Leadership in Virgin Group Company History

Virgin Group is a diversified grouping of more than 200 privately held companies. The largest of these are Virgin Atlantic Airways, the number two airline in the United Kingdom; Virgin Holidays, a vacation tour operator; Virgin Rail, the second largest U. K. train operator; the Virgin Retail Group, which operates numerous Virgin Megastores, a retail concept featuring videos, music CDs, and computer games; and Virgin Direct, which offers financial services. Other Virgin businesses include beverage maker Virgin Cola, a record label, book and music publishing operations, hotels, an Internet service provider, movie theaters, a radio station, cosmetics and bridal retailing concepts, and a line of clothing. Holding this disparate group of companies together is the combination of Richard Branson and the Virgin brand name. British entrepreneur Branson dropped out of boarding school at the age of 17, in 1967, to start his own magazine. That venture was an immediate success, establishing the foundation for what would become a multibillion-dollar conglomerate during the 1990s. Along the way, Branson would attain cult status in his home country–the result of his business exploits quests for adventure, and unique personal style. The Virgin brand had meantime become, according to the company, one of the top 50 brands in the world by the late 1990s; a poll of British consumers at that time showed that 96 percent had heard of Virgin. Key Questions Q1. Given the freewheeling style of Branson and his managers, do you think that the virgin enterprises can be classified as a TQ organization? Why or why not? Yes I believe that virgin enterprises can be classified as a TQ organization because virgin is very successful group, their products are of high quality they focus on improving the quality all the time as improvement is the continuous process. Virgin has expanded their business a lot. Virgin has a great team of management they are very passionate and devoting to their work. Branson s moves reflected the immense growth and complexity of Virgin Group. Brans on always focus on caring people he do not have hard and fast rules but still he possess a large number of brands under one group Virgin. Q2. How well do you think that Branson and his managers perform the strategic planning process? What are some indicators that they do or not do strategic planning? Branson and his managers are performing strategic planning very well. they are fulfilling their objectives as their objectives were y y y y y y y Expansion internationally To lead the entertainment industry Increase the profit and for the sake of good reputation Quality improvement Competitive edge Utilization of new technology Loyalty among customers Virgin group have used diversification as their business is expanding very quickly and they are entering into new diversified markets. Some indications are y Virgin Atlantic air line is the good indicator as Branson was having a competitive edge because they were offering a luxury package and at low price while the competitors were charging high price with poor quality. Management was focusing on innovative plans so that they can meet customer expectations and satisfaction. y Q. 3How well do you think that Branson and his managers perform managerial and leadership tasks? How might these tasks be better balance? Richard Branson is very famous for his innovative, competitive and risky style of leadership. He adds value to his products in order to diversify his business. His leadership style is charismatic he creates the very friendly environment over work place and avoids strictness. Everybody was the part of organization and any one can participate in order to bring innovativeness rather just to follow orders. Top management encourages and motivates employees to obtain the best of their abilities and the best reward for the company. As the company benefit in other words is individual benefit. Benifits are meant for all members of organization so that everyone is motivated to do their jobs and tasks then be better balanced. The idea behind this is to promote the philosophy that the overall benefit of the company will lead to individual benefits for each person involved. Group contribution will eventually lead to rewards for executives, managers, employees, shareholders, and customers alike. Q4. What leadership theory do you think best fits the senior leadership of the virgin company? What theory best fit the Branson as leader? Why might there be a difference? Richard Branson is the born leader he is charismatic leadership style because he can influence any one very easily. Transformational leadership comes from the top managers and executives within the company. Leading is perhaps the most interesting and important function of management to the Virgin Group. The leadership dynamics start with Chairman Richard Branson. He is a very vocal and flamboyant leader. His mission is to inspire those who work below him to work to the best of their abilities for the good of the company. He often pushes his belief that by contributing to the good of the company it will increase the rewards for everybody involved. He has stated that he tries to bring the best out of people and does this for workers at the lowest levels as well as the top ranking executives. This philosophy is encouraged to all managers within the company. Management is expected to embrace this principle and pass it on to the employees that they are managing. Another aspect of Branson s leadership style is that he tends to give people a high level of freedom in their work . It is his goal to first give them direction in their work, and then let them take control of the situation there after. Freedom in their work allows them to excel without the need for micromanagement. Richard Branson s leadership style and vision for the company has made him the center of attention within many business and management discussions throughout the world.