Qantas Airways and Woolworths: A Study in Business Communication

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of the business communication strategies employed by Qantas Airways and Woolworths. It highlights the importance of effective communication in achieving organizational goals, focusing on internal employee communication and leadership techniques. The essay examines Woolworths' commitment to fostering a challenging, rewarding, and safe workplace through training, development, and constant communication with its employees. It also explores Qantas' challenges related to leadership, global competition, and stakeholder relations, emphasizing the need for improved corporate social responsibility and employee communication. The analysis suggests that Qantas can learn from Southwest Airlines' approach to employee relations and customer service, while Woolworths' culture exemplifies team performance and two-way engagement. Ultimately, the essay underscores the critical role of communication in driving business success for both companies.

Running head: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
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Introduction
Effective communication is identified as a vital tool for any employer. It plays a
fundamental role in all spheres of business. Thus it is a very important for both internal
communications within the business as well as communication skills of personnel are effective
(Karanges et al. 2015). Effective communication is highly vital for successful expansion of a
business. It is a crucial determinant which facilitates managers to execute essential functions of
management namely Planning, Organizing, Motivating and Controlling. Communication skills
whether written or oral tends to form a groundwork of any business activity. Thus, Mishra,
Boynton and Mishra (2014) have claimed that effective communication is recognized as the
building block of an organization. The following essay will evaluate the way effective
communication skills have been playing vital role in the business operations of Qantas airways
and Woolworths.
Discussion
Karanges et al. (2015) are of the opinion that improved employee communication is
directly associated with the enhanced effectiveness in the organisation. Every business can
efficiently exploit from the elevated great of productivity as well as effective employee
communication practices which can help to attain its goal. Effective employee communication
skills can facilitate leaders to realise talent and competencies of its work force and further assign
them to the most appropriate roles and offer distinct direction in order to ensure productive
outcome within the shortest span. Reports of Juholin, Åberg and Aula (2015) have indicated that
being one of Australia’s largest retail employees, Woolworths is committed in efficiently
fostering a workplace that is challenging rewarding as well as safe. As retailing is identified as a
people intensive business the organisation exhibits high reliance on the competencies knowledge

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and service expertise of tens of thousands of employees in order to successfully serve the
millions of consumers who shop with Woolworths every week. The company aims to accomplish
efficient workforce through training and educational development of a thousands of employees
for the enhancing the workplace safety standards as well as offering welfare and assistance
program (Karanges 2014). Efficient workforce through training and educational development of
its thousands of employees have been enhancing the workplace safety standards as well as
offering welfare and assistance program (Woolworths.com.au 2018). However the most crucial
responsibility of Woolworths line on its constant communication with its employee base in order
to gain their Knowledge and feedback. Kang and Sung (2017) have indicated that at Woolworths
performing the appropriate responsibility is of utmost significance. At this juncture performing
appropriate responsibilities formal words indicates proper treatment of the employees as
individuals and making the organisation sociable unsuccessful place to work through its
sustainable policies, development opportunities, career expansion, work life balance, incentives,
rewards and recognition initiatives (Slack, Corlett and Morris 2015).
Balmer, Abratt and Kleyn (2016) have identified several layers of employee
communications within Woolworths ranging from store team talks to regular video conferencing
meetings along with area management interactions. However it has been estimated that around
2% of the workforce constitutes a regular access to workplace email and intranet whereby major
proportion of employee communications tends to occur interpersonally or through audiovisual
system (Patroni, von Briel and Recker 2016). Furthermore, a significant part of the
organisation's regular documented communications involved Woolies news that is known as a
quarterly magazine purposed for the employee base of Woolworths along with Norwest news
that is a monthly email purposed for over 3000 employees engaged at the companies Norwest

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support office. It is important to note that interpersonal communication is further conducted on
an official and unofficial basis whereby a monthly CEO communication discussion at the
company’s Norwest Support Office offers its employees a significant chance to involve in Q&A
(question and answer session) with the Woolworths’ CEO (Woolworths.com.au 2018). In
addition to this Woolworths provides an annual four day conference that is typically attended by
all store managers along with their partners purposed in order to evaluate organisational
activities and performance of previous years and further communicate present ideas, visions,
approaches and strategies for the following one year (Powell 2016). Reports of Stieglitz, Bruns
and Krüger (2015) have further revealed that Woolworths intranet services (WOWnet) is easily
accessible to its workforce engaged in support areas of the company’s business and is used in
order to communicate executive discussions, announcements, community programs and daily
news digest. Woolworths has been efficiently operating a series of formal as well as informal
employee consultation strategies across its business in order to facilitate its employee base to
develop feelings of significance and knowledgeable and further provide opportunities to them in
order to communicate their opinions back through the business (Patroni, von Briel and Recker
2016). However when Woolworth’s consultants and leaders in the field of workplace learning
and development discovered Geert Hofstede cultural dimensions certain applications initiated in
several areas (Woolworths.com.au 2018). The company reportedly offers its employees who are
relocating globally with an understanding of their individualistic cultural preferences with those
of the country of assignment in order to enable them to function efficiently and generate
productive outcomes by maintaining a significant sense of balance (Douglas and Watt 2018).
However the individual dimensional scores of relocating employees of Woolworths can be
compared to the country scores which are considered as lenses through which the employees’

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actual business liabilities can be highlighted. Furthermore Stieglitz, Bruns and Krüger (2015)
have found that Woolworths have been proficiently enhancing its relationship with suppliers’
stakeholders in order to regain the trust of consumers.
Great leaders tend to exemplify the standards, values and culture of the organization by
incorporating the mission and vision of companies. Reports of Powell (2016) have revealed that
Qantas leader Alan Joyce was identified to be among the 480 passengers stranded in Dubai
following technical disruptions to one of the airline’s aircraft, the veteran airline sector executive
had a significant opportunity to supervise the situation and successfully ensure Qantas brand
values which until then have been communicating inappropriately. Qantas’ inappropriate
leadership techniques have further led to a global decline in airfreight along with a heightened
competition level for global passengers. This competition however has been identified as one of
Qantas critical challenges in the market. According to Pietersen (2017), these conditions
however tend to underline the significance of leaders’ continued focus on shaping the business to
efficiently perform well even in a challenging market. Meanwhile, Slack, Corlett and Morris
(2015) found that shareholders have been chiefly complimentary of the company’s performance
that has witnessed Qantas’s increased annual revenues of around $1.55 billion and recommenced
dividends. Qantas’s restructuring program had witnessed expenses reduction by $1.67 billion
during the last two years and in the face of increasing fuel prices, its equivocation arrangements
which guaranteed that fuel costs will be restricted at a level similar to last year’s estimation
(Qantas.com 2018). However, regardless of the return to dividends along with an exceptional
profit, Qantas stakeholders showing several queries which includes big remuneration and
incentive payments for its CEO Alan Joyce who has been benefitting from customer loyalty
program with a significant decline in service standards.

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However, Stieglitz, Bruns and Krüger (2015) have emphasized on Qantas CEO to show
greater degree of inclination towards an alternative option rather than focusing on the company’s
‘nuclear option’ that is grounding the leaders’ entire fleet without notice. Patroni, von Briel and
Recker (2016) have claimed that Qantas could have exhibited greater level of importance to
these stakeholders as the government, passengers and the personnel (Qantas.com 2018). Qantas’s
inappropriate leadership techniques have been observed where Joyce showed greater importance
on the interests of shareholders rather than those of the company’s stakeholders. Thus, Qantas
must employ an improved view of corporate social responsibility. Meanwhile, Karanges (2014)
have stated that Qantas shareholders have recently promoted management strategies with
significant remuneration increase for its CEO Joyce.
Further, Douglas and Watt (2018) have noted, that Qantas is in severe conflict with many
of its chief shareholders namely, government, passengers and significant sections of workforce.
Thus, in order to improve its employee communication skills must offer a symbolic ‘olive
branch’ to its employee base who perceive that Qantas leader is implementing double standard
approach and ill-treating the company’s workforce by waiving his current huge remuneration
increase (Kang and Sung 2017). Instead Qantas leadership approach must recognize similar level
of pay increase which the company is currently offering to its workforce (Powell 2016).
Emphasizing in mitigating the wide gap in employee salary level will illustrate a varied form of
leadership which will sustain with the notions of equality, integrity and democracy that pervade
the broader society in which Qantas operates. Qantas must endorse an opinionated workforce
which will have greater propensity in offering improved service to its customers (Patroni, von
Briel and Recker 2016). Thus Qantas in order to provide efficient services, CEO must strive to
accomplish the involvement to employee base. Such strategies will primarily engage medium to

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long term commitment resulting to successful revenue growth (Balmer, Abratt and Kleyn 2016).
Conclusion
On a concluding note, Qantas must obtain insights from one of its rivals, Southwest
Airlines in terms of establishing relations with its workforce as well as customers by offering
low fares and treating its employees as a vital source of value instead of perceiving them as costs
to be reduced. The paper provided inclusive insights of the way Australia’s major retailer
Woolworths’ culture radiates team performance and two-way engagement between the company
and its employee-base. Thus, Qantas must learn from Southwest if the company seeks to enhance
its employee as well as industrial relations.

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