The Southwest Airlines company and its culture is one that is often cited in today 's business classes. The airline is widely known to be “different” compared to many of its competitors, a result of its founding values and strong corporate culture. This culture developed early in Southwest’s history and was deeply entrenched due to the competitiveness of the airline industry, as well as due to some of the pressures experienced as a result regulatory issues and stiff competition. Since CEO Gary Kelly took the reins of the company back in 2004, Southwest has maintained and enhanced the company’s ability to offer customers a great flying experience for low fares. This effort start early in Mr. Kelly’s tenure when he identified four success factors …show more content…
For example, the company would exclusively use the Boeing 737 aircraft, reducing maintenance costs and training. Southwest also departed from the traditional “Hub-and-spoke” method of scheduling flights, a method that would commonly create irregular traffic patterns. Instead, Southwest scheduled flights to reduce the time aircraft spent idle at gates, using a method known as “Point-to-point” flight scheduling. Southwest has done what others in its industry seem to struggle to do, which is to make flying fun. This has been the cornerstone for how the Southwest operates, thinks, and plans. Many of the policies, procedures, and practices Southwest has used are aimed directly at providing patrons with a unique, fun, and enjoyable experience. This value and the effort Southwest has made to place customers at the forefront of its plans and strategy, has paid off as the company is one of the most popular and well-respected in the transportation industry. …show more content…
This has helped Southwest create a family atmosphere in its headquarters. This family atmosphere manifests itself so far as the company covering its headquarter’s halls with photos taken at company events. The company has even gone further by developing a network of contacts that inform Southwest about important events happening in its employees lives. Also, ff an employee did something notable, Southwest would send a gift or a card to congratulating them on a job well-done. All of these elements helped build a strong corporate culture for Southwest. Now that Herb Kelleher has departed, it can be easy to foresee some difficulties in maintaining that family atmosphere. One difficulty being whether the company has the ability to maintain such close relationships with its customers as the market changes and the company grows. We also foresee some problems in maintaining competitive benefits as other companies are modifying their employee policies to become more competitive.
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.
In addition to that the culture of openness and not holding information for so long on important issues in the company makes it possible for the investors and employees make tough and timely decisions without having in mind the negative consequences that they may be facing if anything goes wrong. Chick-fil-A encourages the employees to be continuously innovative and lead the way in making little decisions both in the kitchen and at service space. For example employees are allowed to modify ingredients of food to feed special customers’ needs. The segmentation of the management structure on the other hand facilitates the ease of communication.
For example, all employees constantly communicate from baggage handlers to mechanics. Not only does this practice inculcate a sense of community among employees with vastly different skill sets and job requirements, it expedites turnaround time to get more planes from the gate and into the air (http://www.businessinsider.com/southwest-airlines-puts-employees-first-2015-7). Southwest also heartily encourages feedback through multiple channels, and has received many accolades for its recognition awards system, which allows passengers to identify by name specific employees who exemplify the Warrior Spirit. With a focus on the positive, employees can feel connected to the broader community, a clear example of servant
Another internal challenge for Southwest Airlines is the conflicting management style and business operation with AirTran. On top of that, the external challenges such as the increase of competitions and gas prices are some of issues f...
Despite its growing domestic network, the company didn’t offer international flights until July 2014, and even then, it only offered limited destinations (“Southwest Corporate Fact Sheet,” n.d.). Furthermore, the company’s reliance on a single aircraft is cause for concern. Southwest Airlines was also weak with technology utilization initially but has since turned this into an asset, as described later. Finally, the company has a limitation with providing customer perks due to its low-cost operations (Ross & Beath,
Southwest Airlines strategy of focusing on short haul passenger and providing rates as low as one third of their competitors, they have seen tremendous growth in the last decade. Market share for top city pairs on Southwest's schedule has reached 80% to 85%. Maintaining the largest fleet of 737's in the world and utilizing point-to-point versus the hub-and-spoke method of connection philosophy allowed Southwest to provide their service to more people at a lower cost. By putting the employee first, Southwest has found the key to success in the airline business. A happy worker is a more productive one as well as a better service provider. Southwest will continue to reserve their growth in the future by entering select markets only after careful market research.
Such loyalty and productivity among the employees was brought about by the way Southwest’s management treats them. As they say, the employees are willing to work hard for the company because they feel appreciated by the top management. Southwest maintains good employee relations because what they believe in is that if employees are happy, satisfied, dedicated, and energetic, they'll take real good care of the customers.
Southwest’s philosophy is that a fun attitude provides a balance in the workplace and it encourages employees not to take themselves too seriously. Additionally, Southwest Airlines’ inculcation of servant leadership into their business philosophy has also been attributed to their success as a company. The Robert E. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership describes a servant leader as one who “focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong”. Colleen Barrett, president emeritus of Southwest Airlines, explained that the difference between the Southwest pyramid structure and that of other companies is that most companies have their shareholders at the top of the pyramid but for Southwest, their employee satisfaction and the needs of their customers are the first priorities. Barrett also stated that Southwest’s philosophy is to follow their golden rule which is to “treat people the way you want to be treated”. By putting their employees first and treating employees as a part of the family, Southwest has been able to lead in the airline industry as a company with satisfied employees. (Barrett,
Advertising: As one of the largest domestic airlines, Southwest Airlines has an enormous advertising budget to sustain its presence and increase its market share through focusing on the benefits of flying Southwest over its competitors. Southwest recognizes that flying is no longer a pleasurable experience for many customers, even on Southwest, historically a budget airline. Even though Southwest is often regarded as a no-frills airline, it still attempts to build goodwill from its customers based on its advertising. Of the $249 million it spent on advertising in 2011, Southwest Airlines is unique in that it does not sell additional ad space on the exterior of its aircraft. Many domestic airlines have begun selling aircraft exterior space as a way to increase revenue, but Southwest Airlines insists that it wants to keep its product and advertisi...
Southwest Arilines has been facing direct competition in 9 routes of the intra-Califonia market with United Airlines and their "Shuttle By United." Shuttle By United was designed to be a high-frequency, low fare, minimal amenity, short-haul flight operation initially serving destinations in California and adjacent states who's intent wsa to "match Southwest's strategy." In the four months since Shuttle By United's inception competition has been fierce resulteing in Southwest and United slashing prices and envoking a merkteting blitz in this 9 route area. Recent news highlighted that Shuttle By United intended to discontinue some service (perticularly the Oakland-Ontraio route) and raise fares $10.00 per ticket. Southwest's respons to this and the coninued threat of losing market share to United should be:
Company had a culture on not giving up through all the adversities the company faced. Strengthening of employees that is when they are motivates employees and is important part of the company. Finally cost awareness is when reduce price in every progression in the business. Southwest airlines are a strong culture company because of how they make the employees feel as part of family. This makes the employees to work hard for the success and that success they see the company as expert and personal
The company’s cost leadership strategy of keeping their fares low to ensure frequent and convenient travel along with its playful, fun poking advertising, exciting promotional ways, and various vibrant ways of operation enabled the company to expand exuded its effect on both customer and competitors, thus lowering the prices in the new market. This is the ‘Southwest
The mission of Southwest Airlines is a dedication to the highest quality of service delivered with warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit (Mission…, 2007). The company also provides opportunities for learning and personal growth to each employee. Creativity and innovation is very important and highly encouraged, for the purposes of improving effectiveness. Employees are to be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that the employees are expected to share with the customer. Southwest Airlines was initially created to be a low-cost alternative to high price of intra-Texas air carriers (Freiberg, 1996). Southwest’s fares were originally supposed to compete with car and bus transportation. It was a little airline, and it would withstand the test of time. As a discount, no-frills airline, it would provide stiff competition for larger airlines. Their strategy was to operate at low cost, offering no food, no movies, no first class, and no reserved seats. They created their own market and provided increased turnaround times at the gate, by avoiding hub-and-spoke airports and opting for short-haul, direct flights. Through this market approach, Southwest has a majority of market share in the markets they serve.
Introduction Southwest Airlines was founded in 1971 by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher. The company began as a regional Texas-based airline serving short routes between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Since then, it evolved to become an esteemed national brand, operating more than 3,600 daily flights between 94 destinations.(SWA Corporate Fact Sheet, n.d.). Among its most salient achievements, Southwest Airlines has recognized 42 years of annual profitability and consistently ranked in the top four list of most profitable airlines in the USA (SWA Corporate Fact Sheet, n.d.). Southwest Airlines distinguishes itself from its competitors through sheer cost leadership.
Southwest Airlines has been known as one of the best airlines in the United States. It has been able to preserve a prominent position in the aviation industry with having a consistency in profitability for over 41 years. This is mostly because of the unique strategies Southwest adopted. They adopted to have a low-fare cost, no frills, but yet an excellent customer service. Southwest is not just a great company without flaws; it’s flawed just as the other airlines.