Southwest Airlines operational and business overview

South West Airlines

It is a fact that the South West Airlines has indeed been making a great impact on the entire airline industry. In comparison to the airline industry in the United States of America, how was it possible for such a small airline to make such a wide impact? How has this organization been so very successful, as anyone would state, when they saw the killer whales painted on the sides of the planes. One of the primary reasons is that the organization believes in a high level of employee motivation and also in encouraging them to express their individuality in the workplace. There is a total de-emphasis on hierarchy, and each and every employee of the company is allowed to express his opinions feely and without fear of reprisal from the higher ups. (Learning Experience, South West Airlines' Approach)

When most other airlines were suffering from heavy losses after the September 11 terrorist attacks carried out in the U.S.A. By militants, there was a panic, and most companies carried out heavy lay-offs in order to curtail their losses. However, it was in South West Airlines that there were absolutely no lay-offs at all. How was this possible? The South West Airlines demonstrated its innate caring ability for all its employees. This resulted in great amounts of employee satisfaction, and as a direct result, an increase in productivity. (South West Airlines' Organizational Culture)

The former CEO of South West Airlines, Howard Putnam, stated that the organization not only enjoyed a reputation of being extremely safe for its passengers, but also of being a fun place to work in. Not only is the airline the lowest cost operator, but is also one of the most successful airlines, which has managed to maintain the same amount of success through numerous years, winning quite a few awards for excellence and performance over the years. The success may be attributed to no small extent to the fact that there is no actual PR Department or even a Personnel Department; rather, there is a peoples department, which will take up the total responsibility of sorting out the people's problems. This gave the employees a sense of ownership in the company, and this contributes to the innate feeling of responsibility that the employees showed towards achieving success for their 'own' organization. (Leadership and Change - an oxymoron?)