Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd. Case Study Essay Example

cleaner sources of energy.

Sir Richard Branson definitely exhibits a ‘Transformational Leadership’ style which involves anticipating future trends, inspiring followers to understand and embrace a new vision of possibilities, developing others to be leaders or better leaders, and building the organization into a community of challenged and rewarded learners (Helriegel / Slocum, 2011). He shows this by the type of leaders he looks for in his company, since he considers that what makes someone goods is how good they are at dealing with people. You can’t be a good leader if you don’t genuinely like people” is Sir Richard Branson’s own words on how he defines good leadership and management style. He is comes accross as a very humble, friendly and down-to-earth human being. Through all his business ventures, Branson provides inspirational motivation by appealing to people’s emotions and minds. He also likes the profile of person who will get ‘charged up’ when told that something cannot be done; this is a definite trait of a transformational type of leader. Despite his enormous wealth he claims that making money never is the goal of making business.

This is a bit contradictory, when judging successful wealthy leaders and comparing to the general impressions they give. But Branson seems to act according to what he claims, and thereby he is also considered to be a trustworthy leader (Branson, R, 2010).

2. Recommend a different leadership style (or combination of styles) that would make Branson an even more effective leader. Although it would be difficult to improve the style of such an effective leader such as Branson, I would suggest the addition of the following

styles to become better rounded leader.

Branson ignored his top management’s advice regarding the sale of his Virgin Megastore retail outlets for a long time, and this ultimately caused the company to loose a lot of money. In this case, Branson should be less ‘Autonomous’ and maybe be more ‘Team Oriented’ where he could be more collaborative, diplomatic and considerate (Heriegel /Slocum, 2011), and also allow him to take better decisions based on consensus with his top management. Some of Branson’s companies of the Virgin group are not very profitable.

This may be because with the type of management he exhibits, the achievement of the goals is left in the hands of the individual managers, which can be good but also has its drawbacks. Possibly introducing some aspects of ‘Transactional Leadership’ could be beneficial for him and his companies. Branson should; Provide contingent rewards; although this is probably the case to some extent, Branson should develop further the concept of rewards for his subordinates in direct exchange for measureable things such as bonuses, stock options, etc. Exhibit active management by exception; Branson should actively monitor the work of his subordinates and take corrective action when deviating from the goals. Emphasizes passive management by exception; He will have to intervene after unacceptable performance occur, and this may include punishment. In conclusion what I am suggesting is for Branson to use a ‘Telling Leadership Style’ where he gives clear instructions, gives specific directions, and supervises the work more closely. However, this must be balance with the already existing style he has such as to not eliminate the positive features of his current style.

3. Determine

how Branson would develop and lead a global team working on a major project (e. g. , space tourism). I believe that based on his style of leadership and they way he does things, Branson would first hire the best guys in the industry for the job. He will select a team that he knows are technically capable but also have the same vision and aspirations as he does.

The other key element for the choice of his global team is trust. He must be able to trust the people he assign the task of developing ‘The Spaceship Company (TSC)’ and be sure that they will deliver on time and on cost what they have promised to their customers. In the case of the ‘Virgin Galactic’ project Branson teamed up with Joe Brennan, a well known industry specialist with experience in such projects. “TSC is the result of the coolest brand and the cleverest aerospace company getting together.

We couldn’t ask for better founders than Virgin and Scaled Composites” said Joe Brennan, Director of Production Operations of ‘The Spaceship Company’. (Brennan, J, 2011). Branson also needs a person that shares his vision to ensure that he will not get into a conflict of interests situation down the road. In this case they both agreed on a common vision; “TSC plans to make access to space safe, reliable and affordable. TSC is dedicated to that goal by building the first fleet of spaceflight systems developed for routine, scheduled flight operations that exceed our customers’ requirements”.

Having such are shared vision is key. On the commercial side, Branson has hired a chief commercial officer

for the company that shares his same vision, where Branson hopes that the seat price will drop over time. "Our aim is to bring the price down," he said. "Our principal aim behind this is not to make money. The principal aim is to reinvest any money we make into space exploration," Branson said. "We expect to double, triple, quadruple the number of astronauts in the next few years that have currently experienced space," he said. (David, L, 2005). In order to have such altruistic and long term goals you need to have someone who shares the vision with him on the commercial side.

4. Discuss how you can incorporate some of Branson’s leadership qualities into you role at work or school. Branson’s transformational style of leadership would be beneficial in my work environment since it would foster the development of new ideas. In my workplace it is often difficult to launch new projects because you don’t get the feeling that management is open to new ideas and listens to individual employees. With a person like Branson who listens to advice from people around him, and is know as Mr.

Yes because he doesn’t know how to say no, it would be easier to realize such new projects that the company is need for but no one has the courage to approve. Sir Richard Branson has got a very high degree of consideration and participation in what he does, but at the same time he is very involved in the structure setting at the start of a new business which would be definitely beneficial in my business environment. He is a relationship-oriented leader who

is good at aligning people and giving them emotional support and encouragement and this is something that is needed in our sales department.

He seems to fall into the segment of being a participative and consultative leader which is good since often you have the impression that your management does not listen to what you have to say. His very strong charisma seems to make anyone listen and follow him, which would improve the engagement and motivation of many of our employees. People like to work with such a charismatic leader and will go the extra mile just to get his recognition. According to Branson (2010), he is very thorough in hiring the right people. He is known for bringing in good managers and getting them to stay.

If they don’t perform at an existing assignment he brings them into another venture where the person is more likely to perform according to his capabilities. ”Look for the best and you’ll get the best”, is his words. Firing people is seldom an option to sir Richard. This is something our company would greatly benefit from, when hiring people and try to find the best person for the job, rather than a person that will ‘just do’. Also often people that are not adequate stay in the job far too long, and this can create tension and loss of motivation in the teams.