Browsing by Author "Christoffer, Sebastian"
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- How leadership affects organisational performance during times of business transformation : the case of Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’LearyPublication . Christoffer, Sebastian; Saraiva, GonçaloLeadership is usually considered one of the variables that impact organisational performance. Studies indicate that leadership specifically affects three variables: employee motivation, the innovative capacity of the company and the external support it receives, and that these ultimately impact organisational performance. Moreover, we find that the effect of leadership on organisational performance is usually maximised during times of business transformation. In the specific case of Michael O’Leary as the longstanding CEO of Ryanair, we then show how the manager first very successfully introduced the low-cost carrier business model to the organisation and by that managed to transform Ryanair from a loss-making regional airline in the early 1990s to what it is today: Europe’s second largest airline group. Further to that, we look at O’Leary’s leadership style and its implications on business transformation processes. We find that despite his very active role in the initial transformation, where Michael was the one implementing the changes, in later business transformation processes, he was then somewhat reluctant to implement necessary changes that contradicted with his initial approach of pure cost optimisation. We therefore suggest that leaders need to constantly adapt their approach to the current challenges that an organisation faces and that in some cases, leaders with different qualities are required at different stages of the firm life cycle.