Task 1:

Introduction:

Kingfisher Airlines is one the India’s largest aviation company with a global presence. The

company is a part of the UB group, the company has strongly focused on innovation and

differentiation widely. The company focuses on delivering a world class in flight service along

with a delectable gourmet cuisine and personal environment. The company has focused on

maintaining a brand leadership since it has came into existence, the company has focused on

introducing a premium class flights as well as low cost flights.

There are three classes on which kingfisher airlines focuses on i.e. Kingfisher airline, Deccan

charters limited and Deccan aviation limited.

Leadership:

“A Leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way’ – John C. Maxwell

A leader is one who plays a major role in every aspect and functional area of a business. They

are the one who focuses on demonstrating distinctive skills, experiences, personalities and

motivates employees. A leader must be capable and should facilitate interactions within a group.

A leader provides direction, encouragement to evoke desired behavior he also motivates them to

overreach themselves.

Leaders have several characteristics and traits which help them to think out of the way and

succeed, with their skills, knowledge and style the leaders are able to lead the way. Leaders have

the power to influence others and shape the behavior of others in a particular direction. The

tactics that can influence the subordinates are rational persuasion, inspirational appeal and

consultation, so as to improve their performance which can help in overall growth and

development of the organization. The leader generally begins with low cost, low risk tactics to

motivate their subordinates. The leaders try to focus on upward appeal as that is the tactics which

could effects the performance of the subordinates the most. Inspirational appeal, ingratiation and

pressure are the tactics that work in a downward direction (William’ 2001). Leaders focus on

inspiring their followers as well their subordinates so as to enhance their growth, Inspire means

"to breathe life into."

The leader needs to have several characteristics such as self confidence, strong decision making,

motivation, focused which will help in influencing their followers and will help in enhancing

their performance and the growth of the organization.

Leaders have several traits such as empathy, charismatic, good decision making, enthusiasm, and

courage. There are several social, physical, intellectual attributes which differentiates a leader

from the others. Some of the personal traits that are displayed by the leaders are Self confidence,

People focused, awareness, adaptability, social communicator, open minded, decision maker,

analyst. These are the few qualities of leaders.

CEO of Kingfisher:

Kingfisher is headed by Mr. Vijay Mallay, who is a visionary; he is being looking forward and

focusing on envisioning all the possibilities and enlisting its employees in a shared view of the

future. He has focused on looking ahead and creating a shared vision for all its employees.

Vijay Mallaya, chairman and CEO of UB group, an Indian who has done his masters in Business

Administration has shown exceptional leadership traits. He took over the business from his father

and focused on a futuristic vision of growth. He is focused in handling diverse business and had

given a new growth to the diverse business operating on a global scale. Kingfisher airline today

is one of the most renowned aviation company.

Within five years, Kingfisher airlines have become the only five start airline of India which is

operating in a global market. With the exceptional visionary skills and traits of the CEO, the

Kingfisher has seen a major change in the growth of the organization along with the employees

and subordinates of the organization.

Kingfisher airline focuses on being the best airlines which ‘consistently deliver a safe, value

based and enjoyable travel experience to all its guests’. (http://www.flykingfisher.com/about-

us/vision-values.aspx)

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He has established Kingfisher brand as a sign of dependability and leadership, giving added

confidence and assurance. The values on which the organization works on are Safety, Service,

Happiness, teamwork and accountability.

With his innovative thinking and visionary goal, Vijay Mallaya has been successful in

establishing his diverse businesses. His approach and philosophy towards business is very clear,

he focuses on providing the best value to its guests. He believes in providing unedifying flying

experience to its guests with a focus on entertainment which are stated as a cornerstones of

building a strong business.

With a focus on leadership skills, the Kingfisher airlines has been awarded quite a lot of awards

which shows its leadership style, the awards that were given to Kingfisher includes ‘Best Brand

leadership Award’, ‘three global awards at the skytrax world airline awards’, ‘Business

Leadership award for aviation’, ‘Top service brand’, ‘India’s favorite Airline’, ‘Excellence in

consumer responsiveness’, ‘India’s top 25 innovative companies’ etc. there are array of awards

that has been awarded to Kingfisher which shows the leadership of the brand.

The managers of the kingfisher airlines have focused on craving out time from urgent but the

most endless operational matters.

Task 2:

Human Resource Management: Managing diverse culture and diversity:

For Kingfisher, the employees are the extension of their brand; it is one of the best organizations

to work in. The organization focuses on developing their employees so as to build an interactive

and efficient work culture which will help in enhancing the productivity of the employees and

organizations.

Diversity:

Kingfisher is a global company; the employees of the company are diverse. Diversity is very

important in today’s workplace so as to have competitive advantage. Diversity in the

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organization helps in building up a strong working culture in the workplace. It helps in creative

thinking, diverse thoughts and innovation which help in having a competitive advantage within

the organization. At Kingfisher airlines, Diversity point to behaviors and actions managers can

take to foster a positive, inclusive work environment, which leads to enhanced performance and

increased profitability for our company, which is achieved through delegation. Through

delegation and diversity, managers are able to facilitate training and development which helps in

development of the multiculturalism culture and diversity in the organization.

Diversity to a great extends helps in capitalizing on the growth of the business opportunities of

the brand. Kingfisher working on a global scale has diverse customers. As organizations around

the world compete for customers, they offer customers choices that are quite different, the

company focuses on providing more and more options to its customers; the company strongly

focuses on fulfilling the needs of the customers as well as employees globally.

Kingfisher’s diversity and inclusion strategy aligns with their business goals and leadership

priorities in key areas including workforce diversity and employee development, strategic

relationships and reputation management, customers and guests or customers diversity.

Kingfisher airlines have focused on increasing the team involvement, in this different people of

different culture are able to interact which helps in increasing the creativity and innovation

within the organization which helps in increasing the productivity and output of the company.

Apart from having diverse workforce, the company has a wide array of diverse customers who

come across the world, from different background and culture. The employees are trained so as

to deal with the customers of diverse nature and keep them satisfied.

Culture:

Culture plays an important role is assessing the value, behavior and the style of communication

of an individual. Culture defines the people’s way of living their life and the way they react to a

particular situation or in an environment. “Culture is learned, patterned assumptions, concepts

and behavior and the resulting artifacts” (Chalrles H. Kraft). Culture defines several values and

beliefs in an individual which are in rooted in an individual in the culture an individual has

brought up. Even the style of communication as well as the accent and the language is rooted

through the culture.

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Leadership and organizational culture are the most important part of an organization which helps

in improving the efficiency and productivity of the organization. Leaders needs to set an example

in an organization as being an element of culture, so as to enhance the productivity within the

organization. Organization culture fosters an organization to achieve its business goals and

objectives. The culture of the organization helps in increasing the efficiency of the organization

as well as the employees. The corporate culture of the organization brings out the value and

norms of the organization as well as the organizational behavior in respect of technologies,

strategies, products and services that are used in the organization. The organizational culture also

fosters changes in the organization like downsizing, technological advancement which is

important for the growth of the organization.

Seven dimensions of the organizational culture are “attention to detail, innovation and risk

taking, outcome orientation, stability, people orientation, aggressiveness and team orientation”.

Strategies followed at Kingfisher:

“Every company needs a signature experience that set it apart. By explicitly communicating

what makes your firm unique, you can dramatically improve employee engagement and

performance”

The organization focuses on keeping their employees happy as they think that if the employees

will be happy they will focus on keeping the customers happy, which helps the organization to

outperform.

Leadership versus Management:

Leadership requires power which focuses on influencing the thoughts and actions of other

individuals in the organization. The managerial culture in an organization emphasizes strongly

on rationality and control towards the organization, they work more as a problem solver whereas

a leader needs to be direct in getting the task fulfilled. The manager needs to focus on the

working of the employees across the organization, the managers ensures that the employees are

working effectively and efficiently and fulfilling their responsibilities at different level across the

organization.

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The managers of Kingfisher focuses on being impersonal and are nor very passive towards the

goal of the organization, they are more focused on the culture of the organization whereas the

leaders focus on the goals of the organization and ensures that the employees are working in line

with the organizational goals.

Leadership:

Review of Literature on Leadership theories:

Leadership theories brings into picture different leadership qualities and traits that an individual

have. Different theories have been developed by different researchers where different leadership

concepts can be applied. Leadership theories focus mainly on situation and advanced skills levels

that a leader possesses. Three main leadership theories were developed by different researchers

i.e. Trait theories, behavioral theories and Situational theories. Trait theories are the ‘Theories

that sought personality, social, physical or intellectual traits that differentiated leaders from non

leaders’ (Robbins, 8thed). Behavioral theory rests on the assumption that Great Leaders are made

not born. This theory differentiates a leader from a non leader on the perspective of the

behavioral characteristics possessed by the leader. Situational Leadership takes into

consideration that how a leader behaves in different situations and how well is he capable of

handling the particular situation. The managers and leaders at Kingfisher has tackled with

different situations in a positive way and have resulted in success, even during the time of

recession, and has been able to successfully generate profits.

Leadership Theories applicable on Leaders of Kingfisher:Trait theories:

The leaders at Kingfisher display the trait of charismatic leaders, the leaders at Kingfisher

focuses on communicating with the employees of the organization so as to maintain their

enthusiastic and excitement level. The leaders with high level of self-confidence and self-esteem

believe communication to be the key for leadership in the organization. The employees at

Kingfisher airlines are informed about different happenings and information happening across

the organization. Employees who know what’s going on understand how their work boosts the

collective well-being of all the employees, and that translates into motivation. The leaders at

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Kingfisher are Cooperative, energetic, ambitious and achievement oriented which has helped in

the success of the organization.

Behavioral Theories:

The Managerial Grid:

Kingfisher is an organization which is highly concerned about the productivity of the employees

and growth of the company. They are highly committed and focuses on inducing tryst and

respect in the organization.

Situational Leadership:

Path-goal Theory, the managers and leaders of the organization are highly motivated so as to

achieve the organizational goals as well as group goals, the chairman and the leaders of the

organization are highly futuristic and focus on controlling different outcomes. Through this

theory the leaders focuses on the performance of the employees which is enhanced by providing

them effective training and the motivation which helps in achieving the required goals of the

organization. Strong emphasis is given on the goal of the organization than on the personal goals

and requirement of an individual in this theory. According to this theory, the leaders of

Kingfisher the leaders needs to be quite flexible so as to change the requirements as per the

change in the situations and environmental conditions. The same can be noted during the

subprime crisis which had hit the globe. Kingfisher changes and reduced its cost structure so as

to give added value to its customers.

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situation theory:

Leaders should adapt their style to follower development style (or 'maturity'), based on how

ready and willing the follower is to perform required tasks (that is, their competence and

motivation). The leaders at Kingfisher focus on high task and high relationship with his

subordinates displaying the selling characteristics. The management spend lot of time with their

employees so as to motivate them and advise them to perform them in a particular way so as to

improve the performance of the employees.

Contingency Theories:

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Kingfisher follows ‘Visionary Model’ of Leadership. Mr. Vijay Mallaya, is one of the visionary

leader who believes in innovation and have a strong vision for future. This vision and the focus

on communication and training its subordinates, he successfully empowers his subordinates by

helping them to become self-sufficient and confident in doing their work. He motivates his

employees to innovate and move ahead of its competitors. With a positive vision he successfully

motivates and enhances the performance of his employees. With the strong leadership qualities

that are possessed by the Vijay Mallaya, Kingfisher has been able to perform at its best; it is one

of the leading innovators in the field of Aviation.

As per the ‘Fieldler’s Contingency Theory of Leadership’, the leaders at Kingfisher are

relation-oriented as well as task oriented, they are concerned about their subordinates or the

employees and focus on getting the job done by the employees. King fisher focuses on training

their employees extensively as well as their development which helps in delivering the best

output in their work. They have been trained in such a way that they are in a position to handle

different situations that can be faced by them at the time of the employment. They are motivated

to work in a group so as to have productive results. The employees are given new project to work

on which improves the productivity of the company.

As per the Contingency model, the managers and the leaders at Kingfisher focuses on building

good leader-member relationship, high task structure and low position power which helps in the

situation of leading in the organization. This theory is based on the style that is depicted by the

leader and the situation in which the task is perfumed. This is a theory of leadership which is

applicable in almost all the organization. Leaders at Kingfisher follow this model, as the

performance of the employees is based on the style that is depicted by the leaders and several

situations under which the organization works. Leaders help their followers to adopt themselves

according to the organizational culture by motivating them to work together in a group, thus

helping in improving the performance of the employees. Leaders can and should change their

style to fit their followers’ degree of readiness (willingness and ability). Therefore, it is possible

to train leaders to better fit their style to their followers.

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Leadership Style at Kingfisher:

The leaders and the managers of Kingfisher focus on developing the people. The organization

focuses on identifying the key potential of their employees and tries to enhance those potential

which helps in bringing out the best traits of the employees. This helps them in achieving their

targets and goals that are set by the organization. The organization culture and environment has

been built in such a way that the employees feel comfortable in that environment. With a focus

on these the organization has been able to “Create a ‘people environment’ where they truly can

be all they can be.” This will help in developing and enhancing the potential of the employees.

Kingfisher treats communication as the best mode of leadership. They follow participative type

of leadership in which the leaders focuses on sharing the problem with subordinates as a group,

and together, they generate and evaluate alternatives and attempt to reach consensus on a

solution. These include drive, the desire to lead, honesty/integrity, self-confidence, cognitive

ability and knowledge of the business. It helps in enhancing the performance of the employees.

Through this model, the leaders involve their subordinates several tasks that are performed by

the leader. By assigning them new tasks and involving them in new tasks enhances the

performance of the subordinate. There are several activities that are conducted by the

organization so as to motivate the employee and motivate them to participate in different

activities.

Vijay Mallaya has strongly focused on innovation and creativity which has become the keystone

of the company. It has helped the organization in gaining value and catering to the best services

to the customers.Innovation and creativity works as the core competence of the organization as it

helps in focusing on providing best services to the diverse customers across the globe. Vijay

Mallya focuses on following five P model of creativity i.e. Passion, Persistence, Persuasion,

Playfulness and Positivity which helps in building up a strong leadership of its organization. The

organizational climate is focused on a open climate, empowered staff, knowledge sharing

systems, partnerships outside the organization, different communication patterns and strong

interpersonal ties among team member which has helped in enhancing the performance of the

employees.

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Transformational Style of Leadership:

As transformational leaders, the leaders at Kingfisher identify themselves as change agents who

believe in courage and people. Several traits such as value driven, lifelong learner, and ability to

deal with complexity and long visionaries are the key traits which helps in building up a strong

organization. They focus on encouraging the awareness of subordinates’ and help them in

analyzing the importance of the tasks and the importance of performing well. They help in

making subordinates aware of their needs for personal growth, development, and

accomplishment. Motivate their subordinates to work for the good of the organization rather than

exclusively for their own personal gain or benefit with a strong focus on innovation and

creativity. This helps the organization in fulfilling the set goals and objectives of the

organization. The vision of the company is presented in front of the employees in an inspiring

manner which helps the employees to fulfill the set goals and objectives.

Leadership Strategies adopted by Kingfisher Airlines:

There were several leadership strategies that is being adopted by the organization which has

helped the organization in being the best aviation company of India. Vijay Mallaya focused on

studying various external factors of aviation industry in India as well as across the world like

market conditions, market share, powerful external stakeholders, and political-Legal

requirements. Along with the prevalent nature and condition of the environment, the organization

focused on designing the strategies which helped in making the company ‘The best airline of

India’.

Vijay Mallaya focused on giving a leisure journey to its customers by providing them unedifying

experience. With this strong vision, he adopted several measures so as to incorporate different

services to its customers. He believes in delivering best customer service which he thinks can be

gained by keeping its employees happy.

Communication plays a major role in Kingfisher and enhancing the skills of the employees in the

organization. The way the managers and leaders communicate helps in motivating the employees

and subordinates and enhancing their performance. The leaders in the organization focus on

involving their employees in the decision making displaying Participative leadership.

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Participative Leadership is very important in improving the productivity of the employees as it

helps in developing a sense of belongingness. They focus on taking the input from their

employees, listen to their ideas and motivate them to contribute in the working of the

organization and decision making. It is important that a leader listens to their employees and

incorporate their idea. This will help in improving the performance of the employees which

impacts the growth of the organization.

Motivation:

Motivation is one of the key aspects of the organization, the management of the company has

applied several motivational theories to develop a culture that includes interesting jobs and

empowered employees. The company follows humanistic approach towards its employees

whereas the other companies are more focused on scientific approach.

Applying different motivation theories across the organization, the company is able to build on a

strong out performing workforce who are highly motivated to enhance the performance of the

organization. As stated by Abrham Maslow ‘The fact is that people are good, Give people

affection and security, and they will give affection and be secure in their feelings and their

behavior’(http://www.abrahammaslow.net/more.html). The company focuses on giving high

affection to its employee, which is reflected from the commitment of the employee.

The company follows the needs hierarchy developed by psychologist Abraham Maslow, who

states that people are motivated to first satisfy physiological needs, then safety, social, and

esteem needs, and finally self-actualization needs. The company helps in satisfying the needs of

the employees so that they are motivated.

The management takes an initiative to provide its employee different Health benefits, a 401(k)

plan, airline travel and salary or pay scale which is above the industry standard help employees

satisfy physiological needs.

The Safety needs of the employee are met by tolerating mistakes and urging employees to do

what’s necessary to please customers. The company’s environment helps workers feel secure by

stressing integrity, honesty, and open communication.

The Social needs are met by Kingfisher’s family atmosphere, which helps employees feel they

belong to a group. Formal and informal recognition for their contribution helps employees meet

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esteem needs.

Finally, the highest-level need of self-actualization is met by encouraging employees to reach

their highest potential.

The employee at Kingfisher also reflectsDouglas McGregor’s Theory Y in assuming that workers

will do what is best for the organization when the opportunity arises. The employee view their

work as being natural as the company has tried to make the organization a fun place to work in.

so the employee enjoy working here and have positive attitude towards the job assigned to them.

This helps is generating high productivity.

One process theory by Lyman Porter and E.E. Lawler focuses on the value a person places on a

goal as well as the person’s perceptions of workplace equity, or fairness, as factors that influence

his or her job behavior. In a work situation, perception is the way an individual views the job. It

indicates that motivation is influenced by people’s expectations. At Kingfisher, the management

considers the intrinsic as well as extrinsic rewards of the employee. The employee has a strong

feeling of accomplishment, a feeling of recognition, which are able to fulfills the intrinsic

rewards of the employee. On the other hand, employees are given more pay than the industry

standards. They are also provided with benefits on air travel across the globe, health and dental

benefits, 401(K) pension plans and other benefits. Employee shows high level of job satisfaction

in the company. It encourages the employee to work harder.

Employee works keeping in mind the goal setting theory, the employees are committed to their

goals and they are determined not to lower or abandon their goal. Employees have high self

efficacy i.e. they have a strong belief that they are capable to doing the job efficiently and

effectively.

Strategies to retain diverse customers:

The company operating on a global scale has diverse customers, the company focuses on giving

the best value to its customers by focusing on their diverse needs and culture. The company

focuses on providing world class experience to its customers leaving aside all the stressful

condition and providing them relaxed and delightful flight. With a string focus on the meeting

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the global standards of all the fleets and aircrafts and adoption of latest technolo9gy helps the

organization in catering to the needs and demand of the consumer on a global scale.

Task 3:

Recommendations:

Leadership is one of the most important aspect which helps the organization to perform better,

the managers and the leaders gives a strong priority on placing on keeping the culture and

guiding the employees. Employee development should be main focus of the organization by

catering them knowledge about different culture and people across the globe. Intense focus needs

to be given on culture and human capital which should be the high priority. The organization

should also strongly focus on engaging employees which will help in creating a sense of social

mission which will be central to the company. This will help in encouraging openness by

developing and personally modeling system with a strong focus on transparency in the

organization, empowering the employees to enable communication and help the organization in

making different decisions. The organization should also focus on giving emphasis on

individualism which will help in the out performance of the employees. The company should

focus on investing heavily on training and strengthening the social mission of the company.

So as to enhance the motivation of the employees to apply Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire

(MLQ), so as to know the type of leadership that is most preferred by the employees of the

organization. According to the survey, “Transactional” styles of leadership is the most preferred

leadership style which helps in motivating the employees across the organization, by adopting

this style of leadership style the employees are motivated to act in the interest of the businesses.

This also helps in building up a positive attitudes, persistence and sense of reciprocity in the

employees which will enhance the performance of the employees and the organization will help

in dealing with the diverse culture of the customers.

The organization should also strongly focus on achieving CSR targetsand good governance

which is important for the development of the country along with the development of the

country. The leaders of Kingfisher should also focus on building the employee commitment

through transparency as well as accountability. A strong focus should be given on building the

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employee commitment by encouraging openness, looking after the interests of the employees

and their families and ask employees to look after the company’s interest in return. By adopting

the Employee first policy the company will be able to make employee feel more personally

responsible towards the organization.

One of the most important aspect of leadership which helps in enhancing the performance of the

employees across the organization is Emotional Intelligence. This is one of the most important

trait that can be adopted by the leaders of Kingfisher which will help in enhancing the

performance of the employees, thus improving on the productivity of the organization.

Emotional style of leadership has overwhelming impact on the employees as it helps in creating

a certain environment in the organization which will create an environment an environment

which focuses on information sharing, trust, healthy risk taking environment and learning in the

organization. The leaders should adopt an open looped environment.

Employee investment along with leadership development will help in enhancing the performance

of the organization.

The organization should also focus on building a family type of work environment which will

help in enhancing the performance of the employees. With this the employees will feel motivated

and will be urged to keep their customers happy which will help in increasing the productivity of

the organization.

Conclusion:

Leaders are one of the biggest motivators for their followers in the organization. The support, the

path that is shown by leaders motivates and helps their followers to perform well and enhance

the growth of the organization. The biggest innovators and the successful enterprises have great

entrepreneur, in a form of the leader, who motivates their employee to perform at their best.

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References:

Abraham Zaleznik, (2004) Managers and Leader, Are they Different?, Harvard Business

Review, January 2004, Online issue

About Kingfisher Airlines, available at: http://www.flykingfisher.com/about-us/chairmans-

message.aspx

Achievements of Lingfisher airlines, available at:

http://www.flykingfisher.com/about-us/achievements.aspx

Annual report (2010) of Kingfisher, available at: http://www.flykingfisher.com/investor-

relations.aspx

Bohlander George & Scott Snell, 2010, Managing Human Resource, 15th edition, South-western,

Cengage Learning

Decenzo David A & Robbins Stephen P, 8th Edition, Fundamental of Human Resource

Management, Wiley

Dr. Vijay Mallaya, available at: http://rajesshcherian.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/dr-vijay-

mallya-journey-of-an-entrepreneur-to-business-tycoon/

Employee Engagement, Department of Business Innovation and skills, Available at

http://www.berr.gov.uk/Policies/employment-matters/strategies/employee-engagement

Goleman (1998) “What makes a leader?” Harvard Business Review

James m. Kouzes and barry z. Posner, ph.d.,We lead from inside out, The journal of value based

leadership, Volume III, Issue 1, winter/Spring 2010

K Aswathappa,(2005), Human Resource and Personnel Management, Fourth edition

Martin (2007) “How successful leaders think,” Harvard Business Review

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Peter Cappelli, Harbir Singh, Jitendra V. Singh, and Michael Useem, (2010) How the best Indian

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Sonnenfeld& Ward (2007) “Firing back: How great leaders rebound after career disasters,”

Harvard Business Review

Stephen P Robbins, 8th Edition, Essentials of Organizational Behaviour, Prentice hall

Tamara J Erikson and Lynda Graton, What It means to work here, Harvard Business Review.

Vijay Mallaya – The spirit behing Kingfisher brand, available at:

http://www.venturerepublic.com/resources/Vijay_Mallya_-

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William J, Rothwell (2003), Planning and Managing Human Resource., HRD Press

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