Questions
1. Air India comes directly under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. The Board of directors and CMD have to work under the guidance of bureaucrats and politicians. What in your opinion have been the influence and effect of such a leadership on the strategic management and decisions taken on Air India over a period of time?( learning outcome 1.1 Explain the link between strategic management and leadership)
Answer 1
Leadership in Air India
Since 2003 Air India has been run by IAS officers with no experience of running a complex global business. The CMD’s Arvind Jhadhav was secretary industries in Karnataka and Mr V Tulsidas chief secretary of Tripura. Rivals like Jet airways had expact management .The AI chief looked to their superior boss the Secretary Civil Aviation for directions
Ministers Ananth Kumar,Sharad Yadav,Shahnaz Hussein,praful patel who were at the helm when the decline was steepest were unable to put the air line on the recovery path
It was a typical bureaucratic leadership style sometimes coupled with a laizzes faire attitude
Strategic management
SWOT analysis of Air India to be carried out
Strengths
Updated fleet of Boeing 777 and AirBus 320
Competent repair and maintenance organization
Financial backing of government
Presence in 19 countries and 96 destinations
Weaknessess
Poor customer service, poor work ethics ,weak marketing
Leadership- no strategic direction
Large staff 250 per air craft as compared to 190 industry average
Operation-low profitability and low utilization of capacity
Poor financial state, high cost structure
Political interference, poor HR policy ,large number of unions
Opportunities
Expanding economy,large middle class,NRI population,tourists and large IT personnel and students using air travel
Threats
International air lines operating in India and same routes,more efficient private air lines capturing market share
Indian Railways