Southwest Airlines Organization

Southwest Airlines Organization

Flayunna Riley

Kaplan University

Prof. Del Carmen

10-24-2012

Today we will learn about one of the most outstanding airline organization known in history; we will examine an in depth analysis of the organization known as Southwest Airlines, and obtain a better overview of how it works and why they are so successful even when the economy is in a recession. However, before we examine this company's aspects let's first observe a brief overview of the history of Southwest Airlines and how they existed.

Southwest Airlines (SWA) as we know it now was originally called Air Southwest in March of 1967. However, in June of 1971 it's named changed to Southwest Airlines. Southwest was started by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher back in Dallas Texas. King and Kelleher both had the same vision of wanting to provide a different type of airline to passengers; an airline that would fit the needs and wants of the people. They began with one simple notion: 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 your airline. And you know what? They were right. Southwest today now services over 69 cities in thirty eight states around the world. It also flies over 100 million passengers a year and makes over 3,200 trips a day and is continuing to grow (SWA, 2010). Southwest is the largest airline in the world by number of passengers carried per year. It is the 6th largest U.S. airline by revenue, and it currently maintains the third-largest passenger fleet of aircraft among all the world's commercial airlines. King and Kelleher had the perfect idea when they thought of creating an airline that could get people to their destinations at the cheapest fare available, on time, with the best personal customer service a guest could ask for. That's why Southwest is the fastest and most competitive airlines in the market today (SWA, 2010).

Southwest Airlines is a domestic US airline that primarily provides point to point, low fare services. The company operates only in the US. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and is employed by more than 32,000 people country wide. The company recorded revenues of $9,086 million during the fiscal year ended December of 2006, which resulted in an increase of 19.8% over 2005.The operating profit of the company was $934 million during fiscal year 2006, which was an increase of 28.8% over 2005.The net profit for Southwest was $499 million in the year 2006, which was highly impressive for a airline that had not that long been established compared to other airlines in the market. Southwest offers a variety of services from flights, car rentals, cruises, vacation packages, and hotels.

All of their services that they offer are based on customer satisfaction and requests Although Southwest has several goals, Southwest's main goal for all of their products and services is to ensure that people are getting the best deal for their money, and that all of their passengers whether in the air or on the water feel that they are the best and most important customer in their eyes (SWA, 2011). Southwest prides itself in providing the best customer service to its clients and also prides itself in knowing that their clients will be satisfied and will rest assured that they will reach their destinations on time as scheduled. That's what King and Kelleher always wanted to put a smile on a customer face because they knew one happy and satisfied customer will return and tell a friend, but an unsatisfied customer will tell more friends not to choose their airline. That's why Southwest strives to offer the best services available. In hopes that's their happy customers will spread the word. Nevertheless, now that we have a better understanding of how this company began, we will examine in detail six main factors that assist this company's overall success. These concepts are: Individual development, career development, organizational development, performance management, roles of practitioners, and evaluation.

First, we will start with individual development. Although SWA is one of the most successful airlines in the world they still insist that their employee's individual development remain a necessity in order to continue to grow. Southwest Airlines, offers their employees not only the training they need to do their jobs, but also the training they want to advance their careers. SWA consistently provide internal training programs that encourage individuals to recognize and utilize their skills all while enhancing their knowledge and improving their performance behavior (Southwest Airlines, 2011).SWA also prides itself in encouraging employees to attend external training and further specialize in their respective fields.

In addition, SWA stresses their commitment to every employee's development within the organization, and they continue to prioritize compliance with the training requirements of the appropriate governing organizations such as the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Occupational Safety & Health Administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S Food & Drug Administration (Southwest Airlines, 2011). SWA has also been known to offer a variety of additional training opportunities to their employees, to ensure that all employees have a fair opportunity in advancing within this great organization (Southwest Airlines, 2011).

SWA continues to make it their priority to not only have satisfied customers but to have intrigued and excited employees as well. Because once an employee is happy with their job they work and strive harder at becoming the best employee for the organization. Another great way employees stay motivated is because of the awesome benefits that SWA offers.

In fact, in 2011, reports stated that Southwest Airlines now offered their family of employees the freedom to pursue good health, save for retirement, travel, make a positive difference, learn and grow, create and innovate, work hard and have FUN, and stay connected. SWA also proudly stated that in 2011 more than 40,000 active and inactive Southwest Airlines Employees participated in at least one component of Southwest Airlines' Employee benefits programs, to which they contributed more than $670 million on an accrual basis, excluding 401(k) and Profit Sharing Plans and share-based compensation (Southwest Airlines, 2011). However, if that wasn't enough to keep their employees committed they added