air asia report
TRANSCRIPT
LEADERSHIP IN ORGANIZATION
TONY FERNANDEZ AIR ASIA CEO
PREPARED FOR
PROF. DR. P R BHATT
PREPARED BY
SHAHRIN MOHAMED NASIR 805513
NOR AFIZAH ABD SAMAD 806578
NORHASHIMA MOHD HASHIM 807438
Leadership in Organization – Tony Fernandez
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TONY FERNANDEZ: Air Asia
Malaysians had been used to having only one airline, MAS. When AirAsia came into the
picture all of a sudden, people were understandably sceptical. They doubted the viability of
this new player, a small-time budget airline.
When AirAsia first leapt onto the scene, many smiled and gave it three months to announce
its closure due to bankruptcy or the inability to stand up to the big boys or to some other
excuses. The market also believed that AirAsia could only expand by setting up more hubs
in regional cities and continuing to add new routes, all within the three hours radius.
When AirAsia held its first press conference, one reporter asked a question that effectively
conveyed the pessimistic sentiment of the market towards the launch of the budget
airline:‖Will you survive the first three months?‖
AirAsia took off, just as Tony had said it would. The airline was re-launched in January
2002, with only three aircraft and a seat-mile cost that was half that of the national carrier,
Malaysia Airlines.
The fare from Kuala Lumpur to Penang was only RM39, lower than the cost of bus tickets at
RM40. Malaysians loved it and they loved it more when AirAsia embarked on an aggressive
campaign to draw passengers by giving away free tickets.
After only seven months in operation, the airline announced great news in December 2002:
RM113 million in revenue, RM19.4 million in profit, 1.1 million passengers and the majority
of outstanding balances settled.
Initially, Tony and his team of backers had thought they were going to lose RM26 million,
but they end up gaining about RM20 million in just seven months.
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Within two years, Fernandes proved the critics wrong and was able to turn AirAsia into a
profit-making company modelled after the successful operations of the United States-based
Southwest Airlines, Dublin-based Ryanair and United Kingdom-based Virgin Air. AirAsia
was listed in the Kuala Lumpur bourse within three years of operation, on 22 November
2004, with one of the largest IPO offer of RM717.4 million (AirAsia, 2008). In addition,
AirAsia won many accolades including certification by Superbrands International. For his
achievements, Fernandes was awarded the Best Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur Award in 2006 (AirAsia, 2008).
In March 2006, AirAsia‘s passenger load expanded to such a capacity that a new low-cost
terminal (LCCT) was built for it. This LCCT can accommodate 10 million passengers
annually and has 30 parking bays for the aircrafts (AirAsia, 2008).
The expansion was constant over those first few years. It remained a domestic-only airline
until 2003 when a second hub at Johor Bahru also began staging flights to Bangkok. AirAsia
later expanded its services to locations in Indonesia, China (including Macau), Vietnam,
Cambodia and the Philippines. Even as the world economy has soured, the airline and its
subsidiaries have grown to add Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and even the United Kingdom
(pictured) to its route map.
Throughout all of this, and still today, Fernandes plays a hands-on role. Indeed, he says,
having that direct connection with staff and operations allows him to make dynamic and
effective decisions as they are needed. ―I see to it that I understand how the various
departments work and what better way to do this than to go ‗hands-on‘,‖ he says. ―I‘ve seen
firsthand how guests and our staff interact, and experience in this has led to improvements in
various areas including HR policies.‖
So great was AirAsia's impact that analysts said the airline, with its minimal fares, was living
up to its tag line which said 'Now Everyone can Fly.
Leadership in Organization – Tony Fernandez
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Background of Dato’ Tony Fernandes
Tony was born in Malaysia in 1964. He attended boarding school in the UK in 1977, and
ended up staying on in England for 13 years.
Quite the sportsman, Tony relished cricket, football and squash. His passion was cricket, and
he aspired to become a professional cricket player, but did not quite make the cut. He studied
accounting and became an auditor instead, after graduating from the London School of
Economics (LSE) in 1987.
The job however proved too boring for his adventurous spirit and he gave it up after only six
months. He looked for something a little more exciting, and set his sights on the music
industry. Indeed, Tony has always loved music. He is an amateur guitarist and enjoys
playing the keyboard and the drums.
After turning his back on auditing, Tony sent his resume to record companies. He got a job
in the finance section of Virgin‘s television department. He was there for two years, from
1987 to 1989, when he moved to Warner Music International London as senior Financial
Analyst, a post he held until 1992.
Tony was transferred to Malaysia as General Manager of Warner Malaysia. Within six
months, at the age of 28, he was appointed Managing Director, becoming the youngest
candidate in the company‘s history to hold the post.
Leadership in Organization – Tony Fernandez
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In August 1996, he became Regional Managing Director ASEAN, holding the post until
December 1999, when he rose to the post of Vice President of Warner Music Southest Asia.
He held this post until July 2001.
Tony had an amazing childhood. It was an interesting life. His mother was a very right-wing
capitalist, and his father very left-wing in contrast.
His mother was a great influence on him. ―My mum was an amazing woman. She used to go
around Malaysia selling Tupperware. It was an amazing life growing up with her. There was
one time when nearly 600 women were gathered in one place and going crazy selling
Tupperware, while I was playing the piano sitting on the yellow pages (for height), with my
mother getting the women to sing some songs.‖
Tony admires his mother, who also used to compose her own songs, so much that there are
only compliments in his remembrances of her. ―My mother could sell ice to an Eskimo. She
was an amazing woman, and I learnt a lot from her.‖
When age died, she left a big void in Tony‘s life. ―She died when I was fifteen. It was very
hard because when she died, I was in boarding school in England. But I had to move on and
cope with it. I think my mother was a major influence in my life.‖
Then there was his father, a communist doctor who did not believe in private medicine. ―My
father was a very good man. When he started his clinic, he did all this social work, and then
a few years before he died, he said he wanted to go into private medicine. So he bought a
clinic, called Clinic Hope, in Sungai Besi, and all his friends called it ‗the last hope‘,‖ say
Tony with a big smile.
―Every month I was giving money to him, and I was like thinking, what kind of clinic is this?
All the others doctors make so much money, but not my father. So I asked my staff to go and
take a look at what was happening at the clinic.‖
Six hours later, the report reached him: ―Your father is a great guy, i salute him....‖ When
Tony asked why the clinic seemed to be losing so much money, the answer was, ―Oh, he
gives out medicines for free.‖
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That meant, of course, that Tony was subsidising all his father‘s patients, without meaning to!
His father was indeed a good man, and Tony respects him for his well-meaning, generous
heart.
―I had a great childhood, a very enjoyable childhood,‖ Tony concludes with satisfaction.
Achievement
Fernandes has received several awards for his outstanding achievements:
1. International Herald Tribune Award for the "Visionaries & Leadership Series", for
his outstanding work in AirAsia;
2. "Malaysian CEO of the Year 2003" in December 2003 — a highly acclaimed
recognition, so far awarded to only nine other recipients in the country, by American
Express and Business Times. The award was an initiative to recognize entrepreneurial
and managerial expertise and performance among leaders of Malaysian corporations.
3. Named the joint winner of the CEO of the Year 2003 award by American Express
Corporate Services and Business Times .
4. "Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year®" in the Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur Of The
Year Awards" in 2003;
5. Made the list of Business Week's "25 Stars of Asia" in 2005.
6. "Malaysian Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2006"
7. Fernandes has also been honoured by the Malaysian government with title Dato.
Leadership in Organization – Tony Fernandez
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AirAsia Background
AirAsia, initially a national carrier, was established by DRB-Hicom Bhd in late 1996. It was
birthed along with an ambitious expansion plan, but those plans were rudely curtailed when
Tan Sri Yahaya Ahmad, the former owner of DRB-Hicom, died in a helicopter crash in
March 1997. The conglomerate was thrown into a management crisis and things even
bleaker when the Asian financial crisis hit the region at the same time. AirAsia lost money
and went into debt.
Tony Fernandez was Vice President of Times Warner Music Southeast Asia. As a music
guy, Tony knew nothing about aviation or how to run an airline company, so he lost no time
in getting help from an executive at GE Capital Aviation Services to brief him on how the
airline industry works.
That connection led to a meeting with Conor McCarthy, former Chief Operating Officer at
Ryanair in 2001. However, McCarthy turned down the proposal. Tony and the team, drafted
a new plan based on budget airlines around the world and adapted the model to suit
operations in Malaysia, then they met with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia‘s Prime
Minister at the time to propose this exciting new venture.
The outcome was positive, but the prime Minister was clear that Tony would have to acquire
an existing airline as the government would not issue a licence for a new one. According to
Fernandes, it is not easy to sell the idea of operating an airline particularly to the government.
Leadership in Organization – Tony Fernandez
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In fact, his request for a license to operate from the government was rejected on two previous
attempts.
Eventually, Tune Air Sdn Bhd, literally for a song, was formed by Tony Fernandes and four
entrepreneurs, some of whom had worked with the music industry which perhaps inspired the
name of the company took over AirAsia from DRB-Hicom on 8th December 2001 for RM1,
together with its two Boeing 737-300s, a tiny route network and nearly RM40 million in
debts. By that time, Tony had resigned from Times Warne and sold his share options for
USD70 per share. He had also mortgaged his house to help finance the acquisition of
AirAsia.
Dearly anticipated
The airline grew steadily in 2004. AirAsia‘s march towards a listing on Main Board Of
Malaysia Stock Exchange was consolidated by the fact that it already had 22 routes from
KLIA, another five from Senai and 10 from Bangkok, both domestic and regional. On 22nd
November 2004, AirAsia became an officialy listed company. It had achieved another
milestone, after its seven month legendary turnaround
The September 11 terrorist attacks in the New York cast a shadow on the aviation industry
that lingers on until today. The bombings in Bali and Phuket did not help either and neither
Leadership in Organization – Tony Fernandez
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SARS and the bird flu. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq caused oil prices to surge to
unbelievably high levels, as well as insurance premiums to escalate. These difficulties
knocked down passenger volume for many airlines around the globe, AirAsia being no
exception.
Tony Fernandes however, saw opportunity for the airline industry after the 9/11 tragedy.
Expecting a significant number of layoffs within the industry, he knew where hiss pool
readily-available, highly experienced staff was going to come from. The cost of aircraft
leasing also went down by 40 per cent, leading to huge savings for AirAsia.
The concept of low-cost service
Tony loves the concept of low-cost service. He believes that AirAsia has set a trend that
many other services providers can follow to provide quality service and expand their markets
at the same time.
―You have to make sure you have the right people, focus and discipline. With AirAsia X,
they wanted to put in-flight entertainment, i said no way, because it‘ll waste money.‖
In flight entertainment would cost the company nearly RM5 million, which the airline would
not be able to recover. ―Most of our flights are only seven to eight hours anyway. Just bring
a book and hold your boyfriend‘s hand for longer.‖
Not only waste money, it is also a kind of discipline in running the business. He explains that
it is pointless to do something just because everyone else is doing it. A service provider‘s
Leadership in Organization – Tony Fernandez
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success rests on being able to give the client what he really wants. ―The biggest, most
important thing to my passengers is the low fare. Being on time, being safe and efficient are
important. The rest are really added frills...I don‘t want to do that. So discipline is
important.‖
―ASEAN has got 600 million people, while America has only a 350 million population, and
Europe, 300 million. And that does not include India and China. Look at Shen Zhen, that is
the route that has never really been done before. Within two weeks, we have been full every
day, and we are adding a second flight. There is huge potential.‖ Says Tony
The internet is a key tool in AirAsia‘s low-cost business. Tony remembers how people
laughed when he announced that AirAsia would sell products through the Internet. Now,
however 75 per cent of AirAsia and Tune group customers do business with the companies
through the internet.
The best thing about doing business through the Internet is that it does not require a lot of
investment. ―We put a lot into technology development. Like buying into mobile phone and
self-service check in, but in relation to capital expenditure of planes or engineering spare
parts, it‘s tiny,‖ he adds.
The plus for AirAsia is that it does not own the technology. Tony elaborates, ―I don‘t believe
in owning technology. Like you buy a mobile phone, one year later it‘s out of date. So it‘s
better to rent. Our strategy from day one is not to own, but to rent.‖
Leadership in Organization – Tony Fernandez
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The power of Branding
Tony Fernandes believes in the power of branding. He once claimed to be the ―most
accessible CEO‖ around, as every media group had his mobile phone number. Although he
does not answer calls all the time, being busy at meetings or travelling, he does reply via
SMS to media questions. It helps that the media can contact him directly as there are times
when his own marketing and promotions people do not know where he is, as Tony is always
on the go.
―People haven‘t really understood why I‘m sponsoring Formula one teams or Manchester
unite. If you to be a global player, you have to tell the world about yourself.‖
The SARS outbreak in Asia impacted regional tourism in a very negative way. AirAsia was
only three years old at the time. Tony noticed tha the malay press did not cover the outbreak
as widely as the Chinese press did, and so he began advertising heavily in the Malays
newspaper.
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By advertising the airline‘s services when other airlines were quiet, Tony got AirAsia noticed
by ardent travellers. Tony himself is a walking advertisement for AirAsia, appearing in
public on all official occasions in his AirAsia cap and T-shirt. Tony once joked at an
interview that people only recognised him because of the cap he was wearing, adding that
―...if I take off this cap, you will see me as just another Indian guy!‖
Tony believes branding should be an inside-out exercise. He has spent half his time on
internal branding, as he knows that a company need to be able to sell its services to its own
people first before it can be successfully approach outsiders.
Equal Opportunity
To motivate staff, Air Asia offers the opportunity to every qualifying permanent staff, from
bag handlers to flight attendants, to become pilots after thorough training at its flight
academy. Trainees are not bound by any rules to devote all their time to the airline. One
Thai pilot cadet, Chanaporn Rosjan, in fact participated in a local beauty pageant and went on
to win becoming Miss Thailand 2005.
Fernandes has created a culture of teamwork, equality and constant communication.
AirAsia‘s headquarters at the Kuala Lumpur Low-Cost Carrier Terminal is staunchly open-
Leadership in Organization – Tony Fernandez
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plan. ―No staff, not even myself, have an individual office.‖ This aims to ensure staff of all
levels are continually in contact with each other, enhancing the opportunities for innovative
thinking and creative ideas.
Fernandes says that constant focus on innovation has been the airline‘s main weapon against
the economic downturn. ―All of us here are fully aware that if we don‘t innovate and come up
with creative solutions, AirAsia is in trouble.‖
Building a team
Building a unique culture starts at the recruitment stage. It‘s something Fernandes takes a
close interest in as he continues to build on a successful team. ―We look for people who are
fun, friendly, smart, caring and innovative,‖ he says.
Diversity is also important. ―Hiring without prejudice against race and sex is in AirAsia‘s
DNA,‖ he says. As such, the airline was one of the first in Asia to hire female pilot crew.
Fernandes says he finds the gender imbalance of flight crews strange. ―I wonder why more
airlines won‘t cast their hiring net wide to include women,‖ he says, but notes that this is
something AirAsia has been able to take advantage of in labour markets. ―In a way that line
has been good for AirAsia as it means more in the talent pool for us to mine – you‘d be
surprised by the number of girls who dream of flying planes.‖
Male or female, and no matter what the designation, once staff are on board, Fernandes
actively encourages their creativity in a number of ways. As well as the open-plan offices,
ideas are actively shared through the organisation‘s HR policies, procedures and
communication platforms.
―We encourage (innovation) through an intranet that enables ideas, suggestions and critiques
to be swiftly shared throughout the company and a staff that‘s passionate and hard-working.‖
Fernandes says the innovation culture is not just about the big things. Even small ideas add
up. For a low-cost airline, turnaround time is a crucial element. The more time AirAsia planes
are in the air, the more revenue can be garnered. He says it is thanks to innovative procedures
and systems that the company is able to boast one of the fastest turnaround times in the world
– just 25 minutes.
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He lays the credit for those successes squarely with his staff base. ―Our people are the ones
who deserve credit for helping us get to where we are today; and for pushing us to even
higher levels in the weeks and months ahead.‖
The company offers plenty in return. As well as competitive salary packaging and that
encouraging culture, Fernandes says opportunities to develop talent are what keeps AirAsia
staff sticking with the company. ―AirAsia believes in personal and professional growth,‖ he
says. ―Encouraging professional growth within the company is vitally important to keeping
happy, productive staff and staying ahead of business competitors.‖
To this end, all staff of all designations and levels are given training and development
opportunities. ―We do our best to help everyone in the team grow in their careers by offering
training programmes to help employees hone their skills; and by providing a challenging
work environment,‖ he says.
Fernandes and his senior managers also pay close attention to high potential talent throughout
the airline. ―We actively keep an eye out for talents we can develop. AirAsia benefits from
staffs that is confident and very much competent in its role in growing the airline.‖
A friend in need
Part of the AirAsia culture also centres on giving back to the communities in which the
airline serves. Since first taking on the airline, Fernandes has been a strong proponent of
corporate social responsibility (CSR) and has made sure the airline can stand tall in this
arena. But this is more than just doling out money or volunteer hours. As an airline, AirAsia
is in a unique position to make a real and immediate difference.
For example, Fernandes says aid workers are offered free transport to and from disaster areas
in the wake of natural calamities.
―AirAsia shares in the responsibility of promoting wellbeing in the world,‖ Fernandes says.
―When we help those affected by calamities, we share the burden of their loss and grief and
help them heal faster from these.‖
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Fernandes says the focus on CSR is in line with his own philosophies of internal HR. ―At
AirAsia, it is an imperative that is practiced by our own internal policies: creating a
meritocracy, gender neutrality, and developing professionally skilled and socially-responsible
citizens.‖
Financial Facts
In financial year 2007, AirAsia earned RM498 million in net profit - a magnificent grow of
over 290 times from the earnings in the financial year 2002.
AIRASIA FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE FOR YEAR ENDED
30-Jun 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 1 H 2007
(RM million)
Revenue 217.0 330.0 392.0 666.0 1058.0 1603.0
Pretax profit/(loss) (1.6) 11.5 61.3 126.0 86.1 278.0
Net profit /(loss) (1.7) 18.8 49.0 112.0 202.0 498.0
Leadership in Organization – Tony Fernandez
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AirAsia makes huge profits with its low fares which attract huge numbers of flyers.
However, ticket sales are not its only source of revenue. Here‘s a summary of AirAsia‘s
financial accounts for the year 2007:
12-months Ended: FY 2007 FY 2006 FY 2006 vs
30 June RM'000 (RM MILLION) (restated) FY 2006
Ticket Sales
1,494,115
996,470 50%
Ancillary income
109,146
61,637 77%
Revenue
1,603,261
1,058,107 52%
EBITDAR
490,026
253,926 93%
EBIT
280,593
117,620 139%
Pretax profit
278,048
86,174 223%
Net Income
498,057
201,702 147%
(including deferred tax assets)
EBITDAR margin 30.6% 24.0% 6.6ppt
Pretax profit margin 17.3% 8.1% 9.2ppt
Net Income margin 31.1% 19.1% 12.0ppt
From July 2006 to end of June 2007, AirAsia sold close to RM1.5 billion worth of tickets.
Ancillary Income derived from sources other than ticket sales. AirAsia‘s ancillary income
for 12 months ending June 2007 was a whopping RM109 million.
Where does this revenue come from? More places than we can think of. There is, of course,
the onboard meal that travellers have to pay for. AirAsia sells them at three to five times
their regular price.
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Then there‘s the ‗Xpress Boarding‘ plan, where for an additional RM10 (RM5 for senior
citizen and children), travellers may board the aircraft ahead of everybody else. RM10 does
not seem like a lot, but it can add up. AirAsia flew 14 million passengers in 2007; assuming
that 1% of this number paid the RM10 to board their aircraft earlier, AirAsia would have
made an additional revenue of 140,000 passengers x RM10=RM1.4 million. If 10%,
AirAsia‘s revenue would have been RM14 million. This would all clean profit since no real
costs were involved in selling as the passengers were already accounted for.
The co-branded Citibank-AirAsia credit card that anybody can apply is another additional
revenue earner. AirAsia in return may get certain rabates from Citibank each time their
customers use the credit card, or from its card membership fee.
As a traveller, you will have needs. You will want to buy holiday packages, travel insurance
and accommodation and maybe rent a car when you arrive at your destination. Thus AirAsia
seeks out insurance companies, hotels, car rental companies and cruises to partner with so
that it can resell their products and service for additional revenue.
Finally, there‘s the revenue generated through advertising, such as from providing advertising
space on the side of the stairs leading into the aircraft, at the back of each seat, at the back of
the meal tray behind each seat, on overhead bins, air sickness bags, on the Airasia website
that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors every month, and in the airline‘s new-in flight
magazine which is expected to have at least 700,000 a month and an expected advertising
revenue in excess of RM1 million within its first year of launching. With the low-cost carrier
model, AirAsia‘s ancillary income plays a very important part in its revenue.
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Strengths of Dato’ Tony Fernandez
Tony Fernandez has his own strengths that make him become a leader where he has high
degree of emotional intelligence, IQ and technical skills. He has the element of self
awareness, self regulation, motivation, empathy and social skill where all of these elements
are the component of emotional intelligence. Fernandez aware with one‘s emotion, values,
strengths, weakness, needs and drives and also the impact on others. He has high self
confidence in starting airline business even though he had no knowledge in this industry and
aware with the risk that he will burden like need to cover back the outstanding debt.
Besides that, Fernandez himself has very high motivation in running airline business. He
wills to do everything in order to success in this industry. One of example that we can see is
when he and his team drafted a new plan based on budget airlines around the world and
adapted the model to suit operations in Malaysia. After finished it, they met with Tun Dr
Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia‘s Prime Minister at the time to propose this exciting new
venture even he failed to get the licence to operate from the government on two previous
attempts. Fernandez also have very creative idea that bring him to new challenging
perspective by introducing concept of low cost service. This concept provides lower fare to
customer but at the same time being on time, safe and efficient. There are no airline company
that willing to give low cost service to customer in order to avoid loss but not Fernandez.
Tony also is the first leader that use internet to sell his products and dos not owning his own
technology.
This Air Asia‘s leader also focuses on his staff and people surrounding him. He has develop
his own social network with others people with the purpose to expand his business and tell
outsider regarding his airline business. So, as the result Air Asia will be known by others and
can gain profit. One of the activity done by Tony is sponsoring Formula one teams or
Leadership in Organization – Tony Fernandez
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Manchester unite. Tony also actively involved in social responsibility like aid workers are
offered free transport to and from disaster areas in the wake of natural calamities. In term of
his staff, Tony had provided many reward and recognition to them, give professional training
for them to become a leader, and create a very good environment among them, so that they
can communicate freely.
We can see that Tony Fernandez have the eight practices to be affective leader consist of he
know what needs to be done, what is right for organization, had develop action plan,
responsible in his decision, responsible for communicating, focus on opportunity rather than
problems, run productive meeting and involved many people rather than himself only.
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Types of Leadership
Tony Fernandez has various type of leadership. We can see that from the background and the
way he manage Air Asia, we can describe him as transformational and authentic leader.
Transformational leadership is defined as a leadership approach that causes change in
individuals and social systems. It is also refers to leader who inspire followers in many ways
such as enhances the motivation, morale and performance of his followers through a variety
of mechanisms. It can be seen when leader is always connecting the follower's sense of
identity and self to the mission and the collective identity of the organization, being a role
model for followers that inspires them, challenging followers to take greater ownership for
their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers. As the result, the
leader can align followers with tasks that optimise their performance and at the same time it
creates valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing
followers into leaders.
Meanwhile, authentic leadership can be define as an individuals who are deeply aware of
how they think and behave and are perceived by others as being aware of their own and
others‘ values/moral perspective, knowledge, and strength; aware of the context in which
they operate; and who are confident, hopeful, optimistic, resilient, and high on moral
character. Authentic leader also transparent and fair, balanced decision maker. They
demonstrate a passion for their purpose, practice their values consistently and lead with their
hearts and their heads.
Tony Fernandez is said as transformational and authentic leadership because we can see that
he done many things for his organization, staff, and also others people. He inspires his
followers with his idea, action, attitudes and also the way he treats and communicates with
person surrounding him. In Air Asia itself, he implements the concept of equal opportunity
Leadership in Organization – Tony Fernandez
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between his followers. This concept is for the purpose of giving motivation to his followers
so that they can work in positive environment. One of the equal opportunity is when Air Asia
offers the opportunity to every qualifying permanent staff, from bag handlers to flight
attendants, to become pilots after thorough training at its flight academy. Air Asia is the first
airline that hires female pilot crew. Besides that, trainees are not bound by any rules to devote
all their time to the airline like Chanaporn Rosjan, Thai pilot cadet in fact participated in a
local beauty pageant and went on to win becoming Miss Thailand 2005. Fernandes also has
created a culture of teamwork, equality and constant communication like what he did at
AirAsia‘s headquarters where it is staunchly open-plan. This aims to ensure staff of all levels
are continually in contact with each other, enhancing the opportunities for innovative
thinking and creative ideas.
Beside of the concept of equal opportunity, there are a lot of factor that can describe
Fernandez as transformational leadership and authentic leader. As a very good leader,
Fernandez build a unique culture starts at the recruitment stage to create a successful team.
He also lays the credit for those successes squarely with his staff base, offers plenty in return
in term of competitive salary packaging so that Air Asia can keeps it staff sticking with the
company, happy, productive staff and staying ahead of business competitors.
Transformational leader always has goal to develop his follower into leaders, so with that
goal, Fernandez helps his staff in personal and professional growth. All staff of all
designation and level is given training and development opportunities and pay close attention
to high potential talent in the airline.
Leadership in Organization – Tony Fernandez
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References
1. The AirAsia Story by Sen Ze and Jayne Ng
2. Report of the Study Meeting on Creative Entrepreneurship held in Taipei, Republic of China,
18–21 May 2004 Edited by Prof. Tan Wee Liang
3. http://www.hrmasia.com/case-studies/airasia-the-sky-is-the-limit/38332/
4. An Airline: A Case Study of AirAsia by KHOR YOKE LIM, RAMLI MOHAMED, AZEMAN
ARIFFIN & GERALD GOH GUAN