Management Essentials, MSc Management
Assessment Brief
Qatar Airways Case Study
Background of Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways is the national airline of the State of Qatar and one of the aviation industry's big success stories. Operations began in 1994 when the airline was a small regional carrier serving a handful of routes. The airline was re-launched in 1997 under the mandate of His Highness The Father Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who outlined a vision to turn Qatar Airways into a leading international airline with the highest standards of service and excellence.
Qatar Airways has since become one of the fastest growing carriers in the history of aviation with unprecedented expansion averaging double digit growth year on year. The airline has developed under the dynamic leadership of Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, appointed in 1997, who has been instrumental in turning Qatar Airways into an award- winning carrier and the best in the world. Under Mr. Al Baker's stewardship, Qatar Airways has matured into a leading force in regional and global aviation, earning many admirers around the world for its excellent standards of service.
In April 2011, Qatar Airways reached a milestone reaching 100 destinations in its global route map. Two months later, the airline achieved a remarkable feat, just 14 years after its re-launch, being named Airline of the Year 2011 at the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards with over 18 million travellers worldwide casting their votes.
In July 2012, Qatar Airways was once again named Airline of the Year 2012, holding onto its title for the second consecutive year.
Qatar Airways joined Oneworld, as of 30 October 2013, with integration into the global alliance completed within one year of the October 2012 joining announcement.
Qatar Airways remains the only Gulf airline member in any of the big three global alliances.
In 2014 the airline became the global launch customer of the first Airbus A350.
In June 2015, Qatar Airways achieved a major accomplishment receiving the Skytrax Airline of the Year 2015 accolade for a third time.
2016 to date has seen another year of notable expansion for the leading airline.
Qatar Airways won World's Best Business Class; Best Business Class Airline Lounge and Best Airline Staff Service in the Middle East at the Skytrax Awards and announced a commitment for 100 Boeing aircraft: 10 777s, 30 787- 9s and 60 737 MAX aircraft, to power its future growth.
One of the biggest orders in the airline's history, worth more than US$90 billion, the
announcement brought the total number of aircraft the airline has on order to more than 350.
Qatar Airways also announced a new order for three G650ERs private jets on the opening day of the 2016 Farnborough Air show in July, demonstrating continued growth and expansion of its Qatar Executive division.
Qatar Airways will become the first airline in the world to meet and exceed ICAO's Global Aeronautical Distress Safety System (GADSS) requirement for aircraft location management, through a partnership with FlightAware and Aireon, LLC using its Global Beacon technology, which will provide minute by minute tracking capabilities.
Assessment Tasks
Acting as a Business Consultant, you are required to develop a business report for Qatar Airways utilising the techniques and concepts you have covered in the module. You are required to critically evaluate current management practices at Qatar Airways and recommend changes that the organisation needs to implement in order to maintain its success as the best airline in the aviation industry.
The report must cover the following sections:
Introduction
Provide an overview of the purpose of your report including an indication of the contents, with a definition of leadership and management and why this is important in the case of Qatar Airways.
Task 1 - Management Practices
Identify and critically analyse the mission, values, and management practices within Qatar Airways.
Critically assess whether the management practices are aligned to the mission and values of the airline.
Support your arguments with reference to appropriate academic literature, case study materials and your independent research
Task 2 - Analysis of Business Challenges
Identify and critically discuss the key challenges that Qatar Airways is encountering in the current environment.
Critically discuss how the organisation's current management competency of Creativity and Innovation will enable its managers to resolve the challenges identified.
Critically evaluate what improvements Qatar Airways management need to implement in their management competency of Decision-making in order to mitigate the challenges identified.
Support your arguments with reference to appropriate academic literature, case study materials and your independent research
Task 3 - Management Behaviours of Emotional Intelligence on Employee Engagement and Organisational Performance
Critically evaluate the potential impact of Qatar Airways management's Emotional Intelligence in promoting high levels of employee engagement and organisation performance.
Support your arguments with reference to appropriate academic literature, case study materials and your independent research
Task 4 - Management competencies development
Critically assess any 2 of the following management competencies using relevant models / frameworks to propose what developments are required for Qatar Airways management practices in order to continue their success as the best airline in the aviation industry:
Managing Resilience
Managing Stakeholder Relationships
Managing Conflict and Negotiation
Managing Teams
Support your arguments with reference to appropriate academic literature, case study materials and your independent research
Conclusion (250 words)
Provide a conclusion that summarises the changes you recommend that the organisation needs to implement in order to maintain its success as the best airline in the aviation industry.