Change in Management and Leadership Style: Virgin Atlantic - Essay Example

?Virgin Atlantic: Leadership and Management Introduction Virgin Atlantic is an airways that was founded in 1984 by Sir Richard Branson. It is currently headquartered in Crawley, West Sussex, England, near London Gatwick Airport. The airline implements Airbus and Boeing wide-body aircraft, and implements no short-haul services. The airlines has been very successful, carrying over 5.3 million passengers in 2010; this figure made Virgin Atlantic the eighth largest airlines in the United Kingdom. Today Sir Richard Branson remains the company’s president, with Stephen Murphy the chairman, Steve Ridgway the CEO, Julie Southern the CCO, and Steve Griffiths the COO. This essay examines the leadership and management structures within the company’s human resource approach to the establishment of Virgin Galactic business venture. Leadership and Management The main human resource related issue within the Virgin Atlantic structure is the company’s approach to the Galactic Project. The Galactic Project is the company’s mission to establish commercial trips to suborbital space stations. The mission began in 2004 and has been in development since this period. The spacecraft flights are intended to be robust and affordable to the extent that they can take passengers in a relatively affordable way ($200,000 per passenger). The space flight will overlap the Earth’s atmosphere in a suborbital way flight. Passengers will experience a brief period of weightlessness – 6 minutes – where passengers will be able to detach themselves from their seats. In considering the key business challenges within this organizational program, it’s clear that there are a wide variety of leadership and management elements that must be considered. While a comprehensive articulation of these elements would require an analysis as large scale as Sir Richard Branson’s space flight operation, this report functions to consider the issue from an overarching perspective. Within this context of understanding, the first major consideration is the Virgin Galactic overriding business structure. In examining this element, the Burke Litwin model of organizational change is implemented in gaining a greater management understanding. In terms of the Burke Litwin model, there are twelve major organizational areas of consideration, with management structure being an important area of concern (Burke 2011). The Virgin Galactic management structure is currently noted as consisting of CEO and President George Whitesides, Stephen Attenborough as the Commercial Director, and Jonathan Firth as the Director of Operations & Projects (‘Our Team’ 2010). Another prominent aspect of the Burke Litwin model is the investigation into organizational culture. In terms of organizational culture Virgin Atlantic has gained a reputation for both innovation and efficiency. In addition to these elements, perhaps because of its flamboyant president, the company has also gained a reputation for sensationalism (Manning 2011). While such an organizational culture creates a progressive and creative atmosphere, for the implementation of large-scale experimental practices one can argue that such a practice is detrimental to company success. The Burke Litwin model also considers the nature of the external environment. In these regards, this specific business challenge faces competition from a number of competing space airliners. There is also concern over increased government regulations. Another major business analysis model is the McKinsey 7S Framework. This framework considers the interaction of seven components to, “Improve the performance of a company” and “Determine how best to implement a proposed strategy”. Within the context of this analytic tool are the hard elements of ‘strategy, structure, and systems’. Currently, the business venture’s organizational structure functions within the Virgin empire, yet involves a partnership with aerospace designing firm Scales Composites. Similarly, CEO and President George Whitesides with Richard Branson handling many public relations duties control the Virgin Galactic management structure. In a qualitative analysis of many of the organization’s press releases one witnesses the overriding leadership approach to the business venture (Manning 2011; David 2005; ‘SpaceShipTwo’s First ‘Feathered’ Fight 2011). In these regards, the company has attempted to present a corporately responsible image, with Virgin’s traditional flair. While such a structural approach has been successful in many of Virgin’s earlier measures, it’s argued here that a new management and leadership approach must be established. The main distinguishing feature between the Virgin Galactic venture, and Virgin’s previous airline ventures, is the understanding that this venture is not merely innovating on a previous design, but breaking new ground. Within this context of understanding, it’s clear that the management and leadership structure must demonstrate an increased emphasis on regulation and efficiency measures over traditional Virgin flair. Conclusion Within Virgin Atlantic’s specific foray into commercial space flight with the Virgin Galactic venture, there are a number of leadership and management recommendations. In considering the organization’s current culture and style, it’s noted that Virgin Galactic has in-large part developed a flamboyant image within the media. While this organizational culture may have contributed to the company’s ability to secure funding and take on innovative projects, in an experimental venture such as Virgin Galactic such a stylistic approach is detrimental to the professionalism and attention to detail that is necessary for such a large-scale venture. Research has indicated that while Virgin has gained government approval for the venture, there are still questions relating to the possible future regulations, and the project’s overriding safety concerns. In these regards, in accordance with the Burke Litwin model, it’s recommended that the company undergo a leadership shift from such flamboyance to a more efficient and NASA like image-approach. The company’s current CEO and President Richard Whitesides has a background with NASA as the Chief of Staff for the NASA Administrator. This report recommends that rather than continuing with the Branson leadership approach the company increasingly shift organizational and company control within the Virgin Galactic venture to George Whitesides. It’s understood that such an approach will shift Virgin emphasis and image from one that is greatly linked to an almost hobby like approach, to one that underlines a more serious approach to the space venture. Ultimately, shifting the leadership and management approach in this direction will allow the experimental venture to gain credence with both government regulators and a public that may be wary of the avant-nature of suborbital space flight. References Burke, Warner. (2011). A Causal Model of Organizational Performance & Change (Burke & Litwin Model). Available: http://reflectlearn.org/discover/a-causal- model-of-organizational-performance-change-burkes-litwin-model. Last accessed 19th August. David, Leonard. (2005). Richard Branson and Burt Ratan Form Spacecraft Building Company. Available: http://www.space.com/1356-richard-branson-burt- rutan-form-spacecraft-building-company.html. Last accessed 19th August. Manning, Patrick. (2011). Behind the Scenes at World's First Spaceport. Available: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/08/18/behind-scenes-at-worlds- first-spaceport-in-rural-new-mexico-desert/. Last accessed 19th August. The McKinsey 7S Framework. (2011) Available: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_91.htm. Last accessed 19th August. One Small Step for Space Tourism. (2007) Available: http://www.economist.com/node/3500237?story_id=E1_PVDDNPS&CFID=6 52299&CFTOKEN=40feddda82a83b6-F677FAB6-B27C-BB00- 0143FB2BB9733AFB. Last accessed 19th August. Our Team. (2010) Available: http://www.virgingalactic.com/our-team/. Last accessed 19th August. SpaceShipTwo's First 'Feathered' Flight. (2011) Available: http://www.virgingalactic.com/news/item/spaceshiptwos-first-feathered- flight/. 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