Zoom Airways has been struggling to win customers against a hostile economic environment, intense competition, rising costs, and a lack of new marketing ideas. Just like any other company facing difficult times in the market, the company's problems are attributed to internal operations and management. The leadership and management of Zoom Airways play a significant role in its current situation and challenges. It has followed a tall hierarchical organizational structure for 40 years without change or modification of any kind. Departmental conflicts have arisen due to fighting for the ever-diminishing budget of the organization. There is dissatisfaction among employees, which has led to absenteeism and high turnover. The lack of effective leadership and management in Zoom Airways has seen it incur £5,000,000 loss last year. This report outlines strategies for management and leadership change to take the company forward into the next ten years.
Set-up and Organisation
The organisation of the company follows a tall hierarchical structure that has been in place for 40 years. This set-up is traditional, and many businesses across the globe have utilized it, and perhaps, some are still using it. The structure sees all the planning and other important decisions of the company emanating from the managing director's office. The director has senior advisors, and he also utilizes the department directors in the decision-making process. The workforce in the middle and lower-tier receive instructions and directions from the top-management. This structure employs a vertical system in which decisions are made at the top level of the company, and communicated downwards to employees ( Herman, 2016, 171 ).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Zoom Airways' managers have been responsible for formulating tactics and setting goals for the company for the last 40 years. They have used their intuitions and experience to determine what is best or worst for the business. The workforce has little or no say on the management and running of the company. They are obligated to follow the leaderships of lower managers in the departments ( Zeng, 2019, 3 ).
For tall organisation structure to last in the company for 40 years, there seem to be reasons behind it. The shareholders and top-level managers of Zoom Airways understood the benefits of a strong command chain. It has been thought to increase productivity and efficiency as the employees at the lower level understand their responsibilities and targets. The structure has proven to be ineffective in recent years as productivity and profitability has tremendously decreased. The employees are not motivated, and the rate of absenteeism and turnover is high.
Leadership and Management Theories and Impacts
Theories can influence the leadership and management of Zoom Airways as well as its set-up and organisation. Given the difficulties, both internal and external, that the company faces, the employment of behavioural theories would be ideal. According to Derue et al., the behavioural theories emphasize the fact that leaders can be made as opposed to being born (2011, 13). As such, these theories look at the behaviours of leaders and their management traits. The qualities believe, management behaviours, and actions of leaders are vital in the management of businesses.
In Zoom Airways, the actions of the top-managers dictate that the workforce should follow guidelines and instructions without formulating the same. The decision-making process is reserved for the managers and other key players in the company. According to behavioural theories, effective leadership or management is that which delegate tasks and engage their workforce at all times. They also perform their duties and responsibilities effectively without fail as well as take responsibility for failure or wrongdoing ( Derue et al., 2011, 18 ).
The management ought to communicate with employees to understand and address their concerns in the workplace. These theories stipulate that to gain trust, loyalty, and optimal productivity from employees, the management should motivate them based on performance and experience. In Zoom Airways, employees are not motivated, and they have not been promoted or given a pay rise for the past ten years. These events have negatively affected the morale, willingness to work, quality produced, and productivity of the workforce.
The leadership style in Zoom Airways is autocratic, where the top-level managers make decisions without engaging the subordinates and other employees. Through the tall hierarchical structure, the management spells out directions and guidelines, work methods, and limited knowledge about the goals and objectives of the company. This style has seen a lack of cooperation between the workforce and managers in the company. The company faces threats of losing its workforce, given the lack of morale and high turnover of employees. On the other hand, democratic or participative style, which the company ought to be using, would engage all the stakeholders of the company. The workforce would participate in the decision-making process as well as raise concerns when necessary ( Derue et al., 2011, 23 ).
Unlike the autocratic style, democratic or participative leadership style would impact the organisation and its operations positively. First, this style would appreciate the value of the workforce in the company. The concerns and complaints of employees, such as the insistence of the organisation on hiring fresh graduates, would be things of the past. A democratic leader would give incentives to employees and reward them based on performance and productivity. Such leaders motivate their employees through pay raises and promotions ( Derue et al., 2011, 23 ).
When employees are satisfied, productivity goes up, and the company enjoys profitability rather than losses. The demands and requirements of customers would be met through the production of high-quality commodities. The complaints about the inability of the company to meet deadlines and poor customer services would be things of the past. Changing the leadership and management style as well as the organisation set-up is the only option the company has going forward. The democratic or participative leadership and management would foster the success and survival of the organisation amid of a fierce economic environment and stiff competition.
Leading and managing teams and individuals
For the success of an organization to be witnessed, the manager or leader needs to have concern for people who are employed under them. If these individuals do not have positive morale, they will not be motivated to be productive. Their creativity will also be on the low, and they will develop negativity towards their place of work. The management should be able to understand what can make their employees happy at the same time, find a balance with the success of the organization.
Available research shows that only one in three workers agree that they have ever received recognition for doing good work. The same research indicates that the employees who have not been recognized for their excellent job are more likely to quit their jobs. With this trend, there is a need for Zoom airways to find ways of creating a pleasant environment for their employees.
Stability
As a manager or leader in a company, it is essential to know what is the key motivator for employees. One of the significant positive motivators is job stability. Zoom Airways need to find ways of assuring the employees that they will have their jobs in the foreseeable future. But this can either work for the company or against it in that; the company cannot be seen as offering stability for the employees, then later turns and starts laying them off. Such a move will mean that the remaining employees will lose the morale to work, and the company will have lost credibility in their eyes ( Storey, 2016, 21 ).
Trust
Micromanagement of employees has been seen as a morale killer in the workplace. An employee needs to feel competent and trusted to do their job. The loss of morale and the build-up of apathy can be avoided if the management shows employees that they are trusted to do their job ( Kandavel, & Sakthivel, 2018, 1058) . It is challenging for an individual to work while always looking over their shoulder. The management should leave the employees to do the work they are paid for, and this will help in raising their morale. The employees should be allowed to give their input and use their imagination, and this may result in the betterment of the products of the company. As much as they are to be trusted with their work, they are also to be held accountable for everything they do. The management should put in place laws for accountability while at the same time helping the employees who seem to be falling behind in their work.
Management morale
Positivity should always start with the top management of a company. If the managers have low morale towards their work, this will also affect the other employees. If a manager seems to care less about what is being done to grow the company, then the other workers will see it as an opportunity to become lazy. Having noted that Zoom Airways has a problem with employee turnover, it means that there might be a problem with the management. There should be refraining from spreading negative gossip at the company and instead offer help to employees if and when there is a need. Employees should be confident in their managers and should feel they can talk to them about anything. The management should not always be quick to assume things on the part of the employees. They should know that there might be a personal reason for everything and thus finding a way to talk is essential. When an employee gets to know that they are valued by their employer, then they will try and refrain from issues that may affect their productivity ( Kandavel, & Sakthivel, 2018, 1061) .
Employment and promotions
When the company decides to employ outsiders, who are fresh from the university, to lead departments, it creates a negative image. The employees, in this case, feel the lack of appreciation from the employers. Most of these employees have been with the company for long. Thus, they have the experience and the capability to handle the management of departments. It would be beneficial for the company if it decided to promote its existing employees to the top positions instead of always bringing in newcomers ( Burgoyne, 2016, 79) . Such a move will be a morale booster for the employees since they will feel they have a chance of climbing the ranks to become top managers.
The employees should be able to understand that they are part of the organization, and their contribution is vital. The employee should never question if they are valuable to the company because this will make them question themselves as individuals and thus lose morale in their work. By retaining the employees, the company will be able to build a family of people who understand the insides of the Airline industry and thus ensuring that there is growth for the company and its shareholders.
Conclusion
Zoom Airways needs to perform serious management and leadership changes if it is to survive the ever-growing industry. The main changes that are to be made include, the change in the leadership style. The tall hierarchy style of leadership and management does not seem to be working and thus need to change to a more inclusive leadership style. There should also be changes in the way the company treats its employees. A company cannot survive without employees and thus the need for Zoom Airways to find a way of making theirs more comfortable to work in the company. Change is inevitable if the company wants to survive the industry.
References
Burgoyne, J., 2016. Crafting a Leadership and Management Development Strategy I. In Gower Handbook of Leadership and Management Development (pp. 67-82). Routledge.
Derue, D.S., Nahrgang, J.D., Wellman, N.E.D. and Humphrey, S.E., 2011. Trait and behavioral theories of leadership: An integration and meta‐analytic test of their relative validity. Personnel Psychology , 64 (1), pp.7-52.
Herman, R.D., 2016. Executive leadership. The Jossey-Bass handbook of nonprofit leadership and management , pp.167-187.
Kandavel, R., and Sakthivel, D., 2018. Teamwork and Its Impacts on Employees' Morale. International journal of research and analytical review , 5 (04), pp.1058-1064.
Storey, J., 2016. Changing theories of leadership and leadership development. In Leadership in Organizations (pp. 17-41). Routledge.
Ogbonnaya, C., Daniels, K., Connolly, S., van Veldhoven, J.P.M., and Nielsen, K., 2016. Employees, managers, and high-performance work practices. Understanding the high-performance workplace: The line between motivation and abuse. New York: Routledge .
Zeng, Z., 2019. Different functions between leadership and management in today's enterprises. The Frontiers of Society, Science, and Technology , 1 (3).
