Hrmn 400

Southwest Airlines Co., established in 1971 by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher, began its operations with only three Boeing 737 aircrafts. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas(Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012). Southwest is well known as one of the largest low-cost carriers. With this strategy, the company has dramatically grown up and deeply rooted in the US airline industry. Now, Southwest Airlines Co. operates 633 aircrafts to 93 domestic cities and the highest number of passengers used Southwest Airlines to fly around U.S in Jan 2014 (Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012). To accomplish more than 40th consecutive years of both profitability and competitiveness, Southwest Airlines Company is constantly trying to find the routes to differentiate itself from other domestic carriers (Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012).

People – One of the many things good about Southwest Airlines is that the kinds of people who are heroes of the organization are people who care and go out of their way to help the customers. They’re the ones who are celebrated and held up as shining examples. Additionally, high levels of satisfaction among employees can be attributed to Southwest employee policy. Happy employees can provide high quality service and bring more customers back. To reinforce the culture of hard work, high-energy, fun, local autonomy, and creativity, the company provided continuous education program to employees. If you can help someone out or brighten someone’s day, be it a co-worker or a passenger, you’re doing your job well.

Southwest Airlines is a major US airline established in 1967 that services a multitude of cities in all 50 states and beyond. The company is known for its outstanding quality in providing services and it 's cost effective ticket prices to its many passengers throughout the nation. This airline is based in the southwestern United States, in the city of Dallas Texas, and due to the tremendous number of airplanes that it has and the timely service that it provides to its passengers, this airline services more US passengers than any other airline. This airline also has the largest fleet of planes of any economical or low-cost airline service in the world and employees more than 45,000.

Southwest Airlines (SWA) maintained a low-cost, low-price and no frills strategy. The small Texas carrier began as a concept, its business plan detailed on a cocktail napkin in 1971 and grew into the nation’s fourth largest airline. Known as an innovator with low operating costs, dominating smaller airports, with a humorous customer service, SWA saw its 40th profitable year in 2013. Like all companies, SWA underwent leadership changes in 2001, and said goodbye to the company’s founder in 2008. Unfortunately, the changes in leadership were not the only changes; the organization proceeded to alter their beliefs and activities.

At Southwest Airlines, the company’s business strategy has a positive effect on the training they provide to their employees. Southwest Airlines is a Texas based airline that started up in 1971 (Corporate Fact Sheet). Over the years the airline has been recognized for its outstanding customer service and its low airfare fees. Due to their excellent customer service, the company has been ranked number one in customer satisfaction in 2013 by the U.S Department of Transportation. In. 2015, Southwest airlines was recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in the Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award. The reason that Southwest airlines is recognized for all these great things is because they obtain a good organizational control over the airline.

As the low-cost leader, Southwest spends an inordinate amount of time focusing on its mission, vision, culture, and goals. This concentration allows Southwest to rank as one of the 100 Best Companies to work for in America. The employee’s attitudes and efforts lead to fewer customer complaints and more on-time arrivals and departures.

Southwest Airlines' strong organizational culture is reflected in its mission statement "dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit" (Southwest, 2012). Southwest serves not only as a prime example of a company that excels in customer service and profitability, but as one that has utilized employee development as a means to meet these ends. Southwest makes a strong commitment to foster ongoing relationships with human resources. They demand that their employees are responsible members, however

During the rapid globalization, being one of the topmost and sustainable airlines is not easy due to the highly competitive airlines industry. Southwest Airlines, founded by Rolling King, Herbert Kelleher, and Lamar Muse in 1967, is considered a very long history of success following its goal that emphasizes on customers’ satisfaction. The key of organizational success relies on human value of Southwest CEO, managers, and employees who try to help each other in order to reach the customers’ best service because these people are the major factors to justify their own images that represent their organization. Furthermore, Southwest has motivated its employees to be more creative and improvable by allowing suitable norms and

Southwest Airlines’ greatest strength is the great climate that it creates for employees. The company is recognized as one of

When Herb Kelleher and Rollin King founded Southwest Airlines in 1971, their mission stated the “dedication of the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit” (Smith, 2012). With that mission in mind, Herb Keller and Rollin King managed to make Southwest the only profitable airline in the United States (Smith, 2012). Southwest’s mission is not the only reason why the airline continues to grow. Without the way, Herb Kelleher former CEO of Southwest, had developed a particular leadership style, power base, and a set way the organization motivates its’ work force, the company would not be as successful as it is

The management style of Southwest airline is characterized by how greatly it takes care of its employees’ well-being. The management considers it as a mean to achieve higher customer satisfaction: “Keep employees happy, then they will keep customers happy”.

According to the 2016 North America Airline Satisfaction Study conducted by J. D. Power in the low-cost carrier segment, Southwest Airlines ranked second, and improved in aircraft and flight crew factors (see Figure 2). The 2016 North America Airline Satisfaction Study measures passenger satisfaction among both business and leisure travelers of major carriers in North America. The study is based on responses from 10,348 passengers who flew on a major North American airline between March 2015 and March 2016. The study was fielded between April 2015 and March 2016. Southwest also consistently shows up on the top of employee satisfaction studies. Forbs lists Southwest Airlines as the 13th best employer in 2016. Glassdoor rated as one of the companies with the most satisfied employees. Southwest ranks particularly high on work/life balance, career opportunities, employee morale and culture. Southwest also offer perks such as free travel for spouses, children and parents as well as having higher rating for “paying fair wages than peers”. It is also fun to work at Southwest; the core ideology is that fun and work can be combined and having a fun-LUVing attitude means to “Be a passionate Team Player/ Don’t take yourself too seriously/ Celebrate successes”.

All of the Southwest Airline’s board members contribute significantly to the corporation in terms of knowledge, skills, background, and connections. Every board member has held a top management position in the aviation industry and therefore has the knowledge, skills, and background necessary to make executive decisions regarding the corporation. In addition, each board member has been in the aviation industry for at least twenty years and has connections with multiple executives in the market. The board members of Southwest Airlines are particularly concerned with

Southwest Airlines’ company strategy consists of competitive moves and business approaches management has developed to attract and please customers, conduct operations, grow the business, and achieve performance objectives (J. Gamble & A. Thompson. 2009. p. 2). In writing to inform the management team of the discussion, we will discuss Southwest’s operating practices, their struggles, cultures and values, and how the airline strategically manages their business to obtain the goals needed to be a successful airline.

Southwest Airlines has been a strong growing company over the last 4 decades. Using its low-cost, no-frill, customer friendly, point-to-point operational strategy, Southwest has been able to sustain considerable growth over the years and reported straight profits since its inception. Southwest Airlines now has a market capitalization of $9.1 billion and is positioned as one of the strongest airlines in the struggling airlines industry. Over the last decade, many airlines have reported record losses in the US while many have filed for bankruptcy. However, Southwest has been able to remain profitable and continued to grow. However, with the airline reaching its maturity, it remains to see whether this growth can be sustained for the upcoming years. This external and internal analysis is aimed to guide the strategic management of company in understanding the environment its business operates in, and how it can respond to that environment by realizing its internal resources.