Leaders of Virgin Atlantic CEO - Case Study Example

Virgin Atlantic and Ryanair Leadership qualities are very important with respect to the style of leadership adopted and the overall performance of the organization because the qualities determine how the individual treats the employees and how the employees respond. As for the Virgin Atlantic CEO, Craig Kreeger, one of the noticeable qualities that he possesses is the quality of openness. Openness is very important in building mutual trust among the workers of the organization, which can then be reflected in improved performance because it leads to cooperation of ideas. An open leader such as Virgin Atlantic’s CEO does not reserve the rights of making decisions concerning the business alone. In addition, he listens to the employees and welcomes their ideas before he makes any crucial decisions especially those concerning the working of the employees. Recently, Kreeger cited the progress of the company towards profit making as resulting from the engagement of the employees. It would also be appropriate to state that he is magnanimous. This implies that he takes responsibility of giving credit where it is due. Although the company has been making losses between 2012 and 2014, when it managed to make profits, he did not allocate all credit to himself but cited that even the customers who recommended the company to other people played a critical role in helping the company to restore its profit making capabilities. On the other hand, the CEO for Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, has been proud for a long period since he took charge of the organization in 1994. It has also been known that he has called customers idiots at one time. This is one of the reasons why the company has been known to be nasty. He also claimed that what matters to customers is not relationships but a good deal that he established through significantly low fares. Surprisingly, his low fare strategy has won most customers because the company has been making constant profits (Hill & Jones, 2010, p. 157-160). This indicates that he has the quality of intelligence. The CEO is also unfair in that he does not treat the customers and the employees fairly. This has continued until recently when he was quoted saying that if he knew being nice to customers would be beneficial, he would have started it long ago. The two founders for the two airline companies have certain individual roles that enabled them to found such successful companies. The founder of Virgin Atlantic is Richard Branson. He can be said to be highly innovative. He had the idea of developing an airline in an already highly competitive market and managed to make it a success in the same field. Early in his life, innovative characteristics could be seen clearly, as he dropped out of school at the age of 16 and began a youth culture magazine that was called student. Additionally, he also established various businesses that were also a success before he turned on the airline industry. These include a mail order company known as Virgin and a recording studio in 1972. It would be appropriate to conclude that he is highly innovative. In addition, Branson was highly persistent. In spite of having struggled with dyslexia, which gave him a lot of problems with various educational institutions, he did not give up (Branson, 2008, p. 37-43). Instead, he continued to the point of establishing a successful airline industry. He can also be described as highly flexible. He believed that ‘rules were meant to be broken’. This implies that new ideas were always welcome and he valued the participative style of leadership, which connects people by allowing and encouraging them to contribute towards the achievement of goals. With regard to expectations, he expects people to coordinate activities in order to realize specified goals. On the other hand, Ryanair founder, Tony Ryan was a taskmaster with a hard work ethic (Aldous, 2015). He always encouraged thinking among the employee and valued cooperation. He was also known for confronting problems head on and did not back down to any challenge. He even launched the airline during a recession. He was also creative and believed that creativity strengthens the ability to deal with change. Circumstances did not affect his expectations especially due to his open mindedness capability. He welcomed ideas and was concerned about ways of fixing the most challenging instances. Group work at Ryanair is different from what can be seen at Virgin Atlantic. At Ryanair, the organization does not allow teamwork and if an event concerning discussions on the same come up, the organization even threatens to dismiss the employees. In 2013, pilots and employees came together in an attempt to push for a petition concerning safety issues as well as teamwork and coordination. The organization communicated back to the employees claiming that any employee involved in petition or a similar push for changes in the organization would be dismissed and the case would be said to be gross misconduct (Kline, 2013). This is one of the many events in the organization where the employees have attempted to improve the situation of the work environment and received a negative reply. This organization is specifically made on one-way communication that involves outlining the goals to be accomplished and pushing the employees to work on the same in spite of the working conditions or their own ideas. Such mistreatment indicates that role relationships have not been established and an attempt towards the same is met with brutal response from the management and especially from the CEO since he holds a belief that employees only need payment. Since role relationships reduce stress on the employers while establishing a good work environment, this has not taken place at Ryanair and the organization has such a chaotic workplace, one that does not even appreciate the customers or even the effort of the employees. On the other hand, the culture of Virgin Atlantic is made on relationships and good teamwork. In this organization, the efforts of the employees are rewarded and the employees have a channel to voice their concerns to the management. In addition, their concerns are implemented and rudeness does not accompany any replies in the organization. The CEO acknowledges the importance of the employees and works towards motivating them. This has led to the establishment of an organization that most people would like to work in. specifically, the organization utilizes the Hierarchy of Needs in motivating the employees. The employees are encouraged to have a say in the decision making process because the makes them feel valued and feel proud of their accomplishments when they are implemented in the organization. The methods of work at Ryanair are as per the organization. These are predetermined with no interference from the employees. Therefore, employees follow directives and a formal structure implying that the main style of leadership used in this organization is the autocratic model where employees have little to no say concerning the working of the organization. In this model, communication is primarily downward and the management is rarely concerned with the well-being of the employees, which is what is happening at Ryanair. Application of technology is also below what is being used in other organizations to the point that the pilots fear for the safety of the airline. On the other hand, the situation at Virgin Atlantic is the opposite. The management has worked towards establishing a culture that value and encourages teamwork. The employees are also motivated through a management that encourages their contribution (Dudovskiy, 2012). This contribution is the reason for the company moving from loss making to profitability in the recent past and the CEO admitted to this. Bearing in mind the activities that take place at Virgin Atlantic and the culture of participation, it is appropriate to deduce that the organization is mainly based on the participative style of leadership where everyone is involved in the decision making process. References Aldous, R. 2015, Tony Ryan: The incredible story of Ireland' Gatsby. [Online] Available at [Accessed 17 May. 2015]. Branson, R. (2008). Business stripped bare: adventures of a global entrepreneur. London, Virgin Books. Dudovskiy, J. 2012, Virgin Atlantic Airlines: employee motivation, leadership and organisational culture. [Online] Available at [Accessed 17 May. 2015]. Hill, C. W. L., & Jones, G. R. (2010). Strategic management theory: an integrated approach. Boston, MA, Houghton Mifflin. Kline, R. 2013, The NHS can learn from aviation—but not from Ryanair. [Online] Available at < http://www.publicworld.org/blog/the_nhs_can_learn_from_aviation_but_not_from_ryanair> [Accessed 17 May. 2015]. Read More