SOUTHWEST AIRLINES SUCCESS

Served on board were called love options, ticket machines were called love
machines, and cabin hostesses were sexy and had seductive voices. Their low cost
fares were below than the cost of driving a vehicle over the same route.
Southwests policy of pricing its service was to compete with auto travel. After its
inception, it achieved break even in two years. Baniff international, one of the
Southwests principal competitors initiated a 60-day half-price sale of tickets
between Dallas and Houston, offering tickets at$13(below than cost) as opposed to
Southwests $26fare. Southwests counter strategy was an ad proclaiming that
nobody is going to shoot southwest out of the sky for a lousy $13. They offered an
unusual alternative to customers that they could ask to pay either $26 or $13 for
exactly the same seats on Southwest flights. Customers who were purchasing $26
tickets were rewarded with gifts such as ice buckets or fifths of whisky. This strategy
worked and 80% of customers requested for $26 tickets. In 1993, southwest
acquired Morris Air, hence increased number of operating stations. Southwests
strategy was to limit the markets served and provide high frequency departures
each day to a given destination. The intensity of this schedule reduced the
consequences of a missed flight and enabled Southwest to retain tardy passengers.
Southwests strategy, fly eight flights, get one free was the simplest in the
industry.
People: All human actors who play a part in service delivery and thus influence the
buyers perceptions: namely, the firms personnel, the customer and other in the
service environment. Flexibility at work place, recognition and appreciation for
outstanding performance as well as for the length of service, group decision
making, team building approach, training, profit sharing, stress on positive attitude
rather than skill, taking home satisfaction than salary, low labour turnover and
involving customers in process were some of the attributes that helped Southwest
airlines to achieve success. Employees: In Southwest airlines, employees were given
the latitude to do whatever is necessary to get a plane turned around in the
targeted time of 15minutes. There was emphasis on fun for employees and
travellers. Ground and In-flight employees were encouraged to be creative in the
way they delivered required announcements to the passengers. Some employees
sang the messages, others delivered them in dialect (such as an Arnold
Schwarzenegger-like you vill sit back. You vill relax. You vill enjoy this flight. Hasta
la vista, baby) or in Donald Duck-speak. Companys main event of the year was the
annual awards banquet, for which employees from all over the system were brought
to Dallas and honoured for their length of service. In addition, the culture committee
sponsored a hero of the heart celebration at headquarters on February 14each year.
Awards were made to groups nominated by others in the organization that had gone
above and beyond to deliver Southwest service. Joint problem solving was the
culture of Southwest airlines. Southwest engaged in joint problem- solving exercises
with those supplying everything from fuel to peanuts served on planes. Team work

was the spirit of this organization. Works were assigned in groups. Failure to do so
according to schedule resulted in a team late. Rather than assessing individual
responsibility, teams were then tasked to figure out how to avoid problem in the
future. Pilots sometimes handled baggage or helped cabin attendants in picking up
the cabin while gate attendants might be seen putting provisions on board for the
departing flight. The main spirit was to do everything that was required to complete
a task rather than having mentality that it is not my job. Southwest Airlines looks for
the people who can think in terms of us rather than me. One way the company
assesses these service inclinations is by interviewing potential flight attendants in
groups to see how they interact with each other. Pilots are also interviewed in
groups to assess their teamwork skills, a critical factor above and beyond the
essential technical skills they are required to possess. Throughout the organization,
stress was placed on the value of family in the organization. All ground operations
employees had one to two weeks of technical orientation at individual stations
before going to class in Dallas for a week to study everything from the use of the
company systems to the organizations values. Southwests employees total
compensation was roughly equivalent to other airlines but productivity of Southwest
employees was more and it led to decreasing cost of Southwest airlines. After
completion of six months probation period, all employees became members of
Southwests profit-sharing plan. Southwest operated on some basic principles; focus
on the situation, issue or behaviour, not on the person, maintain the self-confidence
and self-esteem of others maintain constructive relationship with your employees,
peers and managers, take initiative to make things better and led by examples. One
of the Southwest employee stated that most enjoyable thing about his job is coming
to job every day. A quote from Southwests president, Herb Kelleher, illustrates the
importance of selection of right person. the People Department (name given to
Human resource Department by Southwest) went to Herb Kelleher, one day and
said, We have interviewed34 people for this ramp agents position, and we are
getting a little worried about the time and effort and cost that is going into it. And
he said if you have to interview 154 people to get the right person, do it.
Southwests management used to host best practice teams from all industries
that wanted to discuss hiring, training, and employee- relations practices. After
sometime it discontinued this practice as it was devoting too much time, energy,
attention and resources educating the outside world. So, he thought to devote that
time, energy, attention and resources internally on enhancing and enriching their
own culture Customers: On early flights, passengers who could produce the largest
holes in their socks were recognized and rewarded. In-Flight contests were
conducted to see how many passengers could be fitted into the bathroom at one
time. Holidays were celebrated with costumes and giveaways. The interview team
often included frequent-flier customers as well, particularly when customer-contact
were being selected. When a frequent flier was asked that why will he take off time
from his organization to spend time hiring Southwest employees, he replied, I
might learn something and have a little fun doing it? And besides, its my airline.
Southwest airline was dependent on customers to perform critical service roles for
themselves, thus increasing the overall productivity of the airline. Passengers are
asked to carry their own bags when transferring to other airlines, get their own food
and seat themselves.

Process: The environment in which the service is delivered and where the firm and
customer interact, and any intangible components that facilitate performance or
communication of the service.
Frequent trips, direct flights rather than Hub and Spoke system, not assigning any
seat to passengers, family work culture, flying only Boeing 737 jets, choosing uncongested airports, selling tickets through internet made the process quick, efficient
and convenient for customers. Southwests frequent departures provided
opportunity to frequent business flyers to catch a later flight if they missed one. It
used direct flights rather than Hub and Spoke system. It indicates user-friendly
process. It didnt assign any seats to passengers. It issued colourful reusable plastic
cards numbered 1 to 30.Passenger who came first could take seat of his choice,
thus provided an incentive to early arrivals. This process of assigning seats
eliminated the time-consuming reconciliation of the double assignment of seats on
full flights and allowed Southwest agents to keep the plane doors open for last
minute arrivals at the gate. The airline didnt transfer baggage to connecting flights
on other airlines and didnt provide food in flight. In all, the process was very
efficient, standardized and low-cost, allowing for quick turnaround and low fares.
Customers were part of process and taking their roles willingly. For distribution of
tickets, earlier commission was given to travel agents but later it implemented
ticketless (paperless) travel program and later the development of Southwest.com
as a means of using the internet to sell travel directly to customers. It lowered down
distribution cost. Southwests turnaround time had grown to an average of 24
minutes, a figure that was expected to be at least30 minutes. It was a benchmark
for entire airline industry. For this success, the factors that were responsible, were;
an absence of meals on all Southwest flights, a limited amount of checked luggage
on Southwests typically 60- to 90- minutes flights, a near-uniform configuration for
all of its 737aircraft, a team-oriented approach to ground services with team
measures for turning around planes and employees freedom to do whatever
necessary to get a plane pushed off on time and a high speed boarding process.

Physical evidence: The actual procedures, mechanisms and flow of activities by

which the service is delivered- the service delivery and operating systems.
Southwest worked more on low cost model, fast process and people than physical
evidence but still physical evidence attracts attention of people. Southwests
aircraft are orange and mustard brown and accentuates their uniqueness and lowcost orientation. The walls of the three-story building were covered with literally
thousands of framed photos and awards, many of them showing southwest
employees in their party cloths ranging from black tie and formals to jeans. Others
portrayed employees engaged in community activities together in their free time,
often at Ronald McDonald houses for children across the country. Some of the
framed photos included Kelleher, one of the founders, who had gained fame for his
unorthodox but effective style of leadership. Employees dressed casual as well as
formal, wearing shorts in the summer showed fun as well as employee comfort. The

reusable plastic cards also provided physical evidence that signals low cost and no
frills to customers. Southwests website also provides tangibility to its services.
Conclusion
Services are variable, inseparable, intangible and perishable. These unique
characteristics impose challenges for service firms to overcome. There are different
strategies to beat these characteristics. Services are variable by nature as different
people of same designation deliver services of different types and same person
provide different types of services at different times. This problem can be overcome
by training of employees and customers. Inseparability of production and
consumption makes consumer part of service process so their active participation,
employees enthusiasm, easy techniques make effective and efficient process.
Providing physical evidence through website, brand name, colour, logo, uniform etc.
help a service firm to overcome the problem of intangibility. It is evident from
analysis of Southwest airlines that effective strategies related to people, process
and physical evidence help a company to overcome some of its characteristics and
thus achieving success.
References
1. James L. Hackett, 2002 Southwest Airlines: an Industry under Siege2.Zeithaml
A. Valarie, Biter Jo Mary, Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus
Across the Firm, Tata McGraw Hill, Third edition3.www.southwest.com

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: ALIGNING PEOPLE, PROCESSES, AND PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

Southwest Airlines occupies a solid position in the minds of U.S. air travellers as a
reliable and convenient, fun, low-fare, no-frills airline. Translated, this position
means high value-a position rein-forced by all elements of South-wests services
marketing mix. It has maintained this position consistently over 25 years while, at
the same time, making money every year-no other U.S. airline comes close to this
record. Success has come for a number of rea-sons. One is the airlines low cost
structure. They fly only one type of plane (Boeing 737s), which lowers costs because of the fuel efficiency of the aircraft itself combined with the ability to
standardize maintenance and operational procedures. The airline also keeps its
costs down by not serving meals, having no preassigned seats, and keeping
employee turnover very low. Southwest Airlines president, Herb Kelleher, is famous
for his belief that employees come first, not customers. The Dallas-based carrier has
managed to be the low-cost provider and a preferred employer while, at the same
time, enjoying high levels of customer satisfaction and strong customer loyalty.
Southwest Airlines has the best customer service record in the airline industry and
has won the industrys Triple Crown for best baggage handling, on-time
performance, and best customer complaint statistics several years in a row. This is a
feat accomplished by no other airline. Observing Southwest Airlines success, it is
clear that all of its marketing mix is aligned around its Marketing Management
highly successful market position. The three new marketing mix elements all
strongly reinforce the value image of the airline:

People: Southwest uses its people and its customers very effectively to
communicate its position. Employees are unionized, yet they are trained to
have fun, allowed to define what fun means, and given authority to do what
it takes to make flights light hearted and enjoyable. People are hired at
Southwest for their attitudes; technical skills can and are trained. And, they
are the most productive work force in the U.S. airline industry. Customers also

are included in the atmosphere of fun, and many get into the act by joking
with the crew and each other and by flooding the airline with letters
expressing their satisfaction. Herb Kelleher, the airlines fun-loving president,
encourages employees and customers alike through his infamous antics.
Process: The service delivery process at Southwest also reinforces its
position. There are no as-signed seats on the aircraft, so passengers line up
and are herded by number onto the plane where they jockey for seats. The
airline does not transfer baggage to connecting flights on other airlines. Food
is not served in flight. In all, the process is very efficient, standardized, and
low cost, allowing for quick turnarounds and low fares. Customers are very
much part of the service process-taking on their roles willingly.
Physical evidence: All of the tangibles associated with Southwest further
reinforce the market position. Southwests aircraft are orange and mustard
brown in colour, which accentuates their unique-ness and low-cost
orientation. Employees dress casually, wearing shorts in the hot summer
months to reinforce the fun and further emphasize the airlines
commitment to its employees comfort. The reusable plastic boarding passes
are another form of physical evidence that signals low cost and no frills to
customers. No meal service in flight confirms the low-price image through the
absence of tangibles-no food. Because many people joke about airline food,
its absence for many is not viewed as a value detractor. The consistent
positioning using the services marketing mix reinforces the unique image in
the customers mind, giving Southwest Airlines its high-value position, which
has resulted in a huge and committed following of satisfied customers.
OutoftheBoxCustomerService

SouthwestAirlines is brilliant at the basics

ontime arrivals, dont lose baggage, welcoming
environment/fun atmosphere, superior inflight service,
good value (bags fly for free)
Southwest Airlines excels at customer service
operates 6 customer service centersAlbuquerque,
Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Oklahoma City, SanAntonio
Automated system (voice mail, text messages)
notifies customers of travel events
proactive approach to serving customers

The 8Ps for Southwest Airlines

Product: Low cost, no frills, convenience, point-to-point airline passenger

service

Price: Low prices, below market

Promotion: Broad range of marketing communications, including broadcast
television, sponsorships, and its website
Place: Major markets but often in secondary airports adjacent to major
airports
to keep costs down
People: Specific emphasis on training to achieve excellent customer service
Physical evidence: Keeping the planes clean and safe; allowing employees to
dress casually; and strong branding, color language, etc.
Process: Using the same plane type to make it easier for employees to
manage
operations and making it easy and simple to fly with Southwest, including
online booking
Productivity: Key emphasis on a 15-minute turnaround time (getting the plane
ready after landing and getting it back in the air safely)

Southwest Aviation English strategic analysis

Southwest Airline Strategy Implementation

1 Title: Successful Strategic Implementation Within Southwest Airline
2 Executive Summary Though formulating strategies of businesses in
contemporary market is critical, it is more significant to concentrate on
the implementation process. The globalization and market-oriented
economy appear to deepen the influence in international business
context. Therefore, to ensure that businesses remain their competitive
advantages and strategic capabilities, strategic implementation plays an
indispensible role. Southwest Airline is an airline industrial player
headquartered in US. It created a miracle of continuously reflecting
profitable years since the establishment in 1970s. In the meantime, the
period of the company's initial establishment was a moment deeply
suffering from negative macro-environmental impacts such as economic
downturn and airline industrial deregulation. From the very beginning of
the establishment, Southwest Airline has created its long-term strategy
on low cost strategies. Southwest Airline is not the sole player that appear
to concentrate on such strategies among its competitors. However, from
past to present, the company is still capitalizing on the strengths of the
low cost strategy to reach profitability in market. Its long-term thrive is
perceived to closely relating to the successful strategic implementations.
This paper aims to predominantly evaluate the strategies implementation
within Southwest Airline using McKinsey's 7S model. The primary
strategies that have been adhered to the company is outlined in the first
place, followed by a construction of brief SWOT analysis to outline the

major characteristics of the situation. At the end of the report, recent

issues reflecting the company's strengths of crisis management and the
future directions of its strategic development is addressed.

Southwest Airline Strategy Implementation

2 Table of Contents
1.0 Background Information
2.0 The Strategy Implementation Phase (1800)
3.0 SWOT Analysis
4.0 McKinsey 7S Model
4.1 Strategy
4.2 Structure
4.3 Systems
4.4 Staff 4.5 Style
4.6 Skills
4.7 Shared Values
5.0 Recent Issues
6.0 Conclusions (200)
7.0 Future Recommendation References

Southwest Airline Strategy Implementation

3
1.0 Background Information Southwest airline was initially established in
1971. The first flight was from Dallas to Houston and San Antonio. In this
flight, there was very simple meal distributed to the customers without any
further augmented services. The way Southwest Airline does business had
been doubted by many of the industrial players perceiving their business
philosophy as informal. The rapid expansion of the company has effectively
combated the criticism and concerns from the public. Southwest Airline soon
became the leading industrial player in US market by the end of 10th century.
The company has created many records that appear to be memorable in US
airline industry. The major characteristics of its operation is that its net profit
margin appears to grow in rapid manner with less exposure to the risks from
debts. The accountability and creditability of the company is also breaking
record in domestic market. After the 911 attack in 2001, almost all airline
industrial players in US have been struggling except Southwest Airline. In
2005, the escalating price trend of fuel costs has resulted in $ 10 billion loss
for the entire US airline market. Under such influence, some major players in
the industry have applied for bankruptcy. However, Southwest Airline still
thrive for the continuous 33rd year reflecting positive net profit growth. The
core value of Southwest Airline is to provide cost-effective, simple but
concentrated airline service to the market.

2.0 The Strategy Implementation Phase (1800) Southwest Airline was

established during the period when US airline industry suffered from
economic downturn. Almost all players in the industry appeared to struggle
with industrial deterioration during that period. However, Southwest Airline
has become an exception, reflected from its continuous achievements in
profitability and strong strategic management approach.
A. Low-cost Structure
Low-cost structure has been a traditional strength of Southwest Airline. Due
to the fact that most flight route are short-distance domestic routes within
Southwest Airline, the company pays considerable attentions on cost
structure optimization to support its profitable operations. There were no
formal meals and first-class cabins developed and even the boarding card
have been using recyclable material such as plastic instead of paper.
Southwest Airline
also use single-carrier strategy to minimize the operating costs.
B. Fuel Hedging

Southwest Airline Strategy Implementation 4

After the deregulation of
airline industry in US in 1978, airline profitability and survival depended on
controlling costs. In spite of labor being the leading costs, fuel costs is the
secondary highest cost components, which if could be controlled properly,
could facilitate management to more accurately estimate budgets and
forecast earnings (Carter, Rogers & Simkin, 2005). Continuous execution on
fuel hedging strategy has been a competitive advantage of Southwest Airline
in maintaining and sustaining its low cost position. The data listed are
partially drawn from Annual Report (2000) from Southwest Airline.
C. Automated Outbound Message (AOM)
Active practice in retaining customers and delivering customer satisfaction is
also a strong focus under Southwest Airline. AOM strategy was settled in
recent years aiming at proactively delivering customized automated voice,
text and email message to Southwest customers when there has been a
change in alteration of their services and giving Southwest customers the
option to connect to customer representative or rebook online in case of their
alteration of services (Annual Report, 2012).

3.0 SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is conducted here to gain a brief overview of the internal and
external environmental characteristics faced by Southwest Airline. The
elements of strengths and weakness are defined as internal situation while
those of opportunities and threats link to the external situation.
Strengths
1. Effective cost control and efficient
operation
2. Short-distance flight routes and
lower competitive forces in market
3. Great employees' commitment
and cohesiveness within company's
internal environment
4. Stable development policy that
rejects blind expansion
Opportunities
1. Increased competitiveness in the
market
2. Opportunities for monopolist
experimental tests
3. Adding long-distance routes to
existing service portfolios
4. Outsourcing value-creation
services
4.0 McKinsey 7S Model

McKinsey 7S Model

Weakness
1. Strong competitors such as Virgin
Blue
2. Absence of extra value-creation
service and augmented services.
3. Relatively weak financial
positions.

Threats
1. Macro-environmental threats such
as decreased employment rate
2. Economic fluctuations
3. Fierce market competition that
drives down market profitability.

McKinsey 7S model is an important framework for evaluating the success of

organizations. It is considered that such model is highly applicable in
analyzing Southwest Airline's case. In McKinsey 7s model, there are six
components contributing to the core element of shared values, which are
structure, system, style, staff, skills and strategy. Structure refers to the way
managers collectively behave with respect to use of time, attention and
symbolic actions. System stands for capabilities possessed by the
organization as a whole as distinct from the individuals. Some companies

perform extraordinary feats with ordinary people. The component of style

represents the processes and procedures through which things get done from
daily operations. Staff stands for the organization chart and accompanying
baggage that reflects who reports to whom and how tasks are both divided
up and integrated. In addition, the people
in the organization considered in terms of corporate demographics not
individual personalities make up the skills component. At last, it is perceived
that strategy stands for a coherent set of actions aimed at gaining a
sustainable advantage over competition.
4.1 Strategy
A coherent set of actions aimed at gaining a sustainable advantage over
competition has been reached by Southwest Airline. The positioning of the
company is very special. It specifically look at the short-term flight route.
Southwest airline has chosen low cost strategy as the differentiation tactic.
As a result, it cuts off the service of meals, adopts recyclable plastic boarding
card, rapid take-off which collectively constitute to the low airfare. In addition,
the cost advantages is also reflected from non-allocation of seats, efficiency
of reusing materials and provision of general flight cabin design and seating.
The statistical evidence retrieved from the annual report of the company
(Southwest Airline Annual Report, 2005) best reveal its advantages.
Comparing with other industrial players, Southwest Airline flight works for an
average of 12 hours. Comparing with the competitors, the average for flight
working hours among the rest of industrial players is only 9 hours indicating
an extra 40% advantage. Comparing the frequency of boarding gate, an
average flight use it for 10.5 times on average and surprisingly the rest of the
industrial players have barely reached half of it. Further, the adjustment time
between landing and re-take off is 15 minutes for Southwest Airline, while
that figure of the rest of the players appear to be 35 minutes. Time is money
for the consumers especially in fast paced social life in contemporary society.
We believe that many business group consumers would prefer Southwest
Airline rather than other industrial players even much superior services could
be enjoyed. Moreover, the average working hours for pilot is 70 hours in
Southwest Airline. Comparing such figure with the rest of the players, it has
20 hours advantage over them. At last, Southwest Airline only use one type
of aircraft while the rest of industrial players use multiple types. Apparently,
higher efficiency equals to low cost.
4.2 Structure
The successful execution of strategy can not be separated with the support
from suitable organizational structure matching the strategic direction. In
Southwest Airline, there is strict prohibition of bureaucracy and elimination of
complexity in administrative functions. It keeps a refined and simplified
organizational structure and pays substantial attentions on details. The
decision-making mechanism in the company is also efficient. The
sophisticated titles and assistant roles have been largely eliminated in the

company. Moreover, the human resource management functions as a

democratic system of people's department showing caring
and loves for the employees, which significantly improved the employee
commitment, engagement and loyalty.
4.3 Systems
The process and procedures through which things get done from daily
operations is dependable on the system design. In Southwest Airline, the
average time taken between landing and takeoff of flight is 15 minutes. The
procedures of Southwest's flight follows a sequential manner: the cabin crew
change shifts; 137 passengers get off the plane; 137 passengers get on the
plane; ladders get loaded to unload 97 luggage; 123 pieces of luggage get
loaded to the cabin; the fuel get filled up for 4500 pounds; people disappear;
flight take off again. In the company's recruitment process, the attitudes
element plays a very important role as the company believe the ultimate
value from candidates matter the most, where professional expertise could
be built through training and education. In the meantime, the advertising of
recruitment pays attention to outline the specific benefits and characteristics
of the company and the company has been very sensitive on the
recommendation from the employees and peer competitors. Southwest
airline does not adopt total quality management or reorganization approach.
It spent more time on efficiency management than making decisions on what
specific management approach should be adopted.
4.4 Staff
The people in the organization is considered in terms of corporate
demographics not individual personalities. The candidates recruited by
Southwest airline usually have great sense of human as the company
believes that under competitive and stressful environment due to dynamic
environmental change, humor could facilitate to retain the creativity, improve
efficiency, keep psychological wellbeing and release pressures. While
selecting candidates, the company has been strengthening focus on selecting
those candidates showing caring on others and extroversion and selflessness.
During the training process, Southwest airline pays considerable attentions to
educate employees on perceiving things from others' standing point and
angles. It also encourage information sharing and motivation for learning. The
motivation of innovativeness, allowance for turnover, encouragement of
mutual respects and priority of employees' wellbeing are the general culture
in the workplace under Southwest airline. Such soft HRM approach is
evidently effective in 21st century in motivating and engaging employees. In
response to the soft HRM approach, Southwest Airline pays considerable
attentions on goal and interest alignment between individual and
organizations. It use love, caring and sense of belongingness to retain the
talented staff. Even during the economic crisis, the employment rate in the
company still maintains status quo.
4.5 Style

Style refers to the way managers collectively behave with respect to use of
time, attention and symbolic actions. The wide selection is to pursue those
leaders who show caring and accountability. The reason that Southwest
Airline's staff have been constantly providing legendary service quality is that
their leaders have in-depth understanding of the nature of services. People is
one of the most significant element in marketing 7P mix theory. Such
important fifth P is in great importance due to the fact that increasing
emerging service organizations essentially requires high level of interactions
between customers and the service organizations. Services appear to be
produced and consumed at the same time and aspects of the consumers'
experience are altered to meet the individual demands of the party
consuming it (Goi, 2009). It should be noted that people strategy if applied
appropriately, could alter customer preference as customers deal with people
they like (Rafig & Ahmed, 1995). People strategy plays critical role in service
marketing mix due to the fact that people are the transactional interface
between the company and its customers. People underpin the customer
relationship between the company and the customers (Bitner, 1990).
Southwest Airline's staff are fully aware of what mutual trust plays in service
delivery. The management also place employees as priority while the
customers are placed as secondary. The management have stick to their own
principles and foster changes from the internal environment. Their image of
role models best convince the employees how to share and undertake
responsibilities. Some other characteristics of the style element of the
company still include rapid actions, attentions on details, considering working
as fun, respects, caring and trusts towards employees.
4.6 Skills
At last, skills refers to the capabilities possessed by the organization as a
whole as distinct from the individuals. Companies could perform
extraordinary feats with ordinary people. During the recruitment process,
Southwest Airline insist that there is no mandatory requirement of MBA
certificate. What it really cares is whether the employee would be willing to
conduct critical thinking, open communications, information sharing and are
motivated for learning. The company appeals for the enthusiasms of learning
to master the most advanced technology and it encourage no fears for failure
as a source of creating innovativeness and creativity.
4.7 Shared Values
At last, shared values could be considered as those ideas of what is right and
desirable in corporate or in individual behavior which are typical of the
organization and common to most of its members. Some characteristics are
unique in Southwest Airline. In the first place, the high return is related to the
organizational development and employees' contribution. In the second
place, low cost is the most important decision making criteria in corporate
management and operations. In the third place, the company has been
focusing on the concept of family, where support, protection, acceptance and

love is widely distributed among human resource. In the fourth place, humors
play a significant role in innovation and work enthusiasms. In the fifth place,
encouragement of inputting love during the work makes the services
considerate. In the sixth place, people lack of diligence and hard work would
be deemed as unsuitable for Southwest Airline. Further, the company
advocates personalization for employees to reflect their genuine personal
identity and individual characteristics so that gifts could be effectively
released. The company also view customers and other company related
resource as their own belongings so that they would pay extra due care and
treasure them. In the seventh place, delivery of legendarily fine service is
believed to retain and acquire satisfied clients for re-purchasing behaviors. In
the ninth place, Southwest Airline adhere the principle of equality, where
whoever comes first should be served in priority. At last, providing assistance
to people is a spirit and sphere in the organizational cultural setting. It
believes that during the process you deliver helps to people, both parties
would feel satisfied and joyful.
We therefore identify four key factors in human resource leading Southwest
Airline to succeed. Firstly, employees truly love and look forward for their job.
Secondly, they do not care for making extra contributions than others.
Thirdly, they are willing to contribute everything and purely devote
themselves in exchange for success. Eventually, strong sense of
belongingness would motivate employees to work for the company and
regarding it as a big family.
(Effective SHRM is my focus showing the reason why strategic
implementation in Southwest Airline is so smooth)

Level of Engagement & Organizational Performance Degree of Engagement

Employee Mindset Organizational Outcome Intrapreneur (Southwest Airline)
Understand the mission and vision including strategic directions, customer
intentions, competitive threats and demands for constant development
Sustainable market leaders who create values through cost-decreasing and
revenue-increasing innovations Actively Engaged (Southwest Airline)
Emotionally connected to workplace values and feel essential sense of
responsibility Complete the tasks in job descriptions effectively and act like
support leaders