Southwest Airlines Organizational Culture
Southwest Airlines corporate philosophy can be credited to one of the founders Herb Kelleher. It is an airline company with a unique culture “goofiness”, which keeps the morale of its employees high (Smith, 2004), and is a company that welcomes fun, dedication, and effort. Southwest believes that a happy employee will create a happy customer, and will create loyal customers. Mr. Kelleher effectively implemented its style, culture and emphasis on quality in the daily actives at Southwest (Smith, 2004), and he did so without the help of outside consultants.
The Airline was founded in 1971 by Herb Kelleher and Rollin King, and in the 1980’s nine years after Southwest was established they adopted a mission statement (Smith, 2004): “The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit” ("Mission & Vision", 2011) . This mission statement also ties to their motto “We operate with a Warrior Spirit, a Servant’s Heart, and a Fun Luving Attitude ("Mission & Vision", 2011). In order to accomplish this mission statement, the company is committed to their employees, by providing their employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the effectiveness of the airlines. Employees will especially be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every customer ("Mission & Vision", 2011).
Based on my finding Southwest Airlines aligns their organization’s espoused values along with their enacted values, because they were developed from the leader’s values, beliefs, and assumptions about people and work (Quick, 1992). The actions of Mr. Kelleher in top management, has set the organizational norms. It can be seen in Southwest’s three values humor, altruism, and “luv’.
The Airline was founded in 1971 by Herb Kelleher and Rollin King, and in the 1980’s nine years after Southwest was established they adopted a mission statement (Smith, 2004): “The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit” ("Mission & Vision", 2011) . This mission statement also ties to their motto “We operate with a Warrior Spirit, a Servant’s Heart, and a Fun Luving Attitude ("Mission & Vision", 2011). In order to accomplish this mission statement, the company is committed to their employees, by providing their employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the effectiveness of the airlines. Employees will especially be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every customer ("Mission & Vision", 2011).
Based on my finding Southwest Airlines aligns their organization’s espoused values along with their enacted values, because they were developed from the leader’s values, beliefs, and assumptions about people and work (Quick, 1992). The actions of Mr. Kelleher in top management, has set the organizational norms. It can be seen in Southwest’s three values humor, altruism, and “luv’.
References: Bunz, U. K., & Maes, J. D. (1998). Managing Service Quality . Business And Economics--Production of Goods And Services, 8(3), p 163-169. Quick, J. C. (1992, Autumn). Crafting an Organization Culture: Herb 's Hand at Southwest Airlines. Organizational Dynamics, 21(2), p 45-56. Masson & Vision. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.southwestonereport.com/2011/#!/thirty-thousand-foot-view/mission-and-vision Smith, G. (2004), ‘‘An evaluation of the corporate culture of Southwest Airlines’’, Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 26-33.