Leading and Influencing Change: An Analysis of Qantas' Turnaround

This report examines the principles of leading and influencing change within an organization, using Qantas Airline as a case study. It identifies the need for change, discusses the leadership styles of Alan Joyce, and analyzes the factors that contributed to Qantas's financial turnaround, including the Qantas transformational program. The report highlights the importance of vision, diverse teams, risk-taking, accountability, and commitment in successful change leadership. It also addresses the challenges faced by Qantas, such as union problems and international competition, and emphasizes the significance of teamwork and communication in navigating organizational change. Desklib provides a platform to access this report and other solved assignments for students.

Lead and Influence Change 1
LEADING AND INFLUENCING CHANGE WITHIN AN ORGANIZATION
By (Name)
Course
Professor’s name
University name
City, State
Date of submission

Lead and Influence Change 2
Table of Content
Executive summary....................................................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Section 1.................................................................................................................................3
Identifying a need for change.............................................................................................3
Analysis......................................................................................................................................4
Section 2.................................................................................................................................4
Qantas Airline.....................................................................................................................4
Section 3.................................................................................................................................5
Leadership styles by Alan Joyce.........................................................................................5
What led to the 900 million profit?.....................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7

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Executive summary.
Change is inevitable, therefore, as a CEO you need to always be on the lookout for an
opportunity to incorporate it. For a successful transition to occur, there is the need for the
multiple efforts from each member in the organization; this is as indicated in the Alan Joyce’s
statement of the Qantas airline. Despite the losses, it is important as a CEO to take up the role
and lead the team towards success which entails the responsibility of being accountable for
the mistakes that are committed in the association. Commitment to influencing change and
leading the team members towards change is an indication of good leadership qualities
needed for the growth of the corporation.
Introduction
Leading and influencing change in an organization requires a lot of effort, and the
method used to transition through the change process is fundamental. The report’s objective
is to identify the appropriate ways in which leaders can influence changes in their businesses
for the active growth of the companies. The change that is supposed to increase the inflows of
an organization is very beneficial since it enables the members to find the most suitable ways
to eradicate losses and deal with the challenges that are coming up in an organization.
However, in most cases, change will not be embraced by everyone in an organization
(Australianaviation.Com.Au, 2014). People cannot compare their lives today and that of the
19th century, thus it is essential to consider different changes in different fields. Section one
describes the process of leading and influencing change in a corporation; section 2 provides
detailed information about Qantas Airline including its strengths and weaknesses. Part 3 of
the essay, discusses the leadership skills that Alan Joyce considered important in running an
organization and influencing change.

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Section 1
Identifying a need for change
As a CEO it is important to note that change is inevitable, change happens every day
in any economy. It is, therefore, significant to understand how the market works, as it is the
determinant of the change, CEOs also need to identify the innovations to be made for a
productive business flow (BLue Swan Daily, 2018). Alan Joyce understands the power of
change which allows the improvement in the financial status of Qantas (BBC NEWS, 2014).
From the move, the corporation has gained a 900 million profit together with a compelling
growth rate and an evolved status.
At the same time as a chief executive officer, one needs to know the right areas to
focus on a useful change. Making changes in the wrong regions does not bring out the best of
the corporation. It is important to focus on; the difference that enables better services to the
customers, the type of change that will attract more customers into the corporation and the
kind of change that will be a motivation to the workers.
Implementing change
Every leader attempting to achieve a change must understand the operational order for
change manipulation to be able to apply the required adjustments in the system. Before
implementing the change, all the stakeholders and the interested parties involved, need to
understand the necessity of the modification in the institution. Some individuals tend to be
antagonistic to the change hence it is important to make them understand the revolution’s
inevitability. Explaining the goals of the modification gives a chance to the employees and all
other affected parties to raise their concerns and also to give their opinions and views on the
change that is about to be implemented.

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Changes at times may be overwhelming; thus as a CEO, it is essential to be
considerate and implement the change in phases. This will enable all the affected parties to
adapt to the revolutions, and by the time the full changes are implemented, it won't be too
much for the people affected by the transition to accept it and handle it within the
organization (BBC NEWS, 2014). Implementing change in phases gives a chance to analyze
the impacts of the adjustments. The process assists in the acquisition of more knowledge
about the new venture that is taken up in the institution. (Chong, 2015).
When change is implemented, it is important for a leader to observe the impacts of the
shift to the corporation. The process is conducted through monitoring; whereby the
supervisor gathers information about the reform progress. It is also significant to share the
information about the modification’s performance (Chong, 2015). Whenever a corporation
decides to take up any variation, they always aim to make improvements in the organization.
Employees should be informed to know the requirements for executing the change thus
allowing the achievement of the targeted results.
Analysis
Section 2
Qantas Airline
Qantas Airline was established in the year 1920; the company escalates its flights from
Australia to 85 international destinations, the business has the following strengths; (Durkin,
2017). Steady and consistent growth; from when Qantas Airline was founded it has mostly
shown steadiness and growth due to its sound strategic framework. Superior services; unlike
most airlines, Qantas partnered with the university of Sydney. The partnership comprised of
conducting research that identified the most comfortable and suitable services that could be
provided for all their customers including those that would be taking long flights lasting for

Lead and Influence Change 6
more than 21 hours (Forsyth & Stewart, 2012). Qantas transformational program; at the time
when Qantas was faced with problems, they introduced this program to improve the quality
of their services at minimum costs. The program became very beneficial to the airline since it
established the airline’s customer base worldwide.
Some of the challenges that Qantas airline faced include the following:
Union problems; just like any other airline Qantas airline also had some troubles with the
union whereby there were some disagreements between the Qantas and the unions in regards
to some of the programmes undertaken by the Airline. Low profit in international flights;
Qantas even with its popularity still had the trouble of not raising high earnings from all the
international flights that were operated by the company (Forsyth & Stewart, 2012).
Competition; this was a significant threat for Qantas airline especially because, the airline
became popular in Australia and was not well developed internationally. Therefore, Qantas
had trouble with some airlines like the American airline.
Section 3
Leadership styles by Alan Joyce
Having a vision; Alan Joyce insisted that for any organization to move forward, it
needed to have an idea which indicated the strategy to carry out activities. The vision
comprised of a direction that was to be followed by the corporation in executing its activities
(Grant, et al., 2014). He insisted that to take any step in the airline organization the workers
needed to know what they were working towards and what was to be achieved.
Having a diverse team; Alan Joyce stated that for an organization to work well, it
needed to have people with different opinions and perspective. This gave the institution a
chance to grow different and unique ideas for the establishment of the business. Diversity is

Lead and Influence Change 7
crucial as it brings about the aspect of assortment in the manner of thinking within the
workforce thus allowing the establishment of various business ideas.
Risk-taking; he encouraged people, particularly the employees at Qantas to be risk
takers (Mulki, et al., 2015). Alan Joyce helped individuals within the organization to take
risks, as they calculated the consequences that came along with the risks. Joyce knew that
some dangers would affect the organization negatively. Therefore, he encouraged through
research before engaging.
Owning up to the mistakes; in the organization whenever Alan Joyce committed a
mistake, he owned up it and tried to fix the error. This encouraged the employee team to
work with honesty and own up to their faults.
Commitment; Joyce Alan assigned work to the employees and took part in the
assigned work in helping the team reach the most suitable results.
What led to the 900 million profit?
One of the most notable strengths of Qantas airline was the Qantas transformational
program. This program was initiated to identify the quality of services that the airline could
provide to their customers to make their experience more comfortable while flying (Sheedy,
2016). The most noticeable thing about the program was the fact that the services were
efficient with the costs being very affordable. The transformational program was the missing
piece in Qantas and after it was used the figures of the airline changed (Sutton, 2018). The
program increased the profits of the airline and as well attracted more customers, this
platform opened the doors for Qantas internationally and locally.

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Conclusion
Leading at times may prove to be difficult. However, teamwork is considered a useful
aspect at times of crisis and for the efficient running of the organization than working
individually. Working together enables sharing of ideas and consistency. All workers need to
work together to create a sense of equality, the factor of loyalty is established among the
members realize that their views are appreciated by the leaders. Change is unavoidable and
always comes from within all the workers within an institution, the leaders included.

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References
Australianaviation.Com.Au, 2014. ANTAS RECORDS $235M LOSS ON FALLING
REVENUE. [Online] Available at: http://australianaviation.com.au/2014/02/qantas-records-
235m-loss-on-falling-revenue/[Accessed 10 September 2018].
BBC NEWS, 2014. Qantas reports record annual loss. [Online]
Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28948855[Accessed 10 September 2018].
BLue Swan Daily, 2018. Qantas Group: Singapore is our largest hub outside of Australia.
[Online] Available at: https://blueswandaily.com/qantas-group-singapore-is-our-largest-hub-
outside-of-australia/[Accessed 10 September 2018].
Chong, J., 2015. QANTAS ORDERS DREAMLINERS, ANNOUNCES SHAREHOLDER
RETURN AND POSTS RETURN TO PROFITABILITY. [Online]
Available at: http://australianaviation.com.au/2015/08/qantas-orders-dreamliners-announces-
shareholder-return-and-posts-return-to-profitability/[Accessed 10 September 2018].
Durkin, P., 2017. Bank ‘tax grab will spook investors: Don Argus, Alan Joyce, Andrew
Thorburn. Australian Financial Review, 11.
Forsyth, A. and Stewart, A., 2012. Of Kamikazes and Mad Men: The Fallout from the Qantas
Industrial Dispute. Melb. UL Rev., 36, p.785.
Grant, R., Butler, B., Orr, S., and Murray, P.A., 2014. Contemporary strategic management:
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Mulki, J.P., Caemmerer, B. and Heggde, G.S., 2015. Leadership style, salesperson's work
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Sales Management, 35(1), pp.3-22.

Lead and Influence Change 10
Sheedy, C., 2016. Qantas: The most remarkable turnaround in aviation history?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.icas.com/ca-today-news/qantas-nine-lives-flying-kangaroo
[Accessed 10 September 2018].
Sutton, C., 2018. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce doubles pay in massive bonus to $25 million.
[Online] Available at: https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/qantas-ceo-alan-joyce-
doubles-pay-in-massive-bonus-to-25-million/news
story/ae770137f09daddbb7281951b4549a26[Accessed 10 September 2018].