Virgin Australia: Structure, Leadership, and Market Strategies Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Virgin Australia, focusing on its organizational structure, leadership styles, and strategic approaches within the Australian and international markets. The report begins with an introduction to Virgin Australia, highlighting its position as the second-largest Australian airline and its operational scope. It then delves into the company's organizational structure, identifying it as primarily functional, with a recent shift towards a matrix structure. The analysis explores the different leadership styles adopted by Virgin Australia, including authoritarian, participative, and delegation styles, and their impact on employee motivation and decision-making. Furthermore, the report examines the marketing strategies employed by Virgin Australia, particularly its emphasis on cost advantage and market penetration in less-dominated regions. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the company's structure and strategies, emphasizing their effectiveness in achieving the company's mission and vision, and providing recommendations for future growth and competitive advantage in the airline industry. The report highlights the importance of effective leadership, marketing strategies, and organizational structure in ensuring the company's success.

Running Head: Virgin Australia
Organizational structure

Virgin Australia
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
The organizational structure of Virgin Australia.............................................................................2
Virgin Australia Leadership style....................................................................................................3
Virgin Australia strategies within Australia and overseas market...................................................3
Views or comments on the structure and strategies of Virgin Australia.........................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6
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Introduction
Virgin Airline is considered as the second largest Australian airline company. The
company was founded in 1999 and the activities are commenced from 31 August 2000.
Headquarter of the company is located in Bowen Hills, Brisbane. The company offers attractive
services concerned to freight and traveling passengers.
The slogan of Virgin Australia is "Here to Looking up". The company was co-founded by
Richard Branson and CEO Brett Godfrey. There are more than 20 cities in Australia who are
considering a fleet of narrow-body Boeing and also Airbus. There are more than 26,000
employees who are conducting their routine activities in the company (Virgin Australia, 2018).
It has been seen that the company focuses on offering effective services to the consumers
and also the share of the company in the Australian market is more than 60%. The company
focuses on services on both international as well as on the domestic platform. Virgin Australia
Airline has various features that have a unique position to compete with the airlines on a global
basis. The customers have a good image in the market and they think that company offers
guarantee value for money in context to money, fun, and trust. The company also offers service
in the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
(Source: Virgin Australia, 2018).
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Therefore, this paper will emphasize on the leadership styles and also the structure of the
company. by focusing on the structure of the company the discussion will be related to the
strategies which are within Australia and then comments will be given that will assist the
organization to survive in the competitive market.
The organizational structure of Virgin Australia
Organizational structure is related to the structural framework that helps to determine the
pattern of the hierarchy within the company. There are three types of structure which are
functional, divisional and Matrix structure. It has been analyzed that functional structure focuses
on developing specific functional areas on the basis of skills and specialization. This structure is
simple and also focuses on managing and controlling the operations. The overall efficiency can
be enhanced if this structure is taken into consideration. If there is lack of communication then it
is difficult to achieve success within the functional areas. Next is related to the divisional
structure and in this, it has been seen that company creates division by focusing on the
geography, product, and service in the market. All the divisions conduct the activities
independently. Matrix structure takes into consideration more than one reporting lines. In this, it
helps the managers to emphasize on the specialization that can reduce the conflicts (Arblaster,
2016).
Virgin Australia conducts the activities on a global basis and has a massive structure. The
company focuses on the functional structure in which the employees are grouped into various
functional areas according to the skills and qualifications. The activities are controlled and
managed in a proper manner through this structure. They focus on cost and consider the dynamic
structure that can be taken into consideration according to the change in the needs of the
business. Recently, the company is considering Matrix structure in which the top management is
responsible for conducting the activities in a proper manner according to the policies. In the
company, there are various departments like functional, administrative and commercial
management. All these departments focus on working with the teams so that goals and objectives
of the company can be accomplished (Gregson et al., 2015).
It has been seen that there are various activities related to the company and it is controlled
by the executives and has been bestowed with the authority, roles, and responsibilities that
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should be considered under the area of activities (Gupta and Walton, 2017). Through proper
organization structure, only the company is able to conduct the activities in a managed form and
also with proper efficiency.
Virgin Australia Leadership style
It has been seen that effective leadership style is a key to effective change management
and it helps in handling the resistance to change. Through effective leadership style, it can be
simple for the company to motivate the employees. Virgin Australia focuses on different
leadership styles so that activities can be managed in a proper manner and also motivation level
of the employees can be enhanced (Gittell et al., 2015). In this, the company emphasizes on
Authoritarian, participative and delegation styles of leadership. The authoritarian style of
leadership helps the manager to maintain proper activities. The activities are managed by giving
direction to the leaders or the managers so that operations can take place according to the rules
and policies of the company. Participative and democratic leadership style is related to
considering the accurate decisions so that operations can take place in a proper manner
(Flemming, 2017).
It has been seen that leader focuses on taking accurate decisions and at the time of taking
decisions, they consult it with the employees so that decisions implemented by the company can
be accepted by the employees. Style of leadership focuses on delegation of the activities which
help the company to allow the workers to consider the decision on their own but it should be
beneficial for the company (Whyte and Lohmann, 2016).
Also, it has been analyzed that managers give proper guidance to the people who are
from a different field so that they can conduct the activities with proper care. The skills are given
by the leaders so that employees can work according to the expectation level of the company. By
giving emphasis to this leadership style the company also motivates the employees to give their
best towards the activities of the company.
Virgin Australia strategies within Australia and overseas market
It has been seen that focusing on effective marketing it can be easy to attain targets.
Virgin Australia considers various strategies that will be helpful to accomplish the goals. It is
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essential for the company to take into consideration the strategies which can help to achieve
large market share. As there is a high level of competition in the market it is important for the
company to focus on the strategies related to cost advantage and also to increase the share in the
less dominated region.
The first strategy is related to the cost advantage. It can be evaluated that Virgin Australia
emphasizes on reducing the overall cost so that the overall profits can be increased. This is one
of the attractive strategies that will help the company to promote the services or the products in
the market. Marketing can help the company to compete with the competitors in a proper
manner (Greig, 2018). By competing with the competitors it can be easy for the company to
achieve large market share. Penetration is also the factor that should be considered so that on
domestic as well as on international platform the company can easily conduct the activities
(Alexander and Merkert, 2017).
Next strategy is related to the increase the share in the less dominated region. Virgin
Australia expands the activities of the organization so that operations can take place in the other
region. It is essential for the company to consider proper strategy at the time of market entry so
that profitability can be attained (Eaton, 2017). The organization has also attained large market
share if differentiation is made with the competitors prevailing in the market. This will also help
the company to enter the market which will give a positive impact on the overall operations of
the organization.
Views or comments on the structure and strategies of Virgin
Australia
By focusing on the structure of the company it has been seen that effectiveness can help
the company to implement the strategies so that organization can easily accomplish the mission
and vision. The organizational structure of the company is good and it will help to collect the
views of the stakeholders (Zhang, Wang and Fu, 2017). By focusing on the leadership style it
has been evaluated that the activities can be conducted in a smooth manner. The company also
has the opportunity to enhance the market share. If the activities are conducted in a proper
manner then it can be possible to enhance the growth of the employees in the company (Baker,
Merkert, and Kamruzzaman, 2015).
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By considering the cost advantage strategy it can be stated that success can be achieved
easily in the market. The position which is achieved by the company in the market is just because
of the marketing strategies which help to guide the activities conducted by the employees.
Conclusion
By analyzing the report, it can be concluded that organization structure and also
leadership style plays a great role in managing the activities of the company. These aspects are
considered by the company in a proper manner which helps to achieve success in the market.
The style of leadership which is adopted by the company helps to manage and control the
activities in a right direction. It will also help to achieve competitive advantage in a proper
manner. The company should focus on considering the marketing strategies as it can help to grab
the opportunities which are present in the market. Therefore, it can be stated that the company
can only achieve growth if activities are conducted effectively.
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References
Alexander, D.W. and Merkert, R., 2017. Challenges to domestic air freight in Australia:
Evaluating air traffic markets with gravity modelling. Journal of Air Transport Management, 61,
pp.41-52.
Arblaster, M., 2016. Negotiate-arbitrate regulation of airport services: Twenty years of
experience in Australia. Journal of Air Transport Management, 51, pp.27-38.
Baker, D., Merkert, R. and Kamruzzaman, M., 2015. Regional aviation and economic growth:
cointegration and causality analysis in Australia. Journal of Transport Geography, 43, pp.140-
150.
Eaton, J., 2017. Globalization and human resource management in the airline industry.
Routledge.
Flemming, P.L., 2017. Building a Climate of Change with a link through Transformational
Leadership and Corporate Culture: A Management key to a Global Environment. International
Journal of Business and Social Research, 7(01), pp.44-55.
Gittell, J.H., von Nordenflycht, A., Kochan, T.A., Bamber, G.J. and McKersie, R.B., 2015.
Labor Relations and Human Resource Management in the Airline Industry. The global airline
industry, 21(2), p.287.
Gregson, S., Hampson, I., Junor, A., Fraser, D., Quinlan, M. and Williamson, A., 2015. Supply
chains, maintenance and safety in the Australian airline industry. Journal of Industrial
Relations, 57(4), pp.604-623.
Greig, D., 2018. When does Airline Competition Become Predation?. In Competition versus
Predation in Aviation Markets (pp. 95-102). Routledge.
Gupta, A. and Walton, R.O., 2017. Assessment of Air Cargo Airlines: An Interpretive Structural
Modeling Approach. Procedia Manufacturing, 11, pp.1908-1915.
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Virgin Australia, 2018.Company Overview.[Online]Virgin Australia. Available at
https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/ , [Accessed on 22 May].
Whyte, R. and Lohmann, G., 2016. Airline business models. Air Transport Management: An
International Perspective, p.107.
Zhang, Y., Wang, K. and Fu, X., 2017. Air transport services in regional Australia: Demand
pattern, frequency choice and airport entry. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and
Practice, 103, pp.472-489.
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