Analysis of Organizational Theory and Practice at Virgin Plc

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of organizational theory and practice at Virgin Plc, a British multinational conglomerate. It explores various managerial styles, including democratic and transformational approaches, highlighting their impact on employee motivation and productivity. The report also examines organizational change and culture, applying the Nudge theory and emphasizing the importance of employee involvement. Furthermore, it delves into Richard Branson's leadership style, characterized by transformational, laissez-faire, and visionary elements. The effects of power, influence, and conflicts within the organization are discussed, along with motivational strategies implemented to enhance employee performance. The report concludes with recommendations for improving organizational performance based on the findings.

ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY AND
PRACTICE
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Task A: Managerial styles:..........................................................................................................4
Task B: Organizational change and culture Management:..........................................................6
Task C: Leadership style:............................................................................................................7
Task D: Effects of Power, Influence and conflicts:.....................................................................8
Task E: Motivational strategies:..................................................................................................9
Task F: Literature:.....................................................................................................................10
Task G: Recommendations:.......................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................12
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................13
Online references:..........................................................................................................................14
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INTRODUCTION
Organization refers to the group of people who came together with a view to achieve a
particular product. It is an act of establishing something where a system of order of structure is
followed in which tasks are classified (Galbraith, 2017). Management styles are the certain ways
through which managers try to accomplish the organizational objectives. They are the styles of
handling or managing the employees of an organization.
Virgin Plc., is a British multinational venture capital company in conglomerate industry.
The company offers various products such as Banking services, Books, commercial aviation,
commercial space flight, consumer electronic, health care, internet, jewellery, mobile phones,
radio, retail and travel products etc. it was found in 1970 by Richard Branson and Nik Powell. Its
headquarters are in Paddington district of Westminster city. The company have various business
ventures in a range of sectors such as travels, health, motor-sports, hospitality and finance etc.
The report will discuss the managerial styles, change analysis, motivational strategies
and leadership styles used at Virgin Plc with the application of appropriate models and theories.
It will also discuss the effects of power, influence and conflicts in the company. Justification and
suggestions based upon the discussion which increase organizational performance.
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Task A: Managerial styles:
Management styles or managerial styles refers to the particular ways in which managers
handle their employees and work in an organization (Lopatta and et.al., 2019). It reflects the
ways in which managers plan, make their decisions and exercise their authorities and
responsibilities. Mangers at Virgin Plc implements democratic and transformational management
styles for managing their employees.
Democratic management style
In democratic management style, managers make the decisions by input of the
employees. However, the final decision is made by the manager only. Virgin Plc uses this style
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Illustration 1: Virgin Plc.
Source: Virgin logo. 2021

of management, where the managers encourage their employees to provide the output during the
decision-making process (Dessein and Santos, 2021). But, the final decision is made by the
managers only. Josh Bayliss, the CEO of Virgin Plc uses this management style because it
allows the management for diverse skills, ideas and opinions from the employees. Josh Bayliss
prefers this style of leadership because, it is based upon mutual respect between the employees
and managers. It is combined with the participatory leadership as well. The reason behind it is
that it demands a cooperation between managers and the employees they lead. This then
maintains team spirit in the chosen company. The advantages of using this management style to
Virgin Plc are following:
 It provides the company with more diverse prospectives which are involved in the
decision-making process.
 Employees feel more valued and involved in the organization.
 This leadership style increases employee motivation and productivity.
Transformation Management style:
Transformational management style is based upon agile and growth of an organization.
In this management style, managers concentrates upon pushing the staff to achieve more
accomplishments (Lopatta, Kaspereit and Gastone, 2020). In Virgin Plc, the managers work with
their employees and inspire the employees so that they can provide greater efforts through
demonstrating their own works and accomplishments. This management style is best of virgin
plc because it is constantly anticipating in the period of change within the company and industry.
It induces a positive change in the employees and their attitudes as a whole. This style was
adopted by the CEO Josh Bayliss, to make the employees more innovative and flexible while the
company responds to inside and outside forces. Transformational management style has been
successful at Virgin plc because:
 Through transformational management, innovation is created which makes the
employees to adapt the changes, challenging projects and disruptions more easily.
 This management style encourages creative thinking, product development and problem
solving skills in the employees at Virgin Plc.
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Task B: Organizational change and culture Management:
Organizational change:
Organizational change management are the actions through which an organization alters
or changes a major component and element of the business. It can be organizational culture,
technologies, infrastructures and even its internal processes (Stouten, Rousseau and De Cremer,
2018). Virgin plc have a very complex organizational structure which is known as Keiretsu. It
means it is based upon the business network that is made up of distinct supply chain partners,
distributes, companies and manufacturers. Nudge theory can be applied in the case of Virgin Plc.
Nudge theory is a model in which the change is introduced from the pint of view of employees
(Lewis, 2019). It involves presenting the change based upon how it is beneficial for the
employees and treating it as a suggestion and not as a command. It also involves listening to
feedback throughout the change process.
Josh Bayliss, introduced the change in its aviation industry recently. He introduced the
change of aviation industry to a renewable fuel driven industry to enhance the growth. The
change was introduced to employees as travel is a need of everyone. If, the jet is burning the fuel
every time a time will come where no fuel will be left. He introduced the feature as an integral
part of the organization.
Organizational culture:
Organizational culture refers to the shared beliefs, values and environment of an
organization and everyone who works in the organization. It defines the framework of an
organization (Felipe, Roldán and Leal-Rodríguez, 2017).
Richard Branson, the former CEO of Virgin Plc, had influenced the culture of the
company the most in all the times. He believed that the human resource are the biggest and most
important aspects of Virgin plc, so they should be valued and respected. The organizational has
adopted the Clan culture. A clan culture uses the approach of family like collaboration. In this
culture, employees are collaborative and committed instead of competing with each other. This
culture brings employee engagement and loyalty.
Organizational culture of Virgin Plc is defined as a family that is informal, but have
strong values and belief systems. The management of chosen company, shows that it cares for
the welfare and well-being of the employees and thus provides them a free environment. Due to
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this organizational culture of beliefs and values, the company is being able to thrive, identify,
challenge and complete a variety of new business opportunities. This culture was influenced by
Richard Branson, who has successfully implemented this belief systems in the employees and
has successfully motivated them to perform more effectively.
Task C: Leadership style:
Leadership is a procedure through which the people are influenced to maximize their
outcomes and efforts to achieve organizational goals. Leadership is the qualities and abilities of
an individual through which they guide and influence the members or employees of an
organization (Gandolfi and Stone, 2018). Richard Branson is former CEO of Virgin Plc. Richard
never used a specific leadership style. His leadership style evolved from his personality and
reflected from experiences. According to Richard Branson his leadership style is rule breaker
leadership. He believes that rules are meant to be broken. However, his leadership style
consisted of all the following leaderships styles:
 Transformational leadership: A transformational leader is the one who believes in
bringing and causing changes in individuals as well as social systems (Buil, Martínez and
Matute, 2019). Richard is a transformational leader who sets high goals for the
organization. Richard provides appropriate measure through which all the employees and
executives can become more effective and efficient. He rewards the excelling people
while encourages who fall to learn from their mistakes. He believes that people will
change only when they are able to learn from past behaviours and identify those
mistakes.
 Laissez faire leadership: In this type of leadership style, a leader does not micromanage
and rely on the employees with a trust to achieve the desired objectives (Elkington and
et.al., 2017). Through this leadership style, Richards shares what he knows with his team
but also keeps in view that people will learn from their mistakes. He believes in letting
the employee learn from their mistakes. He expects the team to reach the goals by setting
goals and providing necessary guidance. In virgin Plc, every employee is treated equal
like a family with trust and respect. He provides the freedom to employees for being
creative and work without the huge influence of superiors micro-managing them. He also
welcomes suggestions and feedback.
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 Visionary leadership: In visionary leadership style, a leader outline plans ensuring his
vision. For attainment of that vision, the leader empowers and equips every employee to
take appropriate actions (Robert and Vandenberghe, 2021). Richard, is a leader with a
range of visions because Virgin Plc owns many companies in it. Even though, Richard
does not have all the skills to attain his vision. But he is too flexible to fit in this category
of leadership styles. According to him, understanding the delegation of authorities and
responsibilities is as much important as important it is to own a strong personality to
build a business.
Task D: Effects of Power, Influence and conflicts:
The effects of power, influence and conflicts in Virgin Plc can be examined as following:
Effects of Power in Virgin Plc
Power refers to the abilities and skills to influence other's behaviours. The ability of
power can be based upon many factors such as personality, authority and knowledge of an
individual (Tedeschi, Schlenker and Bonoma, 2017). Authority can be regarded as power when it
receives a formal recognition and backing from the organization. Even through, it is assumed
that power is ideal and good, but it can be an issue too. Power can change employees and all
those people whop rise to the top. They tend to prioritize their personal goals and desires above
the organizational goals. These people then, tend to ignore other people's views and perspectives
and disregard their feelings. They act aggressive to preserve their powers in companies.
Effect of power in virgin Plc is low. The company prioritize the need for achievement
and affiliation more. The company empowers its employees with the delegation of
responsibilities. This lowers the effect of power on all the employees.
Effects of influence Virgin Plc
Influences are the attributes or elements of an organization which have the ability and
power to impact the work of individuals within an organization (Chul-Jung, 2018). Influence is
related to power more. Virgin Plc's employees are influenced by its leaders and their powers. As
a leader, Richard Branson is a great listener and a very good motivator. He praises the employees
and always look the best in them. This influences the employees and their performances at work.
Effects of conflicts Virgin Plc
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Conflict occurs when people disagree and oppose to the views and thinking of one another.
Conflicts arise hand in hand with the powers (Schmid, 2018). Conflict causes unnecessary issue
which can have a negative impact upon the efficiency and effectiveness of work.
In Virgin Plc, the management realizes the need to address and avoid conflicts. So the
effect of conflicts in Virgin Plc is low. The company believes that the best way to avoid conflicts
is through effective communication. It implements effect and simple hierarchy for
communication, so the there are no misunderstanding because of miscommunication between the
employees and the management. Even when the conflicts arise, the chosen company does not
avoid conflicts rather it addresses the conflicts at all the costs and stops it from being a bigger
issue. For addressing conflicts, Virgin Plc have made a separate committee which tackles the
issues of conflict resolution and climate change within the organization.
Task E: Motivational strategies:
Effective management practices is very important in deriving high level of employee
motivation. Virgin Plc treat employees as individuals and empowers them and provide them with
flexible workplace and effective reward system. It uses the maslow's need hierarchy theory to
develops its motivational strategies. It is a motivation theory which explains the psychology of
human motivation based on the different levels of needs.
There are five levels in this model. First is the psychological needs, these are the basic
needs of an individual that is water, shelter, food, health, warmth and rest (Fallatah, 2018). These
are the most important needs of an individual. So Virgin Plc, keeping in mind the psychological
needs, provides a standard salary which is required to fulfill the basic needs of the employees.
Also, it provides comfortable working conditions that is flexible working hours and proper
breaks in between to eat and drink and to use the bathrooms.
The second is the safety needs, it is related to the individual's need to feel safe and secure
in their surroundings (Schulte, and et.al., 2018). It means seeking protection from violent
conditions, health threats etc. also, it includes job security and stable income. Virgin Plc provides
a safe workplace that is it has taken all the necessary measures, in case of a mishappening. It also
has a secure compensation policy which helps employees to feel secure even at the time of
situations like Covid-19. The employees feel motivated as they feel there jobs are secured.
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Third is the social needs, it refers to the sense of acceptance and belongingness. Virgin
Plc has a working environment which is friendly and encourages teamwork that is it has an
environment where no employees feel alone and isolated. It has an environment which has
cooperative team work and kind supervisors and promotes work life balance.
Fourth is the esteem needs, it refers to the need for respect and self esteem. It is related to
an individuals need to gain status and recognition. Virgin Plc has an effective reward system that
is to make their employees feel motivated and fulfilling their self esteem needs it provides them
with proper bonus and promotions when they do well and make them feel valued and recognised.
The final need is the self actualisation need, that is an individual reaches to its full
potential. It includes realisation of personal potential, personal growth and self fulfillment.
Virgin Plc recognising the self actualisation needs of its employees and invites them to
participate in decision making and also gives them flexibility and autonomy in their jobs and
also provides them with their dream job and dream position which helps in keeping them
motivated.
Task F: Literature:
From the above it can be seen that Virgin Plc implements the democratic and
transformational management styles. According to Sulich, Sołoducho-Pelc and Ferasso (2021),
“management style is a way which reflects the manager's plan, take decisions and exercise their
powers and authorities which is necessary for a successful running of an enterprise”. Virgin Plc
has a style where managers encourage employees to get involve in decision making process
which results in effective coordination between the superiors and their subordinates and results
in increasing teamspirit. Also, it results in higher level of motivation in employees as they feel
more valued hence leading to higher productivity.
A great culture is a key to develop the traits which are necessary for the success of the
business. Organisational culture defines the framework of an organisation. As per the opinion of
Macke, and Genari (2019), it states that, “human resource is one of the most important aspect in
the business.” Keeping this in mind Virgin Plc has a culture which values and respects it
employees. Virgin Plc has adopted the clan culture that is, it is a family which is informal with
strong beliefs and values. Ans this shows that the company cares about the welfare of its
employees and also provides a free environment to them.
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Motivation plays a key role in identifying and satisfying the needs of employees and the
business. As per the reviews of the Oláh (2017), it was stated that, “the effective motivation,
direction and leadership takes a business forward”. With the use of maslow's need hierarchy
theory, Virgin Plc has identified the various needs of its employees and satisfying the needs and
motivating them using various motivational strategies like providing them with safe workplace,
fleible working hours, promotions and incentives.
Task G: Recommendations:
In order to have a better organisational performance, Virgin Plc must must focus on
increasing its organisational efficiency by developing various aspects. One of the critical aspect
to improve organisational performance is leadership. It clears the vision for the organisation and
its employees so that the objectives and goals of the organisation can be achieved efficiently and
effectively. Virgin Plc must focus more on the democratic style of leadership that is where
employees take active participation in the decision making process which will lead in better
coordination and increased morale of employees which will result in higher productivity and
lead the company towards growth.
Also, it is recommended that the company follows the 7C's of communication that is
correct, clear, coherent, concrete, courteous, concise and complete so that there is effective
communication. Virgin Plc should have a transparent communication that will help in focusing
on the goals of the organisation and avoid conflicts and late completion of tasks. And hence, this
will lead in increasing the efficiency of the company.
Human resource is one of the most important aspect in success of a business. So creating
a culture that values effectiveness and motivating its employees will result in increasing
performance level of an organisation. Virgin Plc top priority should be employee engagement in
order to increase its organisational performance. It should opt a culture where the employees are
valued and respected and which cares about the welfare of its employees and motivates them to
perform efficiently so that they can achieve organisational goal with achieving their personal
goals. And hence leading the company towards growth.
It is also recommended that Virgin Plc must use various motivational strategies such as
healthy work environment, incentives and recognition etc. to keep motivating its employees. As
motivated employees are enthusiastic and takes pride in work. They complete tasks quickly and
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do good work for both the company and themselves. It will lead the company to produce more
output and eventually lead to selling more output and will result in generating higher profits and
increasing the performance level of the organisation.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that organizations are a structure of
people who work together to achieve common goals. The ways the people at work are managed
are called management styles. Virgin Plc is a British Multinational Plc which offers a number of
products. Managers in Virgin Plc uses democratic and transformational leadership styles which
makes the employees more involved and valued in the company. Josh Bayliss the current CEO
of Virgin plc introduced change in the organizational structure and made it more consumer and
employee driven company. The former CEO of Virgin Plc, Richard Branson, influenced the
organizational culture of the company. He adopted clan culture in which every employee is
treated like family. His leaderships style was rule breaker which included elements of other
leadership styles such as transformational leadership. It was analysed that the effects of power
and conflicts were low and the effect of influence is high in Virgin Plc. The company applies
various motivational strategies such as.... For enhancing the organizational performances and
efficiency the company can use the recommendations provided such as....
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