel Corporation, influences its management system by involving members in the board of directors
who play key role in policymaking. Then employees working in different branches with different culture
have a great impact on the management system. Its resources also effect slightly its management system.
External factors that influence management style and structure
Figure 6: External Factors Influencing Management Structure; Source: (Hill and McShane, 2018)
Political and Legal Factors: There are some political and legal factors that influence the management
structure directly or indirectly arising from the business-government relationship and the political
situation of a country (Thompson and D.M., 2012).
Economic Factors: Most important economic factors that influence business sectors are inflation, interest
rate, unemployment, etc. The country’s economic condition also influences the price behavior of products
or services. So, the management has to consider these factors while making management strategy and
policy (Hill and McShane, 2018).
Technological Factors: It deals with factors used for converting raw materials into the final products or
services. Management must think about technological factors and try to accurate new technologies. At the
same time, they must be adaptable for the organisation’s employees (Brodaty et al, 2014).
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E x te rn a l
F a c to rs Political and Legal Factors
Economic Factors
Technological Factors
International Factors

International Factors: Modern businesses are not bound to within a country, rather borderless
businesses are being more popular. Policymakers have to think about how they are affected by businesses
of other countries. Because of the global network, the whole world turns into a small village and
connected each other through a modern network (Hill and McShane, 2018).
External factors in perspective of Contiki
Contiki is one of the world’s best travel companies. It has conducted its business throughout the globe. At
the time of making policy, it has to consider import policy, export policy, taxation policy, investment
policy, consumer protection policy, and political instability of those countries. Their main motive is to
provide travel service but the hidden intention is to earn profits. The policy, rules, and regulations of the
World Tourism Organisation have to consider by management to conduct business throughout the world.
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LO 3
Current management and leadership ‘hard’ and soft’ skills of Contiki
Hard skills refer some technical skills that employees learn through education or training and differ from
company to company. On the other hand, soft skills are natural abilities that employees acquired through
life experience and transferable across industries. Here is the list of some hard and soft skills that need for
management and leadership system:
Figure 7: Hard and Soft Skill of a Leader or Manager; Sources: (Abdelrazek et al, 2010)
Hard skills required for management and leadership of Contiki
Technical Skills: Technical skills refer to specialized knowledge and experience in information system.
Contiki is a modern world travel agency that provide services through modern technology. So, the
managers and employees are trained to cope up with the upgraded technology so that they can provide the
best service to their customers (Abdelrazek et al, 2010).
Management Skills: Every employee should have good knowledge of management because everyone is
a manager in his position. The managers of Contiki is trained before participating in final work. They are
provided all managerial knowledge compliance and in compliance with the organisation (Mujtaba, 2013).
Analytical Skills: It refers to the skills of collecting and analyzing data and deciphering its inner meaning
and presenting it formally. It doesn’t matter either data is available or not. But the main thing is that how
efficiently it can be presented to others. The managers and employees of Contiki are trained to enhance
their analytical skills (Carvalho et al, 2015).
Language Skills: Managers provide direction through language. Contiki runs its business in almost all of
the country of the world. So, the management first needs to have good command of English. As its
customers come from different parts of the world, mid-level and lower-level managers must have good
knowledge of other languages that can provide extra benefits to travellers (Abdelrazek et al, 2010).
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Hard Skills
Technical Skills
Management Skills
Analytical Skills
Language Skills
Soft Skills
Communication
Adaptability
Decision-making
Teamwork