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He was hired as British Airways were wanting to reduce cost and make themselves into a low cost airlines.

From the annual reports of the British Airways

2(d). FRAMEWORKS USED
Trait Theory
Michigan and Ohio University Studies
Transactional, Transformation and Charismatic Leadership
Situational Leadership Theory
3. LITERATURE REVIEW
Globalization has made companies compete not only in the domestic but also in the global markets, and the demand for an effective leadership has become highly important. Many studies exist on the subject of leadership; this is mainly due to the fact that leaders are responsible for the main essential task in an organization such as creating, sharing and exploiting organizational knowledge, enabling an organization to grow (Bryant, 2003).

There is no specific formula for being a good leader many scholars over the years have debated over the fact what makes a good leader. Earlier scholars believe that leaders were born and the skills to be a good leader cannot be achieved over the years one such theory is The Great Mans Theory other earlier theories such as Trait theory studies the various traits of a good leader and states that only people having such traits can be good leaders. Even this theory believes in leader are by birth. However the more recent theories look at the behaviour and not the traits and personality. Kouzes and Posner state that Leadership is an identifiable set of skills which are available in all men and women not just in a few charismatic and gifted people (Posner & Kouzes, 2002)

The following theories are used by me to analyse the leadership style of Willie Walsh in context to British Airways

Trait Theory By Stogdil (Stogdil, 1974)
There are various theories on traits of leaders they all have a few common qualities that are required by a good leader.

This theory believes that leaders are born and the skills and traits of a good leader cannot be acquired over a period of time.

Stogdil in 1974 identified and suggested the following traits and skills as critical and existent in all leaders

TRAITS
SKILLS
Adaptability to situations
Alert to social environment
Ambitious and achievement orientated
Assertive
Cooperative
Decisive
Dependable
Dominant i.e. having a desire to influence others
Energetic
Persistent
Self-confident
Tolerant to stress
Willing to assume responsibility
Clever
Conceptually skilled
Creative
Diplomatic and tactful
Fluent in speaking
Knowledgeable about group task
Organised (administrative ability)
Persuasive
Socially skilled
Michigan & Ohio Studies
Michigan University had conducted various studies on leadership in the year 1950. There research showed that leaders could be broadly divided into three categories depending on their characteristics.

Task oriented behaviour- Leaders would concentrate on task and not on building a relationship with their subordinates. They did not do the same tasks as their subordinates they concentrated more on activities like scheduling planning coordinating and providing the resources for their subordinates to perform their tasks.
Relationship oriented behaviour- These leaders not o