Southwest Airlines Culture, Mission and Values

southwestern United States Airlines Culture, Mission and ValuesThe most impressive thing I find about Southwest Airlines (SWA) is the history of the company. I actually admire how Herb Kelleher fought to create SWA, even when everything and every atomic number 53 was a draw inst him, and how his warrior spirit has shaped the organizations finishing and actionance. likewise it is very impressive to me how the company can be profitable with a low cost system. It is well known that airlines companies do not gain any gain even with high ticket prices so it is rightfully amazing to me how SWA is successful in this point.Finally I am really impressed with its human resources management and the spirit of the company. I found really interesting that a customer driven business dedicated to sales has one of its sum of money principles stating Employees come head start and customers come second. I think it is a really smart thought to believe that happy employees will keep customers ha ppy.What regularize would you give Southwest management for the hypothesise it has done in crafting the companys outline? What is it that you like or dislike about the strategy? Does Southwest have a winning strategy?In my opinion, management did a great job crafting the strategy of the company. At the beginning, Herb Kelleher saw a market opportunity with the flight triangle and fought hard to sustain the company. With his performance and behavior indirectly he was setting the pillars of Southwest. Since the beginning Herb established the mission and vision of Southwest and objectives pointing out the path to follow. overly Herb hired very talented executives and managers with untold experience in the sector.The only thing that I do not like about the SWA strategy is that I think is limited on growth. The planes leveraged, the airports operative at and some in-flight improvements such as not offering meals limit the possibility of expanding internationally.According to the bo ok Essentials of Strategic Management (Chapter 1) to know if a company winning strategy, 3 questions can be usedDoes the strategy fit the companys situation?Has the strategy yielded a sustainable competitive advantage?Has the strategy produced good financial performance?In my opinion, SWA has excellent performance in each of the questions.The strategy fit competitive conditions in the industry (external) and has important resources and capabilities. Also the cost reductions carried out by the company confers a competitive advantage over competitors and the financial performance is excellent.What are the key policies, procedures, operating practices, and core determine underlying Southwests efforts to implement and execute its low-cost/no frills strategy?They key policies that I find on Southwest areUsing only one type of airplane as it is explained in the case, using only Boeing 737 allowed them to minimize to minimize the size of spare parts inventories, simplify the training of m aintenance and animise personnel, improve the proficiency and speed with which maintenance routines could be done, and simplify the task of scheduling planes for particular flights1.Introduction of ticketless travel this element helped SWA to reduce cost think to travel agents and emission of paper tickets2.Deemphasizing of congested airports, helping them to produce better-than-average on-time performance and reduce fuel cost3.Implementation of point-to-point scheduling of flights, which is much cost-efficient than the hub-and-spoke systems implemented by competitor airlines4.Use of fuel hedging and derivate contracts to counteract rising prices for crude oil and jet fuel.Empowerment of employees and TQM approach, contributing to fast bother solving and efficiency.The motto employees are first, customers second has generated a safe company culture motivating employees to do their jobs in the best way, achieve goals and objectives more expeditiously and thus, creating a direct contribution to the companys profitability.What are the key elements of Southwests culture? Is Southwest a strong culture company? Why or why not? What problems do you fancy that Gary Kelly has in sustaining the culture now that Herb Kelleher, the companys spiritual leader, has departed?The culture of Southwest Airlines primarily involves giving brilliance and emphasis on the overall welfare of its employees, having its operative principle of employees come first and customers come second. Particularly, the key elements of SWA culture areFun atmosphere and utilization environment promoted through with(predicate) entertaining behaviors in performing their jobs, an ongoing pranks and jokes, and frequent company-sponsored parties and celebrations.High recompense and numerous incentives.Can do attitude this enables the employees of the company perform their jobs effectively, solve problems efficiently, overcome adversities and celebrate the companys success.Companys culture of not g iving up developed through all the adversities the company had to faceCost-consciousness seeking to reduce cost in every step of the business.Empowerment of employees this motivates employees and makes them feel as an important part of the company.In my opinion it is clear that that Southwest Airlines is a strong culture company. All elements pointed before make employees of SWA feel as part of a big family rather than merely employees of accompany who does not care about them. This pure tone make the employees to work hard for the success of the company and they see the companys success as professional and personal exercises.Regarding the problems that I can foresee with Gary Kellys promotion, and according to the information given in the case, I cannot foresee real problems on sustaining the culture. Gary has been in the company for enough time to know which ones are the core values of SWA and the key elements of its success. Maybe the only problem I foresee is that Kelleher was very important for the organization and it will take a while to Gary to gain that position but the path that he will walk will be the same as the one walked by his predecessor. This is sustained with the video watched in class. In the video Gary Kelly was presented as a down to earth boss who knows most of his employees, and still follows the ideas established by Kelleher like treating the customers as queens and kings and employees better.What grade would you give Southwest management for the job it has done in implementing and executing the companys strategy? Which of Southwests strategy execution approaches and operating practices do you believe have been most polar in accounting for the success that Southwest has enjoyed in executing its strategy? Are there any policies, procedures, and operating approaches at Southwest that you scorn of or that are not operative well?According to the book Essentials of Strategic Management (chapter 10) a successful strategy must have 8 comp onentsIn my opinion, SWA is successful in most of the eight pointsSWA is mainly characterized on recruiting the best and bights people they can find and then retain them with excellent compensation packages, opportunities for rapid advancement and professional growth, and challenging and interesting assignments5.The success of SWA was to tackle those activities that were critical in its low-cost strategy. The company only operates one type of aircraft, was the first company to introduce ticketless travel or point-to-point scheduling of flights. These are just few examples on how research and marketing departments put their entire effort on finding ways to reduce cost in every step of the service offered.Also the TQM approach is very good implement due to the authorisation of employees at all levels empowering people to take decisions will make a positive difference every day6and the improvement of total customer service and satisfaction by hiring personnel who enjoyed interacting w ith customers and developing marketing tools as frequent-flyer program and rapid reward based on trips flown rather than mileage.SWA has a really strong corporate culture fostered by its executive management level. In SWA managers are expected to spend at least one-third of their time out of the office, paseo around the facilities under their supervision, observing firsthand what is going on, listening to employees, and being responsive to their concerns. Also company executives are very approachable and in 1990 create a Culture Committee. All this things also help to pursue the goal of customer satisfaction.SWA also believed in training and promotions. Approximately 80-90% of SWA supervisory positions were filled internally. Also the salaries are above the industry average. It introduced a profit sharing plan for senior employees and stock option programs. All this contributes significantly on tying rewards to the achievement of performance objectives.For all this reasons I think that SWA management deserves an A for the job done in executing the companys strategy.The approaches and operating practices most crucial in accounting for the success that Southwest has enjoyed in executing its strategy has been their cost containment, recruiting process and organizations culture.Regarding the policies, procedures, and operating approaches that are not working well I can see that there is a weakness regarding the support systems. Many case analysis of the company point out that Southwest must be required to modify and upgrade a significant portion of its internal software to guarantee that its computer systems will function properly.What weaknesses or problems do you see at Southwest Airlines?The weakness I see in SWA is related to one point of its strategy. The current strategy of only immobile to second line airports represents a problem of limited growth and there are still big cities in the USA without SWA services. And this is contradictory with the ideas of Gary C. Kelly. As it is explained in the case, during his tenure as a CEO, Kelly has worked with other top-level Southwest executives to sharpen and fine-tunes SWAs strategy in a number of areas and continued expanding the operations (adding both more flights and initiating service to new airports). The current strategy has a space limit that will restrain companys desires of expansion.What recommendations would you make to Gary Kelly?The first recommendation I will make to Gary Kelly is to try to keep going with the company as it is, feeding companys culture and good environment. Also try to keep their low-cost strategy even through bad times.The second suggestion I would make to Gary Kelly will be to modernize its fleet ( I have read that it is a bit old), purchase bigger planes and expand the flights to other main cities in the U.S and expand their business to other countries close to the U.S such as Mexico or Canada.