Southwest Airlines Mission Statement Essay

According to Smith (2004), Kelleher and King founded Southwest Airlines in 1971. Their intention was to provide what is described as a frequent, low-cost airline service in busy markets, no more than 500 miles, with its first flight between Dallas and San Antonio. Smith (2004) stated that approximately nine years after Southwest Airlines’ inception, it decided to adopt a particular mission statement. This particular mission statement is found on its website, emphasizes the highest quality of customer service to be delivered with what is described as a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit (Smith, 2004). It is telling that D'Aurizio (2008) stated that over the years, Southwest Airlines has continued to gain praises
However, if customers do not appear to have a positive experience with a particular organization, these customers might decide to take one’s business elsewhere at the first chance. Consequently, this might result in what is described as a negative effect on the particular organization’s bottom line. Thus, according to D'Aurizio (2008), it is imperative that an organization is concerned with employee loyalty, especially as it relate to the service industry as in the case of Southwest Airlines. Nonetheless, the old concept of loyalty has changed over the years. This is because in previous generations, one might argue that there appeared to be an unspoken agreement between an employee and an organization, in that, if one does what is described as a good job, and does as one is asked. Then, the particular person usually tends to have not only one’s job, but a long tenure with the particular organization, inclusive of a regular paycheck, and fringe benefits. Unfortunately, the work world has changed because of factors such as what is described as the death of employer/employee loyalty, the shortage of employees with the desired skill sets, among others (D'Aurizio,