Leadership and Management Concepts in Virgin Atlantic

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Leadership and Management Concepts

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................4
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager..........4
M1 Analyse and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a manager by
effectively applying a range of theories and concepts.................................................................6
LO2..................................................................................................................................................7
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts........................................................................................................7
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency..........................................................................................................7
M2 Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations within the work
environment.................................................................................................................................8
D1 Critically analyses and evaluates the different theories and approaches to leadership in
given contexts..............................................................................................................................9
LO3................................................................................................................................................10
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play............................................................................................................................10
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business
objectives...................................................................................................................................11
M3 Evaluate how leaders and managers can improve efficiencies of operational management
to successfully meet business objectives...................................................................................12
LO4................................................................................................................................................13
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational
management and decision-making by leaders and managers....................................................13

M4 Analyse how these different factors affect the business environment and wider community.
....................................................................................................................................................13
D2 Critically evaluate application of operations management and factors that impact on the
wider business environment.......................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION:-...........................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES:.............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
For the purpose of improving the growth and vision of an organization, it is necessary to
understand the concepts of Management and leadership. Also, communicating with an improved
vision, it becomes easy to generate a proper alignment between all the employees and workers by
motivating them with the help of effective management and leadership qualities of an employer.
The Virgin Atlantic is an airline company that has its location in the United Kingdom with its
central office in Crawley. This organization was established in the year 1984 with the name of
British Atlantic Airways. Furthermore, this assignment report will include the role played by the
leader and function of the manager of Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin Atlantic serves its services worldwide, the leader and manager play an important role in
the growth and management of an organization. The role of leader and functions of the
management team will be described in this proposed report that includes their different
characteristics and roles with different theories and concepts. The theories and models of
approach which helps to improve the leadership and contingency will be explained in this report.
If there are any approaches and theories which provide benefits to the organization, on the other
hand, it has some limitations and disadvantages also present. The strengths and weaknesses of
those theories and approaches will be assessed which affect the workplace of Virgin Atlantic will
be assessed in this report. At the end of this report, the relationship between the management and
leadership in an organization to maintain the decorum of the business environment will be
demonstrated that helps to understand their roles and operational functions.

LO1
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.
The structure of Virgin Atlantic Airlines is completely based on the framework and differentiates
into hierarchical level according to the roles and responsibilities of management. This
organization is managed by Sir Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic Airlines.
The roles and characteristics of a leader and manager are different to operate a business that
includes various concepts, theories, and approaches to fulfilling the goals and objectives of the
Virgin Atlantic organization.
Definition of Leader:
A leader is a person who is senior and experienced within its field and influences the employees
of an organization to achieve their goals. In simple words, leader commands and lead an
organization with his advanced knowledge and sharp skills.
Definition of Manager:
The manager is an individual who is responsible for the administration and controlling process or
an organization. Manager divides the duties and responsibilities of employees and solves their
problems with good decision-making ability.
Roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager:
Leader:
 Trust Builder: A good leader creates a trusting environment within an organization
which is very necessary for making employee relationship. The leader of Virgin Atlantic
organization is very credible which significance for its competence and development.
 Craft Vision: The other main role of a good leader is give clear vision to the team that
helps to achieve their goals within the given time.
 Make strategies: Leader is an individual who holds an organization with effective
strategies and ideas. Making new strategies give excellence result to Virgin Atlantic
Airlines and enhance its growth and development.

 Coach for the team: The noble leader has the power to identify the abilities of each
employee in the team. Leader helps the team to improve their performance and provide
great opportunities for their career. It helps to improve the skills of Virgin Atlantic
organization and increase productivity and profitability.
Manager:
In the words of Anderson and Sun (2017), there are four main functions of manager that
compose the organization process which is as follows:
 Planning: Planning is the most important function to initiate any new process or project.
It helps in the prediction of future results regarding the project. In Virgin Atlantic
organization, the manager makes effective plans to attract the customers that increase its
economic growth. The main function of a manager is to make an appropriate and correct
decision which is beneficial for an organization.
 Organizing: Organizing means the coordination between authority and responsibility.
Virgin Atlantic serves its airline facilities to its loyal customers and maintains a good
relationship with customers.
 Leading: Leading is defined as to motivate and encourage the employees to improve
their work performance and productivity which increase profitability. In Virgin Atlantic
organization, the manager leads the employees and provides guidance and knowledge for
their skill enhancement.
 Controlling: This is the main function of management which controls and observe the
performance of all employees and make effective decisions if needed. Manager of Virgin
Atlantic assess the employee's performance and give an appraisal for their excellent
performance which creates their trust and loyalty towards the organization.
Differences between management and leadership
Management Leadership
It is the managing activity which includes
planning, organizing, leading and controlling
which is necessary for profitability and growth
of an organization.
It is a practical approach which is used to hold
the complete organization, it gives the path of
leading which improve the results and
leadership is necessary for smoothness of

working environment.
M1 Analyse and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a manager by
effectively applying a range of theories and concepts.
According to Vaccaro et al. (2012), the difference between the role of a leader and the function
of a manager:
Leader Manager
A leader is a person who creates a picture or
vision for organization growth.
The manager creates goals to achieve the
objectives of an organization.
The leader makes innovation in an organization
with updated strategies and technologies.
The manager maintains the working status and
structure of an organization.
The main objective of the leader is providing
guidance to the employees of the organization.
The manager set the roles and duties of
employees within an organization.
A leader is a unique personality with its brand.
They are happy and make their own decision
criteria.
The manager follows the rules and instructions
of other leaders.
They are a risk taker. The manager is a risk controller.
Leader work to build and maintain
relationships with employees and all
stakeholders.
Manager work to maintain organization
structure, system, and process.
Leader coach the employees. The manager assigns the duties and activities
and monitors the employee’s performance.

LO2
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts.
A leader always helps their team members in getting an appropriate step at the right time so that
maximum outcome can be achieved and efforts of team members can be directed in the right
direction. A leader always motivates team members about the task which is assigned to the team
also took the team forward by eliminating the hurdles. Virgin Atlantic is an organization which
provides air travel service all over the world. The organization showed tremendous growth in its
revenue by managing the staff and resources at a great extent. Leaders of the organization played
a key role in the success of the organization by improving the organization strategies and
implementing the best possible efforts for the growth of the organization. Managers helped the
organization in managing the human resource as well as other resources in a way that maximum
profit is generated in the least input. The focus of the study is to use the best management
strategies so that the organization can run smoothly (Bush et al. 2019).
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership,
systems leadership, and contingency.
Situational leadership: This theory was introduced in early 1969 and implemented in 1970 for
merging the two main factor of management and these factors are leadership behavior and task
behavior. According to this theory, good leadership varies according to various factors such as
task, function, and job and team member. These factors can influence the leadership with great
impact because of little changes in these factors can change the outcome of the Virgin Atlantic
organization.
System leadership: System leadership can be helpful in managing a system department with
great efficiency and effectiveness. Also, system leadership is essential leadership in managing
the sources of Virgin Atlantic airline by providing ways of managing the inputs. The focus of
this strategy is to manage those departments which influence the efficiency of the whole system.

This system of leadership can also increase the working efficiency of the system by
implementing the easiest solution to the task (Billsberry et al. 2018).
Contingency: This is the strategy which is used to implement an alternate solution in the case of
the failure of the main strategy. This strategy is helpful in handling the critical situation by
providing solutions when the situation is not according to the plan. In an organization, many time
management systems fail to predict the actual facts and figure due to which resulted outcomes
are different and unexpected. So, to handle that kind of situations this strategy is used. In an
airline organization, this type of condition occurs many times due to which major failure can
occur, which might cause a big loss. This strategy is good to approach to handle the situations
which are harmful for the organization (Sadeghi and Rad 2018).
Promise theory: this theory helps in building the relationship between the team leader and the
team member by eliminating the hurdles.
M2 Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations within the
work environment.
Strengths of the following approaches:
 Management theories help in analyzing the problems from the basic part.
 These approaches are better to eliminate the problem according to the situation.
 Some of the approaches provide an alternative solution for the issues which occurs in an
organization.
 The main benefit of these approaches that these approaches show the combination of
leadership quality and management processes to acquire a better result.
The weakness of the following approaches:
 Some of the approaches are not helpful in generating the outcome as per desired.
 Lack of communication creates the problems in the system and cause a lack of belief of
team member on the leader.
 Most importantly these approaches are not essential in critical situations.

LO1 & 2
D1 Critically analyses and evaluates the different theories and approaches to leadership in
given contexts.
In the words of Neto (2014), there are two main leadership theories in Virgin Atlantic Airlines
organization which are as follows:
1. Transformational leadership theory: This theory is newly added in the leadership theories
that help to expand the role and functions of a leader. The transformational theory motivated and
encourage the employees to accomplish their desires more than their expectations with positive
behavior. This theory is widely applied in Virgin Atlantic organization; the work is completed by
highly skilled and knowledgeable employees by using innovative ideas and techniques which are
provided by the leader of an organization.
2. Positive leadership theory: This theory was invented to create positivity in the team. All the
employees who work in Virgin Atlantic Airlines are coming from different cities and have a
different culture. The positive leadership theory provides proper guidance and theoretical
framework to the employees that create a multi-cultural working environment within an
organization.

LO3
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play.
The most areas of Virgin Atlantic are managed with the help of operations management. Also,
different aspects of managing operations are discussed in this part along with various approaches
to improve them. There are different concepts of operations management that can be used by the
Virgin Atlantic organization to keep their existence in an effective manner which is as follows:-
JUST IN TIME: - This concept is very practical and applicable when it comes to the airline
firms, especially for the Virgin Atlantic this concept can be very helpful in managing all of their
inventories with proper monitoring. This will ultimately help in managing their workforce more
effectively by increasing their efficiency (McCaffery 2018).
TQM: - The concept of total quality management is very essential for any organization, as it
helps in maintaining the quality of everything in a very systematic manner. Virgin Atlantic firm
can apply this concept for improving its management of operations.
Continuous improvement: - By using this approach of improvement in the Virgin Atlantic firm,
they can develop their services and productivity up to a major extent. This concept of operations
management is traditional but can provide the best results.
All the concepts mentioned above can help in providing a very great improvement to the Virgin
Atlantic firm for having their good quality service of airlines all around the world. Also, the most
important job of the leader of this organization is to ensure the best output by applying all the
concepts and approaches of operations management with proper communication to make their
organization best among their competitors. Furthermore, the role of a manager is to be
responsible for managing the various aspects like effective communication, the setting of a goal,
allocation of resources and financial management (Hallinger 2018).