Southwest Airlines is one of the
most profitable airlines in today’s aviation industry. Because of their success
in both internal and external accomplishments they have been recognized by
Fortune Magazine as one of the most profitable airlines among its competitors.
For 34 years Southwest has been profitable every single quarter bringing their
net income to $499 million dollars in 2006. What’s even more remarkable is that
Southwest has won the Triple Crown award for five years in a row. This award is
given to airlines who are “number one in the most on time flights, least lost
baggage and fewest customer complaints” (Cooper, Lopper and Trammell, 2007).
While Southwest offers flights at an affordable rate
and works hard to ensure that they are providing top notch customer service to
their customers, what makes Southwest so successful has nothing to do with
profits, or statistics. Their success has plenty to do with how they treat
their customers, but even more so Southwest is successful because of how they
treat their own people. Colleen Barrett is the President of SWA and works hard
to consistently bridge gaps between departments and employees to ensure that
every member of her organization feels appreciated and respected. Barrett’s
idea of servant leadership allows for the employees of Southwest to recognize
and encourage one another in their efforts and contributions to the
organization.
“In today’s organizations, change leaders are
seeking to make a more fundamental shift in the capabilities of their
organization. They are not looking for marginal improvements; their goal is to
reinvent themselves” (Brown, Pg, 62, 2011). In order to keep the Southwest
spirit alive and thriving, Colleen Barrett and Herb Kelleher, the founder and chairman
of the board for SWA created the Southwest Culture Committee which has become
the foundation of SWA’s fun loving spirit and takes appreciation and
recognition to a whole new level. Barrett’s unique vision and innovative ways
of showing gratitude exemplify the definition of a corporate culture.
Barrett’s ability to implement change is contagious.
She has worked tirelessly to strategically create a team dedicated to
establishing a positive, productive and rewarding culture for SWA. The Culture
Committee’s mission is simple; “to help create the Southwest spirit and culture
where needed; to enrich it and make it better where it already exists; and to
liven it up in places where it might be floundering” (Cooper, Lopper and
Trammell, 2007). Southwest believes that their customers come second to their
employees. Each member of the Southwest team puts in their efforts to help
promote the feeling of family and cohesiveness that many organizations are
lacking today. Instead of members working to tear each other down, like you may
see in other competitive organizational environments, Southwest employees do
just the opposite. They work extra hard to build each other up. “A corporate
culture must achieve goals as well as satisfy the needs of the members if the
organization is to be effective” (Brown, Pg, 65, 2011). With Southwest being
named number one for Fortune magazines “100 best Companies to Work for in
America” (Cooper, Lopper and Trammell, 2007), I would say that they have not
only met this challenge, but surpassed it.
While Southwest seems to have truly figured out the
element of success for a dedicated culture amongst their members, I believe
that other organizations including my own could incorporate just a touch of the
culture for change that SWA has implemented into their organizational
structure. In order for my organization to benefit from such an enhanced and
effective culture, I believe that it should begin with bridging together the
gaps between departments and tiers that we currently have. There are a lot of
grey areas in some of our current processes and procedures and I don’t feel as
though each department understands or respects what their various departmental counterparts
accomplish on a day to day basis. I think that sometimes many members of
various departments are too quick to place blame or simply overlook all of the duties
and responsibilities of their colleagues around them. I feel that if we
incorporated various training and “get to know you” sessions we could begin to
start to trust one another rather than place blame where it shouldn’t be.
Herb Kelleher has said that “culture is one of the
most precious things that a company has, so you must work harder on it than
anything else” however the difficulty with culture is that “an organization may
also have subcultures with differing or even conflicting corporate cultures”
(Brown, Pg 64, 2011). This statement has made me realize that while an
organization may do their best to implement a positive cultural environment,
they are unable to control the subcultures that may be unexpectedly finding
their way into the organizational hierarchy. Therefore I believe that employee
support and recognition of one another would be a great change to start implementing
into our organizational structure. This would help with creating a more
internalized and identified and influential corporate culture that we could all
follow. By following a more defined Corporate Culture Index, we could enhance
our contributions to “member identity, team emphasis, people focus, autonomy,
control, and risk tolerance” (Brown, Pg, 65, 2011).
Corporate culture is defined as the “tangible and
intangible characteristics of an organization including aspirations, reward
systems, behaviors, assumptions, performance, rituals, communications and
heritage” (Brown, Pg, 63, 2011). In order for a balanced vision to take place in
an organization, it needs a model for change that is attainable and
respectable. In order to accomplish this, I question how Southwest deals with
resistance to cultural change or the implementations of change strategy. I
question how new strategies are devised and executed in order to ensure their
success especially when faced with technological, social and global challenges.
I would also ask, what small scale changes Southwest may implement when a large
scale change needs to take place but may be inhibited at the time due to certain
regulations or policies and procedures. Lastly, I would want to know how
Southwest deals with those who oppose change or are not welcoming to it. When
commitment to the organizational culture is challenged, what steps are taken to
ensure that one bad apple doesn’t ruin the bunch? While I am sure that SWA does
experience barriers to their successes, it is clear that what they are doing is
working, and their dedication to organizational culture has a lot to do with
it.
Cassandra
R.
References
Brown,
D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development(8th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
McGee-Cooper, A., Looper, G., &
Trammell, D. (2008). The Power of LUV: An Inside Peek at the Innovative
Culture Committee of Southwest Airlines. Reflections, 9(1),
49-54. Retrieved from
http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/ehost/detail?sid=18beacdb-0bd1-4187-a44d-8ae929b6fa39%40sessionmgr113&vid=1&hid=118&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=32040287
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