Leadership and Sustainability in Business - Case Study Example

? Leadership and Sustainability in Business Table of Contents 3 Introduction 3 A Brief Overview of Oman Air 4 Oman Air and Sustainability 5 Oman Air and Women leadership 7 Leadership Theories & Characteristics of a good leader 9 Youth in leadership and sustainability 11 Conclusion 11 Reference list 13 Introduction Sustainability is a term which is used to exhibit various approaches of improving the way we lead life. It can be defined as a long-term view about how a particular action of the present can affect the future. However, in the context of an organization, if some of the primary dimensions are controlled well, it will give high sustainability to the organization (Management Help, n.d.). On the other hand, leadership is the process by which an individual influences another individual or a group of individuals to support and collectively reach the objective. Apart from the aforementioned definition, leadership can also be defined as the process of systematizing and categorizing a group of individuals in order to achieve the objective. Therefore, from the above statements, sustainability and leadership are two terms of different context. However, when collated, they provide a different meaning altogether. Sustainable leadership is referred to as a type of leadership which benefits the organizations in the long run by influencing the people positively, exhibiting the values of the society, and initiating change. An effective sustainable leadership consists of 3 components, namely moral values, creativity, and influence. Moral values are the level at which an individual identifies and supports the values of civilization. The value that portrays the mutual care of mankind depicts the moral values. Influence is the capability to modify one’s behavior. Creativity is the ability to portray innovative ideas and the enthusiasm to undertake risk. In the context of this project, Oman Air will be chosen as the organization by the example of which the aforementioned terms of leadership and sustainability will be portrayed. The report will also shed light on ‘women as leaders’. This will emphasize on the acceptance of female leaders in the society. The report will highlight the leadership theories as well as the changing leadership styles. Apart from that, leadership in youth and characteristics of a good leader will be illustrated. However, the topics that will be covered will relate to Oman Air. Therefore, to continue with the project, a brief overview of Oman Air is presented below. A Brief Overview of Oman Air Oman Air is an airline company presently headquartered at Muscat, Oman. The company was established in the year 1993 (Oman Air, n.d.). It is also the national air carrier of Oman. It was founded by the sultanate of Oman’s Civil Aviation. The company provides services for domestic as well as international customers. Regional Taxi and Charter Flights services are also offered by the company. Oman Air operates with around 300 flights a week. It has a network of 36 destinations spread over 19 countries of the world. Apart from this, the company offers a lot of valuable services to its customers (Flightpedia, n.d.). Recently the company became the sole air carrier to offer Wi-Fi services as well as mobile services. During the date of its incorporation, Oman Air remained thoroughly professional. It has added many feathers to the cap; the company has recently won Airline of the Year award at France’s Laurier d’Or du Voyage d’Affaires. In the early 2011, the company was promoted to a 4 stars air carrier while its business class was acknowledged as 5 stars and went on to win the Best Airline Seat award from Skytrax. With the modernization of technology, air transport is becoming a complex venture; however, in the past, the Oman Air has successfully identified its areas of strength and accordingly transformed itself. A team of dedicated workforce, skilled pilots, and niche operating routes has highly contributed to achieving competency. However, in context of leadership and sustainability, the company has a different view. The relationship among leadership and sustainability with Oman Air are represented below. Oman Air and Sustainability Airlines have long been demonstrated as ‘sustainability villains’ – the only ventures which remain unaffected and untaxed by any hazardous emission. The emission levels are expected to rise in the near future with the increase in the number of flights. However sustainability has always been a part of Oman Air. The company does take many steps for accomplishing the sustainability standards. The company always tries to meet the expectation of the customers by offering superior services. Thus it has now become an airline of preference. The company welcomes people from diversified cultures and also from different nations and portrays a true sense of warmth and hospitality. Some of the sustainable activities of Oman Air are as follows: Ground handling and maintenance are sustainable efforts, as they help maintain the flow of the customers. High maintenance of the air carriers resulting in customer satisfaction and repeated purchasing of the service. The phenomenon has led to sustainable profit from those aircrafts. The company highly focuses on ground handling mechanisms in order to portray sustainability. Such action ensures high rate of work flow and also could maintain a smooth customer service. Oman as a country is promoting tourism, and hence there is an increase in flow of visitors, which will bring high revenue to the company. The company tries to maintain the minimum level of emission by flying above a certain altitude. In other words, it flies at a height where the impact of emission is minimal. The company carries the passengers within the prescribed weight limit. This ensures less fuel consumption. This is probably the best example to showcase the practice of sustainability. Moreover, Oman Air hugely invests in the preservation of environment by the incorporation of new technologies. Catering and cargo handling are also another services offered by the company. The cargo handling department of the company is under the service and delivery division of Oman Air. Cargo handling service ensures high level of services and securities. The company offers the services not only to its clients but also to all the other airlines that operate from Muscat International Airport and Salalah Airport. This can also be referred to as an effort towards sustainability. Also, with the help of automated cargo handling, the knowledgeable and skilled personnel offer proficient services to the esteemed customers of the organization. The aforementioned phenomena depict the company’s activeness to reach sustainability. Also, in a recent ranking issued by Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), all the gulf countries were said to be less competitive in the process of developing tours and travelling. While, on the contrary, only Saudi Arabia and Oman are the two new entrants in the list from the same region. Thus, in whole, sustainability plays a key role in the success of a business. Oman Air and Women leadership There is always a difference between a boss and a leader, a boss usually says ‘go’ while a leader says ‘let’s go’. History states that leadership has always been the most important aspect in the success of organizations. However, men have always been in domination in the context of leadership. Women have always remained deprived of portraying their leadership skills. Still, in the 21st century, women have become more independent and self-governing. Nowadays, we can find some of the important and vital positions of the companies as well as governing bodies of a country are occupied by females. Nonetheless, the company Oman Air portrays a different outlook as regards the context of woman leadership. The company believes that male leaders will be more effective as compared to a female leader. Since the company is mainly driven by males, I have faced huge difficulties in order to maintain or match my level of work with them. I have been also restricted to portray my leadership qualities during some vital situations. I will cite a real example where I have been restricted to showcase my leadership qualities while, on the contrary, one of my male colleagues received the opportunity to demonstrate his leadership abilities. I am not complaining about his leadership qualities, but as a female I should be also given a chance. The incident happened a year ago when we were returning from Zurich. Suddenly, there was an issue with a customer. The customer complained that the food served to him was very poor, that he would address the higher authorities, and also threatened to involve media into the matter. As I heard the incident, I rushed to the customer to apologize and convince him not to publicize the issue. However, I was not the only crew member; there were few more and also the supervisor. I noticed that as I was in the process of convincing the customer, our supervisor neglected my comments and effort and rather allowed my colleague, who was a male, to look after the issue. I was pretty sure the incident took place due to gender biasness, as I witnessed the same situation happening many times during my work in the company. Government has also provided all the rights to women so that they could become leaders, but still Oman Air feels slightly different. Therefore, I believe such malpractices need to be rectified and both males and females must get equal opportunities to showcase their leadership qualities. I was a lucky girl, as my father supported me throughout the process and allowed me to travel the world with my company. My father also allowed me to learn different perspectives of human being and to learn the mix of cultures. I believe probably that is the foundation of my leadership. However, apart from all the difficulties and restrictions, we have witnessed that there are women who have broken the shackles and reached the apex position. For example, in Oman, Sheikha Aisha Bint Khalfan Bin Jameel al-Sayabiyah is the first female minister who has actually ‘broken the rules’ and reached the crest. She was given the charge to look after the National Authority for Industrial Craftsmanship (NAIC). She was even the first lady minister among the gulf countries. Moreover, the government of Oman also encouraged women to take part in public elections and become ministers for maintaining a balance and contradicting gender biasness. In Oman Air, apart from restriction of female leadership, I have also observed that most of the employees are young. Therefore, I feel they should also be given full opportunity to showcase their leadership qualities. Also, it will help the young employees to nurture their potential qualities. I believe that these young employees will be the future leaders, and hence opportunities should be provided to them. Leadership Theories & Characteristics of a good leader Sustainable leadership theory offers modern techniques for responding to the present leadership problems. The traditional leadership model is no longer sufficient to handle the current challenges. The new leadership style focuses on individual and organizational objectives, financial outcomes, value of the shareholders, and also takes into account the global challenges. Thus some eminent personalities and scholars assert that only a new leadership approach can actually offer sustainability in the organization. The sustainability leadership theory, like any other leadership theory, primarily resides on change, as it involves risk and ambiguity. Hence a change-oriented leadership style is necessary for formulating a productive and creative elucidation to the multifaceted organizational issues. The leadership theories as regards change fall into 4 categories and some of them are overlapping others. Also, these groups are quite relevant to sustainability. Transformational leadership unites the followers with an unfathomable purpose like addressing organizational issues. Adaptive leadership focuses on how to employ intricate issues, for which there is unavailability of a known solution. This is very much common to sustainability. Finally, generative leadership takes into account the creativity and innovation needed for solving tricky and complex challenges. Therefore, there are at least 15 leadership theories that can be amalgamated with sustainability. However, my study was only confined to secondary sources. The factors I have considered are values, competencies, and eagerness to change. Therefore, considering all the relevant factors and the characteristics of the leadership theories, the best suited or the most appropriate leadership theory for organizational change and sustainability should be transformational theory. Also, a transformational theory helps enhance the interpersonal communication and develops dynamic teams within the organization. The characteristics of a good leader are described below: Leading by example: A good leader always sets examples for the followers. A good leader should also be motivated to perform under strict situation. Integrity: Integrity is an essential factor for becoming a successful leader. It is one of the basic and significant characteristics. Moreover, the lack of integrity will also affect other skills. Other skills become useless if there is an absence of integrity. Optimist inspiring others: A good leader must have the 6capability of inspiring the followers. Some of the eminent authors also described leadership as an inspiration. Courageous and enthusiastic: A leader must have courage to perform critical activities. Courage is also necessary for taking complex decision. Enthusiasm is also an important feature for a good leader. Enthusiasm drives a good leader to achieve the objectives. Charismatic: This is a characteristic which is missing in today's leaders. This characteristic is, however, one of the most important for a good leader. Creativity: Creativity is the capability of a leader to think in a different way. An innovative approach of a leader is also a vital aspect, as it helps in delicate situations. Youth in leadership and sustainability Young leaders are always important for a sustainable future. Young employees encompass enthusiasm, positive attitude, and the courage to take risk. However, they mainly lack experience; therefore, from the initial stage, opportunities must be provided to them to showcase their leadership qualities. In the context of Oman Air, I have noticed that most of the employees are young, but unfortunately they remain deprived of a participation in the decision-making process of the company. However, I believe that young employees must be provided with opportunities to portray their skills. I also believe that in order to achieve sustainability in the business, young employees are essential. Therefore, I believe some specialized courses such as on organizational leadership will help them to serve the purpose. Such courses will also lead the youth to enhance their skills and expertise; also, they will also provide them with an integrated leadership philosophy. Moreover, they will establish awareness regarding the barriers and ways to overcome those. Conclusion The report was about sustainability and female leadership within the organizations. In this context, I have used Oman Air. In Oman Air, I have found that women remain highly deprived the opportunity of portraying their leadership qualities. Also, I have observed that young people are not given ample opportunity to nurture their skills. Therefore, I conclude that such leadership practices need to be changed, and women and men should have equal opportunities. I also believe that youth leaders are necessary for maintaining the sustainability of the organization. It can be concluded that both women leaders and youth leaders are necessary for the betterment of the organization and society. Reference list Flightpedia, n.d. Oman Air. [Online] Available at: < http://www.flightpedia.org/airlines/oman-air.html> [Accessed 06 July 2012]. Management Help, n.d. Organizational Sustainability. [Online] Available at: < http://managementhelp.org/organizationalsustainability/index.htm> [Accessed 06 July 2012]. Oman Air, n.d. History. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 06 July 2012]. Read More