MOD005486 - Leadership and Entrepreneurship in British Airways

This report delves into the leadership and entrepreneurial strategies employed by British Airways, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It advocates for transformational leadership as the most effective approach, highlighting its elements such as individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence. The report contrasts this with other leadership theories, explaining why they may be less suitable for the challenges faced by the airline industry. Furthermore, it discusses the impact of cultural differences on leadership styles within a global company like British Airways. The report also identifies key skills, such as flexibility, critical thinking, and risk-taking, that are crucial for entrepreneurs in the post-COVID business environment, emphasizing their importance in navigating uncertainty and fostering innovation. It concludes by underlining the significance of experience and creative thinking in driving progress within the airline industry.

Leadership and
Entrepreneurship

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK ONE......................................................................................................................................3
TASK TWO.....................................................................................................................................6
Skills to be possessed post covid.................................................................................................6
Evolution of entrepreneur’s traits................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATON..............................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
Books and Journals....................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is the ability to influence individuals working with or without any authority. It
includes sharing the vision and follow the same. It includes understanding the impact of each
action and learning to solve various conflicts within the team. Leadership is a skill that deals
with the ability of an individual to guide and influence other people working towards attaining
common goal. It is an important management function that helps in directing the resources in
order to improve efficiency (Reid, and et.al., 2018). Effective leadership assists in providing
clarity within the purpose behind the work and motivate them n the process. British airways is
the flag barrier airline for United Kingdom. This company is headquartered within London,
England and operates in the main hub within Heathrow airport. British airways is one of the
leading airlines running on global level. This report deals with the leadership style and
entrepreneurship behind the working of this airline at international level along with various
factor that will affect leadership within the company.
TASK ONE
Transformational leadership is best suited for the airlines during the time of pandemic.
This approach within leadership helps in causing change in individuals working under them. It
helps in creating a positive change that is valuable for the organisation as well as its employees.
This form of motivation helps in enhancing motivation and boosting morale within the
employees. This improve their performance while building a sense of connection and identity.
As a leader for British airways , it important to become a role model for the team members and
challenge them to take greater ownership for the work they do. It helps them to understand their
strengths and weaknesses of employees thus, performing their tasks with high optimisation.
Different elements involved in the transformational leadership includes:
Individualised consideration: The leader will address needs and requirements of its employees
while acting as a mentor to its followers (Pollack ad et.al., 2020). It includes listening to their

needs and concerns while offering empathy and support. Transformational leader will keep the
conversation open as well as places challenges for its followers. This will encompass the needs
and will respect the individual contribution made by a employees to the company. This way,
employees will develop and will exhibit intrinsic motivation to complete their tasks.
Intellectual stimulation: transactional leadership will challenge various assumptions and will
include taking risks on their ideas. Following this style will make the leaders stimulate and
encourage creativity within their team members. These leaders will nurture and develop its team
members and make them think independently (Felix, Aparicio, and Urbano, 2018). These leaders
take learning as a value and take these unexpected situations as an opportunity to learn and
develop. Transactional leaders will think deeply about various things that will help them to
figure out and explore various ways from which tasks can be done and completed.
Inspirational motivation: Leaders will articulate different vision for the company that is
appealing and inspiring to its team members. These inspirations will motivate the employees to
face their challenges and include optimism while communicating about the future goals. This
will provide them with meaning to perform their tasks. Purpose and meaning in the work they do
will provide them with energy that will drive the working team forward. The visionary aspects
related to leadership are supported by various communication skills that will help in making the
vision of the company more understandable and engaging. By all this, employees will be willing
to invest more in the efforts they put within performing their tasks while being encouraged and
optimistic towards the same.
Idealized influence: Leaders will act as role model for exhibiting high ethical behaviour and gain
respect and trust by the same (Demircioglu, and Chowdhury, 2021). Transformational leadership
is the best way to deal with the problems associated with pandemic for airline company and is
based on transformational leadership theory.
Following this leadership, airline was successful in developing challenging vision for the
company that will the employees to work together and build the vision aligned with its business
strategy. Other leadership theories on the other hand, following trait theory is bad as it can result
in having poor prediction of behaviours as one individual can behave different in different
situations. This approach is a failure to provide about the list for leadership traits in consideration
with its the people working under them.

Transactional leadership theory is better over situational leadership theory as the latter
focus more on the immediate needs rather than long- term needs and requirements. This
leadership is based more on working on the need at the moment that might look like a long- term
need but is not. This leadership rather than being focused on the overall objectives will focus on
evaluating the immediate circumstance at all the time. It leads to many issues as from this,
personal development can be stalled. Moreover, situational leadership is not effective in task-
oriented environments as they will focused to follow rules and regulations. Such leaders cannot
be flexible.
There are many benefits for authentic leadership theory however, the leaders will face a
major inherent dilemma. This theory includes being authentic as in real and true to oneself. This
way leaders will end up sharing too much information that can have a counter productive results
(Shafique, and Kalyar, 2018). This theory does not encourage sharing the woes that the leader
has to face such as dealing with tough boos, coping up with the team that is in messed up
position along with lack in faith within other working departments of the company. In the case
where the leader is in angry state, it must not vent out personal opinions in open and without
filter.
Following transformational leadership will help the company in lowering the turnover
costs and inspiring the leaders in making their staff stay for longer when compared to other
leadership. This will keep the leaders to satisfy the needs of the company and ts employees at the
same time while playing a specific role in building engagement and lowering the costs for staff
turnover. It helps in keeping the staff engaged and motivated that is important for having highest
producing levels by identifying needs and requirements to make the people do their best work.
Transactional leadership theory is a driver for change as they will make the staff get on board
and become excited about learning new things as well as selling their idea for bringing in change
and believing in this idea to reach their full potential.
This form of leadership helps in spotting goals and developing passion within the
employees that will fill these gaps. It will help in having a good time and building new vision
that will involve higher levels of productivity and make a better working team (Calatrava
Castagnetti, and Coti Zelati, 2018). This leadership also encourages learning and solving
problems as it promotes collaboration between the working team members and thus, making
them more creative and come up with new and innovative ideas. Most importantly, this form of

leadership will help in boosting morale of the employees by changing the working environment
and improving relations with one another.
Leadership is supposed to be the consistent across the world and work with fair terms to
attain common goals in the case of a global airline company such as British airways. It is there to
inspire and motivate people working for the company. However, the method of each leader is
different and these differences present cultural differences thus impacting on the leadership style.
Culture of the company includes sharing number of things that in turn affects leadership and its
related work. Cultural norms are taken up by the organisation to produce either good or bad
consequences. While the negative impact builds up at fast pace and spread within different
members of the organisation along with taking leaders in the same micro- standards. It results in
leadership setting up standards that are different from society at large (Abdullah, Hadi, and
Dana, 2018). Within culture of the company, leaders and their style for leadership plays an
important as well as dominating spot with a clearly defined role. Individuals working under the
leadership will address cultures in a particular set way avoiding any challenges in the way. This
impacts the leaders and its interactions with its team thus, changing various aspect within
management. Building a leadership culture in the organisation will lead to allow easy interaction
of leaders with each member of the working team. This way leader will operate with enhanced
effective communication while making important decision within company. Moreover, the core
values of organisation makes the leadership evolve and become strong in terms of exhibiting a
unified behaviour within the company. Leaders will operate in a way that will appreciate the
functions performed within organisation thus contributing towards the organisational culture and
working together towards future growth of the company.
Aviation and airline industry is continuous growing industry, while many individuals are
looking to fill up the gaps in the positions without having the required experience of working in
this industry. These people are overlooked with the one having more experience and this is how
airline industry works (Sousa, 2018). The future of airline industry needs a good leader that will
follow a leadership style that will increase the operations from ground, customer service, training
and even the airline security. Experience is the key to drive innovation within the airline
industry. A leader with creative thinking skills will be preferred that will encourage and fulfil the
needs of the individuals related to the company.

TASK TWO
Skills to be possessed post covid
Covid- 19 pandemic has resulted in changing the ongoing process within the business
world. It has triggered various aspects within business management and built uncertainty
surrounding it. However, these constraints in business helps in creating several opportunities
while maintaining the roles based on priority. There are some skills that are important to make
the company survive within the highly competitive and uncertain market.
Flexibility and adaptability: It is important for an entrepreneur to keep an eye and make
the employees being able to work from home as a new and flexible approach (Almahry, Sarea,
and Hamdan, 2018). Flexible in work includes being aligned with the geographic mobility and
exhibiting open mindset to changes. This is important as market and trends of the industry are
changing at constant pace. Entrepreneur must be flexible enough to work under pressure and
meet unexpected deadlines while taking additional responsibilities. Flexibility allows to extend
to sub- skills and work under ever changing nature of workplace. With lack of flexibility and
adaptability, team members will not be on same page and will not co-operate.
Critical thinking: Problem solving and critical thinking skills are major areas where an
entrepreneur must excel, post Covid. It deals with being critical and thinking clearly while
making rational evaluation of on- going situation thus, making informed decisions. Critical
thinking involves asking questions and gaining in- depth knowledge regarding the topic. Within
international business, international relations are the place to intricate critical thinking skills to
understand and deal with the cross- cultural ideals.
Risk taking: Business world comprises of risk- takers and moving forwards within the
post covid world requires risk taking skills within bigger picture. This skill is well aligned with
the international scope of the global markets. Vision of the organisation cannot be fulfilled with
lack of this skills that is without exploring different fields of marketing management and the
business strategy as well as on international level and innovation (Vu, and Nwachukwu, 2021).
Risk taking skills allows having proper calculation regarding the risks associated with the
success of business. Entrepreneurs must not shy away from taking risks and understanding the
results of risks. Risk taking brings an opportunity to learn and grow within business and take the
same to next level.

Networking skills: These skills involves building ways to manage the relations with other
professionals in order to grow and therefore, promoting the business in the process. It allows to
open up towards future opportunities and gaining it to build a strong brand. Networking creates
the chances to meet open- minded professionals that will build the future working teams for the
company. With the help of strong networking and collaboration, there is scope to fund ideas that
will access professional business expertise and receive feedback that can be used
recommendations to improve or start the new venture. Simple interactions, networking, one can
build in confidence while gaining new traits.
Negotiation skills: These skills are important to stay in business as it helps in closing
down the deals while gaining reputation (Shabbir, and Muhammad &Kassim, 2019). Preparation
s required before having customer negotiation and dealing with various inquiries and doubts
from their side. It is the responsibility of the entrepreneurs to deal with several stakeholders such
as vendors, consultants, employees along with clients and customers. Knowledge plays an
important role in the negotiation process and therefore, entrepreneurs must collect every single
detail regarding the products and services to present the negotiation in confidence while
clarifying any doubts.
Evolution of entrepreneur’s traits
There are some traits that an entrepreneur must posses to make the small business a big
success. Entrepreneur are much aimed towards growth and making something that is scalable
when taken to different markets. These traits include,
Determination: Small businesses comes with many responsibilities within its operations
and this requires wearing many hats within the duration of day. It requires ability to eliminate all
the distractions and aim on the main parts and focus on solving issues coming in way. This
working determination is required from entrepreneurs of small business. They must be driven to
success and determined to see their business grow. This determination helps in facing the
challenges and overcoming the competition.
Passionate: In the initial stages of the business, it is easy to overcome the small
challenges and issues however, making the business keep running within the market requires
being true ad passionate about the work (Khosla, and Gupta, 2017). Small business are made on
the foundation of the passion of its entrepreneurs while the other include incorporating this

passion within the business to make it a success and give it a unique touch within the daily
activities of the business.
Innovative and creative: It is one of the most traits to focus on as it allows to keep an
open- mind towards the risks and other business activities. It allows to look at the various
perspectives that will not be possible otherwise. Entrepreneurs must be willing to listen and
consider various ideas proposed from employees while also trying it into various processes thus
helping them reach a significant level of success.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATON
It can be concluded that airline industry has suffered a lot due to the effects of pandemic
as it resulted in putting a pause to the activities related to the operations of airline industry.
During such uncertain and changing times, it is important that a leading airline company such as
British airways will have to manage the employees with the best leadership style. The best
leadership theory associated with the business operations of the company is the transactional
leadership as it helps in delivering good performance from its team members and make them
motivate to do well even in hard situations such as these. This current crisis demands for making
the industry accelerate their business actions while reducing the impact of the negative cash
flows. It is essential for entrepreneurs to exhibit some skills that will make the company reach its
desired success. These skills and traits will make them stay determined towards the final goal
and work towards achieving the same.
Some recommendations to keep the company remain one of the leading even post- Covid
period includes conducting an analytical assessment and predictions that help in identifying the
areas to generate profit and where is the possibility of having a loss. Having a customer care
transformation will help the airline to provide self- service tolls and build in automation thus,
producing faster responses within business operations. Moreover, leaders of the company must
prepare each of its team member to be prepared for the changes within the company that can be
both positive or negative for them. In addition to this, the company must focus more on health
and safety and take various in- flight measures. This will eliminate the risk of exposure to any
viruses while mitigating the same within its services. Company must provide a post- covid
training to its employees to make them learn new ways of working and handling things based on
the rules and regulations. In addition to this, the leaders of the airline must follow effective
communication to stay connected with its employees in this hard times, including having email
reminders from new guidelines, time to time updates and many more. This way employees will
not feel lost and isolated from the situations of remote working and less operational business.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abdullah, N., Hadi, N.U. and Dana, L.P., 2018. The nexus between entrepreneur skills and
successful business: a decompositional analysis. International Journal of
Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 34(2), pp.249-265.
Almahry, F.F., Sarea, A.M. and Hamdan, A.M., 2018. A review paper on entrepreneurship
education and entrepreneurs’ skills. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 21(1), pp.1-7.
Calatrava Castagnetti, R.A. and Coti Zelati, A., 2018. Understanding Entrepreneurial Leadership
that supports local entrepreneurship.
Demircioglu, M.A. and Chowdhury, F., 2021. Entrepreneurship in public organizations: the role
of leadership behavior. Small Business Economics, 57(3), pp.1107-1123.
Felix, C., Aparicio, S. and Urbano, D., 2018. Leadership as a driver of entrepreneurship: an
international exploratory study. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development.
Khosla, A. and Gupta, P., 2017. Traits of successful entrepreneurs. The Journal of Private
Equity, 20(3), pp.12-15.
Pollack ad et.al., 2020. Contextual and Interactional Approaches to Advancing Leadership and
Entrepreneurship Research. Journal of Management Studies, 57(5), pp.915-930.
Reid, and et.al., 2018. Blazing new trails or opportunity lost? Evaluating research at the
intersection of leadership and entrepreneurship. The Leadership Quarterly, 29(1), pp.150-
164.
Shabbir, M.S. and Muhammad &Kassim, N., 2019. Entrepreneur as an Individual Review of
Recent Literature on Entrepreneurial Skills. Opcion, 35, pp.582-599.
Shafique, I. and Kalyar, M.N., 2018. Linking transformational leadership, absorptive capacity,
and corporate entrepreneurship. Administrative Sciences, 8(2), p.9.
Sousa, M.J., 2018. Entrepreneurship skills development in higher education courses for teams
leaders. Administrative sciences, 8(2), p.18.
Vu, H.M. and Nwachukwu, C., 2021. Influence of entrepreneur competencies on profitability
and employee satisfaction. International Journal of Management and Enterprise
Development, 20(1), pp.1-16.