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Weakness of southwest airlines culture
Weakness of southwest airlines culture
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Southwest Airlines has come a long way since its start in 1971 with only about 30 employees. Southwest now employs over 30,000 employees. The company has put customers first from the very beginning and many believe that this is the reason for Southwest's great success.
To entice customer loyalty, Southwest was the first airline company to begin a frequent flyer program to reward customers for the amount of miles flown. Since starting this program, many other airlines have followed suit. In addition to the frequent flyer program, Southwest has also introduced several other unique programs for their customers. These programs include senior discounts, fun packs, fun fairs, and ticketless travel.
In addition to being known for excellent customer service, Southwest Airlines is also known for being a great employer. Southwest has a unique approach to motivating their employees. Because of this, Southwest was ranked second in Fortune's top 100 companies to work for and also Fortunes top 10 admired companies. The secret to Southwest's success is simply caring about the employees and treating them as though they matter, because they do.
One of the biggest perks to being an employee of Southwest airlines is free airfare. Southwest gives free airfare to employees, spouses, parents, and children of employees. It is a simple, yet effective benefit to employees. It allows for frequent reunions or getaways.
Another benefit to being a Southwest employee is the profit sharing plan. Southwest Airlines has maintained a profit for the last 32 years. Therefore, profit sharing is very valuable to employees. Profit sharing is a great motivator for the employees also, it allows t...
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Southwest Airlines' internal culture is what sets it apart from others in the airline industry. Each employee is given the general guidelines of their responsibilities and role in the company and then encouraged and expected to go outside those guidelines. The more the employees are involved with the company, the more successful it will be.
References
Blank, D., Wood, A., Wood, C. (2003). A Matter of Ethics. The Internal Auditor. 60(1)
Southwest Airlines. U.S. Chamber of Commerce. www.uschamber.com/bclc/profiles/southwest.com. Retrieved from the World Wide Web May 11, 2007.
Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine. http://www.spiritmag.com/colleenscorner/index.php
Southwest Airlines-Fact Sheet. http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/press/factsheet.html
http://callcenterhelper.com/games/htm
http://www.uschamber.com/bclc/profiles/southwest.htm
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,
Also, Southwest is renowned in the airline industry for its short turnaround time on arrivals and departures. And since people's biggest concern nowadays is money and time, having low price airline tickets to cater their traveling needs in a shorter period of time will surely satisfy them. Moreover, aside from the low prices offered, what attracts customers is Southwest’s way of dealing with them. The employees of the airline treat their customers well and really listen to their needs. Southwest Airlines is also well-known for having a very productive and loyal workforce.
Since 1987, when the Department of Transportation began tracking Customer Satisfaction statistics, Southwest has consistently led the entire airline industry with the lowest ratio of complaints per passengers boarded. Many airlines have tried to copy Southwest’s business model, and the Culture of Southwest is admired and emulated by corporations and organizations in all walks of life. Always the innovator, Southwest pioneered Senior Fares, a same-day air freight delivery service, and Ticketless Travel. Southwest led the way with the first airline web page—southwest.com, DING, the first-ever direct link to Customer’s computer desktops that delivers live updates on the hottest deals, and the first airline corporate blog, Nuts About Southwest. Our Share the Spirit community programs make Southwest the hometown airline of every city we serve.
The marketing approach of Southwest Airlines is built upon their strong business model. They have successfully managed to target two specific market segments of the airline industry while remaining profitable. Their strategy is simple, to offer frequent non-stop flights with the lowest costs which appeal to both the business and budget travelers. By segmenting their target audience to specific demographics and ticket pricing, passengers know exactly what they are getting for the price they pay.
Southwest's philosophy of "Service for Smiles and Profits" encourages employees to treat customer service as the most important aspect of their job. It appears that when employees strive for this high level of service, the rest takes care of itself and success is inevitable (Amanor-Boadu, 2007). Southwest Airline's management structure is designed to carefully direct the activities of employees while still maintaining the spirit of "fun" that is the cornerstone of the airlines' customer service success (Lancaster, 1999). The fundamental concept of management at Southwest is the notion of a "loose-tight" design. Within the context of tight rules of conduct, employees are encouraged to take a wide degree of leeway. For example, the company encourages employees to make their own customer service decisions. Employees are encouraged to try new things, knowing that they will not be punished for innovation as long as they do not violate safety standards, endanger crew or passengers, or keep a plane from taking off or landing on time; this allowed not only to increase the speed of service but it allowed to increase the quality of it too.
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 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.
This is why they have become a company with high retention rates. Southwest Airlines is voted “the best place to work” for a simple reason. The company invests in their employees and is committed to their values and vision through training and development.
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.
Nevertheless, the passengers have a variety today. Southwest airlines have joined the major companies in 1960s and rapidly became very popular due to cheap prices, reduced travel time and customer services. According to the graph presented below, the company had the biggest market share in 2015 based on domestic flights. Southwest has an exclusive deal with Boeing and only uses efficient planes that allow the passengers to get to the destinations in less time. Boeing 737 is a smaller plane that does not need as much fuel.
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.
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.
The low cost and no frills strategy is make travel affordable at low cost. The company only operates one type of aircraft which is Boeing 737 to help maintenance cost low. Southwest was the first airline to use E-ticketing in this way customer can reserve spot and buy ticket on their web and allow less expense in printing tickets. Medium measured airports which allowed them to produce better time performance and less fuel costs so plane do not have to wait in the line at the runway. The core value of the company of “LUV and fun” makes the company great place to work that gives customer with a great experience.
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...
It all started in 1971, when Rolling King and Herb Kelleher decided to challenge the existing rut of charging high prices for air travels. They considered the railways and roadways their competitors and decided to offer cheaper travel for smaller routes. The company was incorporated in 1967, apart from initial entry troubles, Southwest has been the only US airline to have earned profits since 1973. The eccentric company’s outlandish way of conducting themselves has been the sole reason for Southwest Airlines to succeed in a highly competitive and packed industry.