Perhaps the best thing Qantas CEO Alan Joyce could do at this time is to read the self-help business advice of Richard Branson, the co-founder and part owner of rival airline Virgin.
The essence of Branson's philosophy is to treat your staff as if they were your friends. He believes the most important characteristic in a business leader is to be able to demonstrate that you genuinely like people. 'If people know you care, it brings out the best in them.'
Branson says: 'A company is people ... employees want to know ... am I being listened to or am I a cog in the wheel? People really need to feel wanted.'
Joyce is doing the opposite, declaring war on his staff and their unions: 'They are trashing our strategy and our brand. They are deliberately destabilising the company.'
What is most revealing is the strength of his hostility towards worker input into how to run Qantas. '[The unions] are sticking by impossible claims that are not just to do with pay, but also to do with unions trying to dictate how we run our business.'
He dismisses pilots' demands to preserve Qantas' safety culture as self-interest. This is despite the fact that the company's own website boasts that this culture is a point of difference that gives Qantas an advantage over its competitors.
'Among Qantas pilots, there is a clear culture of safety rules being unbreakable. Pilots who have worked at other airlines before coming to Qantas often report that the culture of adherence to safety rules and regulations is stricter than anywhere else in the world.'
Treating workers as partners rather than cogs not only makes good business sense. It is an ethical imperative, according to an opinion paper published last week by the Edmund Rice Business Ethics Initiative.
The paper analyses Joyce's ethical intent expressed in his declaration 'My priority is to do the right thing by Qantas'. It asserts that Joyce remains vague about what he means by 'Qantas', but most probably means shareholders, management and the Board rather than stakeholders, which includes groups such as workers, the travelling public and the tourist industry.
'In the ethical realm, 'doing the right thing' must extend to others affected by what the actor does. For this reason, many businesses talk about 'stakeholders' not just 'stockholders'.
'Part of stakeholder capitalism is a recognition of the importance of a 'social license to operate' that may be withdrawn if