Rebecca Hernandez

Southwest Airlines Final Case Study

Value Based Leadership with Southwest Airlines

By: Rebecca M. Hernandez

Behavior, Ethics and Leadership II- Hoby Follis
Final Case Study: Chaper 10
Southwest Airlines

Rebecca Hernandez
Southwest Airlines Final Case Study

Value-Based Leadership

Southwest Airlines is one of the companies that seem to be doing things right in
the business world. It is no wonder that Southwest Airlines is one of the healthiest
companies, continuing growth and profit in a climate that is threatening the survival of
other airlines. (p. 333) Despite a difficult period for the airline industry, Southwest
Airlines turned this difficult period into new economic opportunities with a low cost
strategy. With all of the positive reinforcement that Southwest offers, I can see why they
would continue on their healthy path. Including benefits like continuing leadership
trainings and being very selective when they hire are a few advantages Southwest has in
having the right people in their company. Lets take a look at the leadership style that
Southwest encourages and explore why it has continued to be successful for their
company.
Former CEO, Colleen Barrett encourages the employees to grow as people.
Learn from your mistakes; take the initiative; and listen to your heart (The power of
persistence, 2002) are the simple and powerful words that come out when she speaks. (p.
333) In a business these days, it is not often that you hear many words coming from
managers or your daily leaders, much less the CEO. I think it is huge for the CEO to
basically acknowledge that mistakes are going to happen because we are all human and
instead of coming forth and saying that they do not want mistakes in their business, they
encourage their employees to learn from them, move on to bigger and better things and
follow their heart. Your heart is somewhere that will normally take you the right place as
long as you have the right values and morals.

Rebecca Hernandez
Southwest Airlines Final Case Study

The leadership style that best fits this company would have to be the value based
leadership style. This leadership style recognizes, (as does Southwest), that people have a
meaningful inner life that influence their beliefs and who they are. Some of the main
important characteristics in this leadership style include spiritual values, love, hope,
humility and faith. These values are considered key to leadership by some practitioners.
(p. 197) All of these qualities match up well with the expectations that Southwest has of
their employees. Southwest has a lengthy hiring process and they are very detailed and
particular about the people they hire on board. They want to make sure that the people
they hire possess all of these qualities as people. It is essential that a person have these
characteristics and qualities coming into this program because if they do not, they will
not mesh with the culture that Southwest is instilling in their employees. Southwest has a
high sense of priority in hiring excellent employees; they also mentor their employees
and coach them regularly for continued development. They encourage all of their
employees to take leadership roles. In fact, leadership is an essential part of the culture at
Southwest, leadership trainings are in place to develop leaders, including formal
trainings, presentations from outside consultants, (on leadership) along with leadership
briefings. All of the available programs should clearly paint the picture of the necessity
and desire of the company to have effective leaders. They even offer leadership tips on
their monthly bulletins that are distributed to the employees. I believe that with all these
factors; Southwest is trying to pass down a culture of value-based leadership. They are
trying to hire the right people and then offer continued development for those people to
continue to grow, thus creating a culture. Integrity, honesty and humility are also
important aspects of the value based leadership style and essential in the Southwest

Rebecca Hernandez
Southwest Airlines Final Case Study

Airlines line of business. Southwest Airlines has said that they are a very forgiving
company in terms of good honest mistakes, but were not forgiving about attitude and
behavior and demeanor. (p. 333) Southwest airlines is looking for honest people with
integrity and again, recognize that they are human and that mistakes are possible and
excusable. However, Southwest Airlines is also aware that an attitude problem or
behavior problem can just spread like a wild fire and become contagious with other
employees. They are basically stating that they would rather forgive an honest mistake
than tolerate a burning fire (negative energy) that will spread through their business and
contaminate the culture that they are creating. Southwest Airlines houses its very own
Culture Committee which is a team of 100 employees do the preaching of the company
culture and teaching people what is expected of them. The company entrusts in them the
growth and continued preaching of their culture and their values. It is people in this group
that are expected to uphold the positive vibe of the company. This culture that Southwest
Airlines has created also has its own language used for the Southwest Family, Servant
Leadership and New Hires to help build on their culture. Having these value-based
practices in their company positively affects the already outstanding leaders that they
hire. With the selectiveness of the employees to begin with and then all of the positive
reinforcement available, these leaders are only becoming stronger. Because Southwest
also encourages individuality, fun and taking care of people you are being sewn into this
culture that is ever growing.
True ethical and value-based leaders act fairly and are caring toward the people
around them. They promote values in the workplace and because of that, followers in the
organization also want to be a part of their team. At Southwest Airlines, if you are

Rebecca Hernandez
Southwest Airlines Final Case Study

interested in mentoring or have a passion for work and a good work ethic, Barrett will
allow you that opportunity. He will not turn away anyone who has that desire to better
him or herself.
There are also other leadership styles that could fit in quite closely with how
Southwest Airlines runs their business. Southwest teams also possess several traits of the
positive leadership styles in how they run their business. They are looking at being
optimistic, focusing on the strengths that people have and dealing with negativity fairly
quickly. Southwest does not tolerate people who do not want to be there and they will let
go of anyone who does not show the desire to fit into their culture. They strive hard to
work on a positive atmosphere and focus on having positive communications with their
employees.
The only reason that I chose the value-based leadership instead of this is because
they also strive at Southwest to have their success stories retold and passed down. They
have offices decorated with memorabilia reinforcing their ideals and thus supporting the
fact that they want to pass on their values to you and indulge you into the culture.
Authentic leadership also has some traits that could fit into the Southwest way, like
knowing your purpose and having solid values. Southwest airlines is looking for the best
people to have in their work environment and people who can connect with their
followers. As stated in the case study Southwest Airlines Success: A Case Study Analysis;
at Southwest Airlines, one of the influences of the people is that they have flexibility at
the work place, recognition and appreciation for outstanding performance, they have
group decision making, team building approaches and trainings. Southwest Airlines,
alongside their excellent leadership also has a great strategy for saving money while

Rebecca Hernandez
Southwest Airlines Final Case Study

conducting their flights. Because of their savings on their flights, they were not forced to
lay off people in hard times.
This company seems to have the right mindset when looking for leaders in
their company. From the get go they look for people who have natural traits and not
someone who is looking to be developed. They need people in their business who are
going to step into the leadership role and own it, and spread their culture onto employees
that come in after them. They are fully aware that one bad seed can spread quickly and
poison the mindset of other employees and they cannot afford, nor will they tolerate this
type deviance in their company. In order to keep up with competitive levels and growing
they way they plan to, they need someone who will indulge in their culture for what it is
and embrace everything their company is about. Personally, I applaud the company for
having such a lower tolerance for deviant behavior and for not wanting to deal with
behavioral problems. Companies who have a strong sense of who they are and where
they are going have no room for people who will not jump on ship with them. Slowing
down could drastically affect business in a negative way.

Rebecca Hernandez
Southwest Airlines Final Case Study

References:

Nahavandi, A. (2012). The art and science of leadership (6th ed., p.

197,199,201,333). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Muduli, D., & Kaura, M. (n.d.). Southwest Airlines Success : A Case Study
Analysis. Retrieved July 1, 2011, from
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu:2048/eds/pdfviewer/pdf
viewer?vid=8&sid=1777c8c6-5ac0-49ad-b9966ef4f723f767@sessionmgr113&hid=112

EROLU1, O. (2015). THE SUCCESS OF LOW-COST CARRIERS: THE

CASE OF SOUTHWEST AIRLINES AND PEGASUS AIRLINES. Retrieved
December 4, 2015, from
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu:2048/eds/pdfviewer/pdf
viewer?vid=14&sid=1777c8c6-5ac0-49ad-b9966ef4f723f767@sessionmgr113&hid=112