MBA Project: Leadership Style Impact on Emirates Airline Performance

This project investigates the impact of leadership styles on employee performance, specifically focusing on Emirates Airline in the UK. The study examines the relationship between leadership and employee performance, analyzing leadership theories and their practical application within the airline industry. The research employs a quantitative approach, collecting data through surveys from Emirates Airline employees to understand their perspectives on leadership styles and their effects on performance. The project explores various factors influencing employee performance, such as communication, motivation, and job stress, and assesses how different leadership styles address these issues. The findings highlight the importance of effective leadership in enhancing employee satisfaction, reducing turnover, and ultimately improving the quality of service. The project concludes with recommendations for Emirates Airline to optimize its leadership strategies and foster a positive work environment that drives high employee performance.

Running head: MBA - International Business
MBA - International Business
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MBA - INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Abstract
The study with the research title “impact of leadership style on employee performance in
airline industry”. Purpose of the study was to investigate how leadership style can affect
employee performance. To derive specific outcome from the study, operation of Emirate
Airline UK has been considered in the study. Study effectively answered the research
questions which were framed as the impact of leadership on employee performance. In the
present study, in order to learn about employees’ view about leadership style, quantitative
data has been collected from the employees through the survey method. The respondents
were selected the basis of sampling methods applied in the study. Almost 50 employees of
Emirates Airline have been surveyed to know how leadership style in their organization is
affecting the employee performance, have been surveyed. The analytical work presented in
the paper demonstrates that leadership style has the potential to create sustainable effect on
employee performance.

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Table of Content
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................6
1.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................6
1.1 Background to the Study..................................................................................................7
1.2 Problem Statement...........................................................................................................8
1.3 Research Aim and Objectives..........................................................................................9
1.4 Research Questions..........................................................................................................9
1.5 Research Significance......................................................................................................9
1.6 Dissertation Structure.....................................................................................................10
1.7 Summary........................................................................................................................11
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................12
2.0 Literature Review...............................................................................................................12
2.1 Concept and the role of leadership.................................................................................12
2.2 Leadership theories........................................................................................................14
2.3 Transactional theory of Leadership................................................................................16
2.4 Employee Performance..................................................................................................18
2.5 Factors affecting employee performance.......................................................................19
2.6 Relationship between leadership and employee performance.......................................21
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................23
3.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................23
3.2 Research Philosophy......................................................................................................23
3.3 Research Approach........................................................................................................25

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3.4 Research Design.............................................................................................................25
3.5 Data collection method..................................................................................................27
3.6 Sampling........................................................................................................................28
3.7 Data Analysis method....................................................................................................28
3.8 Ethical Consideration.....................................................................................................29
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS...................................................30
4.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................30
4.2 Quantitative data............................................................................................................30
4.3 Discussion......................................................................................................................53
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION................................................57
5.1 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................57
5.2 Recommendation............................................................................................................61
5.3. Future Study..................................................................................................................63
5.4 Limitation.......................................................................................................................64
References................................................................................................................................65
Appendix..................................................................................................................................71
Survey Questionnaire...........................................................................................................71

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List of Graph
Graph 1: Importance of leaders’ communication.....................................................................29
Graph 2: Leaders’ also require suitable communication training............................................31
Graph 3: Lack of communication between leaders and employees make leaders lack support
in the organization....................................................................................................................33
Graph 4: Job stress can negatively affect employee performance...........................................35
Graph 5: Leaders of the organization should address employee job stress..............................37
Graph 6: Whether autocratic leadership style responsible for employee job stress.................39
Graph 7: Leaders should motivate employees.........................................................................41
Graph 8: Lack of motivation can negatively affect employee performance............................43
Graph 9: Employees can be motivated by leadership skills and personality of their leaders. .45
Graph 10: Effectiveness of leadership on employee performance depends upon the type of
leadership style.........................................................................................................................47
Graph 11: Leadership style is a secondary concern in employee performance.......................49
Graph 12: Inappropriate leadership style the major reason for poor employee performance..51

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List of Table
Table 1: Importance of leaders’ communication.....................................................................30
Table 2: Leaders’ also require suitable communication training.............................................32
Table 3: Lack of communication between leaders and employees make leaders lack support
in the organization....................................................................................................................34
Table 4: Job stress can negatively affect employee performance............................................36
Table 5: Leaders of the organization should address employee..............................................37
Table 6: Whether autocratic leadership style responsible for employee job stress..................40
Table 7: Leaders should motivate employees..........................................................................41
Table 8: Lack of motivation can negatively affect employee performance.............................44
Table 9: Employees can be motivated by leadership skills and personality of their leaders...46
Table 10: Effectiveness of leadership on employee performance depends upon the type of
leadership style.........................................................................................................................48
Table 11: Leadership style is a secondary concern in employee performance........................50
Table 12: Inappropriate leadership style the major reason for poor employee performance...51

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Topic- Impact of leadership style on employee performance- A case study of Emirates
Airline, UK
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction
This research work revolves around the impact of leadership style on employee performance.
Two significant managerial practices namely leadership and employee performance are
mandatorily processed in all businesses.. This study separately investigates effect of
leadership styles that organizations apply, on employee performance in the Airlie industry. In
general, it can be mentioned that employee performance will not be up to the standard, if
organizations do not apply adequate leadership style. When it comes to employee
performance, leadership style is one such approach which has a direct link to employee
performance and businesses. Personal administration on employee performance usually falls
under the responsibility of human resource management. Thereby, control and administration
of employee performance has been analysed with human resource management practices in
the study. Strategic integration of HRM has been aligned with human resource management.
Decidedly leadership style is applied to fit employees to business. As airline industry is all
about providing services, employee performance is a significant subject in the business and
through leadership style, direction, empowerment and decision making are evaluated to
control and assess employee performance. Therefore, leadership style determines employee
performance. However, this implication has been further investigated and analysed in the
study with appraise research aim and objectives (Anitha 2014).
When it comes to employee performance, there are certain areas that be considered that
employee performance usually include execution of duties, meeting deadlines of the tasks,
employee competency and efficiency in performing job responsibilities. Different business

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require different leadership style which determines employee performance. As the
organizations from the global market are entering UK’s airline sector, the industry as a whole
has been competitive in nature. Stable economy is another factor for the crowd of businesses
in UK’ airline sector. (Bamber et al. 2013). So, this competitive market and demand of
service quality are actually driving employee performance. Thus, employee performance in
the airline organization is in the need of suitable guidance –leadership. The present study
considers this areas and investigates how leadership impacts employee performance
particularly in the airline organization. Existing operation of Emirates airline triggers the
need for performing a study with real-world context.
1.1 Background to the Study
Employees are very significant resources in any given organization. This means that the skill
they pose and the roles they play in the organization brings the firm specific competitive
advantages. As put forward by Hussain,, Al Nasser and Hussain (2015), for employees to
play their part effectively, it is highly significant that they are satisfied, motivated and
managed in the most effective way that improvise the level of their satisfaction with the
organization. Employee performance refers to a kind of behaviour that employee possess that
are developed towards organization’s business goals. Hence, leadership plays a crucial role in
leading employees towards the business goals. According to Squalli (2014), leadership is just
not about leaders; it takes up followers, supervisors, organizational culture and several other
aspect of business and whole spectrum creates a diverse workplace. Leaders must possess the
ability to positively influence others to sacrifice self-interest in the interest of an integrated
vision to achieve it effectively.

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It has been identified that the nature of leadership style could determine the degree to which
employees could perform effectively in the organization. So, the relation between leadership
style as well as employee performance is significant as it expands the understanding on how
different variables affecting performance As put forward by Wang et al. (2014), the longer
effect on employee performance is caused by participative leadership style because under this
participative leadership style employee of the organizations feel empowered and find
motivation in performing their job responsibilities and create difference. It has been identified
that leadership and the workforce underneath are bridged by the range of performance. It can
be mentioned that success of the organization rest upon their performance of employees and
leadership. As the corporates influenced by completion seek to find leaders that are highly
skilled, scholars are in the quest of implication about how leaders work in today’s
competitive and dynamic business environment. Consequently, to make this job easier, many
theories related to leadership style have been developed over the years. Businesses in the
airline sector that often look for transition from pilot to departmental are cautious about a
fundamental and market based leadership style and apply the style to achieve the business
goals. Squalli (2014) mentioned the fact that authoritarian leader tends to maintain a tight
control over those employees.
Conventionally, relationship between leader and the follower is often professional and
under such leadership, supervision is under control. It has been identified that leadership and
management are considered very differently by a diverse group of people and however, in the
case of Emirates Airline, it has been identified that Emirates Leadership and management
techniques plays a great role for continuing the success of the firm. For example, Sheikh
Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Makto and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline presently supervise the
operation and past history of Emirates Airline indicates that organization has grown from a
local airline to a highly pleased global airline (Squalli 2014). However, the journey has

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several upcoming obstacles due to the competition and growing demand of quality services. It
has been identified that Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer alongside the leaders must
have to be capable of showing their natural ability to lead employee performance
accordingly.
1.2 Problem Statement
Airline industry in the recent time have been dynamic in nature –this means that changing
market environment is actually taking its toll on the organization. Consequently, the demand
of a high quality service is rapidly increasing, while nationalized airline firms are turning into
global ones (Fu and Deshpande 2014). So, Emirates Airline faces tough competition with
regard to service quality but service quality entirely depends upon employee performance
(Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy 2014). Organization also faces the challenge of
developing skilled workforce to meet the growing needs of the market. Thus, workforce of
Emirates Airline requires a suitable leadership that guides employee performance. Due to the
absence of a suitable leadership, Emirates Airline presently experiences long hour stress,
employees’ lack of commitment, job satisfaction and increasing employee turnover (Men and
Stacks 2013).
1.3 Research Aim and Objectives
The study aims to particularly find out the impact of leadership style on employee
performance in Emirates Airline of UK. A number of objectives have been developed to
meet this stated aim.
 To critically examine the equation between leadership style and employee
performance
 To investigate the type of leadership style necessary for airline industry

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 To analytically identify the effect of leadership style on employee performance in
Emirates Airline
1.4 Research Questions
 How does employee performance relate to leadership style in the organization?
 How can leadership style affect employee performance in airline organizations?
1.5 Research Significance
Study on the impact of leadership style on employee performance of Airline Organization
is significant to the academic field as airline sector decidedly has been changing in terms of
demand and competition. Hence, organization requires a proper insight and strategy about
good leadership and employee performance as these two areas determine the quality of
services. Result of the study reveals how airline organization today improves employee
performance through leadership style and strategies. Outcome of this study can be used
secondary evidences for future studies in the chosen context.
1.6 Dissertation Structure
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation

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Chapter 1: Introduction
This introductory chapter of the dissertation first provides a general overview of how
leadership style and employee performance are related and influenced by each other. To
understand the effect of leadership on employee performance specifically, problem related to
how Emirates Airline in a competitive market applies leadership style to control employee
performance, has been stated in this chapter. By considering this problem, suitable research
questions and objectives have been developed in the chapter that are related to the stated
research problems. Objectives given in the chapter creates the scope for a detailed review in
the following chapter.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
A detailed review of studies that are carried out by scholars so far have been
presented in this chapter. When performing the review, the operational scenario of airline
sector has also been considered in the chapter. To enrich the understanding regarding
employee performance and leadership style, contemporary theories and models of the same
have been reviewed.
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
Importance and use of research methods for the present study have been presented in
the chapter. Chosen methods are required to investigate how leadership style can affect
employee performance in Emirate Airline, UK. With the primary data collected from existing
employees of Emirates, investigation has been performed. To gather the data for the same
both quantitative data collection method has been applied to the research.
Chapter 4: Research Findings and Analysis