US Airways still believes in mergers - assertive management

Seemingly undaunted by the failure to buy out Delta Air Lines, Doug Parker, Chairman and CEO of US Airways, contends that industry consolidation is still “the right thing to happen”.

While he says consolidation might not occur right away “if something happens we want to be involved”.

Parker says US Airways' management team has bounced back from the failed bid, and has its sights set on improving operations at the Phoenix-based carrier. Although Parker contends that “We're not running as good an airline as I thought we would by this time,” he says that one of US Airways' immediate objectives is to fix its nettlesome Philadelphia (PHL) hub. Although complaints are down, and some new improvements in place, there's still a way to go at the carrier's prime transatlantic gateway.

America West, which Parker formerly headed, merged with US Airways two years ago, adopting the US Airways name and inheriting many of the bankrupt carrier's problems.

Underpinning the new US Airways' penchant to seek out merger partners, and its proclivity to fix things, are the personalities of its key management players. They are not a passive bunch. Parker says when members of the company's executive team took personality tests, 70 percent of them scored above the median when it comes to assertiveness.

It's a trait that doesn't look ready to disappear at the rejuvenated carrier.

© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler

Comments

[Roberta Hill]

I personally don’t think that this is necessarily a good thing. Not that assertiveness is bad – in fact I like a direct approach. I get nervous with passive types who finally get fed up and lash out at you – as if I were suppose to know what they wanted or needed.

In addition, I am not sure that any North American airline is in a position financially to determine what is or is not good as a leadership competency; no matter how US Airways has been improving. In some ways it is the macho culture that prevents us from dealing with the complexities of society. Seems to me that in today’s world, we should be valuing collaboration a wee bit more. Nor should someone be too excited that they are cloning any specific behavior. What a recipe for narrow mindedness at best and Group Think at worse. Certainly different cultures may favor one behavior or skill over another but we must continue to challenge our assumptions. Let’s also differentiate between style and skill.

This is just my editorial opinion and remember, I am the first to say it is just data and no one thing is either bad or good – in moderation that is. The Platinum Rule Behavioral Style Assessment is one of many instruments that measures the continuum of assertiveness. Like the others it just points to observed behaviors and not skills. These “styles” have a place everywhere and the important thing is how adaptive we are to adjust our behavior based on the situation at hand.