Management Communication - Case Study Example

Communication profile: Qantas Name Institution Course Instructor Date Introduction In 2012 Qantas Airways, the largest Australian airliner operating in the domestic and international market and owned by the Qantas Group, grounded its operations for two days. An estimated 680 000 local and international travellers were affected. The grounding was occasioned by a labour dispute between the firm’s leadership and its 35 000 strong workforce. Some of the demands raised by various labour unions serving the employees were halting of pending lay-offs, better pay and favourable working conditions. Consequently, the Australian commonwealth government through the Fair Work Australia (FWA) intervened by calling for negotiations to take place within 21 days. With the dispute resolved and the firm back in operations, the effect of the grounding lingered on. Many observers blamed the management and the firm’s leaders for messing up their travel plans and failure for prior information on the pending grounding of flights. Such are the challenges facing leadership and communication issues facing the organisation. It is the purpose of this paper to profile communication and leadership style at Qantas airlines against relevant theory in organizational leadership and communication. Dominant management structures Traditionally, Qantas has had a vertical management structure characterised by a centralised decision making body of board of directors comprising of 12 members. The board is headed by a chairman while the CEO, who is answerable to the board, oversees the running of daily activities. There are nine managers who answer directly to the CEO including Qantas domestic, Qantas international CFO and HRM among others (Qantas, 2012). This arrangement corresponds to a vertical structure. In 2012 Qantas, underwent a structure fragmentation process that saw the firm create two unique business entities out of one, Qantas international and Qantas domestic, to operate alongside JetStar and Frequent Flyer as unique entities. This marks the continued attempt by the firm to evolve with changing times and going towards a flatter hybrid management structure. A flatter management structure has shown that it fosters more trust from employees and also facilitates faster and more effective communication especially where urgent decisions need to be implemented (Grieve, 2005). Qantas is also fragmenting operations by creating new positions in its structure to handle new aspects in the industry and in its operations. For instance, the appointment of the new Group Executive Brand, Marketing and Corporate Affairs position currently occupied by Olivia Wirth is set to address the harm caused to the brand as a result of the grounding a year ago (Ibid). Therefore, the firm is moving in the right direction by evolving to develop an effective leadership and communication structure that ensures the firm meets its goals and obligations to shareholders and stakeholders. Dominant management styles Classical and humanistic approaches to management are two distinct approaches based on different theoretical grounds. The classical approach emphasizes on increased productivity and higher profits while the humanistic approach emphasizes on protecting the dignity of its employees, customers and other stakeholders (Samson & Daft 2012). Firms have to balance between the pursuit of profits thus satisfy investors without exploiting its employees. At the moment, the most dominant approach employed by Qantas is the classical approach. This is best indicated by the recent industrial dispute between the firm and various unions. The firm was accused of exploiting its employees through poor working conditions and poor pay. Furthermore, the firm has been involved in massive layoffs with attempts to downsize and even outsource some services. During this time, the firm came under heavy criticism from the public and even political class in the poor manner that information on the grounding and cancellation of flights was made. The announcements were made the last minute causing a lot of inconveniences and confusion among passengers. Furthermore, many passengers suffered emotionally and psychologically given the timing of the grounding -Christmas season. Such failure in communication can be blamed on how information is handled or flows within the organization (Vasilovschi, 2013) which reflects badly on the leadership. Communication styles Communication patterns adapted by an organization are subject to organizational structures. Vertically structured organizations are characterised by information flowing from one single source and disseminated to the subordinate gradually (de Vries, Bakker-Pieper & Oostenveld, 2009). Where many layers of authority are involved, information takes longer to flow to the lowest ranks and can also be distorted along the way. On the other hand, a horizontal structure allows information to flow uniformly and quickly within an organization. Timely flow of information and action on such information enables organizations to respond swiftly to changes in the market more so in this age of highly informed consumers. Poor communication with consumers as already established earlier leads to negative brand image and indicates poor leadership (McDonald & Crawford, 2012). The fragmentation strategy that the firm is currently pursuing could be a potential pitfall for the firm’s leadership communication efforts. This is because there is need to create new communication lines and liaisons between the existing departments and the newly created departments (Holmes, Schurr & Marra, 2004). Furthermore, the top management should be aware of the problems that may arise out of attempts to fragment. Possible pitfalls could be resistance to change and even sabotage from other departments. For such reasons, proper communication channels and strategies must be employed to prepare employees for such changes. Organisational responses to ethical issues and social responsibility Qantas has responded adequately to ethical requirements that call for more environmentally sensitive and sustainable operations. The firm has embraced solar energy and natural lighting in it buildings and also invested in energy efficient planes. The ethical and moral soundness of the massive layoffs that Qantas has carried out in the recent past has been questioned. As earlier indicated, it appears that the classical management approach is dominant at Qantas. Employees seem to take a second place after profits and revenues. It can be deduced that Qantas’ HR policy is informed by Theory X which claims that workers dislike work and need to be controlled as a short-term solution (Celik & Dogan 2011). Furthermore, employees are viewed as an expendable cost or an extension of machines (ibid). Therefore, for Qantas the ethical soundness of such layoffs are secondary to the financial gain from such a move. Other approaches such as the stakeholder approach and deontological ethics view the layoffs as unethical. However, under utilitarian ethics, the layoffs are morally right as they maximize returns on investors. Qantas has invested heavily in its ethical appeal and social responsibility activities. The firm under its HRM department has addressed various needs of its employees such as health and social benefits. In the communities that it operates in, Qantas has financed and supported numerous community activities such as environmental conversation and cultural activities. The firm has also liaised with a number of higher learning institutions for the supply of new talent and provision of industrial attachment activities. Qantas is also continually undertaking employee training programs with such institutions to boost its talent inventory and improve productivity and efficiency of its workforce (Qantas 2012). All these moves are geared towards enabling Qantas attain its short and long term objectives. These activities structures and ethical considerations are held together by the organizational culture or behaviour evident in the way that day to day activities are carried out. Organizational culture is usually a function of national culture as identified by the various Hofestede’s cultural dimensions (de Hoff & de Ridder, 2004) The firm’s profits can be questioned from an ethical perspective. Qantas made impressive profits at a time when the industry was on a decline following the global financial crisis. Chand (2006) says that the industry type can limit or give a general indication of expected financial performance. In this case, Qantas veered off the common trend. Furthermore, the international flights have been making losses while the domestic flights have remained profitable. This could point to a price gouging in the domestic market in which the firm dominates. Zwolinski (2008) clearly states that price gouging is morally unacceptable. Qantas thus needs to review its pricing policy in the domestic market. Behavioural traits displayed by management or inherent in the workplace As the second oldest airline in the world, Qantas has over the years developed a unique way of doing things and communicating the same. This is what comprises the organizations culture and organizational behaviour that makes it unique from others (Grieve, 2005). Currently the firm takes pride in being an Australian icon. As such, it acknowledges the cultural heritage of the country and incorporates the same in its corporate culture. This is evident especially in recognition and celebration of some of the key dates of the Indigenous people’s calendar. Furthermore, the firm has maintained a keen interest in the wellbeing of its employees through personal and family benefits. Organisational responses to innovation Qantas is recognised globally as one of the airlines that have one of the most modern fleet that the industry can afford. Currently, the firm is in a process of modernising its fleet which comprises of many advanced aircrafts among them the world most advanced passenger plane the airbus A380 with a capacity of 555 passengers. Such high capacity airplanes reduce the firm’s carbon footprint and also increase its passenger capacity over long distances. They also help the market position itself to tap into technology savvy consumers by clearly communicating through marketing the benefits of such innovative products and services (Ahmed, Shileds, & Wilbert, 2010). The modernisation of its fleet has been directed toward planes with better fuel efficiency. Currently, the firm has reduced fuel consumption per seat by an impressive 17%. Noise pollution during take-off and landing had also been reduced by half. These innovations have not compromised on comfort. The firm has been using seats in the economy class in the A380 designed by Marc Newson and built by Recaro. These seats ensure that the best technology in passenger comfort is attained (Qantas 2012). Organisational positioning as a learning organisation Qantas sets one of the best examples in Australia and worldwide on organizational learning. The firm strongly supports on the job training and continuous improvement on its employee’s skill sets. As such, it has established the Qantas College which provides targeted quality training to employees of the Qantas Group (Qantas, 2012). This college targets fresh graduates and also experienced employees. This is an important of generating knowledge on the business process as it encourages and motivates updating of knowledge. The firm has managed to integrate this continuous personal improvement in its culture which a critical success factor (Al-Alawi et. al. 2007). Learning has also been adequately incorporated in the organization culture and knowledge management strategies. The firm is keen to make learning and continuous self-improvement based on knowledge a way of life for all employees. The learning process is necessary in the corporation as it seeks to inject new technology and redesign its business processes to respond to changes in the market. For instance, the firm through Project Marlin has actively sought to integrate 300 computer applications to around 30 applications only. Alternatively, employees must be continuously motivated to take up and adapt to changes brought up by new knowledge and share such knowledge with the rest. Lin (2007) says there is a wide range of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators to sharing knowledge. Managers should identify and capitalize on such motivators. Organisational understanding of sustainable development Sustainable development is perceived as development without comprising the future (Samson & Daft 2012). Other than adopting a fuel efficient fleet, Qantas recognises that sustainable development guarantees the firm and industry’s future business. Qantas is thus one of the leading advocates for development of sustainable aviation fuel other than the commonly used fossil-based fuel. The firm has taken a well-rounded approach to sustainable development through a multi-pronged approach in reducing the carbon footprint. This involves supporting environmental conservation efforts in the community, supporting sustainable tourism and engaging passengers and employees in their sustainability effort. In 2007, the carbon offset program was launched. This program allows passengers the option of flying carbon neutral by purchasing carbon offsets. Furthermore, the firm purchases carbon offsets for its staff business travel and ground vehicles. Such an all-round approach to sustainable development also strategically positions the firm in the market as a ‘green firm’ that readily appeals to environment conscious consumers (Vorhies & Morgan, 2005). Conclusion Qantas is definitely one of the leading global firms on various grounds. The firm prides itself in being one of the few airlines that stayed profitable during the 2008/09 global recession when the world’s major airlines made losses. The organization has also come under heavy criticism for some of its strategies especially layoffs. However, it is clear that the firm remains committed to its investors with committed returns and continuous growth. The firm is continuously repositioning and reorganizing its processes to meet the changing market conditions. All these actions and processes that the firm undertakes as discussed above fit into various theoretical provisions. This has shown that the management structure, communication, leadership and culture are vital in the functioning of an organization as depicted by the Qantas Airlines and communicating its vision and product offing in the market. References Ahmed, Z., Shileds, F. & Wilbert, J. (2010). Managerial communication: the link between frontline leadership and organizational performance. 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