Sandip Timsina(09525)

Synopsis
The case deals with the pros and cons of the Charismatic leadership. The case is
divided into two parts first highlighting the success of Astro airline in spite of the
rogue market. The other part deals with how a company that met success so fast
fell apart because of its inability to manage its own success. When the charisma of a
leader takes the shape of arrogance and inflexibility the team is destined to break
and failure is unstoppable. Arthur Burton sets up a team of motivated staffs who
share his vision and take the venture to immediate success. However he is so much
blinded by the success he fails to implement necessary changes and ultimately the
company files for bankruptcy.

Questions
1. Describe Burton’s leadership behavior.
Burton was a highly confident leader with ability to implant his vision into the
hearts of his followers. His ability to associate his vision with the individual goals
of the employees raised the Astro airlines to immediate success. With reference
to the given case, Burton’s excellence was in his ability to communicate. He was
an emotionally stirring speaker and he used his speeches to deepen his beliefs,
ideas and principles into the hearts and in the lives of his followers.
Arthur Burton is not only a charismatic leader but also a highly creative and
innovative leader. He raised a company in the turbulent time with a distinct
vision and eye on the existing opportunities. He believed in participation and
teamwork. His commitment to equality, informality, participative leadership and
self-management in the initial years helped develop a highly committed team
who shared the vision of its chairman. He encouraged his managers to provide
direction but not to dictate methods. It confirms his belief in motivation and
participation. He encouraged continuous learning and emphasized in skill
development of his employees. He could associate the organizational goal with
the individual need of the Astro team. He expected his sub-ordinates to handle
multiple jobs, be independent and be less entangled in bureaucratic hurdles. He
must have been a great convincer for the employees carried out responsibilities
as expected. They did their own jobs for example executives answered their own
telephones and typed their own letters. He believed in taking challenges and he
sought the same thing in his team. While choosing new employees he took
special care in hiring young, enthusiastic employees who were willing to learn
new jobs. The other competency that Burton had as a leader was his focus on
customer service and quality. He took special efforts to offer fares that were
much lower than those of competitors. He fostered the environment of
innovation which reflects in the adoption of innovative scheduling and the
installation of the innovative ticketing machines.

2. Was Burton a charismatic leader in the company at this time? Explain

your answer.
Burton was certainly a charismatic leader. Like any other charismatic leader he
had the ability to communicate and behave in ways that reach followers on a
basic, emotional way, to inspire and motivate. He was perceived as someone
with an evangelical capability to strike an emotional chord with his listeners. He
was highly capable of install his ideas, philosophy and vision into the minds of
his listeners and also reinforce it. He had created an environment where
everyone felt energetic and empowered.

1 | Astro Airlines
Sandip Timsina(09525)

It was his ability to attract others with his ideas that he expressed through his
impeccable oratory skills that inspired his employees. He inspired a shared
vision, believed in delegation of authority. His commitment to building and
sustaining team was undeterred. They had full belief in him and it was further
reinforced when the company was able to achieve success in very short span of
time.
His major characteristics were his powerful ability of communicating a
compelling vision of the future, he passionately believed in his vision, he
relentlessly promoted his beliefs with boundless energy, he propounded created
ideas, and he inspired extraordinary performance in followers. Burton was very
passionate about his vision that he could make profit if he could make air
transport affordable to the people who could not afford it. He always advocated
his beliefs and reinforced it in his speeches. His speeches were emotionally
arousing and they weaved the employees together to achieve a common goal. A
charismatic leader has a capability to link people by a common goal, he makes
them forget their individual needs and objectives, sacrifice their interest to work
for the achievement of a common goal shown by the leader. Burton’s ideas were
highly creative; his vision of air transport for all was indeed great. His
management skills were equally creative, his ability to reduce cost by onsite
ticketing, thin layer of hierarchy, and independent working were highly creative.
It was due to his charisma that the employees felt highly motivated despite the
fact that they got lesser salary than the industry average; they worked more and
had no assistants.
Burton had the confidence of his team despite getting salaries which were lower
than normal for the airline industry their commitment to company was
undeterred. It was his charisma that within three years of operation the company
grew from a few hundred employees with three planes to more than 3,000
employees with 22 planes servicing 20 cities.

3. What dysfunctional aspects of charismatic leadership were displayed

by Burton?
Many times the charismatic leaders become megalomaniacs and they start
believing that it is only because of them that the team has seen success. They
become too much obsessed with their ability that they become highly arrogant.
They start disrespecting others and becoming rigid on their beliefs. Burton
displayed similar characteristics. After being able to gain success in a short span
of time, Burton thought he had a Midas touch and whatever he does is destined
to bring fortune. Eventually he became the victim of his own success. He
became very stubborn. His equations with his team changed. The same
employees who respected him were dissatisfied with him and even his belief in
his own employees deterred in time. The tiff he had with the company president
stands as a proof of his deterring trust on his own team. His employees began
questioning Burton’s sincerity and accused him of being a manipulator. His
unwillingness to hire a President had huge implications and his over-confidence
made his company suffer. Though viewed as a charismatic leader initially he was
started to be seen as an arrogant and authoritarian leader. His inability to
understand others feeling led his highly energetic team of staffs to fall apart. His
reluctance to understand the need of his employees and only putting his diktat
ultimately led to the downfall of the company.

2 | Astro Airlines
Sandip Timsina(09525)

When the airlines industry started to change Burton ignored as he was

blindfolded by his over confidence and successful past. As with charismatic
leadership styles people are more dependent on their leaders. Astro airlines
followed the same fate, the employees could do nothing to help the company
come out of the trouble. They only blamed Burton. In later years Burton became
more of an authoritarian leader, too impulsive as his quick changes in strategies
and vision suggest. He showed lesser accountability and was on a firing spree.
He fired people who confronted him and who questioned his motives.
His belief that he is infallible, led the team into an abyss. His excessive self-belief
and his self-absorption or need for admiration led to his team to question his
leadership.

3 | Astro Airlines