Organization Structure For Gross Domestic Product

Company’s Structure

Discuss about the Organization Structure for Gross Domestic Product.

There is no gain stating the fact that tourism industry forms an integral part of the economy of Australia, and in fact in the financial year of 2014-15, the tourism sector has contributed as much as 3 % of Australia’s total Gross Domestic product (GDP) (William 2014). The importance of the tourism industry of Australia not only lies in the fact that it helps to boost the national economy of the country, but it also creates employment opportunities for approximately 5,80,800 Australians each year (Rice 2014). Although a huge number of reputed companies are leading the tourism industry of Australia, Express Travel Group (ETG)  is an important name in the travel industry.

ETG, formerly also known as Orient Express Travel Group, is a very eminent travel company of Australia, headquartered in Melbourne. In its 32 years of its existence, the organization has succeeded in gaining sufficient recognition, and consequently has expanded to other parts of the world, such as Perth, Sydney and Brisbane (ETG 2016). The organization conducts integrated travel business, and hence works with the motive of offering each client the opportunity of enjoying their professional or personal cost-effective travel service. oNe of the most remarkable and unique features of the service offered by Express Travel Group, is that t offers a one stop solution to every requirement of a traveler.

Each travel organization has a distinct structure to be followed, that explains the professional method of administration of the organization. While discussing the structure of Express Travel Group, it is important to understand that the activities of the organization chiefly revolve around three important fields:

• Transportation
• Accommodation
• Information and co-operation in the form of support service to the tourists (Ashkenas et al. 2014).

In terms of the professional job roles assigned to the employees, the function of the employees is being divided into the following categories:

• Supervisory level
• Executive Level
• Operational Level

At the top level of the hierarchy, lies the higher authority, which are expected to help in the decision-making process of the organization, in order to ensure that smooth functioning o the business operations can take place. The Director, the Manager, Chief Marketing Official of Express Travel Group belongs to this group. Next, in the executive level, the organization appoints employees who handle and take care of the clients and customers, so that they can deliver efficient and satisfactory service to the clients (Subramanian et al. 2013). The Business Developer Assistant, Customer Service Manager and the Business Analyst work at the Executive level of the organization. Last but not the least, as a tourist organization, ETG will fail to operate its business activities in a an effective way, unless the professionals such as the Tour Manager, Sales Manager, Secretary and Receptionist, interact with the clients, and are able to draw the attention of the potential as well as existent clients (Csaszar 2012).

Company’s Leadership Style

The structure of the activity of the company can be explained through the following diagram:

Figure 1: Diagram Representing the Organizational Structure of the Express Travel Group

Source: (Joseph 2016)

As it can be understood from the above discussion and diagram, the employees of the company involved in the supervisory level are mainly responsible for promoting and marketing the business. Again, those in the executive level are assigned with jobs such as organizing and scheduling meetings and booking travel arrangements, while the employees at the operational level are responsible for customer interaction as well as multiple skills (Martin et al. 2012). 

The leadership style of an organization plays an important role, as effective leadership helps the management authority of the organization influence its employees to perform the tasks efficiently so that employee productivity can directly contribute to organizational success. The style of leadership adopted by the management authority of Express Travel Group, can be described as supportive, participative and transformative. However, it should be remembered that the organization follows a strictly hierarchical style of administration, whereby the employees holding the managerial position in the organization, maintain a social distance with the employees. Yet it should be noted, that the managers offer opportunities for regular interaction with the employees. The director as well as the CEO of the organization holds monthly meetings with the employees working at the executive level, so that they can be reminded of the vision and mission of the organization, and even introduced to the formulation of a new strategy, if necessary (Safi et al. 2015).

However, though the managers have complete control and organizational power over the employees, it is worth mentioning that the officials and the chief executives of the organization never adopt an Autocratic style of leadership. The managerial leadership style is participative by nature, as the managers involved in the administrative position, invite the free, open participation of each employee, and in case a new change is being introduced, instead of thrusting the same on the employees, the opinion of the respective employees are being asked as well (Pacleb and Bocarnea 2016).

The management authority has discreetly chosen the Transactional leadership style that ensures job satisfaction to the employees. The mangers and the director of the organization recognize the importance of rewarding the skill, outstanding merit and contribution of the employees. As a tourism industry Express Tourism Group, works with the purpose of offering high quality service, to the consumers, and hence management authority regularly reviews the staff performance, and even offers the opportunity to the travelers to rate the staffs, such as the tourist guide or the receptionist, based on their interaction or the quality of the service offered by them (John and Taylor 2014). On the basis of the employee reviews and traveler ratings, the performance of the employees is being measured whereby they are being offered bonuses, and other incentives and long-term benefits. Further, once a new strategy is being proposed, the administrative managers set the target for each employee in respective positions, and the employees who accomplish the targets successfully within the given time, are rewarded through pay bonus and gifts. The organization does not recognize the performance of the working staffs by offering financial benefits, but rather also announces the Employee of the Month award, based on the positive feedback from the clients (Antonakis and House 2014).

Company’s Strategies within Australia and Abroad

The importance of a strong strategy cannot be overemphasized in case of an Australian tourist company, as there is a huge variety of tourist companies which are predominating the Australian tourist industry. Hence, Express Travel Group works with a strong and extremely powerful strategy. As far as the strategies of the organization are concerned, ETG focuses primarily on two factors- a) the reduction of cost, and b) the promotion of the organization to boost the sale growth of the organization.

For the purpose of cutting down the operational cost, the organization relies on high volume purchasing system so that the organization can obtain and enjoy huge discounts on the resource inputs, such as transportation or accommodation requirements. The process of bulk buying considerably helps in reducing the operational cost of the organization. Again, ETG also locates its activities in areas which enjoy the availability of cheap labor. As an online travel company, ETG needs to have call centers, and hence the organization usually sets up its call centers in some of the peripheral regions of Australia, so that it can avail the advantage of cheap and easily available labor. The company also reduces the cost of its operation, by employing the resource inputs which are comparatively cheaper. For example, the organization lowers its operational cost by forming alliance with “no frills” airline that charges much lower than any kind of ordinary airlines. ETG is also known for reducing its labor cost, and increasing its labor productivity, by exploiting the computer technology for substituting the need of more expensive labor inputs (Evans et al. 2012).

As a tourist organization, ETG must be able to cope up with the quick expansion of the global travel market, and hence the company arranges a variety of advertising campaigns for the purpose of promoting its high quality service in Australia, as well as in the overseas market. As a tourist company, the organization has to handle a huge number of clients coming from abroad and hence promoting the organization and its service is highly important. Keeping this in consideration, the organization spends an enormous amount of money for destination advertising that helps in building its recognition among the potential international clients (Pastras and Bramwell 2012). For developing the desired foreign public perception, ETG invests much time and money in social media marketing. The management is well-aware of the importance of a search-engine optimized website, and hence instead of focusing on a single website, the organization maintains multiple macro sites for attracting the attention of the non-English speaking travelers around the world. Again, ETG also forms collaboration with various popular advertising agencies that promote the service offered by the company in respective international markets. The use of meaningful logos, and strong taglines, such as “Live and Love the Australian Way”, helps the organization in effective promotion of its service in the relevant international markets. Further, the organization is also well-aware of the fact that the staffs such as the front office executives, tourist guide, or the receptionists, who have to directly interact with the clients, may not have sufficient understanding of the language or the cultural perception of the clients, and hence it is important to impart training to these staffs. The company arranges regular training sessions and workshops for the employees, so that they can obtain the necessary knowledge and inter-personal communication skills required for handling clients of a different cultural origin (Bosun et al. 2014).

It is needless to say that ETG is emerging as an organization that has huge potential to flourish and prosper in future. However, a few recommendations can be offered here. As far as the organizational structure is concerned, it is being observed that the company follows a strictly hierarchical order which is appreciable. Again, the Transactional leadership style that relies on recognizing and rewarding the employees for their share of contribution is also admirable, as it helps in increasing the employee productivity and efficiency of the organization However, it is to be noted the hierarchical form of organization has its own cons, in the form of lack of collaboration and lack of innovation. Here, each employee is being assigned with a specific job role, and consequently flexibility of work or free exchange of ideas is not possible. Hence, for an emerging organization, like ETG, the implementation of a flat organizational structure is advisable, as with very few layers of management, granting promotion or offering attractive financial benefits, is much cost-effective. Further as a result of the lack of hierarchy and bureaucracy, the working staffs will be able to work with greater flexibility and independence that will be helpful in serving the clients with greater satisfaction (Schenkel and Brazeal 2016). 

As far as the strategy of the organization is concerned, it is mostly focused on reducing the operational cost that may adversely affect the reputation of the organization in a highly competitive industry of tourism. Instead of reducing the operational cost, it is advisable that the organization focuses more on product differentiation policy, so that its products or service can appear to be superior to its rival organizations. The organization can introduce high quality service in its hotel chains, by introducing a high ratio of staff to guest policy. Further, the organization does not offer lucrative discount benefits to its old consumers, and hence it must focus on creating a loyal consumer base, by offering attracting discount coupons to the repeat clients, or their relatives and friends. The company is doing a great job by offering cultural training to the staffs, but a more country specific training method should be introduced whereby the culture of the countries which have the maximum number of tourists travelling to Australia must be considered while imparting the training programs. Last but not the least, the organization can also improve its tourist products, by offering new tourist tours with cultural character or treatment can have a positive impact on the international clients. 

Reference List:

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