Importance of organisational structure in influencing communication and outcomes
Discuss about the Organisational Structure Sustainability and Growth.
Organisational structure, the leadership styles and the marketing strategies are very essential to operation and do really mean a lot to the business. Managerial skills and the leadership styles are challenged at the time when organisational structure is planned and the marketing strategies are executed. These are two operational elements that really describe the leadership style and state the difference it has while being compared with others. The most effective leadership style advocates the formation of most effective structure and also the attractive marketing strategies (Donate and de Pablo 2015). This study is aimed at conducting the very similar discussion; however, in relation with the case study organisation which is Qantas. The company was founded in the year 1920 in Queensland, Australia. The airline holds a flag carrier reputation in Australia and is also the largest airline company in respect to fleet size, number of international destinations and the international flights. It is also the third oldest airline company in the world. The airline company has its main hub based at the Sydney Airport. It has codeshare agreements with approximately around 30 Airline companies (Qantas.com 2018). The brief of Qantas does indicate a successful business; however, this study identifies whether it also stands good in terms of organisational structure, marketing strategies and the leadership styles.
Organisational structure as stated earlier is really important as it dictates how communication will flourish within and what will be the outcomes. It just forms a mechanism supporting the flow of information. Organisational objectives and the strategies play an important role in influencing the formation of organisational structure. In the airline industry, two organisational structures are mainly followed such as centralised or decentralised structures. Qantas follows the both types of structure like centralised or decentralised (Jenatabadi and Ismail 2014).
There are numerous subsidiaries of Qantas in different locations and each of the subsidiaries is headed by different executives. Each executive is assigned with authorities to lead the operation and take care of the location specific operation. Executives are well equipped with skills and techniques that help them in effectively aligning employees with the organizational objectives and goals. It means that coaching and mentoring in Qantas is of top class that knows exactly how to admire and motivates employees to align their work objectives with the organizational goals and objectives. Notably, employees who are aware of the organizational goals and are capable to live with it, they are no less than the assets for companies (Mitonga-Monga and Cilliers 2016).
Use of a matrix structure and a combination of centralised and decentralised structures
The management is divided into two categories like Qantas International and Qantas Domestic. This means Qantas has distinguished strategies for domestic and international operations. Operational and commercial functions are also not alike. The division made in such a way just shows that focus has been given to improve the performance of domestic operations and transforming the international business as well (Qantas.com 2018).
The, so far, discussion being made upon Qantas just reveal that the company follows a matrix structure. A matrix structure is indeed very effective with companies operating in a dynamic environment. This is effective and required as well as customers keep coming with different expectations and demands. In such circumstances, dealing with various new projects will always be the case, so that, changing demands of customers are met. New projects on a regular basis ask for formations of the project team which comprises of project managers and the executives. Hence, matrix organizational structure is of utter importance and quite feasible too for companies operating in a dynamic business environment (Issah and Zimmerman 2016).
Qantas follow the matrix organisational structure and the company follow the very same strategy which is essential only to the matrix structure. The company has different functional departments like finance, production, marketing, IT, HR and others. Skilled executives are deployed under every functional department. Those executives are needed to report to the specific functional manager they are assigned to (Qantas.com 2018). Qantas manages the urgent projects by picking up relevant and eligible executives from the different functional departments. Hence, those few selected executives are then required to work on a short-term basis with the temporarily assigned project manager. Executives report both to project manager & the functional departments they work for, so that, there is no communication gap and also that executives are approachable from both the project managers and the functional departmental heads (Gregson et al. 2015).
Leadership is a widely famous term which is found as commonly being attached with reputed and multinational companies. A leadership managerial skill is utterly required to make the gutsy decisions and move towards the path of risk. This is one of the reasons behind the companies appearing at the top most level and sustaining the position as well. It is not a onetime concept; it is rather required for a long-term operation. This is to keep the competency level alive and to keep posing the good shows with the business. Some of the common leadership styles practiced worldwide are authoritarian, delegation and participative leadership styles (Landis, Hill and Harvey 2014). Authoritarian leaders are very aggressive with their plan map. They do not feel any necessity for involving others in the decision making process. They keep a distance from being social with employees and are strict with their orders for work. On contrary to this, participative leaders are very social with employees. They give values to employees by seeking their suggestions in the decision making process. They are only the decision maker and they finally make it by selecting the best possible strategy. However, they are always open to opinions and which is why they encourage employees to take part in the decision making process. The Delegation style of leaders is very different to the other two leadership styles discussed in this section. Such leaders are not the decision maker; they rather ask employees to make the decisions. However, leaders will only be responsible for any faults if the decision fails to deliver the expected outcome (Anderson and Sun 2017).
Leadership style at Qantas, including authoritarian, participative, and delegation leadership styles
Qantas Airline explores the variety of managerial skills or the leadership qualities as discussed in the aforesaid section. Leadership at Qantas knows how to balance between the employees’ demands and the shareholders’ interest. Clear distances are maintained between the two and the most feasible strategy is only adopted. Reviews of shareholders are considered seriously. Diverse culture is managed by closely observing the point of conflicts. Leaders at Qantas are often authoritative and had to make decisions which were opposed by employees and the trade unions. They had to face criticisms from various stakeholders which also include loyal customers and the industry specific experts (ABC News 2018). Instances like the one that happened in Singapore where company had to close its Avalon maintenance facility shows the very similar outcome (ABC News 2018). At that time, many had believed the decision making as an outcome of an authoritarian leadership. The surrounding scenarios just portray the similar outcome. However, the leadership style at Qantas is committed to participative and delegation leadership styles also. Leadership principles at Qantas do reveal the stated facts. Leadership Principles at Qantas support employee’s participation in a way that it is aligned to the organisational objectives and the goals. The fact that there exist a variety of leadership traits at Qantas is also evident from a fact that professionals from diverse cultural backgrounds are recruited. It means that the company practices the numerous leadership styles to accommodate such cultural differences in Qantas. In most instances, leaders seek for the opinions of employees which mean participative leadership does also exist at the workplace (Qantas.com 2018).
Qantas has been extensively successful through its effective marketing and non-marketing strategies. Although, it has stiff competition from several domestic operators like Virgin Airline, it has continued successfully with its marketing strategies to storm the price wars. The company targets the low-end customers of Australia which is feasible also considering the cost-effective marketing strategy for the domestic circuits. The strategy has helped the company to remain competitive in the domestic market. It also uses the portfolio diversification strategy to expand its network in domestic and the international markets. Portfolio diversification has really helped Qantas in domestic circuits. Cost-effectiveness is the one strategy which is widely recognised by multinational companies at both the domestic and the global platforms. This is instead a way to reduce the operational cost and thereby increase the chances for enhanced profitability (Wirtz and Zeithaml 2018). Market entry though being very challenging to new ventures, is still fiercely competitive due to a fact that existing airline companies are well versed with skills to sell its offers to the target customers. The fact can also be proved from evidence on the top airline companies at the global level. The 2018 report on the World’s Best Airlines published by Forbes does reveal the same fact. As per the Forbes report, Qantas stands at the second position followed by Air New Zealand (Forbes.com 2018).
Successful marketing strategies of Qantas, including portfolio diversification and segmentation of services
‘Segmentation of services’ is another good strategy that helps Qantas in offering relevant offers to specific group. There are different groups which use the airline services. Those groups can be classified as but not limited to like business travellers, leisure travellers, corporate travellers, medical travellers and much more. Qantas has been strategically good in this regard and has used this strategy to the perfection. The company has tried to remain customer-centric while at the same time, it has tried every possible bit to be cost-effective. These two like segmentation of services and cost-effectiveness are actually a very simultaneous process and are related to each other as well. Nonetheless, a cost-efficient airline company will only be able to meet the demands of separate customer segments (Stewart and Mueller 2014). Qantas has remained a cost-efficient service provider which was also relevant to the target Australian customers and had also resulted in the success in domestic circuits. Qantas was strategic again by targeting the regions which had less competition. Hence, opportunities had been created and utilised also. It had acquired good market shares until the regions drove the attention of other competing airline companies (Qantas Annual Report.com 2018).
Reputed and multinational companies must have the leadership or the managerial capabilities which could construct the most viable organisational structure in respect to the organisational mission, vision and the company’s objectives. Qantas seems to have framed a one of the kind. The Forbes list of best airline companies worldwide just suggests the mentioned fact. Leadership styles at Qantas were able to cross the barriers and attain the successes. The company seems to have explored a wide variety of leadership styles which at times has also attracted a few criticisms such as the one in Singapore. However, such things are part of business and it is really challenging to find an ideal company that has not met with any criticism ever.
Marketing strategies of Qantas is of top quality and was able to identify its target customers. The target customers were the low-end people living in Australia. Qantas has successfully controlled and influenced the decision making of its target customers with its cost-effective strategies. However, Qantas has been very selective while selecting the region for operation. Those regions were mostly targeted that had less competitors fighting for the crown. Segmentation of services are categorised in a way that it meets with the industry standard.
Conclusion
To conclude, Qantas is one of the leading names in the worldwide airline industry which has successfully incorporated the essentials of business and had also fetched the results. There are few instances of criticism and the leadership style at the company was tested. It was criticised by stakeholders and by its loyal customers as well. However, it has continued using unmatched marketing strategies which have produced enormous successes to Qantas. The fact is also acknowledged by Forbes where Qantas was identified the second most influential airline company second only to Air New Zealand.
References
ABC News. 2018. Almost 300 jobs to go as Qantas shuts Avalon base. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-08/qantas-to-shut-avalon-base2c-axe-300-jobs/5078194
Anderson, M.H. and Sun, P.Y., 2017. Reviewing leadership styles: Overlaps and the need for a new ‘full?range’theory. International Journal of Management Reviews, 19(1), pp.76-96.
Donate, M.J. and de Pablo, J.D.S., 2015. The role of knowledge-oriented leadership in knowledge management practices and innovation. Journal of Business Research, 68(2), pp.360-370.
Forbes.com. 2018. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericrosen/2017/11/03/the-2018-list-of-the-worlds-best-airlines-is-out/#709c58785ed7
Gregson, S., Hampson, I., Junor, A., Fraser, D., Quinlan, M. and Williamson, A., 2015. Supply chains, maintenance and safety in the Australian airline industry. Journal of Industrial Relations, 57(4), pp.604-623.
Issah, M. and Zimmerman, J.A., 2016. A change model for 21st century leaders: The essentials. International Journal of Pedagogical Innovations, 4(1), pp.23-29.
Jenatabadi, H.S. and Ismail, N.A., 2014. Application of structural equation modelling for estimating airline performance. Journal of Air Transport Management, 40, pp.25-33.
Landis, E.A., Hill, D. and Harvey, M.R., 2014. A synthesis of leadership theories and styles. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 15(2), p.97.
Mitonga-Monga, J. and Cilliers, F., 2016. Perceived ethical leadership in relation to employees’ organisational commitment in an organisation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. African Journal of Business Ethics, 10(1).
Qantas Annual Report.com. 2018. Positioning for Sustainability and Growth. Retrieved from https://investor.qantas.com/FormBuilder/_Resource/_module/doLLG5ufYkCyEPjF1tpgyw/file/annual-reports/2017AnnualReport.pdf
Qantas.com. 2018. Fly with Australia’s most popular airline | Qantas AU. Retrieved from https://www.qantas.com/au/en.html
Stewart, M.G. and Mueller, J., 2014. Cost-benefit analysis of airport security: Are airports too safe?. Journal of Air Transport Management, 35, pp.19-28.
Wirtz, J. and Zeithaml, V., 2018. Cost-effective service excellence. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 46(1), pp.59-80.
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