Southwest Airlines

Paper Summary:

This paper relates that organizational behavior strategies for effectiveness in decision making and leadership, for clarity of internal communication and for managing internal power and politics should be correlated to attain increasingly higher levels of revenues and profits. The paper points out that the essence of Southwest Airline's ability to translate these three organizational areas into long-term revenue and profit growth is based on creating and sustaining a culture where risk-taking on behalf of customers is expected and rewarded. The paper uses examples of how the company's culture was tested by the events of 9/11.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Decision Making at Southwest Airlines Fuels a Unique Culture
Southwest Internal Communication
Southwest Airlines Power and Politics
Appendix
Five Year Southwest Airlines Financial Analysis
Southwest Airlines Income Statement Analysis

From the Paper:

"This egalitarian and very open approach to describing what a difficult situation the company was in energized the ground crews. They internalized the challenge and met the 15 minute turn-around time and even created entirely new, innovative processes to make this possible. Management theorists who specialize in the airline industry credit this significant improvement in performance to standardization of the company on only Boeing 737 jetliners and the economies of scale achieved."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Leonard L. Berry, Venkatesh Shankar, Janet Turner Parish, Susan Cadwallader, Thomas Dotzel (2006). Creating New Markets through Service Innovation. MIT Sloan Management Review, 47(2), 56. Retrieved October 1, 2008 from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 994490961).
• Terry Bacon (2004). You are how you behave: customers can't be fooled. The Journal of Business Strategy, 25(4), 35-40. Retrieved October 2, 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 678131631).
• Bovier, Connie (1993, June). Teamwork: The heart of an airline. Training, 30(6), 53. Retrieved October 2, 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 827935).
• Feldman, Joan M (1994, November). Structure. Air Transport World, 31(11), 30. Retrieved October 1, 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 3112).
• Freiberg, K. and Freiberg, J. (1996), Nuts: Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success, Broadway Books, New York, NY.

More papers on Southwest Airlines:

• Term Paper # 125192 : "Southwest Airlines' Control Mechanisms"
• Case Study # 127421 : "Southwest Airlines Case Analysis"
• Business Plan # 72146 : "Southwest Airlines"
• Case Study # 37173 : "Addressing Southwest Airlines According to Matrix Strategies"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: