How has leadership and management influenced the Thomson Travel Agent - Essay Example

Topic: How has leadership and management influenced the Thomson Travel Agent? Affiliation: : Date: The success of an organization is influenced mainly by the management and leadership. It involves achieving the firm’s objectives with proper resource allocation, strategic formulation and the employee transformation which are the roles of management (Beardwell and Claydon, 2010, p.64). The role of the management includes decision making, working capital analysis, control of costs and investment management.

Various levels of management are put in place with the lower reporting to the succeeding upper level so as to ensure efficiency and easy management. Leadership on the other hand will refer to the capacity to listen, observe and dialogue so as to bring transparency in decision making processes and reduce imposition. It involves setting goals, identifying problems and bringing about change in organizations. Strategic leadership is the ability to influence day to day decisions that sustain the financial position of an organization as well as that promotes the long term viability of the firm (Armstrong, 2007, p. 218). Strategic leadership involves the effective intervention, development of new and creative visions, timing and direction of desired change, filtering of information and forming relevant actions for goal attainment.

Leaders can be managerial, visionary or strategic. Strategic leadership takes on a vision on what a firm is to be such that strategies or decisions made are consistent with the vision. Managerial leaders act on decision and people whom they work with while the visionary leaders will seek out the risky activities from high risky positions. Thomson Travel Agent provides world class travelling facilities, holidays and leisure and has grown substantially to be listed in the stock exchange. The management and the strategic leadership have had major impacts on the development of the company through several elements of growth and strategic plan which have expanded the organization (Silverstone & Sheetz, 2011, p.149). The impacts herein noted may include: Effectiveness and efficiency- the management is divided and sub- divided into units and departments each responsible for a particular act.

The lower levels report to the upper levels of management which is involved in the decision making. The company is headed by a chief executive officer who obtains the relevant information from all sectors and department and together with a committee formulates important decisions and goals. Expansion- the travel agency has expanded to various regions in the world to include South Africa and also forms part of other airline. It contain various fleet of ship used for transportation of cargo, people and for business ventures.

The expansion has been achieved by leadership through high productivity and strategic decisions on emerging needs. It has expanded from an individual’s organization to a public and partnered firm therefore worth or public scrutiny. Research and innovation- the agency has developed its own fleet and cruises to navigate the oceans and air travel. This is only possible with proper management and leadership where the profits and resources generated are effectively used in invention and research (Goldmann & Kaufman, 2009, p. 83). The company actively competes with other travelling agents such as the Air tours and has come up with luxurious sites for leisure and hospitality zones.

Through proper management, it has been able to remain a world class agency for travel. Yield increase- the firm obtain billions of money annually from the various fleet and cruises which have been enhanced through great leadership and management in the organization. Proper management procedures ensure that resources are allocated maximally and that the least costs are used to generate high profits (Rao, 2008, p.156). Thomson Travel Agency has ensured that important management strategies have been installed and implemented thus bringing high profits and continuous high yield which makes the firm grow and expand annually.

References Armstrong, M, (2007), A handbook of employee reward management and practice, London: Kogan Page. Beardwell, J, and Claydon, T, (2010), Human Resource Management: a contemporary approach, Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. Goldmann, P, & Kaufman, H, (2009), Anti-Fraud Risk and Control Workbook, New York: John Wiley and Sons. Rao, S, (2008), Corporate management, governance, and ethics best practices, New York: John Wiley and Sons. Silverstone, H, & Sheetz, M, (2011), Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation for Non- Experts, New York: John Wiley and Sons.