Study Document
Southwest Airlines - Business Success Term Paper
Pages:4 (1176 words)
Sources:2
Subject:Business
Topic:Southwest Airlines
Document Type:Term Paper
Document:#36399469
The company continually stressed the human nature of travel, and strove to make airplane travel affordable and enjoyable. Many people who used Southwest Airlines had never been able to fly before. However, the 'customer did not come first' at Southwest -- rather the customer came second, even though they "still got great service" (Friedberg & Friedberg 268). The company stood behind its employees, and allowed flight crews, for example, to use their expertise and knowledge to make autonomous decisions, rather than force the crews to worry about upsetting sensitive customers. The company believed that low fares and hospitality were what most customers care about, and did not focus on catering to customers with minor complaints. "Love doesn't guarantee approval... Although many people equate love and approval, they are not the same. Real love comes without conditions; it doesn't depend on anything. Approval must be earned by our performance" (Freiberg & Freiberg 228).
Southwest fulfilled its promises to its employees with real, hard dollars as well. As well as free airfare, Southwest offered an extensive profit sharing arrangement for its employees, a competitive salary and insurance benefits. Today, its employees rank themselves as highly satisfied with the company: "Southwest receives a minimum of 100,000 job applicants per year and consistently has the lowest turnover rate of any airline. People leaving is virtually nonexistent," ("Best practices case Study: Best perks, Southwest Airlines," the Vault, 2008). Only at Southwest could a legal secretary like current president Colleen Barrett move from the position of legal secretary to the corporate suite while, working with mentor and company co-founder Herb Kelleher. Barrett states proudly that she spends "85% of her time as president dealing with worker issues," which is based upon the idea "that a happy and motivated workforce will essentially extend that goodwill to Southwest's customers" ("Southwest Airlines' Colleen Barrett flies high on fuel hedging and 'servant leadership,'" 2008).
Follow up
Even after the attacks of 9/11 caused a crisis of confidence in the airline industry, Southwest continued to have the highest customer ratings of any airline and was the only airline not to engage in 'mass firings.' Today, Southwest is the only airline in America who had had a profit every year since 1973 and continues to service twice as many customers per employee as any other airline (Kjerrulf 2003)
Case Report
Southwest's success is judged particularly impressive because it occurred in one of the most difficult economic sectors for companies to excel, that of the airline industry. But its lessons are applicable to all companies. Treat the intelligence of employees as an asset, do not pander to them. Assemble a great team with a rigorous screening process, but once a person is hired, give the employee fair compensation and consideration if there is a problem. Don't hide behind empty rhetoric -- there is nothing to be ashamed of if you give customers a high-quality, no-frills product -- provided it is served with a smile, and some 'nuts.'
Works Cited
Best practices case Study: Best perks, Southwest Airlines." The Vault. Retrieved 4 Aug 2008 at http://www.vault.com/nr/newsmain.jsp?nr_page=3&ch_id=401&article_id=19258&cat_id=1089
Case study: Southwest Airlines." (2005). CPP. Retrieved 4 Aug 2008 at http://www.cpp.com/pr/southwest_airlines_2006.pdf
Freiberg, K. & J. Freiberg. (1997). Nuts. New York: Broadway, 1998.
Kjerrulf, Alexander. (19 Jan 2003). "Book review: Nuts!" Positive Sharing. Retrieved 4 Aug 2008 at http://positivesharing.com/2003/01/book-review-nuts/
Southwest Airlines' Colleen Barrett flies high on fuel hedging and 'servant leadership.' (Jul 2008). Retrieved 4 Aug 2008 at http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2006
Sample Source(s) Used
Works Cited
Best practices case Study: Best perks, Southwest Airlines." The Vault. Retrieved 4 Aug 2008 at http://www.vault.com/nr/newsmain.jsp?nr_page=3&ch_id=401&article_id=19258&cat_id=1089
Case study: Southwest Airlines." (2005). CPP. Retrieved 4 Aug 2008 at http://www.cpp.com/pr/southwest_airlines_2006.pdf
Freiberg, K. & J. Freiberg. (1997). Nuts. New York: Broadway, 1998.
Kjerrulf, Alexander. (19 Jan 2003). "Book review: Nuts!" Positive Sharing. Retrieved 4 Aug 2008 at http://positivesharing.com/2003/01/book-review-nuts/
Related Documents
Study Document
Southwest Airlines Porter's Five Forces
For short haul routes, customers have the option of driving or even taking the train. There are often low switching costs associated with driving. As the hassles associated with flying have increased, switching has increased as well. While flights on longer routes are faster, there is often a price-performance tradeoff. The longer the flight, the lower the threat of substitutes. The intensity of rivalry is high in the airline industry.
Study Document
Sw Airline Case Study There
That is primarily due to the spirit of teamwork the company instills on human workforce. Another reason for success in this regard is the maintenance of certain rules and principles followed by everyone: the CEO, Vice-Presidents, pilots, flight attendants, and receptionists. For example, flight attendants do not necessarily wait until people from a specific department come in and clean up the plane seats; they do the task on their
Study Document
Holstein, William J. . "At Southwest,
Leaders must exist on every level for an organization to thrive, says Parker. "Frontline leadership, which is in many ways the most important level of leadership, is the area where a lot of companies fall apart. When they think about leadership training, what they're usually thinking about are executives who might be a vice-president or CEO someday. They don't put as much effort into training those frontline leaders, which is
Study Document
South West Airlines It Is
Not only is the airline the lowest cost operator, but is also one of the most successful airlines, which has managed to maintain the same amount of success through numerous years, winning quite a few awards for excellence and performance over the years. The success may be attributed to no small extent to the fact that there is no actual PR Department or even a Personnel Department; rather, there
Study Document
Employee Development and Retention Training,
Another example of a company thinking in advance of a possible skills gap is Southwest Airlines. This offers internships to elected students who are provided on-the-job training. Thus, if the company finds itself at a loss in terms of skills, it can anytime resort to the fresh new trainees (http://www.southwest.com/careers/interns/intern.html). 5. Employee Relations Program An employee relation program should be made up of several major components like: rules that must be obeyed
Study Document
HR Effective Hiring Practices
Hiring Processes for Employment One of the most critical determining factors of whether an employee will succeed in a position or not takes place before the employee even becomes part of the organization in the form of the hiring process. Employers may use a wide variety of potential methods to notify candidates about potential jobs. The most straightforward method is that of advertisements on websites, both general and trade-based.[footnoteRef:1] While