leadership case analysis essay

Discuss and critically analyse one 'effective' leadership case - and one 'less effective' leadership case.

 

Summarise what these cases tell you about the nature and dynamics of leadership.

 

Initially in the essay I would give my description of leadership, then I would examine two cases, one effective and one less effective. The first case concerns Wizz Air as an example of a company with successful business strategy, team-working and customer-oriented organisation. An airline company that quickly established as a brand and despite the severe competition became leader in the low cost travel. I would compare it to another rival company- Swissair, that suddenly collapsed in the late 90s. Although the latter tried hard to overcome it, it could not handle the crisis situation; it lacked the leadership skills and the financial support was delayed, therefore it declared bankruptcy and lost its reputation.

 

Leadership would be a collaborative actions towards mutual objectives. It requires ability to manage other people effectively, with vision in the long term, where the goal is the collective well-being and the followers identify themselves with the leader.

 

Transformational leadership attempts to satisfy the follower`s needs by engaging them; in other words, followers are provoked to express interest in the work progress by raising their awareness of the organisation`s values and goals. Boseman (2008) examines the characteristics of the transformational leader. First of all, he creates a vision and explores opportunities for the team, as well as outlines the advantages for those who are concerned. Secondly, he suggests that the leader is in the role of a supporter, showing interest and caring for other people`s needs and feelings. High performance is another important aspect of the transformational leadership, setting high goals, expecting excellent performance and satisfying results. These leaders are also challenging the followers, stimulating them, calling for innovation and new ideas. Last but not least, group goals are regarded as essential part of the team building, leading to better collaboration and more efficient work. (Boseman, 2008)#p#分页标题#e#

 

Presence of a leadership would make human progress result in improved team performance. The team would be highly motivated and influenced, with a vision in the long term. The comperatively newly launched airline, Wizz Air is a great example of transformational leadership. Stated in the World Airline Report, according to its CEO Jozsef Varadi, the airline has been successfully growing since its establishment despite the strong competition, as low-cost leadership is essential into market share growth. It is a value-oriented business with clear objectives and strategic plan. Baker (2004) says that Wizz Air was launched as a low-cost carrier flying to secondary airports and benefiting from lower labour cost in Eastern Europe, equal to a third of the pilots` costs in the Western part of the continent. The CEO belives that Wizz Air will become the dominant carrier and will beat the competition, owing to its local knowledge in the target location- Eastern Europe.

 

As an example of a transformational leadership the airline was setting high goals, offering excellent services to the customers, constantly stimulating its team members for improvement and organisational identification.

 

Goffee and Jones (2009) argue that organisations that are well led have a better chance of handling crisis situations. Secondly, success could be achieved by businesses that rely on the knowledge they can develop. Leadership is about managing clever people; clever in a sense that they are skilled and talented, inspired by what they do. Goffee and Jones (2009) suggest a number of rules for guiding leaders to clever people, as the they are the ones who make the business prosper. These rules outline the importance of giving space to the employees, showing respect, tell them what to do, but not how, in other words they all encourage team-working and organisational identification.

 

Once these objectives are achieved, managers, directors and CEOs could much easily lead the business. Wizz Air is taking pride in a successul leadership and management, as it was a new entrant in the low-cost airlines in 2003/04 when there were already other airline companies with strong positions on the market. Despite the competition, the Hungarian carrier had an overnight success, offering destinations unavailable at that time, frequent flights and tempting ticket prices. The best recognition and judge of a similar company are the clients; their continued interest in Wizz Air is proof of its prosperity, owed to effective leadership. Effective leadership could consists of strategies to retain the followers, employees or clients. In our case Wizz Air uses number of approaches to reach its clients and inform them for new discounts and offers. It is working in the interest of its clients, constantly improving its services, offering better value for money, incluing new routes, bigger luggage allowance etc. Leadership in a business is about doing it right, achieve the set goals, keeping up with latest trends and customer preferences, because how can a business prosper and become leader in its field if customers are not satisfied? All this could be seen in Wizz Air`s strategic plan, in contrast to Swiss Air that did not compensate its passengers the day when the business collapsed and thousands of passengers waited in vain at the airports.#p#分页标题#e#

 

Swissair, was so financial stable, it was referred to as the "Flying Bank". The airline was successful, flying to international destinations until the late 1990s when the board of directors decided to make a borrowing and implemented the so called Hunter strategy. The terrorist attact in 2001 added to the crisis, and Swissair found itself in debt. A year later it lost its reputation.

 

wissair is an example, of an initially steady business which once failed due to lack of managerial and leadership skills, leading to bankruptcy and lost of reputation.

 

Once it was the national airline, but its humiliating demise has left the nation stunned. Experts argue that necessary decisions were not taken. It is a country world-famous for its banks, cheese and prescious watches and in the meantime still refusing to join the EU, making it more independant and individualistic; above all priding itself for having Swissair, the "Flying Bank". Suddenly, Swissair collapsed and the nation`s confidence is lost. The richest European country`s identity was questioned. In 2000 Swissair denied it is in financial trouble, however, a year later it announced severe cash shortage asking its government for emergency cash injection.

 

The collapse of the airline caused a chaos and the company representatives were not able to give any information to stranded passengers or offer compensation, either an alternative flight or paying accommodation in a hotel, as most airline companies would do.

 

Despite the financial support from banks, Swissair still had to cut cost dramatically. The transfer of funds however, was delayed, unable to pay for the expenses, the airline was forced to ground all its flights and declare bankruptcy.

 

It was expected that the downsizing measures would make Swissair an appealling partner for other airlines, however none of the biggest carriers expressed interest in it at that time, including Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa, (Flottau, 2003). Swizzair might have been the national airline, a leader in the Switzerland, but its failure has shown that the lack of relationships with other airline companies has contributed to its breakdown, leaving the leader alone. Leadership would require having associates to support the business and cooperate with it, Swizzair, however failed to do that.

 

After the chief executive`s resignation, Swiss management team felt confident that their restructured plan and organisation would be more productive. However, industry representatives say that some of the Swiss directors lost confidence in their leadership skills. (Flottau, 2004)#p#分页标题#e#

 

Barbara Kellerman (2005) examines the reasons for bad leadership. She considers it divided into two categories, as ineffective and unethical. Ineffective leadership is one that fails to produce the desired change and the reasons are as follows; lack of relevant traits, badly conceived strategies and weak skills. Kellerman (2005) suggests that bad leaderships is closely linked to patterns of bad behaviour. For example, incompetent leadership occurs when there is lack of will and skill to act reasonably and the team fails to meet expectations. This could be related to Swissair case as their board members were considered not to have taken right decisions, this could be proven by the fact that they could not handle the crisis situation. Measures were taken to reduce expenses, ask competitors for support by adding Swissair to their alliances and asking the government for financial injection. However, the efforts did not meet with success, as the airline had become insolvent. This case might also be regarded as rigid leadership, where although the management team is competent, it is either unwilling or unable to adapt to new information, ideas and in this case changing times and financial difficulties.

 

Leadership explains how some businesses and organisations adapt to the constantly changing world, how they deal with challenges and how some of them manage to cope with crisis situations. Wizz air might have been launched when other low-cost airline have already established significant market shares, built strong relationships with customers and set rules, but it managed to establish itself as a brand and leader among the rivals.

 

Probst and Raisch (2005) suggest that companies fail because there are bounderies outside of which certain possive characteristcs have an adverse effect. The businesses that go beyond these boundaries are referred to as "burnouts", owing their failure to some of the following traits; an extreme growth, uncontrolled change, autocratics leadership and success culture. There is a study on companies having the burnout syndrome, including Swissair. The mentioned traits, have affected the airline company negatively. The excessive growth and the intention to implement the Hunter strategy, got the business into financial trouble, the uncontrolled changes have only added to it. High growth leads to saturation of the original target market, calling for new approaches, new sponsors, which on the other hand requires funds. Swissair`s significant borrowing in the late 1990s, however, brough an unexpected change.

 

All things considered, leadership explains how some businesses and organisations adapt to the constantly changing world, how they deal with challenges and how some of them manage to cope with crisis situations. Wizz air might have been launched when other low-cost airlines have already established significant market shares, built strong relationships with customers and set rules, but it managed to establish itself as a brand and leader among the rivals. Swissair, on the other hand, did not show leadership skills as it could not handle the crisis situation, leading to breakdown. Leadership would require the collaborative efforts of the whole team, both in businesses and informal groups to achieve the set goals and be efficient.#p#分页标题#e#