Southwest case analysis Essay

1)The first solution to the sawmills problem would be to get structure in the company. The president needs to go down to Jackson and take control of this situation. She needs to have managers and supervisors that take the blame for loss of productivity instead of

The problem is Quilcene Fire Rescue does not have any type of succession plan in effect and is ill prepared to deal with the career chief exiting the organization on short notice. There is not a familiar rank structure with qualified individuals holding positions throughout the organization that are available to move up in the organization and occupy the fire chief position. The purpose of this applied research is to identify the mechanisms that would need to be put into place to institute an informal or formal succession plan for Quilcene Fire Rescue.

I would advise the CEO that to better serve the company’s desire we would start with a strategic plan by setting goals and objectives. It would be best to elicit the opinions of every staff member on how they feel about the company’s goal. After listening to the staff opinions on how best to implement the goals, a plan is to be put in place detailing the steps by steps on how to achieve each tasks. I would emphasize to the CEO the importance of setting goals and communicating them effectively to the staff members, especially those who will be the managers. Additionally, the CEO is to consider the needs of each individual in the company. It is important to address both the task and the needs of the employees ( Phillips & Gully, 2014).

Southwest Airlines is a major US airline established in 1967 that services a multitude of cities in all 50 states and beyond. The company is known for its outstanding quality in providing services and it 's cost effective ticket prices to its many passengers throughout the nation. This airline is based in the southwestern United States, in the city of Dallas Texas, and due to the tremendous number of airplanes that it has and the timely service that it provides to its passengers, this airline services more US passengers than any other airline. This airline also has the largest fleet of planes of any economical or low-cost airline service in the world and employees more than 45,000.

Southwest Airlines is a passenger airline company that arranges and provides scheduled flights for passenger and transportation freight services. The company mainly provides, low-fare, point-to-point services all over the US and near-international markets. The headquarters is located in Dallas, Texas and as of December 2014, the company employed over 46,278 people. The company was founded by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher in 1971. Southwest was the first airline to introduce the frequent mile program. This took place in the mid 1980’s. This type of program allowed passengers to add up traveled miles to use later as credit on a future airline ticket. The traveled miles would add up and would also reduce the price of a ticket. Southwest created the idea of senior discount, fun fares and the fun packs. These were perks that attracted people from different age groups. When Southwest originally was incorporated, the idea was to operate in three cities in Texas, but after taking over Morris Air and TranStar in 1987, this gave them a cutting advantage in the airline industry.

Because leadership is a key force in determining an organization’s success or lack thereof, the Gordons should consider putting a succession plan in place as soon as possible and should start grooming the would-be successor(s).

My last recommendation is for the company to implement succession planning initiatives. Implementing succession planning initiatives will help alleviate the problem of not having qualified internal candidates for top positions and reduce turnover rate. With the help of succession planning, high potential individuals are developed and prepared for advancement or promotion into ever more challenging roles. Actively pursuing succession planning ensures that employees are constantly developed to fill each needed role. This way, Vitality will improved on internal candidate promotions for top jobs. The company should start by identifying key role positions and then identifying high potential individuals who can take over those roles. After that,

1. Get the right management team. As Dunlap assumes office, he retained only one senior executive from Sunbeam’s old management team. Dunlap first hire was Russ Kersh, a former employee of Dunlap, as executive vice president of Finance & Admin. The new management team also

Southwest Airlines Co., established in 1971 by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher, began its operations with only three Boeing 737 aircrafts. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas(Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012). Southwest is well known as one of the largest low-cost carriers. With this strategy, the company has dramatically grown up and deeply rooted in the US airline industry. Now, Southwest Airlines Co. operates 633 aircrafts to 93 domestic cities and the highest number of passengers used Southwest Airlines to fly around U.S in Jan 2014 (Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012). To accomplish more than 40th consecutive years of both profitability and competitiveness, Southwest Airlines Company is constantly trying to find the routes to differentiate itself from other domestic carriers (Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012).

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.

The fourth step of Kotter’s process for fruitful change relates to restructuring an organization's vision and strategy. Moreover, leaders pontificate how the future will differ from the past and making the future a reality. At Alaska Airlines, the implementation of this step commenced with executives leading a multi-day strategy session and pondering what the Carlyle Group or Warren Buffest would do? From this meeting, they determined their vision needed modification. To being with, company leaders

Southwest Airlines was incorporated in 1967 and founded by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher. However, due to lawsuits, Southwest was unable to fly their first commercial flight until 1971. Southwest founded their business on the quote: "If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly yourairline5." Southwest focused on a point-to- point operational system and a low cost pricing strategy that is currently used today. The organization is very centralized due to its point to point emphasis. The centralization of the company requires very strategic route utilization. The company for instance, selects routes to airports with low competition and overall traffic. This allows the company to be more price competitive as competitors are reluctant to venture into less travelled routes. In order to make decisions regarding these routes a centralized organizational structure is warranted. In addition to the centralized organizational structure of Southwest, many committees, teams, and task forces are designed with the sole purpose of reducing waste and cost control. The airline industry is predicated on cost containment, particular those related to fuel and other commodity prices. Task forces are designed with the purpose of providing a sustainable means of reducing costs without a corresponding decline in customer experience. The centralized

Southwest Airlines was created in the late 1960’s by a businessperson Rolling King, and law school graduate Herb Kelleher, who sought a faster travel time between Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, Texas (Dess, et al., 2014, p. C137). After overcoming all of the antagonism and legal problems of many major airlines, Southwest was able to take its first flight in 1971 (Dess, et al., 2014, p.C137). With a dedication and will power to grow the company, King and Kelleher sought out ways to increase growth.

Bargaining Power of Customers (high)- Customers has several options when it comes to flying. But the main attraction to customers are low prices and Southwest makes it known that they have some of the lowest airfares. The only way Southwest can take back the power is by offering direct flights to cities that other airliners do not offer. Besides the small occurrence of having a direct flight to a city that no other airline has, Southwest

Previously, the unexpected loss of an experienced leader without a timely replacement was extremely effecting the department. And just as Fibuch & Way (2012) suggested, the best solution to reduce those challenges is to cross-trained qualified employees within the organization for leadership roles. It is important also for organization to recognize and view their existing skill sets in terms of their future operations. Consequently, succession planning should be an essential element of organization's strategic