First of all don't blame the holders of MBA's, it's a useful thing to have if you have practical knowledge of the industry in which you want to work, or are prepared for a long apprenticeship.
Deckzone is right, it's about people and recognition.
The trouble with Qantas, from my perspective, is that its been a politically controlled monopoly for a very long time, the big elephant in the room of Australian Aviation, and it's been desperately trying to profit from that fact at the same time as trying to hide itself. By this I mean if you are an Australian Pilot/Lame/CC,administrator/management accountant who are you going to work for?? Qantas or what else?
For example, if you are a Consulting forensic aviation accountant (of the sort the ACCC needs) where do you expect your jobs to come from? It's probably not news to any of you that this is an incestuous business because Australian Aviation is a relatively small community. Go up against Qantas Pal, and you will never work again. Same with the media - Qantas is a heavy advertiser, do you want to piss them off?
The political connections Qantas have are mind boggling and straddle both sides of politics, Federal and State. Simply look at the list of former Directors to get the flavour. Then there is the Qantas "Sydney centric" model which has greatly benefited NSW at the expense of the other states, thats bought them a lot of favours over the years, just like the Presidents lounge.
Now even this state of affairs could be changed relatively easily to the benefit of shareholders, the nation and staff, except that the narcissists snuck in and got control of the Board and Senior Management. Once in, they replicate themselves. Since they got in by arse licking, they are not averse to employing arse lickers to work on their own posteriors. Thats how you got a few extra layers of Executive/group/general/managers - all paying homage up the line.
Now one of the defining characteristics of narcissists (and a dead give away) is a total inability to empathise with people, narcissists instead "calibrate" people and tell them what they want to hear - and this only for people they think will give them self esteem in retunr. As for people "below" them on the pecking order - the don't count and are ignored, just like you are. You are just like talking dogs to them - you will be thrown a bone occasionally, but bite the hand that feeds you and you will be euthanased real fast.
The other characteristics of narcissists is that they will lie and cheat anyone easily and smoothly.
I only see the edges of this but it's telling - giving Grange to your senior managers at Christmas, but F*** all to your staff, writing a dirty letter to the inhabitants of Hamilton Island, throwing your weight around at airports, and trying to steal the company from under the nose of its shareholders are all telltale signs.
So now comes the problem, Qantas needs to change bigtime. It's fat, lazy, it's Sydney-centric, it's monopoly is becoming more and more a wart on the bum of Australia's progress because it is keeping increased competition (always a good thing) from happening.
The trouble is, the last people you want running a change agenda are narcissists because through their lack of empathy and total lack of interest in any sort of feedback that doesn't massage their ego, they screw it up....and according to what I read here, they have comprehensively screwed it up at operational levels.
To put it in simple terms, when you set out a change agenda for a business as big as Qantas, the first thing you do is map where you need to go - the vision, mission and your one, two, through to five year plan. Then you have to decide if you are going to make these changes quick and dirty, or slow and clean. By quick and dirty, I mean wield the axe in a matter of days/weeks/months and get it over with, then get on with life. Slow and clean means lots of staff consultation and feedback, voluntary redundancy, timetables, transparency, touchy feely stuff over years.
Trouble is narcissists always go for the stupid model - "slow and dirty" because it maximises the chances for them to revel in their power and massage their own egos. Thats why the LAMES/pilots/CC have been strung out over their EBA's - because its fun to screw with you, they take delight in your despair and obvious distress, it's amusing to them and reinforces their self image as masters of the universe.
There are other characteristics of narcissists, including a disrespect for the rule of law "Laws are for little people", which has already come out in the freight price fixing cartel, and may eventually come out is the ACCC got off its fat arse, or if one day you have a hull loss.
So I pity you, and I won't allow myself, my family or friends to fly on your aircraft for the foreseeable future.