Southwest Airlines Culture - Case Study Example

Southwest Airlines Culture Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Question 1: Description of the organizational culture The organizational culture of Southwest Airlines is that it focuses on the customers as the first priority. Customer service is the priority and then the second priority is the employees. In this way, the employees understand that they should be committed to ensure they satisfy the needs of the customers and also provide quality services (Southwest Airlines 2014). Any employee who does not fit into the culture is retrenched from the organization. For instance, once an employee has been hired, the management gives the employee’s duration of six months to adapt the culture of the organization if not, the selected employees will be retrenched from the organization. On the other hand, the culture of the Southwest Airlines is characterized by the commitment and motivation of the employees. The employees are expected to be committed and work towards achieving the goals and objectives of the organization (Adkins & Caldwell 2004). This is done by building a good relationship among the employees. Teamwork is emphasized in the organization by encouraging various games which could enable the employees to interact. For instance, the flight crews and gate attendants clean the planes together and they share about 15 minutes together. This is one way in which interaction is emphasized in the organization which promotes good relationships among the employees. In addition to improving the relationship between the management and the employees, the organization under the human resource department hires the right human skills into the organization. People management is the key competitive advantage for the organization because they help to deliver quality services to the customers, which improve their satisfaction leading to customer loyalty. The skills of people can be changed, but the attitude cannot be changed (Adkins & Caldwell 2004). Once the employees have been hired, they undergo training for six months so that they can adapt the culture of the organization. This is one way in which the culture is built on the organization. Finally, the culture of the organization is that there is no finger pointing. There is no employee who is allowed to finger point at other employees. In this effect, the employees understand that once there is a mistake in the organization, they do not finger point one another but there are channels with which the conflicts can be solved (Adkins & Caldwell 2004). This has enabled the organization to maintain the culture of peaceful relationship among the employees which has also led to competitive advantage. Question 2: Role of organizational in the organization Culture plays important role at Southwest Airlines. In the first place, culture helps to improve the relationship among the different stakeholders of the organization. This is because the employees will relate well while executing their duties and this helps to avoid conflict of interest among the employees (Black 2003). They all embrace the culture of the organization which is to satisfy the needs of the customers. In this regard, organizational culture helps to improve the relationship among the employees. Culture also helps to improve to improve the reputation of the organization. For instance the culture of Southwest Airlines is to ensure that customers are satisfied with the services they get from the organization (Black 2003). In this effect, the organization has been able to attract and retain customers since they understand that the organization aims to satisfy their needs. In this effect, organizational culture has enabled the organization to create competitive advantage. Culture also helps to promote responsibility among the employees. This is because according to the culture at Southwest Airlines, the employees should act on the best interest of the organization and not their personal interests. In this effect, each employee acts out of good faith so as to improve the performance of the organization (Jex et al 2008). Every employee is accountable for his or her deeds which imply that everyone in the organization is accountable for the actions and this improves utilization of resources. In addition, culture also helps to improve the performance of the organization. This is because all the employees will be committed to achieve the organization culture. Through commitment the productivity of the employees will improve and as a result the performance of the organization improves (Jex et al 2008). The employees will be motivated when they understand the culture of the organization and its benefits and this motivates them to offer their best skills to improve the performance of the organization. Finally, culture helps to shape up the behavior and skills of the employees. The attitude of the employees cannot be changed but their skills can be changed. Once an employee is selected to work for the organization, he or she will have to learn the culture of the organization and change his attitude. Therefore, organizational culture helps to shape the behavior of the employees (Jex et al 2008). Question 3: How is the organizational culture created, reinforced and perpetuated? Culture is something that is learned and practiced. This implies that culture is created in the organization. Culture is created through learning. In creating culture, the management of the organization should ensure they understand the culture they want to create in the organization (O'Donovan 2006). They should be able to determine the culture and express how it is different from other organizations and how it will help to improve the performance of the organization. Once the culture has been defined, the management will take a step and formulate a strategic plan on how the culture can be implemented. The stakeholders of the organization should be involved in formulating the strategic plan for implementing the culture in the organization (O'Donovan 2006). This is important because it helps them to understand the importance of the culture and how it will benefit the organization. As a result, the management of the organization will gain commitment from the stakeholders hence the culture can be implemented successfully. The next step is to implement the culture by hiring new skills, compensating the employees well and providing rewards and incentives so as to motivate the employees to implement the culture. In addition, the employees can be trained so that they can understand how to implement the culture with no constraints. Finally, evaluation of the culture is done to determine if the culture is being implemented successfully at Southwest Airlines (O'Donovan 2006). In order to reinforce the culture at Southwest Airlines, the management of the organization should conduct regular monitoring to assess if the culture has been successful or not. In case of any deviation from the culture, the management recommends strategies to improve the reinforcement of the strategy. In addition, the organizational culture can be reinforced through rewards as a way of motivating the employees to implement the culture (Parker 2000). Finally, the organizational culture can be reinforced by conducting regular meetings between the management and the employees so that they can encourage the employees to be committed to implement the culture. Finally, the organizational culture can be perpetuated through mission statement or through the company website. The stakeholders are encouraged to access and read the information on the website of the company so that they can understand the culture of the organization (Parker 2000). Meetings will help to uphold the cultural practices of the organization hence perpetuating the organizational culture at Southwest Airlines. Question 4: Identifying the key symbols in Southwest Airlines There are key symbols which display the culture of Southwest Airlines and which helps the employees to uphold the culture and work towards the culture being portrayed. In the first place, there is the flag of the Southwest Airlines. The flag indicated the organization is committed to achieve excellence in satisfying the needs of the employees (Cameron & Quinn 1999). An individual can easily identify the airlines because of its flag. This helps to remind the employees that they belong to one organization and they need to work together towards achieving the set goals of the organization hence promoting the culture of the organization. On the other hand, there is the mission statement of the organization. The mission statement of the organization is that the organization focuses on the people to create a competitive advantage so that they can be winners. Through this mission statement, the organizational culture is upheld because the mission statement helps the employees to understand the culture of the organization and as a result, they will be motivated to work towards achieving the mission statement (Cameron & Quinn 1999). In this regard, the employees and other stakeholders will preserve the values of the organization. In addition, the employees are allowed to work in pajamas in a day. This is a clear indication that the culture of the organization is that there is flexible working conditions in the organization. The pajamas reflect that the employees relate well with the management and that the priority of the organization is to serve the customers better and not the dressing code (Cameron & Quinn 1999). Finally, the rocking chairs around the compound indicate that the organization conduct regular meetings some which are scheduled while others are not scheduled. The indication of the symbol is that the management relates well with the employees by conducting regular meetings to discuss issues affecting the organization. References Adkins, B & Caldwell, D. (2004). "Firm or subgroup culture: Where does fitting in matter most?" Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25(8), 969–978. Black, R. J. (2003). Organizational Culture: Creating the Influence Needed for Strategic Success. Springer: London, UK. Cameron, K. S. & Quinn, R. E. (1999). Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture: Based on the Competing Values Framework. Prentice Hall. Jex, S., Jex, M & Britt, T. W. (2008). Organizational Psychology, A Scientist-Practitioner Approach. John Wiley & Sons. O'Donovan, G. (2006). The Corporate Culture Handbook: How to Plan, Implement and Measure a Successful Culture Change Programme, The Liffey Press. Parker, M. (2000). Organizational Culture and Identity. London: Sage. Southwest Airlines. (2014). About us, retrieved on 25th May 26, 2014 from http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/southwest_airlines_company/index.html Read More