Analysis Of Qantas Airways' Organizational Structure, Marketing Strategies, And Leadership Style In An Essay.

Organizational Structure of Qantas Airways

Discuss about the Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences.

The fundamental aspects that are related to the successful operations of an organization are mainly, the structure of the organization, the marketing strategies that have been implemented by the company and the leadership style that is followed by the managers. The organizations need to set up the accommodative structure and the appropriate structure with the help of the effective style of leadership (Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes, 2015). The company thereby needs to have a clear understanding of the goals, mission and the objectives. The organization that is taken into consideration for this analysis is Qantas Airways Limited. This company operates in the airlines industry and has its origin in the Australia. The structure of the company, the domestic and international strategies and the leadership style of Qantas Airways will be analysed in the report (Ashton, Lloyd and Warhurst 2017).

Qantas Airways is considered to be a leading airlines organization in Asia-Pacific region. This company also belongs to the category of the ten biggest airlines based organizations in the entire world. The organization has established greater than 81 connections which links around forty destinations in the world. Qantas has been able to engage in various local airlines based services in New Zealand and Australia (Qantas.com. 2018). The company serves greater than 30 million customers in the whole world along with its subsidiary organizations. Qantas has also earned the membership of the alliance of global airlines. The major services that are provided to the companies include, freight services, corporate services and the loyalty programs and memberships. The employee base of the company contains more than 28,000 members on a global basis. The services that are provided by Qantas Airlines are quite famous in New Zealand and Asia (Qantas.com. 2018).

The structure of an organization is important for the determination of the ways by which the responsibilities, roles and power are allocated, coordinated and monitored. The mechanism related to the flow of the information is provided by the structure of the company. The organizational structure of Qantas Airlines has adopted the decentralized and centralized structure. The organization mainly comprises of many subsidiaries which are headed by the different executives who are provided with authority, responsibilities and roles which are exercised by them. The management of the company is mainly based on two different types of businesses which are Qantas International and Qantas Domestic (Ashkenas et al. 2015). The other two business divisions of Qantas mainly consist of commercial functions and the operational functions. The organizational structure that has been adopted by Qantas is the adopted matrix structure. The highest level of the management consists of the members of corporate governance and the executive team of the top management. The other departments that operate under the top management are, commercial administration of business, administrative management, functional management and project management. The various teams work with the departments of the organization which help to ensure the objectives and goals of Qantas (Van der Voet 2014).

Leadership Style of Qantas Airways

The leadership style of an organization is important for its determination direction and success. The style of leadership which is followed is considered to be an effective management aspect of the organizations. The leadership styles that are most commonly used by the companies include, participative, authoritarian, delegation and participative style. The authoritarian style is based on the ways by which the managers order the people to do the activities that are expected from them. On the other hand, the democratic or the participative style of leadership mainly involves the leaders and the employees in the decision-making process (Worley and Doolen 2015). The delegated style of leadership is based on the ways by which the employees are permitted to take their own decisions. All the major aspects of the leadership style are accommodated by the Qantas Airways. The top management of the organization has been quite critical while managing the diverse employee cultures and the ways of reviewing the various stakeholders. The company has been rational while taking the decisions related to the organizational processes which could have otherwise raised issues in the systems. The organization has however faced some major issues which have compelled the company to be rational in the decisions (Dischner 2015). This has further led to the decisions that have not been favourable for the employees and their trade unions. The different decisions that have been taken by the organization have led to criticisms from the various stakeholders of the company which include the industry experts and the loyal customers as well. For example, the closure of the company in Singapore had faced many issues and criticisms from the stakeholders of Qantas. The major argument was based on the chief executive officer of Qantas being much more authoritative than being democratic. In spite of the authoritative style of the management some major attributes based on the delegated style and the participative style are depicted by the organization (Yahaya and Ebrahim 2016). The leadership style that has been applied in Qantas is based on the following major aspects which include,

• Vision of the company – The management of Qantas Airways has been able to understand that the formation if an effective team is based on the vision of the particular team. The top management based leadership of Qantas thereby needs to provide strategy, direction and the vision which will provide support to the employees of the company (Arnold et al. 2015).
• The management of diverse teams – The management team of Qantas Airways consists of the individuals from various fields. The diverse team of the company mainly offers a wide variety of skills, views and education which are important for the enhancement of the management of Qantas (Saleem 2015).
• The employees are a major part or resources of the companies. The company thereby seeks their advice and opinions that are related to the various organizational operations. Qantas has thereby been able to provide the highest level of importance to the employees and their ideas.
• The management of Qantas mainly believes that the leaders of the company need to honest, open and collaborative in nature. The employees thereby feel much more motivated and are able to work towards their goals (Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy 2014).

The leadership of Qantas Airways has been in the hands of Alan Joyce who was successful in bringing about the greatest transformation in the organization in the years of its operations in the industry. Joyce was appointed as the leader of Qantas Airways in the year 2008 although he had joined the company in the year 2000. The new CEO of the organization was successful in turning around the sales and profitability of the company and had brought Qantas out of many legal issues as well (Cooper 2015). The major challenge that was being faced by Joyce was related to the intense scrutiny of the media over the various issues like the 30 - minutes closeout and the unallocated seating arrangements. The leader had implemented the inclusive leadership style which helped the management to include the employees in the various organizational processes. The leader has been able to stand steadily in spite of the various challenges that are faced by Allan Joyce in the industry after he joined the company (Saeed et al. 2014).

Marketing Strategies of Qantas Airways

Qantas Airways has been able to maintain a competitive position in the market with the help of various marketing strategies even after facing fierce competition in the market. The organization has been targeting the low-cost customers of Australia where the company has been able to outperform its various competitors in the industry (Wheelen et al. 2017). The major competitor of Qantas Airways in the industry is Virgin Airline. Qantas has been applying the main concept of portfolio diversification which is related to the increase of the base of domestic customers and the customers in the international market as well (Politis and Politis 2016). This has helped the company in increasing the prospects related to growth in its domestic market. The other major strategies that have been implemented by the company are as follows,

• The major goal of the company in its operations in the market is based on the reduction of costs to lowest levels. The strategy has been mainly adopted by companies as their technique of marketing. The profitability of the company is also considered to be a major competitive advantage which can help Qantas in facing the competition that is provided by the competitors. The importance of the cost efficiency has been therefore realized by Qantas and the organization has applied the strategy based on cost efficiency for the purpose of penetrating the international and domestic market (Ashton, Lloyd and Warhurst 2017).
• Qantas has further divided the business into different brands which had enabled the organization to provide their services to the different types of customers. For example, the strategy based on segmentation enables the company to cater to customers belonging to the groups like leisure travellers, corporates and the business travellers (Chungyalpa and Bora 2015).
• The company has also planned for the expansion in other countries which have helped Qantas to explore the new areas where they can conduct their business operations. For example, the plans related to the expansion of Qantas Airways in Asia has been helpful for increasing the sales and revenues of the company in the market (Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes 2015).

The effective structure of the company needs to provide the companies with various strategies that are suitable for the achievement of the vision, mission and the objectives. Qantas Airways has been able to create a strong organizational structure which has been able to cater to the different needs of the customers. The company has also been able to achieve a successful combination of the different styles of leadership which have enabled the company to manage the employees and the other stakeholders. With the help of the integration various types of leadership styles the leaders of the company have acted in an appropriate manner to address the issues that are faced by the employees and the customers. The different styles of leadership that have been used and implemented by Qantas Airways are situational and transformational style. The success of the leadership has been depicted with the help of the increase of revenues of the company. The analysis of the marketing strategies of Qantas Airways have shown the different natures of the business. The organization has been able to apply the suitable and right strategy that is applicable for the increase of the sales and revenues of the company. The strategies that are applied by the company are attributable for the success of the organization in the local and the international areas. The company has gained a significant share in the market with the help of its successful strategies. The organization has therefore applied effective strategies for marketing which has helped Qantas to dominate the global and the domestic markets.

Conclusion

The report can be concluded by stating that the leadership style, marketing based strategies and the structure of the organization act as the most important aspects that are related to the success of the company. The organizations have therefore adopted various concepts in an effective manner for the smooth running in the industries and the markets. Qantas Airways had achieved success by taking the different aspects into consideration. The structure that has been formulated by the company helps Qantas Airways to delegate and allocate the resources and duties in an effective manner for the process of effective decision-making. On the other hand, the leadership style that has been formulated by the company has provided a direction which has helped Qantas to create its dominance in the market. The marketing strategies of Qantas also help in the determination of the profitability of organization and the creation of the competitive advantage of the company. This competitive advantage in the industry has provided Qantas with a different position as a low-cost airlines organization in Australia.

References

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