Strategic Alignment in the Luxury Hotel Industry Through the Mastery of the Full Range Leadership Model

This doctoral thesis examines how leadership practices, especially transactional and transformational leadership, impact strategic alignment within the Swiss luxury hotel industry. In a rapidly changing and highly competitive environment, achieving strategic alignment—the optimal alignment between organisational purpose, strategy, capabilities, structure, and culture—is essential for long-term success. Using the Strategic Alignment Framework, the study emphasises the importance of leaders fostering coherence across all organisational components to enable an adaptable and purpose-driven response to shifting market demands. The research seeks to enhance understanding of how different leadership styles either support or hinder strategic alignment, ultimately boosting organisational effectiveness and resilience in luxury hospitality. The study adopts an action research approach, combining interviews and leadership training sessions with eight successful leaders from Swiss luxury hotels. Participants were carefully selected based on their proven track records, willingness to engage deeply with the research, and ability to provide substantial insights. By raising awareness of the Full Range Leadership Model, the study explores the distinctive effects of transactional and transformational leadership styles. Transactional leadership is demonstrated to support operational control, efficiency, and service consistency, which are crucial for maintaining high standards of luxury. In contrast, transformational leadership fosters purpose-driven engagement, innovation, and emotional connection with employees, although it relies on transactional structures to ensure disciplined execution and operational rigour. Findings reveal that the most effective leaders integrate both leadership styles, balancing structure with innovation to achieve strategic alignment. Transformational leadership, characterised by vision, inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individualised consideration, is crucial for aligning purpose and strategy, while transactional leadership ensures consistent delivery and performance management. Challenges such as hierarchical rigidity and cultural inertia can hinder alignment, emphasising the need for psychological safety, trust, and integrity within the organisation. Based on these insights, the thesis recommends that leaders foster a leadership culture that blends transformational inspiration with transactional discipline, maintain continuous learning to adapt to market shifts, and regularly evaluate the organisational fitness for purpose. Ultimately, luxury hotel leaders who act as navigators—aligning purpose, strategy, and capabilities—position their organisations for sustained excellence and resilience in an ever-changing industry landscape.