Southwest has made an organization out of providing low-fare, short haul routes between city pairs. It has concentrated specifically on offering low-fares on all of its flights by maintaining its no frills attitude and high frequency of flights. This has afforded Southwest Airlines with the lowest cost structure in the industry. Southwest has created a niche for itself by flying a network of flights between smaller U.S. cities that average just one hour apart. This has differentiated them from their competition and avoided many clashes with industry giants who concentrate more on coast-to-coast flights. Kelleher, who is the president, chairman and CEO of Southwest Airlines is the companies single biggest asset and driving force. Kelleher runs the company very tightly and makes all the major decisions through a very centralized decision making process. This brings to light two potential problems. Firstly, how can a company such as Southwest airlines maintain such a centralized organization in the face of growth. Secondly, how is this company going to survive once Kelleher is no longer running it.
The problem that Southwest Airline is facing, is how are they going to survive in an aggressive industry without Kelleher’s leadership. It is a significant problem as the company is a symbol of Kelleher. However, unlike the company, Kelleher has a limited life-span and therefore the company will likely outlive him. This problem therefore requires some urgency as the succession of Kelleher could be the airlines biggest problem. The consequences of Kelleher leaving could be that the company loses its corporate identity. Employees may not respond well to new management. Customers may perceive that the company will not be run in the same manner and will therefore lose its niche market. This could also apply to stakeholders, who will see the departure of Kelleher as a serious decrease in the value of the company. Competitors may also try to take advantage of the company during this unstable period.
Kelleher is the face of Southwest airlines, even going as far as starring in most of their TV commercials. He also personally maintains an excellent relationship with a virtually all-union workforce. He has single handedly given Southwest the lowest employees turnover rate in the industry. Kelleher’s personal motiva...
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The implementation of this decision will require a marketing campaign that will be used to phase out Kelleher. The major resistance will be from the employees who will be fearful of new management. This will be addressed by the management team reinforcing the corporate strategies to the employees and reiterating the fact that Southwest airlines will remain the same company and the employees should expect things to stay the same. The ramifications of this plan is that power within Southwest could become to decentralized, therefore changing the core competencies of the firm.
In order for this plan to work it would require: Assembling a team to head the marketing campaign, restructuring of upper management, and decentralize decision making. The objective is to redefine and restructure the upper management in such a way that the loss of Kelleher is manageable. This plans effectiveness will be measured by employee and customer satisfaction throughout the transition. The project will be concluded when the new structure has been phased in and the reaction to Kelleher’s departure is under control.
The Airline Industry is a fascinating market. It has been one of the few industries to reach astounding milestones. For example, over 200 airlines have gone out of business since deregulation occurred in 1978. Currently, more than 50% of the airlines in the industry are operating under Chapter 11 regulations. Since 9/11, four of the six large carriers have filed for and are currently under bankruptcy court protection. Since 9/11 the industry has lost over $30 billion dollars, and this loss continues to increase. Despite the fact that the airline industry is in a state of despair, JetBlue has become the golden example, a glimpse of what the industry could be.
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,
Southwest Airlines: A Case Analysis. ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS It is evident that the greatest strength Southwest Airlines has is its financial stability. As known in the US airline industry, Southwest is one of those airlines who are consistently earning profits despite the problems the industry is facing. With such stability, the corporation is able to make decisions and adjust policies, which other heavily burdened airlines may not be able to imitate.
Southwest’s philosophy is that a fun attitude provides a balance in the workplace and it encourages employees not to take themselves too seriously. Additionally, Southwest Airlines’ inculcation of servant leadership into their business philosophy has also been attributed to their success as a company. The Robert E. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership describes a servant leader as one who “focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong”. Colleen Barrett, president emeritus of Southwest Airlines, explained that the difference between the Southwest pyramid structure and that of other companies is that most companies have their shareholders at the top of the pyramid but for Southwest, their employee satisfaction and the needs of their customers are the first priorities. Barrett also stated that Southwest’s philosophy is to follow their golden rule which is to “treat people the way you want to be treated”. By putting their employees first and treating employees as a part of the family, Southwest has been able to lead in the airline industry as a company with satisfied employees. (Barrett,
In the airline industry, Southwest Airlines is considered a true innovator. By shaking up the rules of flying and improving upon inefficient industry norms, Southwest has quickly grown by leaps and bounds. From the very start, Southwest Airlines' goals were to make a profit, achieve job security for every employee, and make flying affordable for more people (Southwest,2007). Southwest has not strayed from these goals. It does not buy huge aircrafts, fly international routes or try to go head to head with the major carriers; and thanks to a great planning, Southwest airlines has become the most successful airline company in the U.S., if not the world.
Northwest Airlines is one of the pioneers in the airline transportation industry and is ranked at the fourth largest air carrier in the United States today. The success of the carrier depends on the quality and reliability of the service at a reasonable price. Close competitors force Northwest to innovate their services by increasing efficiency. This essay will try to examine different perspectives in the services needed to successfully complete the company’s objectives. The analysis will explain historical and financial perspectives that may give a better understanding of the current market trend of the organization.
The promotion of employees from within is a fact and testament of their successful development and training program. Southwest Airlines has a program designed to strategically developed managers in an intensive Manager-in-Training program that prepares them for the next level. The university is the umbrella for training and development for Southwest since 9/11 which has focused on enhancing its curriculum to help employees achieve their goals. Southwest Airlines provides a Career Development Group that helps employees focus on personal and career growth. This is accomplished by working on a component that will align the employee’s personal development needs and strengths so they can grow more. It also encompasses a skills assessment that’s structured toward helping employees align their degree to a specific job within the company. As stated before, Southwest’s purpose is designed to encourage employee fulfillment and by their Career Development services help them become more fulfilled in their jobs. According to their philosophy, Southwest Airlines hires for attitude and trains for skills. 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 are committed to their values and
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.
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.
It has stayed relevant to the market through its propelled philosophy of relationships to generate profits in the business. Since its establishment in Monroe, Louisiana the once tiny airline has stretched to greater heights serving in 6 continents. It has also established a distinguishable name among its competitors with a reputation of leading customer services. However, even as an established venture, the company needs to maximize its profits in order to stay in business and expand in to new territories beyond its conquered boundaries. A strategic analysis was carried out by our team to establish the company’s current situation. A SWOT analysis was performed to come up with three referenced, strategic alternatives. This alternatives are meant to act as a strategic guidance to the company in order to enhance growth. The strategic recommendation provided will improve and enable the business to cope with the competitors while the implementation of the strategy section will outline the way to go about achieving these alternatives in the business setting. Lastly, we put up a discussion on the evaluation procedures and necessary controls for the
This was a sad day for everyone in both the immediate and extended “Delta family,” a day perhaps as sad in its own way as the death of Mr. Woolman almost 40 years before. The sadness mixes with fear by employees and retirees, their families, stockholders, customers, vendors, taxpayers, governments and all others among the tens of thousands impacted by the bankruptcy. Leadership decisions by Delta’s Board and CEO’s over a long period of years laid the foundation for Delta to be in a position where the factors would have a large enough impact to result in bankruptcy. By promoting Ron Allen to CEO, primarily because he had moved up the chairs in the company through Beeb’s efforts, the Board showed their lack of awareness of the need for a strategist to deal with the fundamental changes taking place in the airline industry. Then the Board brought in Leo Mullin and gave him free rein for 6 ½ years to turn a cash rich company into one in such poor shape financially that his successor had to turn to expensive sources of money to keep the company
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.
Southwest has comprehensive strategy and they work with harmony. They are low cost airlines which make the customer feel like royalty. Southwest have a winning strategy is proven by their profit year after year even thought they had economy crisis. Since 1973 Southwest reported a profit each year even when they lost billions of dollars from the year 1980 to 2009 because of the low operating cost strategy, low fares and customer service. Since the start of Southwest they have stay faithful of keeping low cost across the industry. Their value in corporate culture reflected through their prices and customer service.
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.