Southwest’s relentless commitment goes beyond the lip service most companies uphold. From line level to the C-suite, everyone works hard to ensure customers feel they are the center of attention. Flight crew routinely exceeds passengers’ expectations to the point it has become routine. Attendants feel encouraged to be creative. They feel their duties entail not just standard tasks, but going further to ensure customers are entertained or engaged in other ways that would ‘infect them’ with Southwest’s positive energy. Senior management does its part by, for example, doing everything to keep prices as low as possible low and using fees for special services only as a last resort.…
Despite the challenges SWA faces, I am optimistic about the future of SWA. For 30 plus consecutive years Southwest air has been able to sustain its advantage and profit, while not falling into the growth trap. The company’s financial stability enables it to finance new ventures and pursue innovative technologies. The internal strengths of Southwest Airlines are vast and include a great work climate for employees. They are heralded as one of the greatest companies to work for due to a strong internal support network for employees. The culture and image of the company are also widely known to and favored by…
From 1972 to 2002, Southwest Airlines stock returned more for their shareholders than any other stock in the same time period (Collins, 2006, Hospital Strategy IV: Southwest Airlines and thinking outside the box). Many companies have begun to take notice of the Southwest model; a model that allows Southwest to thrive while many of its contemporaries are faced with financial difficulties. The success of Southwest Airlines can be attributed to their structure. This structure has made it possible for Southwest Airlines founders Rollin King and Herb Kelleher to create a culture that was unique and ahead of its time: a people first culture. This culture is supported by Southwest 's human resource practices. Every aspect is dependant upon each other.…
In an industry that saw an entire industry literally destroyed by the events of 9/11, airlines were filing bankruptcies, most notably United Airlines. Southwest, on the other hand, has constantly made a profit for 30 years and added value to their business. So much so that Serafimov (2004) states that 200 shares of Southwest stock purchased at just over twenty-two dollars per share back in 1985 is now worth just over $24,000. This translates to a 17% increase per year. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss the business juggernaut that is Southwest Airlines and its leader Herb Kelleher.…
Southwest Airlines clearly outlines their values in their corporate mission statement: The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit (www.southwest.com). This mission both describes the company 's approach to its workforce, and the customer at large. Rather than focusing on the financial side of the business, Southwest has been successful in creating an organization centered in fostering positive relationships with its employees and customers. The airline is also known for its zany corporate culture ', and has maintained the buy in of its employees through emphasizing a fun atmosphere (Plunkett, 2004-2005, p.509). Company founder, Herb Kelleher once said, "If work was more fun, it would feel less like work (www.funsulting.com)". Through creating a fun working environment, Southwest has also created a fun traveling option, which entices their customers as well.…
Southwest Airlines is one of the most successful airlines in the United States. There has never been layoffs or strikes in the history of the company, although there were several times when layoffs could have been justified, including the months following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. However, Southwest's Mission statement says “Above all, Employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer.” (Southwest, 1988). The Airline has always believed that their corporate culture is one of the keys to their success. The culture recognizes that employees have emotional intelligence and that their attitudes and morale are key to the teamwork and creative environment.…
Southwest Airlines is a vigorous business commonly admired, whether it is positive or negative, by many for countless reasons. Southwest Airlines has withheld a positive social responsibility for many years. Southwest is an organization promoting people to be innovated leaders focused on promoting the success of the company. Establishing and maintaining the function of control is crucial in a company of this size. The appropriate protocols must be in place to ensure performance, organizational and ethical goals are being met. Currently, several control mechanisms are used by many companies around the world. Some control mechanisms used by Southwest Airlines are budgetary, bureaucratic, clan and financial management.…
Southwest Airlines (SWA) is consistent in their culture, business model, and customer interactions and engagement, all collectively reducing costs and enabling their point-to-point, efficient, low cost, friendly service. Their culture favors personal connection, community, recognition, support, and love. This “luv” has been the central theme of SWA for decades, especially with regard to their customer interactions. Luv fortifies the SWA value chain, spanning across corporate vision, operations, marketing, cost control, people, and corporate culture, thus creating value in reducing costs and growing bottom lines, maximizing (minimally spent) marketing dollars, capturing customer interest, sustaining customer loyalty, and maximizing work output of all employees.…
As with any company, Southwest Airlines has risks that have to deal with. For starters, co-founder and visionary leader Kelleher will soon be less involved in the firm 's operations. Mr. Kelleher is responsible for the decision making of Southwest Airlines so it is going to be interesting to say the least when he takes a lesser role in the daily business of Southwest. Perhaps a more important risk, though, is the simple fact that Southwest is an airline. Past financial indicators have shown that members of the airline industry have been poor performers for shareholders because of risks involved.…
Organization Structure (Formal Structure): The organization of Southwest Airlines is best described as an upside-down pyramid – an organization very much in line with the way they want to do business. The upper management is at the bottom and supports the front line employees, who are the experts. Front line employees play a major role in the yearly business planning and operational budgeting which for a great part is done bottom-up rather than top-down. This is the fruit of co-founder Herb Kelleher's unorthodox leadership style, in which management decisions are made by everyone in the organization, not just the head executives. The company does not put much emphasis on structure instead, employees are encouraged to think freely without constraints such as titles or official mandates.…
This paper, "Southwest Airlines’ Success through Organization Culture" gives an account of the development of the organizational culture of Southwest Airlines. The paper starts with the background of Southwest and its development over the years. The paper explains the unique culture of Southwest, and how it has helped Southwest Airlines to face challenges. The paper also describes how Southwest Airlines responded to the situation arising out of the September 11 terrorist attacks which dealt a severe blow to the airline industry. Southwest Airlines’ response to the crisis was shaped by its organizational culture, which laid emphasis on taking care of employees and building relationships. The influence of the leadership of Southwest on its culture is also explained.…
This article analyzes the sources of Southwest Airlines’ competitive advantage using an integrative approach, employing economic analysis tools to illustrate the roles of commitment and organizational capabilities in delivering competitive advantage at Southwest. A framework is presented illustrating that much of the value Southwest generates is:…
For the purpose of this study we shall be taking southwest airline as a case study, Southwest Airline is a major U.S. airline that primarily provides short haul, high frequency, point- to point, low fare service. Southwest was incorporated in Texas and commenced operations on June 18, 1971 with three Boeing 737 aircraft…
Southwest Airlines corporate philosophy can be credited to one of the founders Herb Kelleher. It is an airline company with a unique culture “goofiness”, which keeps the morale of its employees high (Smith, 2004), and is a company that welcomes fun, dedication, and effort. Southwest believes that a happy employee will create a happy customer, and will create loyal customers. Mr. Kelleher effectively implemented its style, culture and emphasis on quality in the daily actives at Southwest (Smith, 2004), and he did so without the help of outside consultants.…
Southwest Airlines has a strong culture that lasted for 32 years. The organization’s core values are intensely held and widely shared by the whole organization, meaning that all employees believe in and stick to the organizational culture which makes sense why it’s regarded as having a strong culture. Which is reflected through their performance, loyalty and commitment, even when others competitors rose in the market, employees still never left the organization although they demanded better pay.…