Essay on Customer Service at Southwest Air

People – One of the many things good about Southwest Airlines is that the kinds of people who are heroes of the organization are people who care and go out of their way to help the customers. They’re the ones who are celebrated and held up as shining examples. Additionally, high levels of satisfaction among employees can be attributed to Southwest employee policy. Happy employees can provide high quality service and bring more customers back. To reinforce the culture of hard work, high-energy, fun, local autonomy, and creativity, the company provided continuous education program to employees. If you can help someone out or brighten someone’s day, be it a co-worker or a passenger, you’re doing your job well.

The target demographic for Southwest is very broad. The fact the airline has a brand that appeals to price-conscious travelers who do not mind the airline’s no-frills philosophy means it attracts lots of small business owners, young adults, middle-class families, and those who are traveling a short distance. Southwest operates a simplified airline to keep costs down. It only operates one type of aircraft, and its no-frills plan includes no assigned seats or class seating, no meals, and no onboard movies. The company has a strong emphasis on customer service and a differentiation strategy to keep customers happy and loyal. When hiring for customer service positions within the organization, Southwest focuses on attitudes rather than skills and encourages peer hiring. This strategy helps the company identify those who fit the organizational culture and who are most likely to further the company’s philosophy of

The human resources practices have created shareholder value by means of low turnover, high productivity and excellent job satisfaction level. Southwest has designed cross function work coordination whereby once the airline reaches a destination, every member of the flight and ground crew does everything necessary to get the next flight out on time. Remarkably the airline achieved a turnaround rate of 70% of their flights had an average fifteen minutes ground time in 1991. This lessens labour costs, significant productivity advantage in terms of equipment utilization, avoidance of long delays and makes flying with Southwest attractive to the travelers.

Southwest Airlines (SWA) maintained a low-cost, low-price and no frills strategy. The small Texas carrier began as a concept, its business plan detailed on a cocktail napkin in 1971 and grew into the nation’s fourth largest airline. Known as an innovator with low operating costs, dominating smaller airports, with a humorous customer service, SWA saw its 40th profitable year in 2013. Like all companies, SWA underwent leadership changes in 2001, and said goodbye to the company’s founder in 2008. Unfortunately, the changes in leadership were not the only changes; the organization proceeded to alter their beliefs and activities.

At Southwest Airlines, the company’s business strategy has a positive effect on the training they provide to their employees. Southwest Airlines is a Texas based airline that started up in 1971 (Corporate Fact Sheet). Over the years the airline has been recognized for its outstanding customer service and its low airfare fees. Due to their excellent customer service, the company has been ranked number one in customer satisfaction in 2013 by the U.S Department of Transportation. In. 2015, Southwest airlines was recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in the Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award. The reason that Southwest airlines is recognized for all these great things is because they obtain a good organizational control over the airline.

Southwest had an edge over its competitors because of its people and their people management. The culture practiced at Southwest ensured progress towards their primary goal of customer service and low cost. The HR programs at Southwest were based on the preserving the values and special culture of Southwest Airlines (SWA).

As the low-cost leader, Southwest spends an inordinate amount of time focusing on its mission, vision, culture, and goals. This concentration allows Southwest to rank as one of the 100 Best Companies to work for in America. The employee’s attitudes and efforts lead to fewer customer complaints and more on-time arrivals and departures.

Southwest Airlines' strong organizational culture is reflected in its mission statement "dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit" (Southwest, 2012). Southwest serves not only as a prime example of a company that excels in customer service and profitability, but as one that has utilized employee development as a means to meet these ends. Southwest makes a strong commitment to foster ongoing relationships with human resources. They demand that their employees are responsible members, however

During the rapid globalization, being one of the topmost and sustainable airlines is not easy due to the highly competitive airlines industry. Southwest Airlines, founded by Rolling King, Herbert Kelleher, and Lamar Muse in 1967, is considered a very long history of success following its goal that emphasizes on customers’ satisfaction. The key of organizational success relies on human value of Southwest CEO, managers, and employees who try to help each other in order to reach the customers’ best service because these people are the major factors to justify their own images that represent their organization. Furthermore, Southwest has motivated its employees to be more creative and improvable by allowing suitable norms and

When Herb Kelleher and Rollin King founded Southwest Airlines in 1971, their mission stated the “dedication of the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit” (Smith, 2012). With that mission in mind, Herb Keller and Rollin King managed to make Southwest the only profitable airline in the United States (Smith, 2012). Southwest’s mission is not the only reason why the airline continues to grow. Without the way, Herb Kelleher former CEO of Southwest, had developed a particular leadership style, power base, and a set way the organization motivates its’ work force, the company would not be as successful as it is

In the first year of operation, Southwest was experiencing cash flow problems. While other companies may have begun layoffs, the President of Southwest went to the ground service people and discussed the issue with them. Together, the company set a goal of decreasing the turnaround time for at the airport gate from 55 to 15 minutes increasing the revenue capability of the airplane. Having found a way to increase revenue without losing any people, the ground service crew felt like a valuable part of the team and the President of Southwest did lay anyone off. (Smith, 2004) In the second instance of potential layoffs, revenue passengers became scarcer in the wake of September 11, 2001. To help the company through the crisis, Southwest asked employees to take a pay cut instead of having to

Management highly believes that treating their employees well and making them loved their job will naturally lead them to treat customers warmly and courteously in return. In this regard, Southwest looks for fun loving and spirited people whose natural warmth and compassion contributes to superior customer service. This is the reason why Southwest particularly takes the pledge of hiring employees for “attitude” prior to “skills” as corroborates this quote from the former C.E.O Kelleher “At Southwest, our People are our greatest assets, which is why we devote so much time and energy to

Southwest has an average turnaround time of 25 minutes. This is quite lower than the industry average. For this success, the factors that were responsible were; an absence of meals on all Southwest flights, a limited amount of checked luggage on Southwest’s typically 60- to 90- minutes flights, a near-uniform configuration for all of its 737 aircraft, a team-oriented approach to ground services with team measures for turning around planes and freedom to do whatever necessary to get a plane pushed off on time with a high speed boarding process.

The case study, prepared by Arthur A. Thompson, University of Alabama, and John E. Gamble, University of South Alabama, focuses on the rise to business prominence of Southwest Airlines, a regional airline with a low-cost no-frills approach.

Southwest Airlines is often a modeled by other companies for its organizational structure. Organizations that have an effective management team are successful in developing a strong organizational culture, utilizing managerial controls, and leveraging diversity. Effective management teams are developed by cultivating leadership skills in those that supervise the company’s associates. Organizations want managers that can motivate their associates to achieve the goals and vision of the company. Managers that are able to utilize the leadership principles to engage their associates to share the success of the company are considered effective. Leaders are able to develop a strong vision and communicate that