Qantas Airways: Structure, Leadership Styles and Market Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Qantas Airways, Australia's leading airline. It begins with an introduction to Qantas, highlighting its history, market position, and core business operations. The report then delves into Qantas' organizational structure, detailing its centralized and decent...Read More

RUNNING HEAD: Organisational structure and effectiveness 0
QANTAS
Organisational structure and effectiveness

Organisational structure and effectiveness 1
Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Structure of Qantas...............................................................................................................................2
Leadership style.....................................................................................................................................3
Strategies within Australia or overseas markets....................................................................................4
Comment on company’s structure and strategies.................................................................................5
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................5
References.............................................................................................................................................6

Organisational structure and effectiveness 2
Introduction
Qantas was established in Queensland back in 1920. It is Australia’s largest domestic and
international airline. Qantas is one of the strongest brands of Australia. It is regarded as the world’s
long distance airline. The Qantas airways limited is a public company and is ranked 19 out of 2000
top companies of Australia (IBIS World, 2017). The company has gained reputation for excellence in
safety, reliability, engineering and preservation and customer service. The main business of company
is transportation of customers by using two airline brands, Qantas and Jetstar. Qantas is a broad
network and includes four travel classes whereas Jetstar is a low fare airline (O'Connell & Williams,
2016). The company also operates subsidiary businesses including other airlines and Q catering.
Qantas operate regional, domestic and international services. The company employs more than
30,000 people and 93% of them are based within Australia (Qantas, 2018). This report includes the
structure of Qantas. The leadership style used at Qantas has been explained. Further the strategies
of company within Australia or overseas market have been discussed. Finally the comments are
made as remark on the structure and strategies of Qantas. The company operates in the aviation
industry which is highly regulated. The company actively contributes for the development of public
policy.
Structure of Qantas
The structure, strategies and leadership styles are important in determining success of Qantas
airways. The organisation find it easy to succeed in activities by having a clear understanding of it’s
objectives, goals, mission and vision. It also ensures the continuity of the services of company both
in short and long run. Qantas airline is one of the oldest international airlines. The company stands
at third position in terms of fleet size and market share. The organisational structure is important in
determining and allocating responsibilities, power and roles (Raman, Damaraju & Joshi, 2014). The
company has enabled a mechanism for the flow of information at all the levels of management. The
structure of company depends on it’s strategies and objectives. The commonly used structures are
either centralised or decentralised. The Qantas has adopted features of both centralised and
decentralised organisation structure. Qantas has various subsidies which are headed by different
executives. The executives are imparted with authority, important roles and responsibilities to be
exercised for operations (Nguyen, Mia, Winata & Chong, 2017). The employees of Qantas have been
managed in such a way that the execution of duties is in line with goals and objectives of company.
The management of company is divided into two different businesses, Qantas domestic and Qantas
international. The business is managed by chief executive officer. These both businesses have
divided their commercial and operational functions. The structure has been adopted by company in
such a way that focus is given on strategies of company. These strategies transform the international
business of company as well as improve the domestic business of company (Iyamu & Mphahlele,
2014).
The nature of the organization structure of Qantas shows that it has adopted matrix type of
structure. The management of company comprises of the members of corporate governance as well
as executive top management team. The higher level of management is responsible for setting up
practices and policies. It adopts and implements policies in the organisation. There are various
departments under the top leadership such as project management, administrative management,

Organisational structure and effectiveness 3
functional management and commercial business administration (Upadhaya, Munir & Blount, 2014).
Various teams work with these departments to ensure that the company is able to achieve it’s goals
and objectives.
The management of Qantas comprises top level, secondary level and ground staff. The company has
an exclusive management hierarchy represents divisional functioning. At the very top there is board
of directors which comprises not more than eight members. It is supervised by a president. The
board team is divided into various committees like audit, health, environment, nominations, health
and security. The management of both Qantas domestic and international ensures running of
business independently according to the priorities and market conditions. The company has different
CEO for each division. There are also non-executive directors who present board and ensure proper
functioning of company. In the secondary level, the company comprises business executive team
(Gray, O’Dochartaigh & Rannou, 2016). This team looks after the policies, strategies and
implementing plans. Other than working as a link between ground staff and face of company, the
team enables various technical actions which are necessary for the company to function. These are
divided into almost twelve departments such as fiancé, domestic, jetstar, resources, technology,
legal affairs and more. The secondary level comprises managers and air professionals. They perform
tasks required for the proper skill development which is not performed by the staff of ground level.
The ground staff is the lowest hierarchy of business management. It consists of members who work
as the ground staff. This staff is appointed at airports, planes, runways etc. The airline is able to work
efficiently due to the hard work and support of the ground staff. Qantas is complying with all laws
and regulations to conduct business activities. The company has proved from it’s functioning that it
has an appropriate corporate governance framework. It certifies protection and enhancement of
shareholder’s value which makes it the most efficient airline working at domestic and international
level.
Leadership style
The leadership style is essential in determining direction and success of company. It is one of the
effective management aspects in motivating employees and implementing strategies and plans at
organisation. There are various leadership styles used in Qantas such as authoritarian, participation
and delegation. The authoritarian style causes managers ordering people to do what is expected
from them. The participative style involves the leader and employees in the decision making process.
The opinion and view of employees are considered but finally the decision is taken by the leader
(Mishra & Tripathy, 2016). The delegative style authorises employees to take decision by their own. It
should be observed that the leader will always be responsible for the decisions taken by employees
of organisation.
Qantas airlines considers all the aspects of leadership styles to be used in the management of it’s
operations and activities. The top management of company is very acute while handling
management of diverse cultures of employees and reviewing views of shareholders. The company
need to be rational at the time of making decisions otherwise it can result in conflicts in both
stockholders and employees. In some cases company need to be authoritative when the employees
and trade unions perspectives are not favorable. The decisions can also result in criticism from
stockholders including loyal customers and experts. For instance, the closure of company in
Singapore faced a lot of criticism from stakeholders. According to some views, the decision of chief

Organisational structure and effectiveness 4
executive officer was more of authoritative than democratic. It shows the applicability of
authoritative leadership style of company. Other than the authoritative, the management also
represents attributes of participative and delegates leadership style (Shaffner, Mills & Helms Mills,
2017). The leadership style of Qantas includes elements such as vision; Qantas airlines understand
that the management should have vision for the team to be effective. The top management
leadership of company is based on providing direction and vision to support employees of company
in order to execute tasks. The management team of Qantas is diversified and comprises individuals
from different fields. The team of company provides variety of skills, knowledge and views essential
for enhancing the management of company (Renko, El Tarabishy, Carsrud & Brännback, 2015). The
management of company also provides various traits of leadership needed to make effective
management of company. The employees of organisation are the source of important information in
the decision making process. The employees are involved in daily basis activities of company and can
better observe the progress of company. The company recognises the importance of employees so
management always consult with employees before taking any decision. The decision making
process is also helpful in encouraging and motivating employees. Qantas believes that the leaders
should be open minded, honest and collaborative. This technique can be helpful in motivating
employees and working towards achieving goals and objectives of company (Strom, Sears & Kelly,
2014).
Strategies within Australia or overseas markets
The strategy of Qantas comprises it’s vision and mission. The strategies act as the roadmap to
company for the attainment of objectives. Qantas initiates various strategies depending on the
nature of problem. Usually the companies apply different strategies in both domestic business
entities and international operations. In the same way Qantas airlines make use of different
strategies for both Australian market and foreign market.
Qantas maintains it’s competitive strategies even in the competitive environment. The company
faces competition from Virgin Airline. Despite these situations the company is continue to apply
price war marketing strategy (Homsombat, Lei & Fu, 2014). The company target the low cost
customers where it has effectively performed it’s competitors. The company applies the concept of
portfolio diversification to increase base of domestic markets as well as in international markets. It
has increased growth opportunities of company in the local market. There are also some other
strategies applied by company to it’s marketing activities. Cost efficiencies, it is the goal of company
to reduce cost to the lowest level and improve profit margins of organisation. The cost efficiency
strategy has been practised by company as a marketing technique. It is just because profitability is
one of the competitive advantages which a company can use to surpass competitors in the market.
The company realises the importance of cost efficiency and applies to penetrate domestic and
international market. The other marketing activity, segmentation of brands has divided the company
into various brands. It aids company to cater need of several group of customers. This strategy has
helped company to cater needs of different category customers like corporates, leisure and business
travels. The company has made use of marketing activity like expansion to less airline dominated
region. It has helped company to establish itself in the new regions before entry of new players in
the market. For instance, the expansion of company operations in Asia has helped to cover a large
market share than the competitors.

Organisational structure and effectiveness 5
Comment on company’s structure and strategies
An effective organisation structure helps company to establish suitable strategies as a part of
roadmap. The roadmap is helpful in achieving mission, vision and objectives of company. The
company’s organisation structure is designed in such a way that it caters interest of each stakeholder
(Dias, Dos Santos, Martins & Isabella, 2014). It has been achieved by management by adopting
various leadership styles. The leaders are able to act situationally to address problem by the
incorporation of various leadership styles. The leadership used by company is transformational and
situational and is an effective leadership style. The structure and strategies of company reveals
success in the domestic and global market (Mols, 2018).
The analysis of Qantas’s marketing strategies it has been assumed that different type of business
should adopt different marketing strategies. The performance and progress of company seems to
have applied appropriate and suitable strategies. It can be attributable in both domestic and
international markets. The company has gained a significant market share by the implementation of
these strategies. Qantas has gained a substantial percentage of market shares. It can be concluded
from the essay that Qantas has applied effective marketing strategies. This is the reason that the
company has been able to rule both domestic and international market (Doreswamy, Kothari &
Tirumalachetty, 2015).
Conclusion
The structure, leadership style and strategies are important aspects in the success of company.
Qantas airline has adopted these concepts efficiently and seems to run smooth in industries and
markets. The company has been leading successfully by practising these aspects into consideration.
The structure is helpful to company in allocating resources and assigning duties efficiently for
decision making. On the other hand, leadership style helps to lead an organisation by providing
direction. Finally the marketing strategy determines the profitability and competitive advantage of
Qantas.

Organisational structure and effectiveness 6
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Gray, R., O’Dochartaigh, A. and Rannou, C., 2016. Organisational Effectiveness and Social and
Environmental Accounting: Through the Past Darkly. In Pioneers of Critical Accounting (pp. 53-71).
Palgrave Macmillan, London.
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Pricing and route entry patterns. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation
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