understanding the organisational behaviour and managment concepts and apply the principles to a business situation.

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR AND MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS ON BUSINESS SITUATION

2006

Organizational Behavior and Management Concepts on Business Situation

Introduction

Leaders have been around since the beginning of human civilization Realized or not , their presence has shaped human culture in numerous ways . In the business realm of today , the role of leadership is once again questioned . We are living in the world that has increasingly accepted democracy as a way of live . Has the role of leadership diminished because of this development

Within this , we are discussing various leadership styles in

business today . There will be elaboration of how each of the leadership styles contributes to the development of business entities . I will also use the British Airways company as a case example of how leadership affects the workings of a modern company Leadership Approaches

II .1 Types of Leaders

There are various types of leaders . Different managers used various approaches to achieve respect of others . These approaches will create advantages and disadvantages in managing subordinates . Some types of leadership are

Mover or Shaker

Mover or shaker is the type of leaders who believes in himself as an agent of change . He /she will be authoritarian in nature and his /her judgement will be action-oriented . Philosophies and business perspectives are useless unless they can be translated into meaningful actions . The leader will have a strong need to be in control and to know everything about his /her organization , his /her environment and his /her competition . This type of leaders gained respect by getting most of the job done faster than any other (Burns , 1978

One of the benefits of having these types of leader lies on his /her ability to enhance the competitive atmosphere in his /her organization His subordinates will be trained to make decisions quickly and evaluate his /her own work with a result-oriented philosophy . These types of employees will less-likely to make excuses and will more-likely to be creative in finding solutions to problems faced

Negotiator

This type of leaders prefers to be less-dramatic in its decision-making activities . He /she will focus more on human relationship rather than translating factors to a decision and real actions . The leader believes that safety and stability within the environment is the key to healthy growth and development . This type of leader gain supports and respects because of his /her supportive and dependable nature (Burns , 1978

Companies will gain much from such leaders . He /she has the ability to develop an ideal working environment where respects toward others warmth and maturity is nurtured . His /her subordinates will be loyal ones and tend to have better working motivation . On the other hand , the leader will be weak in troublesome situations . He /she will tend to be dependent to higher leaders in time of difficult decisions and would seem to be very agreeable and lack of determination

Bottom Liner

Another type of leader is called the bottom liner . This leader is very much organized and prefers not to take heavy risks . He /she will evaluate his /her past actions very diligently to discover anything that would lead him /her to future mistakes . His /her entire effort is derived from the need to become better decision maker in the future . This type of leaders generally gains respect and leadership by diligently making the right decisions most of the time (House , 2004

The positive aspect of having this type of leader is to have his /her ability for detailed observation , precise analysis and making objective and unemotional decisions . He /she is very much vigilant in efforts of finding the best decisions for every problem faced . On other hand , this type of leader has a tendency of being critical toward his /her employees . He /she will also take a long time before any decision is finalized . This is an unfavorable trait in emergency situations Furthermore , the leader will generally be over controlling that he /she would often rule out innovative suggestions from employees Wild Card

A wild card , on the other hand , is a risk taker . This leader relies on intuition and would likely choose new and revolutionary ideas instead of conservative and `safe ' ones . This leader generally gets all the attention from his /her subordinates and society as a whole . The leader would generally be charismatic , The company will gain tremendous benefits if one or more of the ideas pays off . The leader will generally gain respect from creative , revolutionary ideas and his /her ability to share his /her `dreams ' with others (House , 2004

The best side of this type of leader is his originality . Furthermore he /she would have the capacity to stimulate others into doing what he /she wants . In case of a project , this type of leader will be proactive in guiding his /her subordinates in achieving the desired objective . The negative side of this type of leader is his lack of discipline and structure in managing a project . He /she has a tendency of being reactive and often changes his mind during the course of a task Employees that share his /her nature would be excited having him /her as a leader , but those who are not could get frustrated by his /her lack of organized methods II .2 Balance between Power and Authority

In terms of tendencies in encouraging creativity or using authority as tools to achieve the desired result , there are two extreme polars of leadership . There are those leaders who prefer to have limited supervision activities within each project and there are those who prefer to make employees work in a controlled situation with high level of supervision (Kouzes , 2002

The creative polar contains leaders and employees who are both self motivated and team motivated . They work with their creative naturses instead of trying to regulate and limit them . The leader is a leader of ideas who has the capacity to change if demanded in achieving desired goal . Many believed that this culture nurture high capability to solve problems , but low level of productivity and efficiency at `stationary jobs (Kouzes , 2002

On the other side , the regulated polar contains leaders and subordinates who work within highly supervised condition , based on commands and controls . They are motivated by the presence of others , whether it is their supervisors or other employees . The entire system feeds on fear and threat of some type of punishment . This later culture resents wild creativity and prefers employees that follow s , reactive to force and comfortable in a uniform state of being . The culture will result people who crave the `peace ' in status quo , have a great need to be dependent to their leaders and they would most likely resist any sign of a change Organizational Structure and Cultures

III .1 . Corporate Mission and Vision

III .1 .1 Changing Environment

The airline industry experienced no less than dramatic changes over the last decade . The deregulation policy in US and most European countries have put larger emphasis on profit in route management instead of the need to provide travelers with wide-area coverage . Furthermore , the September 11th tragedy seems to brought in an unexpected change within the industry . Profit-per-person is sliding down significantly due to the change of customer perspective toward the service and the increasing cost structure . Companies need to a have a cost leadership strategy rather than a `value for money ' strategy to maintain their existence on the market (`Diversity in British Airways , 2006 III .1 .2 The change of Mission Statement

The slogan of the airline is `the world 's favorite airline . The company has been very successful in managing growth for decades with their existing mission . However , as the world changes due to the unfortunate tragedy of September 11th , the company discover the need to redefine the corporate vision and make sure that the new vision will be carried successfully throughout the entire organization (`Diversity in British Airways , 2006

After the tragedy , the company invested millions of dollars in a new strategy and new ways of viewing the industry . The mission statement is to become an undisputed leader in the world of travel . Many have commented that the new mission statement is to broadly defined , but British Airways believed that the `wide ' nature of the mission statement is necessary in addressing the rapidly changing airline industry (`Diversity in British Airways , 2006

The company is set on creating a new standard of customer service and innovation . Furthermore , it also serves to fulfill the need to become a flexible airline that could `stretch ' its brands to new business areas They also realize that there are considerable challenges in changing from a `world class ' travel business into a flexible company that could serve many segments , but the company has set their heart to the new vision (`Identity Heralds , 1997

III .2 Corporate Strategy and Culture

II .2 .1 . Diversity Awareness in Serving Customers

To fulfill their vision and achieve the goal within their mission statement , the company deployed a `diversity strategy , in which contains the set of principles that guide corporate operations in both the short and long term . The diversity strategy contains the notion that the company will no longer remain within its single segment-focus , which is focusing on the premium segment by providing premium-frequent flier programs , establishing an executive club , etc . Instead , the company will stretch its focus to account the lower-price segment , following the lead of other airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet

Furthermore , the diversity strategy also contains the notion that British Airways enhances program that serves people with disabilities The company provides facilities that serve passengers with additional needs . Furthermore , they design their terminals to be fully accessible for people with disabilities . Within the next years , British Airways is working together with BAA on a range of enhancements to enable smooth and efficient travel experience , even for people with disabilities

III .3 Diversity Awareness in Managing Employees

British Airways has a relatively common management structure , below is the leadership diagram

The Board of Directors contains six executive directors , a single general counsel , and seven non-executive directors . The executive directors consist of the planning director , the director of flight operations , the commercial director , the engineering director , the director for people , the director of ground operations and the director of investments and alliances . The directors and the chief officers work together to run corporate programs while the non-executive directors and the general counsel provides them with information and insights regarding recent development of the airline industry and help them in strategic planning processes

The directors represent significant focus for certain areas . For instance , the director of investment and alliances reflects the significance of alliance in British Airways . British Airways has the widest range of network in UK Airline industry . Furthermore , the director of people has the responsibility of being the motor of diversity awareness among employees

In line with its new vision , British Airways today constantly work toward creating an inclusive culture that understand and respects individual differences of employees . British Airways employs a mix of people from diverse background which leads to potential new ideas , new ways of thinking , innovation and the ability to respond to changes more quickly . The airline aims to integrate diversity into all aspects of its service as means of maintaining competitiveness within the industry

Compare to other airlines , particularly low cost airlines , British Airways has a considerable different management structure because the managerial structure was designed to address the needs for wider market coverage and for enacting the diversity strategy . Competitors in the Low Cost Carrier segment generally have fewer number of executive directors which reflect their focus on their cost-leadership strategy

Leadership and Its Impact on Business

According to John Gardner (n .d , effective leadership is essential to cope with the inertia present in any social system . Gardner believes that leadership is more than something we need only at the top level Leadership is required at every level in every segment of society including business , educational societies , etc . Leaders are the ones who speak for the best part of us . There is something within every individual that is better than fear , anger , prejudice , selfishness and the comfortable inclination to blame others . We need leaders because they are the ones that can guide us to reach that better part in life from time to time

In the realm of business , we need leadership because it is the most critical factor that leads us to changes . Leadership is critical in business because some changes are required for survival , especially in the present business realm where changes happens at a rapid state

Nevertheless , however enlightened our leaders are , they cannot do the job alone . Thus , the next important characteristic of a good leader is the ability to influence other to work with him /her . Team-building capabilities have long been identified as one of the leadership characteristic of this age . Without leaders that possess these two qualities , any social structure will be limping throughout its life time . Moreover , in the world of `hyper competition ' today , the role of leaders in business cannot be more crucial (Zaleznik , 1977 Diversity and Business

As mentioned previously , there are various kinds of leadership approaches . Each approach reflects different personalities of the leader and brings different contributions to the company . However , their unique personalities also produce side-effects toward the business they manage These side effects can only be minimized by combining types of leadership to build the most effective working atmosphere

For instant , dominant managers (shaker /mover ) contribute apparent result from every project he /she manages . These types of leaders are dependable to bring quick results and do not get nervous when facing tough business situations . On the other hand , a dominant leader is very likely to be a bad listener to problems of his /her employees or managers . He /she prefers only little tolerance within the working environment that created tense working conditions . For a long term relationship between companies and their employees , this characteristic pose as a negative element

If another type of leadership is added within the equation , then there would be some traits that could minimize the negative element of the previous leader . For instant , a negotiator , they type of leader that prefers to foster good relationship between all element of the company rather than gaining quick results , will be a factor that reduces the bad working atmosphere created by a dominant leader

This also applies for low-level managers and employees . As displayed by the British Airways , hiring people from various backgrounds could create a working environment that has a high capacity for producing new perspectives toward problems and creative solutions . As a result British Airways discovered that their diversity strategy allow them to react to changes in the environment more quickly

For instant , in the flight operations and ground operations department a dominant leader is preferable to the negotiator type . In flight operations management , strict rules must be applied and quick decisions are required in emergency situations . The negotiator type which lack decisiveness and requires with longer time to produce solutions is obviously unsuitable for the task . On the other hand , the negotiator type might be very much suitable for managing the investment and alliance department because it require persons that has the ability to maintain good relationship throughout the life of the corporation

Tuckman and Jensen Team Building Model

As mentioned in previous chapter , leaders must also have the ability to create productive teams and manage them accordingly so that they work for the right goals . According to Tuckman and Jensen , the process of forming such a team consists of the following stages

Forming

This is the preliminary stage within the team-building process . The stage orients team-member to recognize the goal of the group and the procedures used to achieve them . This stage is necessary because it encourages team-member to recognize their role in achieving the predetermined goals . Thus , it would be easier for them to establish working relationship with related functions

Storming

This is the task-defining stage . Within this stage , conflict may occur because team-member rejects leadership or felt overburdened by the task assigned . Nevertheless , the stage is still necessary because it bring them to the next level of evolution in team-building process . Some conflicts are good because it helps the team to move forward . The hostile relationship will change toward collaboration when time comes

Norming

Within this stage , the group becomes cooperative and cohesive Team-members have developed relationships that allow them to communicate , share information and express their opinion . The stage is necessary to further evolve the team in working together to achieve the goal

Performing

Within this stage , the actual work has taken place and the group has displayed signs of increasing productivity . The increased productivity is a result of problem solving ability , functional roles awareness and interdependence between members of the team

Adjourning

This is the termination stage of the group . This stage could arrive with or without previous planning . Generally , due to the changes in its business environment , group members are required to make the decision whether they would like to maintain the same structure or change the roles and responsibilities structure within the business

(Tuckman , 1977

Team Loyalty in British Airways

In British Airways , the company face additional challenges in managing teams due to its diversity strategy . However , the company has implemented several strategies that would place the diversity factor as an advantage rather than a liability . Some of those strategies are

Creating a mandatory training course for all managers on equality and diversity , along with program promotion and integration

Establishing open communication lines through internet sites , and discussing diversity issues in diversity forums , diversity focus group articles in corporate newsletter the `Diverse Times , etc

(`Diversity , 2006

Bibliography

Burns , J . M (1978 . `Leadership , New York , NY : Harper Torchbooks

`Diversity in British Airways - Creating an inclusive culture . 2006 British Airways . Retrieved September 4 , 2006 from

`Diversity Strategy . 2006 . British Airways . Retrieved September 4 , 2006 from House , R . J (2004 ) Culture , Leadership , and Organizations : The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies , SAGE Publications , Thousand Oaks , 2004

Gardner , John (n .d . `Leadership . Retrieved September 4 , 2006 from HYPERLINK http /www .progress .org /gard08 .htm http /www .progress .org /gard08 .htm

`Identity Heralds , a New Vision at British Airways . 1997 . CAP Retrieved September 4 , 2006 from http /www .luchtzak .be /article10639 .html

Kouzes , J . M . and Posner , B . Z (2002 . The leadership challenge . San Francisco : Jossey-Bass

Tuckman , B .W Jensen , M .A .C (1977 . Stages of Small-Group Development Revisited . Group Organization Studies , 2 (4 , 419-427

Zaleznik , A (1977 "Managers and Leaders : Is there a difference Harvard Business Review , May-June , 1977

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