Richard Branson's Leadership Philosophy: A Case Study

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Case Study: Richard Branson’s Leadership and
Management Philosophy
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Executive summary
The report will provide a brief understanding of the leadership skills of the
successful entrepreneur, Richard Branson. The report includes a discussion on the
leadership style of Richard Branson. Several leadership theories that were followed
by the leader are provided in this report. Therefore, the personality and behavioural
traits of him the leader was discussed, which had contributed to the success of the
business. The report also includes the discussion on the fast-changing environment
and global economy and the importance of considering the organisation as a post-
modern society. Moreover, a recommendation for Richard Branson is also provided
in this report for guidance purposes.
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Table of Contents
Executive summary........................................................................................................ 2
Introduction..................................................................................................................... 4
Main Body....................................................................................................................... 5
Conclusion.................................................................................................................... 10
Recommendation.......................................................................................................... 11
Reference list................................................................................................................ 12
Appendices................................................................................................................... 13
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Introduction
The study aims to provide an understanding of the importance of leadership in
business. Leadership provides an important contribution to the management
functions of any organisation. Leaders guide their subordinates in a way that the
efficiency of the team increases. The core skill of leadership is the influencing power
of the leaders that are discussed in this study. The analysis is performed on Richard
Branson.
Richard Branson is an entrepreneur and the owner of the company Virgin group.
The company recently has control of more than 400 companies. Richard Branson
started his first business venture in 1970 and established the Virgin megastores in
1972. The leadership qualities that have helped him to operate the business
successfully are discussed in this study (virginmedia.com, 2019).
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Main Body
1. Discuss some of the behaviours and personality traits you observe in
Richard Branson supporting your argument with behavioural and trait
theories.
Behavioural theory is known as the psychology of behaviourism. The idea of
different behaviours is generally achieved through the process of conditioning.
Conditioning is the process of interacting with the external and internal environment.
The behaviourism is based on the actual actions or behaviours of the leaders. The
Trait theory is based on the personal traits of the leaders. According to this theory,
the leaders must have interpersonal skills, capable of handling the responsibilities,
flexibility, sincerity and other personal traits. This theory states that leadership
qualities are inborn quality, which cannot be achieved in other ways.
The personality traits of Richard Branson
 Open to experiences
 Flexibility
 Conscientiousness
 Emotional intelligence
 Extraversion
 Self-confidence
 Trustworthiness
 Authenticity
 Enthusiasm
 Optimism
Behavioural traits of Richard Branson
 Setting goals for the company
 Willingness for taking the responsibility
 Promoting a positive attitude towards the employees of the company
 Passion for achieving anything
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 The ability to interact and motivating others in the team
 Exhibition of patience and calmness in challenging situations
Richard Branson first started his business venture at the age of 16 and successfully
operated his first magazine named the student. This shows that the personality
traits are the inborn qualities for him as stated in the trait theory. The person is
currently the eighth richest entrepreneur who has established more than 100
companies and employs around 60000 people. Richard Branson has been able to
manage the employees together by interacting with them and motivating them. The
person has applied three essential skills of behaviourism, which has helped him to
manage the employees (Fleck et al., 2014). The person has a passion for work and
working with the team so that has helped him to direct the team by promoting
positive attitudes. Richard Branson has been courageous and supportive towards
the employees that have helped to motivate the employees. He efficiently managed
the relationships among the employees, which resulted in increased productivity.
The behavioural leadership theory has some limitations, as the theory is
deterministic and only focuses on the skills that are visible but the leader has
efficiently dealt with it by using his experience and interpersonal skills ( Storey,
2016).
(Please refer to appendix 1)
The entrepreneur has generated the experience in business so that has helped him
to plan strategies and guide the employees to overcome the challenging situations,
which enhanced the self-confidence of the employees. The person has used
technical and human skills to manage such situations as per the behavioural
theory. The leadership motives of the person are to have fun in the workplace and
consider the people as the key to the success of the company. Richard Branson
has been able to start and operate new business ventures by following and
implementing these two theories into his leadership strategies.
2. Discuss how Richard Branson's leadership style impacts
the performance and motivation of his employees at Virgin. Support your
answer with the relevant theories.
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The approach of providing direction and motivating the employees. The total implicit
and explicit patterns that are performed by the leaders are known as the leadership
styles.
The leadership styles of Richard Branson
Transformational theories: The organisation, Virgin group focuses on the growth
and adaptabilities so the founder has adopted the transformational leadership
styles. According to the transformational leadership, the employees in an
organisation help and provide support to each other that is beneficial for the growth
of the whole organisation. Richard Branson has responded to their employees by
trusting them and motivating them. This has helped him to earn the respects from
the employees. The employees have become more self-confident and willing to
perform harder for the growth of the organisation. Richard Branson has successfully
used the four factors of these leadership styles, which includes the consideration,
inspirational motivation, intellectual simulation and influence that has been fruitful
for creating a supportive environment in the workplace (Ghasabeh et al., 2015).
(Please refer to appendix 2)
Democratic leadership style: Richard Branson has efficiently handled the
balancing act of engaging employees in the decision-making process. However, the
final decision-making is under the control of this leader. This leadership style has
empowered the working team by aiding the group in the process of decision-
making. The leader has listened to the opinions of the employees so that they can
feel that their opinions matter. This has been the reason behind the achievement of
employee satisfaction as it fosters the sense of participation ( Bruijl and Gerard,
2018). Richard Branson has played a major role in ensuring the democratic
deliberation from the employees.
Richard Branson has become a great leader as he has strong situational and
contingency leadership skills. The leader always looked for the right opportunity
that has helped him to create 100 new business ventures. Richard Branson has
mastered the art of planning strategies for controlling unstable situations. The
leader’s leadership skill is contingent upon the situation so that shows Branson has
followed the contingency theory of leadership. The person also involves the
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employees in the decision-making process of the company that shows that the
leader also follows the situational leadership theory, which supports the
involvement of group members in those processes (Otley, 2016). Richard Branson
has dealt efficiently with the perceptions of the employees so that has helped him to
ignore the pitfalls of this leadership skill that causes an environment of fear and
uncertainty in the workplace. The entrepreneur has been able to expand their
business in new ventures by using these leadership strategies.
(Please refer to appendix 3)
3. In a fast changing environment and a globalised economy, should Richard
Branson consider a more post-modern organisation? Justify your answer.
According to the modernist theory, the social and cultural of a country has been
changing during the late 19th to 20ieth centuries (Boyne and Rattansi, 2017). The
random changes in the global economy leave an impact on the entrepreneurial
ventures worldwide as it poses threats for the small-medium sized organisations as
these organisations faces challenges while competing in the domestic market. The
companies cannot desist from participating in the global market for generating
revenues from those markets. The globalised economy is shaped by the
development of efficient strategies for positioning products uniquely on the market
that will be beneficial for building the international customer base. The Virgin
Atlantic is service the global customers with competitive prices so that the
customers can experience the best services. The fuel price has been collapsed as
there is a high demand in the supply chain and the company has managed to
provide their customers with a competitively lower fare prices than other companies.
The fast-changing environments and the global economy are considered as the
drivers of growth. The external environment of every enterprise is undergoing
profound changes fuelled by digital technology, processing power of information and
others. The previous full business model is being changed by new infrastructures
with the predominant custom services (Lehmann and Joseph, 2015).
Richard Branson should consider itself as a postmodern society as the concept of
postmodernism is intellectual that is beneficial for initiating new paradigms. The
organisations should be developed in a way that it will be capable of operating the
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business in changing situations also. The postmodern organisations are known for
coexisting with the populations including the organisations that exist in the modern
line so that will be helpful for the company to generate modern customers. The
global economy has changed and in order to survive in the business environment
and global market, the company needs to be considered as the postmodern
organisation (Silverman, 2017).
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Conclusion
The study concludes that the leadership skills of Richard Branson have played a
great role in establishing the company. Richard Branson is a participative and
transformational leader who has transformed the working environment of the
company. The personality and behavioural traits of him is listed in the study to
provide guidance. The contingency and situational theory has helped him to be a
great leader and achieve the satisfactions of the employees. The global economy is
being changed so that the leader needs to consider the company as a post modern
company to cope up with the changes and maintain the position they have in the
global market.
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Recommendation
 Richard Branson needs to ensure that every members in the team are buying
into the vision of him and should continue posing enthusiasm in the team
 The leaders should reach new performance level which will be beneficial for
the company
 The team members need to be challenged for thinking new innovative ideas
for operating the business that will help them enhance their self confidence
 Engage employees in different activities

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Reference list
Boyne, R. and Rattansi, A. eds., 2017. Postmodernism and society. Macmillan
International Higher Education.
Bruijl, D. and Gerard, H.T., 2018. Sir Richard Branson: A Global Leader with a
Difference. Th., Sir Richard Branson: A Global Leader with a Difference (January
31, 2018).
Fleck, N., Michel, G. and Zeitoun, V., 2014. Brand personification through the use of
spokespeople: An exploratory study of ordinary employees, CEOs, and celebrities
featured in advertising. Psychology & Marketing, 31(1), pp.84-92.
Ghasabeh, M.S., Soosay, C. and Reaiche, C., 2015. The emerging role of
transformational leadership. The Journal of Developing Areas, 49(6), pp.459-467.
Lehmann, J. and Joseph, S. eds., 2015. Biochar for environmental management:
science, technology and implementation. Routledge.
Otley, D., 2016. The contingency theory of management accounting and control:
1980–2014. Management accounting research, 31, pp.45-62.
Silverman, H.J., 2017. Postmodernism: Philosophy and the arts. Routledge.
Storey, J., 2016. Changing theories of leadership and leadership development.
In Leadership in Organizations (pp. 33-58). Routledge.
Virgin Media. (2019). Virgin Media - Official Site. [online] Available at:
https://www.virginmedia.com/ [Accessed 16 Feb. 2019].
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