...Branson has been tagged as a 'transformational leader' by management lexicon, with his maverick strategies and his stress on the Virgin Group as an organization driven on informality and information, one that's bottom heavy rather than strangled by top-level management. Although Branson says his success was not planned, and it just happened, he has said that he has 10 secrets to success: 1. You've got to challenge the big ones. 2. Keep it casual. 3. Haggle: everything is negotiable. 4. Have fun working. 5. Do the right things for the brand. 6. Smile for the cameras! 7. Don't lead "sheep", herd "cats". 8. Move like a bullet. 9. Size does matter. 10. Be a common, regular person. He was 9th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2006, worth just over £3billion. He is the No 1 Admired Businessman in Britain, and 2nd choice amongst youth for Prime Minister (after Tony Blair)[3]. He has a cameo appearance in the new Superman film, credited as "Shuttle Engineer", alongside his son Sam, with Virgin Galactic-esque commercial suborbital shuttle at the center of his storyline. He will have a cameo in the upcoming James Bond film Casino Royale as well. Although Branson says his success was not planned, and it 1. Introduction on team work 2. Richerd philosophy of team work 3. Example of team work 4. Some picture demonstrate team work Words of Wisdom Branson on building a business Don't bother doing something unless you're radically...
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...Abstract: My submission discusses the ways in which Richard Branson is seen as a leader. It shows which leadership theories that are used by him, in order to lead those that follow him, either through work or general enthusiasm for his leadership style, and how effectively those theories are applied. This submission covers details of Richard Branson’s early life and the beginning of his leadership. It then goes on to explain how his leadership style emerged as he began to run the Virgin Group. I then explained how Richard Branson is seen by the public, and how he has followers in the public that don’t work for him. After this, I consider which technical leadership theories are used by Richard Branson. I review how successful Richard Branson has been as a leader, by looking at how his followers respect him and follow in his footsteps. To conclude, I review Richard Branson from my own perspective. Introduction Before a leader can be analysed, one must define what leadership is. This is hard to do. It’s an intrinsic trait which is hard to define. Jackson and Parry (2008: 5) say that ‘leadership is like beauty – it is difficult to describe, but we certainly know it when we see it.' However, the general consensus is that leadership is influencing people in order to attain goals (Daft, 2008: 590). The leader that will be analysed in this essay is Richard Branson, who runs and owns the Virgin Group. He has demonstrated his leadership skills from the early age of just seventeen, when...
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...Business Strategy Analysis Virgin Group Yingzi Dong Xiange Liu Huan Wang Introduction Virgin is the managing company for the branded private investment group, which had interests ranging from transportation, financial services, health and leisure, and media and telecom to space travel. Virgin’s founder Richard Branson,started the Virgin group in the 1970s, with Branson and Murphy had decided in 2005 that Virgin would focus on two additional pillars of growth: health& wellness, and financial service.In the past, Virgin had generally financed its expansion by selling equity in its operating companies,then, Murphy contemplated the group’s strategy for the next decade. Business Strategy Virgin Group’s corporate strategy is change due to the whole financial situation. At the beginning, Virgin Group is a branded private investment group and seeking an internal rate of return of 30% or more on investments per year. And the initial strategy includes, 1) The founder of Virgin Richard Branson is enthusiastic about his career. The ideas for new investments can came from various people, such as Richard and his meeting friends, entrepreneurs or colleagues. Also, once...
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...Case Study – The Virgin Group: Structure, leadership and motivation This essay analyses organizational structuring of the Virgin Group, with a view to understanding the dynamics that have helped create a global conglomerate. A critical assessment is undertaken on three areas: the hierarchical form of the company, the style of leadership exhibited by Sir Richard Branson, and the approach adopted by management to motivate employees. Firstly, a comparative argument is made on whether the Virgin Group can be classified as a centralised or decentralised organization. These terms refer to division of power, capital, technical procedures and control in various units of a business. A centralised organization allows for minimal delegation to managers, with the chief executive retaining power over majority of the decisions. On the other end, a decentralised organization makes it possible for managers to exercise control without ownership oversight at each stage, provided goals and targets are met (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2007). Secondly, the essay aims to determine the leadership style practiced by Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group’s chief executive officer (CEO). Two styles of leadership are used as reference point: transactional and transformational. According to Bass & Bass (2009), transactional leaders work within the organizational culture as it exists, with an awareness of the link between effort and reward. They motivate their employees by setting goals, and enforce control through...
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...INTRODUCTION Leadership is defined as the process of influencing an organized group towards accomplishing its goals.[1] We have learned that the leader is not exclusive in the leadership process. Researchers Fred Fiedler and Hollander recognized this and introduced the importance of the follower and the situation in the leadership process. Richard Branson is considered one of the most unorthodox business men of the 21st century. At the helm at the mega firm Virgin Group Ltd, Branson has defied conventional management and leadership wisdom. Through all his accomplishments, Branson’s amazing leadership skills cannot be mentioned in a vacuum. There is an interactional relationship between a leader, his or her followers and the situations in which they interact. This paper will analyze Branson as a leader. However, because his leadership success is not mutually exclusive, his followers and the important situations that define his career will be addressed. AN OVERVIEW OF BRANSON AND THE VIRGIN GROUP Biography Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is the son of a lawyer named Edward Branson and an airline stewardess named Eve Huntley-Flindt; born on July 18, 1950 in Surrey, England. At an early age he strived for more and this was due to “his parent’s upbringing, which taught him to stand on his own two feet”. His parents took extreme measures to encourage their children’s independence. At four years old Richard’s mother pushed him out of the car and told Richard to find his own...
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...THE VIRGIN GROUP CASE STUDY QUESTION 1: What examples does the case give of links between Branson’s strategy for Virgin and the environment in which it operates? The Virgin Group Ltd is a group of separately run British companies with the Virgin brand under the leadership of English celebrity business tycoon Sir Richard Branson. The core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle, among others. Richard Branson’s strategy comes from his deepest inner beliefs; “in principle there were no product or service boundries limiting a brand name, provided it was associated with quality products/services on offer” The corporate strategy of the Virgin Group is to operate like ‘a venture capital firm based on the Virgin brand.’ This strategy involves non-related diversification at the individual business unit level. Meanwhile, synergies are created from hierarchical relationships and the interaction of the corporate head office with individual business units. By leveraging on the Virgin Brand which has established prominence in the minds of consumers, Virgin is able to enter new business areas with a bang and shake up existing orders. The unique Virgin culture also allows Virgin to break into new markets and execute its ventures very effectively. Virgin’s corporate strategy is best described in the Virgin Charter – the individual businesses are focused and develop as autonomous enterprises under a single unified brand name. This decentralization...
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...Branson’s leadership style and its effectiveness in the U.S. today Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group Ltd., is a London based businessperson who turned the conventional business wisdom to a diverse business with a unique style. Today, the Virgin Group is one of world’s most recognizable brands in different lines of businesses such as retail stores, air travel, financial services, books and music, and telecommunications. The Virgin Group is a multibillion-dollar company with approximately 50,000 employees and more than $20 billion in annual sales (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011). According to Hellriegel and Slocum (2011), Transformational leadership involves influencing the followers through the leader’s behaviors and abilities. Transformational leaders create vision for the organization and embrace the change to achieve the goal by following set of rules with the strong beliefs, anticipating the future barriers, and empowering the followers to be leaders by inspiring through motivation, and intellectual stimulation. Transformational leaders are risk-takers. They are quite challenging and compassionate at the same time with high integrity. Sir Richard Branson’s dominant leadership style is transformational in many aspects. Branson communicates in open, candidly and clearly about the setbacks in his business career. Three of the setbacks he openly discussed with many are the launch of MP3 player, which was a total disaster, holding Virgin MegaStore retail...
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...competitive challenge The use of management functions within an organisation. Report prepared for, Mr. Bruno Silva Prepared by: xxxxxxxx Student ID: xxxxxxxxxxx Table of contents 1. Executive Summary 4 2. Introduction 5 1) Purpose 5 2) Virgin Companies 5 3) External Environment 5 4) Management Functions 5 5) Methodology 5 6) Plan 5 3. Planning 6 1) Strategic Management at Virgin 6 2) Methods used to assess the environment 8 3) Methods used to allocate resources 8 4. Leading 9 1) Leading within the Virgin Companies 9 2) Trait Theory 9 3) Leadership styles 10 4) Emotional intelligence 10 5. Conclusion 11 6. Recommendations 11 7. Appendices 13 8. Reference List 19 1.0) Executive summery This report has been prepared to recognize the contribution of the four management...
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...dominated in their field and have had continuously expended until now. What makes them different are some crucial factors of business like strategy, structure of organization, leadership. Most of these play important roles during the development of enterprises and interact with each other. However, in a heavily competitive field, the key factor must be strategy. On the one hand, for huge corporations, strategy can not only guide the corporations on the correct track but also can even explore additional possibilities which bring up the positive effectiveness of development. On the other hand, for some immature companies, strategy is a suitable way to prevent disorder or disorganization, and it also helps them to define the location clearly in their field. The most importance feature of good strategy is: building up the core value of enterprise. Nowadays corporations face numerous issues of development which include human resources, supply chain, manufacturing and other relative fields. There are some external influences which keep changing the conditions of the environment. In the business field, globalization is a significant trend which has gradually become the most effective phenomenon and the most enormous challenge in the global market. This external influence significantly leads to some new situations and difficulties and there are no relative analysis models or effective solutions. However, the existence of new challenges are also followed by some opportunities which can...
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...Resarch Paper Virgin Group Jonas Rosario-Lora Table of Contents Executive Summary3-4 Literature Review4 Bullets A-C4-12 Discussion 12-17 Conclusion17-18 Reference18-22 Executive Summary The matter of this company is to observer there recent change, and how we can identify the change the organizational change. Using the company’s management models, leadership styles and strategic management change, to figure out if the change is making the company profitable. Can the company sustain the change process and fit best with the condition without having resistance in change to hurt the company. Virgin America is in the verge of losing it’s shareholders and investor, since the day it lunch in 2007 and the following four years the company has been losing over 395million dollars. There Expenses are lower than the main airline carriers, primarily, it’s not inexpensive sufficiently to participate rivalry against competitors like JetBlue or Spirit. Virgin America has been embraced to create a honest low- cost structure, While it’s competitors have reduced their cost structure significantly, customers are not eager to pay a high premium to have the ability to enjoy TV on there flights and have a free checked bag “which is why JetBlue will likely be charging for the first bag soon”. There mission statement is to rethinking what it means to fly economy, by producing the leading low-cost luxury airline. The company established an impressive goal, to create the procedure...
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...customers is referred to as organizational behaviour. “Organizational behaviour is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and organizational structure have on behaviour within the organization, for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organizational effectiveness” (Dhar & Dhar, 2002). This analysis is key for any organization because it aids the employee to have a better understanding of their role in the organization and also help them to understand the basics of Work Psychology which is about people’s behaviour, thoughts and emotions related to their work. It can be used to improve our understanding and management of people (including ourselves) at work and how their individual performance/actions will bring about improvements in overall performance of the organization (Arnold, et al., 2010). According to Luthans (2004), the result of interaction and interdependency between formal organizations and the human factor variables is what Organizational behaviour is all about. This essay has been prepared to critically examine these human factors, and organization structure, leadership that is effective, organizational culture which facilitates team work and motivation, in successful organization. The essay will draw useful inferences using the case study of the Virgin group. An...
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...Leadership Course 20Twenty, Construction “Leadership is the most important factor in Managing change” Analytically assess this statement By Thomas Atkin Student number: 02000314 To analytically assess the statement that leadership is the most important factor in managing change, it must first be clarified what is understood by the different terms being used. In this essay I will look firstly at what leadership actually means, then at what constitutes good leadership; I will consider why change may be needed, and what other factors might be at play in influencing change; and finally I shall look at the role leadership plays in making change, and reach a conclusion as to whether I agree that it is the most important factor in actually managing any change. What is leadership? The Collins English Dictionary defines a leader as a person who “rules, guides, or inspires others”. This applies to any situation, and in a work context could refer to a multi national company or to a small independent corner shop. Many authors have their own definitions: for example Peter G Northhouse (p3) defines leadership itself as “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a goal”. Similarly Kotter (p3) refers to leadership as a process that “helps direct and mobilise individuals or groups of people in a formal position”...
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...Macro-Leadership and Micro-Leadership Leadership, Change & Responsibility – Assignment MSM MBA - Intake 17/ Group 3 Tuan DO Diah MINTARSIH Chau TRAN Truc-M. NGUYEN SUMMARY Macro-Leadership: Vision Macro-Leadership: Vision • Focuses on vision, long-term strategy and future planning. • Enables and encourages transformational change. • Is ready to take big risk in favor of the strategy & vision. • Innovative approach & willingness for disruptive change • Extrovert generalist favoring a broad-based leadership Micro-Leadership: Control Micro-Leadership: Control • Willing to take actions with respect to current reality. • Control & keep things in balance. • Adheres to mission & incremental changes. • Expert attitude with tendency to be extremely critical to deviation / divergence. • Manages & mitigates risk. • Continuity-based and transactional management approach. Vision versus Control Vision-Control-Matrix (Vander Ark, 2015) Vision versus Control • Vision alone does not enable change. • Vision neglecting the micro-focus on realities in business management leads to failure. • Vision without practical leadership results in empty dreams. • Control alone demotivates, does not benefit from diversity & prevents individual growth. • Control without keeping the “big picture” in mind leads to control obsession. • Control obsession is toxic for any organization. CONCLUSION Synthesis of Macro & Micro ...
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...Name: Navdeep Student id: 201412246 Introduction: Virgin group ltd. Is a British company founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell. Its associated with the business of travel, entertainment and life style, finance, transport, health care, food and drink, media and telecommunication and have businesses under more than 400 companies. Virgin Group’s date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by companies House, who class it as a holding company, however Virgin’s businesses and trading activities date to 1979s.The brand name ‘Virgin’ aross when Richard Branson and Nik Powell formed a record shop.They consider themselves virgins in business and the select V in the logo as an expressive tick, representing the virgin seal of approval.It’s head office is located in England. a) Mission statement : The company’s vision is to be the shopper victor by delivering brand values , which are: value for money, superior quality, dazzling customer service,pioneering,competitively testing and fun.; to provide a quality service by motivating employees and assist and examin consumer feedback for nonstop enhancement of the customer’s expiriance through improvement;to creat products and services that make the customer life more enjoyable. b) Vision: Virgin vision can be defined by words of Richard Branson . “We are planning a global presence in travel, mobile communications, entertainment retailing and music. We are in exciting markets which are set to...
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...Assessing Your Leadership Style to Achieve Organizational Objectives EILEEN NEWMAN RUBIN Research has shown that there are more than 30 differently named leadership styles, ranging from micro-management to hands-off, each with its own proponents. Six, however, stand out as most com- monly found in business: authoritarian, democratic, transformational, laissez-faire, servant, and situa- tional. A review of the experiences of six leaders who embody these styles reveals that each mode of operating has its pros and cons; there is no sin- gle best approach. Being aware of one’s leadership style and that of others makes it possible to lever- age strengths and compensate for weaknesses and to properly match individuals to a particular role or task—for the good of the entire organization. ©C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Whether they are involved in politics, corporate America, or a nonprofit endeavor, the style in which managers and other professionals exert their lead- ership can determine the outcome of their efforts. As the American businessman and political fig- ure Erskine Bowles said, “Leadership is the key to 99 percent of all successful efforts” (Kruse, 2012). But what is the best leadership style to use? There is no simple answer to this seemingly simple ques- tion. One’s leadership style depends on several fac- tors, including the personality of the leader, the or- ganizational culture (and the many subcultures that may exist within it), the personalities of the people...
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