(BUSM1008) Enterprise leadership assignment on Qantas Airways Limited with reference to relevant theories
Question
Task: You are required to research your chosen company in relation to the relevant theories and aspects of enterprise leadership. Deliver the findings from your research, and make recommendations for your client in your leadership assignment.
Answer
Introduction
Qantas Airways Limited has been selected for conducting this leadership assignment. Qantas is the oldest Australian airline company. It was developed for providing taxi and flight services. The Australian Commonwealth government acquired Qantas in 1947 and made it the national airline of Australia (Qantas.com, 2022). The company’s wide operations indicate the leadership and management quality of the company. The company offers transportation and freights services with the collaboration of partner companies. Additionally, it is found in this leadership assignment that the company offers local and international transportation services. Along with these services, the company also provides automatic bag drops, online shopping, kiosk check-in, loyalty and reward points, in-flight amenities, and other services.
Literature Review in leadership assignment
Change management is attributed to the techniques and ways of describing and implementing changes within the external and internal processes of any company. As per the leadership assignment the business environment is uncertain and changing constantly; however, companies are needed to apply change management for coping with negative or positive changes internally or externally. According to Galli (2018), change is inevitable and is important for professional growth; therefore, organisations are needed to adopt change management to cope with such inevitable changes.
Lewin’s change management model
According to Kurt Lewin's Force Field Theory mentioned in the leadership assignment, restraining forces have an impact on both collective and individual behaviour, ultimately determining whether change will occur. The driving forces inspire and direct workers in the direction of the new state. The restraining forces serve as the main obstacles to change initiatives by highlighting probable resistance to change. There are three stages of change in Lewin’s model as per the leadership assignment.
Figure 1: Three stages of Lewin’s model of change
Analysing McKinsey 7-S Model in the leadership assignment
This model mentioned in the leadership assignment is based on the organisational design of a company. It tries to demonstrate how change leaders may manage organisational change effectively by formulating a plan based on the interplay of seven essential components (7 Ss).
Figure 2: The McKinsey 7-S Model
Discussion
Rising competition
The aviation industry has evolved significantly in the last few decades. Various airline companies came into the market, which is becoming a serious issue for Qantas airlines. New companies as per the leadership assignment are offering tickets and other services at very cheap prices to attract more customers. The sector’s liberalisation and deregulation have made it easier for new entrants to enter the aviation market, which has positively contributed to competition and innovation (Powell, 2020, p.57). Therefore, the company's revenue is also declining due to rising competition in the market. The rising competition is acting as a hindrance to the growth of the company as per the leadership assignment.
Restarting after the pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic according to the leadership assignment has impacted business organisations worldwide. However, the aviation sector was adversely affected due to worldwide lockdowns and restrictions on the movement of goods and people. Now that the restrictions have been removed, aviation companies are still facing challenges in restarting their business operations in a full-fledged way. The passenger volume of Qantas airlines has declined after the COVID-19 pandemic. People are preventing travelling on flights due to the threat of spreading infections. As per the leadership assignment Qantas airport is facing the challenge of lengthy passenger queues and after the COVID-19 pandemic; people are taking a preventive approach in dealing with crowds and lengthy queues.
Recommendations of the leadership assignment
The company can adopt some innovative marketing techniques to attract a large customer base; the company can adopt innovation in providing enhanced customer services to the passengers. As per the leadership assignment Qantas airlines should offer some discounts or other facilities to the customers to attract customers. Additionally, the company can adopt some sustainable practices to reduce avoidable expenses. The company can adopt some frugal innovation techniques to reduce cost along with increase effectiveness (Niroumand, et al., 2020). The company should apply innovative techniques in managing lengthy queues so that the chances of spreading infection can be reduced. According to the findings of the leadership assignment the company should increase strictness regarding wearing masks and proper sanitisation on flights by implementing health and safety policies.
Conclusion
This leadership assignment can be concluded as Qantas is a large airline organisation company in Australia. This airline company is the oldest company in Australia. Literature has been discussed and two models of change management have been discussed in this report: Lewin’s model of change and the McKinsey 7-S model. These models can be applied in organisations to cope with changes in the business environment. Changes in the business environment are inevitable; hence, certain strategies are to be adopted by Qantas airlines to cope with these issues. The company is facing challenges due to rising competition in the market and the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it is can be stated in the leadership assignment that the company should adopt some innovation and change management in the organisational practices.
Reference list
Galli, B.J., 2018. Change management models: A comparative analysis and concerns in leadership assignment. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 46(3), pp.124-132.
Hassan, A.T., 2018. Organizational change management: A literature review. Available at SSRN 3135770.
Niroumand, M., Shahin, A., Naghsh, A. and Peikari, H.R., 2020. Frugal innovation enablers: a comprehensive framework. International Journal of Innovation Science.
Powell, J.J., 2020. Comparative education in an age of competition and collaboration. Comparative Education, 56(1), pp.57-78.
Qantas.com, 2022, About us, viewed on: 29/06/2022 viewed from: https://www.qantas.com/in/en/about-us.html#:~:text=The%20Qantas%20Group's%20main%20business,Enterprises%20to%20Qantas%20Frequent%20Flyer
Tang, K.N., 2019. Change management in leadership assignment. In Leadership and change management (pp. 47-55). Springer, Singapore.
